I just wish to be clear that I'm trying to help in stating how I see your purchase of this specific slabbed bullion ASE and how well you did or didn't do. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. As I said earlier in this thread, this is only an bullion ASE coin. THERE IS NO GRADE. And while it is slabbed by a TPG there is no grade worthy value nor premium for this coin. There wasn't any/much money spent "grading" this coin. "First Strike" is a marketing tool to sell these coins. You could walk into any coin shop selling ASEs in your town and for the current spot price plus the dealers mark-up on an Unc. ASE, along with a holder for the coin you could get this for less than you acquired it on eBay. The extra money that you spent on the slab and shipping makes this not that great of a deal. Your cost $17.26 + $5.95 shipping = $23.21 For comparison, a local coin/bullion dealer would likely be charging less over spot price than an online bullion dealer would be. I will use Apmex.com here since they are easy to look up the going prices and indicate what their price over spot is per coin. On 2009.12.31 Apmex.com was selling 2006 Unc. ASEs for $19.93 (this is $2.49 over spot!) plus add on a generic DIY slab for the ASE. The holder might run $1.85 or less -or- you might opt for an Air-Tite holder that might cost: 0.60¢ - 0.80¢ each. $19.93 + $0.80¢ = $20.73 [difference is $2.48] $19.93 + $1.85¢ = $21.78 [difference is $1.43] Apmex premiums run high, so this is more than fair to suggest. The actual difference from buying locally is even higher than the Apmex example above. If you were to continue buying coins one-by-one like this as they pop up on eBay, searching for deals, over time you will pay a LOT more and spending less money better spent acquiring more bullion. That's to say that eventually the extra money you spent slightly over paying, due to bargain hunting, could have bought you more bullion. To realise a profit if you try to resell these coins down the road will be harder because you will need to wait longer for the spot price of bullion to rise and understand the price below spot you might be offered at the time you want to sell. This may not be worth your time spent holding/storing the coin until that time, nor your time and money spent searching for these 'deals'. This slab is not going to bring you anything but protection from hits, scuffs and fingerprints, accidental spittle, etc. NO particular numismatic premium. And a bullion dealer won't look at this coin for it's pristine condition either. You would do much better to save your money and buy a larger quantity of Unc. (bullion/non-collectible) ASEs all at once where you will be paying less over spot OR if you just wanted a slabbed ASE in the first place, then buy a graded collectible version instead. Try to understand the differences in what you are buying and why you are buying these bullion coins to that of the collectible versions that may be TPG graded. Make sure you know whether you are buying for physical bullion investment or in this for the hobby of collecting coins/building a collection. If you are just bargain hunting then this wasn't a bargain.
I consider this a compliment from you. I did ok and didn't get ripped off. thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1:hail:
All told with shipping he paid $23.21. Not that good of deal and your $24 helps proves that. 0.79¢ difference. It's a 2006 unc and ungraded. IS anyone looking at the details of this coin? :rolling:
He didnt buy it in bulk so As a regular coin it was an okay deal for an itnernet sale. However down the block from me they sell ASE'S for $21.50 each NGC slabbed any date. I think theyre like ms-68 or ms-69. But you didnt buy this in bulk so you got a decent deal could ahve done better just take this into accoutn next time.
But my point was if he's bargain hunting (as he asked How'd I do!!) and continues to slightly over pay each time, in the long run he over spends more than saves. Did he buy it for the slab? Seems so. But there's no grade, as in your local dealer example. Buy the coins one by one or in bulk locally and put them in your own slab if the goal is bullion investing. IF it's coin collecting of graded coins, then look at the details of what you are buying and buy the right coin.
Krispy I agree with you I was just tyring to provide him moral support. If he was buying them at ms-70 then I wouldnt see a problem but on the other hand I am not a ASE collector. I only buy them for bullion. And for that I buy them raw and I onyl pay $.20 over spot. Now If i want the holders I just buy a couple empty slabs from him for $.50 each. However as agreed if he went that extra money for the slab then he obviosuly overpaid and since theyre not graded he did get a crappy deal. In the long run it is not economically beneficial. when you first start out though you tend to make mistakes.
I don't necessarily think the phrase "how'd I do" implies bargain hunting. I read it to mean "did I get ripped off?" The answer to that is no. Could he have gotten it a couple dollars cheaper had he shopped around...sure, but he certainly didn't pay an outrageous price.
$32.95 I found only one sold on eBay recently for this price, in the same equivalence to what you purchased. So people do pay more for the slabbed (even though not graded) than the ASEs just in hard protectors. The number one rule of how well you did is how much some one is willing to pay for it and if you flipped it on eBay right now I believe you would profit. But this is do to the fact that a lot of people would believe it was worth more than the bullion because it is slabbed and do not have the exp. of the people here.
