Details Coins

I bought a slabbed coin. The label said it was a details coin. I threw the slab out and kept the coin. I no longer have a details coin in my collection.

 

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Since there is so much variety in people's collecting interests, there is a huge variance in collector's tolerance for details coins, along with other considerations such as budget, etc.

But if we eliminate other considerations such as budget, eye appeal, future marketability (I know, we can't really eliminate those considerations) then maybe the aspect of genuine rarity can be discussed.

There are several aspects to rarity:

1) Genuine rarity as in "there just aren't very many of them out there. 1913 Liberty Head Nickels, 1804 dollars, and the like come to mind.
2) Marketplace rarities where the demand challenges or exceeds the demand. Think of 1909S VDB cents and 1877 IHCs. Most conditional rarities are a subset of this category.
3) Coins that encompass both categories. These are coins that are in somewhat limited demand but also don't appear on the market very often because while they are out there, they are often in strong hands.

@kanga 1796 dime fall into the third category. As an R-5, it's not thar rare. As an R-5 AU, it has aspects of conditional rarity. There are few people who collect these early dimes as sets but there are a ton of people (myself included) who collect by type and the 1796 and 1797 dimes are the only ones that will fill that hole. For those of us with budgets limited by the necessity to eat, details coins are sometimes the only options.

I was looking at the following coin on a Heritage auction last night. Hammered for $500 ($600 with the vig). Greysheet G-4 is listed at $1300 so this coin brought a pretty good price. It is basically a horrible coin but I would have bought it willingly if the hammer had been a little lower. I would have had regrets over the purchase but I would have done it anyway because these just don't show up that often and I am 70 and don't have decades to pursue my collecting aspirations.

While I will keep on the lookout for a nice straight-graded example, I will also consider any details coin of this type that shows up in the market.

BTW, I am seeing a plenitude of details coins showing up in the better auctions, far more than what appeared a few years ago. I guess that's a function of the reported dearth of material we've been hearing about.

 

Forgot the photos:

 

I've posted this dollar before. It's a 1795 bust dollar that was holed and repaired. In this case it's much nicer than many that are straight graded.

 

R of Liberty?

 

I collect U.S. coins by date and mintmark, any metal, holed, 1792 to date. I prefer not slabbed but the ones I have in the collection are all "details".

 

I've done that

 

"T".

 

Ribbon?

 

I would only buy a coin marked 'details' if it was the only way I could afford the coin. I have two large cents that are raw, but would grade that way if submitted. I got them for $5 apiece. One has a gash across the obverse and the other has been very harshly cleaned. If I wanted them in gradable condition, I would have paid much, much more, way beyond my budget.

 

I'll start off by saying, as many have already mentioned, I am a raw collector. I do try to have all of my key dates slabbed, but as many have mentioned, price point becomes an issue. I do own a slabbed XF - details 1928 P that I do not regret. The grade matches the rest of the set and the scratch does not detract from the overall coin appreciation.

I think that is another large factor to consider. If I cannot tell why the coin received the details grade, I would be more apt to purchase it, and potentially crack it out. I feel this way a lot of times with copper. My knowledge base continues to grow for my Lincoln cent collection, but I find as "detail" coins age in their holders, it becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain why they received the details grade in the first place.

 

Take a close look at the T in LIBERTY.

 

I did Jack pointed it out. There still looks to be some residue around the legs of the R. I see the T now.

 

I have to admit. I do not feel my question was answered.
Now if someone wrote in "Don't buy details coins. Just leaves more for me. I love details coins and then listed their reasons why...." I would call it answered.
The truth is almost all the people who responded gave the typical I hate details coins but under such and such circumstances I have or will tolerate them. I am afraid the people who actively pursue details coins are too intimidated by the stigma given to details coins to respond.
I also will say that I don't think trying to cultivate the opinions and views of others, especially those that differ from your own, in anyway violates the laws of God, man or coin talk. If you only listen to those who hold the exact same views as you, then you never grow as a person.

 

I have collected "details" coins for years and still like them. I do not prefer or buy slabbed unless that is what is available at the time. I have a lot of fun showing them off. Some enjoy seeing rare coins in less than wholesome condition, some don't as replies in this thread show you. I still need many holed coins for my collection.

 

I believe you have an unslabbed "Details" coin in your collection, which may be a surprise to someone in the future. JMHO

 

It sounds like no answer is going to please you, but I will give you this one based on 60+ years of experience.

When prices on straight graded coins, the "details coins" often, but always follow suit. The trouble is the price increase for them will almost always be less, percentage wise, and the coin will still be harder to sell. It's much harder to get a good price for a "yes but" coin than it is for one that has no problems. With a no problem coin, the only question is really the price, and does the dealer need it in his inventory?

That's one of the reasons why I almost always avoid "details" coins. The other is that the defect will almost always bug me, and I will never the full enjoyment out of the piece as a collector.

And sometimes, if you know how to grade coins, the "details" coin might come back straight graded the next time. In the old days, you didn't get "details" coins in slabs. They came back in "body bags." I had coins get body bags from one of the two leading grading services and come back graded from the other. I've had it go both ways. Yes, NGC refused to grade it, but PCGS did.

This 1858 Flying Eagle Cent got a body bag from PCGS for "questionable toning." NGC straight graded it MS-64, which was the right grade in my opinion.



I once owned a bright white 1839-O half dollar that got a body bag from NGC, but a straight MS-63 grade from PCGS.

I think I know about a much about grading as anyone who works for the major firms. The trouble is they have to do it very fast, and I am no "jack rabbit" I would also get burnt out very quickly in that job.

 

On the contrary, I think your questions were answered by the number of members who addressed your questions with the nuance that the questions deserved. Of course, everyone's answers will depend on their POV but your questions were answered as asked. I think you draw an unsupported conclusion when you state that people that actively pursue details coins are too embarrassed to respond. You did not ask if people that collect details coins specifically keep that information hidden. You also ignore another possible reason why people do not display their details coins: A significant fraction of collectors are not interested in details coins. No one is going to post a comment saying "Wow, what a super-duper coin and I really don't care about the great big ball peen hammer mark obliterating Lady Liberty." And you could have, subsequent to your original post, narrowed your question to the specific topic that interested you. I think the answers you got reflect only the people on CT who chose to respond, a very limited tranche of the overall collector community. I repeat your original questions below with simple answers to each one in Bold:

Are you happy with your coins? Yes and No. Some were mistakes due to ignorance (regretted); some were to fill a hole due to impatience (regretted); some were because a straight-graded coin was simply too rare and too expensive and an affordable straight-graded coin was never or unlikely to ever become available (not regretted).

Is it just a price thing? No.

Do you have any buyer's remorse when a straight-graded coin becomes available? Sometimes.

BTW, there are indeed some people who make a point of collecting details coins and are not at all shy about it. For example, there is a collector in the Liberty Seated Collectors Club who is collecting Liberty Seated dollars that are holed. He displayed his collection at the last FUN show in Orlando.

And I just won several Heritage auctions for John McCloskey half dimes a number of which were details coins and I am not the least bit embarrassed by those purchases. In fact, I posted one of them here, an R-6 coin that was both bent and cleaned.