Recently bought this 1808 capped bust half on ebay. The first 2 pictures are the sellers and the rest are mine. I thought it looked like there was some scratches in the sellers pictures. But in hand this coin was scratch city. I spent a couple hours looking it over and every time I got it in a different angle I found another light scratch. The ones you see in my pictures aren't even nearly what's there. Some were so light you can only see them with the loupe. Obviously it's bad enough as it is. But in hand it just gets worse. I messaged the seller and said wow the longer I look at this thing the more scratches I see. It was dropped at the post office this morning when they opened the doors. As for the seller, his user ID is "the_first_dollar"
This is the reason I got good at gleaning information from photos. The scratches, while definitely not as prominent in the sellers photos as yours, are there. If i see hints of what may be scratches in sellers photos i usually assume they're more prominent in hand.
I can definitely see your frustration based off the two photos the seller provided. Especially with the scratch on the eagle's left wing, its barely visible in the seller's photo. Was the seller understanding and let you open up a return or did you have to get help from eBay?
I filed it and it went right through. There was no requesting or anything. I suspected light marks but it was blatantly obvious and hidden and totally undisclosed in the auction. But based on where it would grade the price was discounted. But not enough to make up for all these marks. I wouldn't even want it in my collection unless it was given to me or inherited. I think he's used to returns. And someone out there will probably give him his asking price for it. I will say, the obverse is really nice in hand. I just wish the reverse would have been.
The bad thing is, the obverse was beautiful. Very nice in hand. Needs made into a love token lol. The only way I would want a coin like that would be if it was one of the great rarities of the series. And even then I think I would prefer a cleaned versus scratched.
You know I been trying to figure out what might have caused these. And I bet you you're right. They for the most part were light enough. It left New Hampshire last night...
I went to a show years ago and bought a gather high dollar coin in a PCGS slab. I put it in my pocket to keep it safe. Later I bought something in a 2X2 and without thinking, I stuck it in the same pocket. When I got back to the hotel that night after a long day, the slab was a total mess. Even a polish would not help. Taught me a great lesson on the damage staples can do.