Buzzard: First Strike means nothing, :desk: it's a marketing tool and was put on a label to sell a bullion coin that NGC didn't give a grade to. It's just a bullion coin in a protective ecapsulation. What's "key here" is having overpaid for this coin in a plastic holder with a meaningless NGC label. Yes, the OP didn't pay THAT much over spot for a one time purchase. If the OP tried to sell this coin immediately to a bullion dealer he might (if lucky) get an offer of $17.50 for the coin. His $23.21 investment* would immediately be a loss of $5.71. Multiply a few eBay coins bought this way and later sold, bulk or individually, and you are not making any decent return, not until Silver has spent a good deal of time rising in spot price above the OPs start price(s). *I use 'investment' since this is only a bullion coin. That one can find Buyers on eBay overpaying for this coin (or anything) isn't much of a measure of success in this "How'd I Do!!" The OP did do better than some who have been known to have paid drastically more.
...and you use it incorrectly because of that. ASE's are highly collected and as a result sell for a premium over spot consistently. You very rarely find one for spot...especially in a BU NGC slab. Since the OP never mentioned he bought the coin for an investment (and this is in Coin Chat and not the Bullion Investment forum) I assume he bought it as a collector piece. The reason this coin is in a NU holder is probably because it grades MS68 or less. Often times, ASE's are submitted to the TPGs in bulk with the instructions to grade and slab only the coins that are MS69 or higher (or a grade the specify). The remainders are placed in BU holders without a grade. There is nothing wrong with this coin. If he turned around and sold it to a dealer today would be lose money...yes, but that's the case for 99% of our coin purchases. Dealers pay less then retail for coins (and yes, eBay prices often reflect the retail market these days).
Richie, I feel like we just had this exact same discussion in another thread a few days back about the premiums over spot for Eagle products and what one pays for them above other similar bullion coins, the collector value of ASEs, the premiums involved, etc. And I think we understood each other then, that we both understand these factors. So I won't repeat it again. The OP hasn't stated if he's investing or collecting. Since this is a bullion version ASE, not a collectible version, there is NO "W" mint mark, I am left with the conclusion the OP is an investor rather than a collector and from the price I see, he has over paid. And as I stated, if he's a collector then he would be better off spending his money on the appropriate version of this coin if that's what he's after for his collection. Now a lot of people keep giving the OP 'moral support' (as many are want to do in a general sense) and saying this is a good deal because it's 'slabbed' and that it's good because it's a '2006'... but this is only a bullion coin and it wasn't bought at a great price for an investment. The slab is doing nothing for this coin but deflecting damages that might occur. You could but any bullion coin in your own encapsulation device and achieve the same thing. There is no grade given by NGC and any such grade is yet debatable, because you cannot even SEE the coin in the auctioned because they are so blurry. This implies the OP bought it for the slab, trusting NGCs non-graded, slab protected and First Strike marketed sales device. A collector wouldn't/shouldn't buy sight unseen, esp, off eBay in an auction with terrible photos. An investor does buy sight unseen because grades and slabs don't matter to them. The investor in this auction over paid and shouldn't continue to hunt for such 'deals' as an investor, because over time you are significantly continuing to over pay.
Graded coin and a another graded coin with first strike, The first strike will bring more money. The coin is worth more to a collector than a investor. The collector will pay more for the First Srike.
There is no such thing as an "appropriate" version of a coin for a collection. Are the "W" mint mark coins more collectible...yes, but if you are doing an uncirculated set you need both types. I don't think there is anything wrong with collecting the No W coins, I have a couple myself and they were bought as collector pieces not investment pieces. IMHO, the OP should have shopped around a little more and found one for a better price, but he didn't and he's out a couple dollars for it. So, what. While I agree the slab adds no value to this coin, I don't think there is anything wrong with the slab either. I have a slab like this in my collection (except it's an AGE)...and i still like it. Some will and that drives up the price a little...but most won't pay more for the first strike label.
There is definitely nothing wrong with the slab nor NGC's choice not to grade this coin. Richie, I think you know what I meant to imply by using 'appropriate' without taking such a literal read of that word to another separate context. Of course a collector collects what they desire and often for completely understandably irrational reasons. That's part of the joy of the hobby of collecting. There is nothing wrong with this coin nor grade, I was just trying to discuss the OPs potential reasons and thinking about how these deals, esp. long term and if you pursue more at this cost ratio(?), and based on potential resale considerations. Nothing wrong with buying an ASE, in choosing one ounce of silver coin, you did very well. :hail:
That's fine, but nowhere did the OP mention he bought this coin for investment or resale reasons. I'm just trying to point out that the price he paid isn't above the normal price range for this coin...it is on the upper side of "normal" but that's it.
Yes, it may help if we knew the OPs intentions. I left room in my responses for both the OP's consideration as an investor and/or collector. Never said it was one way or the other, went mainly on a hypothetical conclusion lacking the OPs input here, that a bullion coin is bought as investment not as a collectible, but even then a "collector" can/will collect what they so choose to. Agreed that the OP paid for this coin on the upper side. It remains a bullion ASE, not collectible issue with "W" mint mark, and insomuch the year alone, 2006, does nothing to infer numismatic distinctions for this coin, there's no particular grade explicitly stated, and the NGC slab (beyond a function to protect the contents) and "first strike" designation are meaningless to this coin.
