Almost daily, I've surfed the bay the last 18 months. I've made less than ten purchases. I still don't quite have the confidence to pull the trigger. I prefer coin in hand, auctions, shops, shows, etc. This coin sold for a fair price, I almost bid on it. What are your opinions of grade and originality? Thanx, Jeff
Thanx GD.....If I may pick at your brain a bit.......As far as the cleaning /retoned issue what are you identifying? I understnd an extemely high percentage of seated coinage has had a bath at one time or another.
If you look at the pics closely - and when I say closely what I mean is this, I get the largest I pic I can on my screen and then I pick up a 3 1/2" wide 4x magnifying glass and look at the pic - you will see how much darker the coin is in the protected areas than it is in the fields. Now this normal to a certain extent. But when it is due to normal wear and tear the defining of that difference in color is usually random. When a coin has been cleaned and re-toned that line of color difference is pretty even all the way around. And you can see traces of darkness in some protected areas and not others. These two things are clues. Add to that a lifetime of experience at learning how to recognize stuff like this and you get to know it when you see it. Now it is certainly not foolproof, but if you learn to trust your gut and your eyes you'll seldom go wrong.
I think it's still a nice looking coin. For me, as long as I know it's been cleaned, I could probably live with it if I liked it. At some point in my illustrious numismatic career, I'll probably buy a cleaned or "problem" coin simply because I can't afford the real deal. My problem comes when I'm not sure if it's cleaned or don't realize it until someone points it out. Then I'm not a happy camper.
That depends on the knowledge of the buyer. If it were me, for a coin like that it would drop the price 50%.
If I know or suspect a coin has been cleaned, I just pass on it. To me any money above melt is wasted on a cleaned coin. I've only been caught once (that I know of.) Bought a nice looking half dime raw and sent it in to NGC. Came back body bagged for being cleaned. It took me 10-15 minutes with my 10x loupe before I spotted the hairlines. I turned and tilted that coin every which way to finally spot the problem. Shipped it off to ANACS, got it in a "DETAIL" slab and sold it at a loss.
