I'm working on a type set collection from the 19th and 20th centuries. My recent acquisition (from eBay I might add) was an 1874 S Trade Dollar. I know these are notoriously faked, so I made sure to buy from someone in the US with a money back guarantee. When I received the coin, I was impressed with it. I then took it straight to my dealer, who I have grown to trust, who immediately told me it was fake. I emailed the seller, and he's willing to accept the return and issue a refund, but he insists that the coin is real. I thought I would gather your opinions. Should I keep the coin? Should I return it for a refund? My eBay Trade Dollar
You would have been much better off to have done some research first. Buying an uncertified coin of an often-counterfeited type from a near-zero feedback seller, with lousy dark photos, is just asking for trouble. In other words, as soon as he gets it back he'll start looking for someone else to foist it off on. I have a personal limit of $10 for intentionally buying fakes; but I also have a rule against helping get fakes into the hands of innocent buyers, and I would keep the coin and treat its cost as tuition in the school of Buy the book before the coin..
I can understand Roy's comments about not wanting to have the coin resold to someone else. But if it were me I would return the coin.
A money back guarantee is fine, but he was probably counting on you never finding out. I agree that an often faked coin is not a good thing to buy on eBay, unless it is slabbed. I am not sure I would buy an unslabbed Trade Dollar at this point, for example. Return the coin – you will get stuck for postage charges both ways, but consider yourself lucky. It will still be a cheap lesson.
Sipder Ebay can be great if used right...I bid on coins offen and sometimes win. It isn't ebay that is bad...its the sellers. Speedy
With all these fake trade dollars out there, would you consider buying one slabbed, especially if you are going to pay $150+ for it? From what I read, some of these counterfeit trade dollars are hard to detect. Unless you truly know how to detect a counterfeit, why take a chance? Maybe I'm being paranoid, but why not pay the extra $30 as an insurance policy? But then again, how many trade dollars are slabbed in the VF-XF range?
I'm a bit confused by what you mean by "the extra $30" ?? If you buy a coin already slabbed - you buy the coin - you don't pay any extra And there's plenty, and I do mean plenty of VF - XF slabbed Trade dollars out there.
No I agree, but sometimes (but not too often) I see dealers sell slabbed coins higher than raw. The slabbed coin may be more in the red book or Coin Prices range, where raw would be below. Thanks for the information on slabbed trade dollars. However, I never saw a slabbed trade dollar in the VF-XF range.
I think I know what ya meant now. But there's a pretty good reason that the raw coins often sell for less than the slabbed coins. Most of the time - the raw coin is overgraded to begin with. A lot of the time, the raw coin has problems that not all collectors will notice - like damage, altering, tooling, cleaning etc etc etc. And none of these coins could be slabbed. But all in all - if the raw coin is problem free and properly graded - it will sell for the same price as an equally graded slabbed coin. I just checked on ebay - there's a few slabbed VF/XF's available today. But if you have a problem finding what ya want - just send me a PM. I'll hook ya up with a dealer friend that'll solve that problem
