Got this in the mail Friday..another ebay purchase. I am fairly certain I did better with this one. The only thing I question is the "swipe" mark on the reverse...maybe an eraser? The front is immaculate except for one little spot. It was billed as AU and I think that is pretty close but because of the back might be dropped down to XF.
hllywood - The coin you pictured would grade VF and it has been very harshly cleaned. Please, do me a favor for your own sake. Before you go to purchase another coin, post pics or a link and ask about it first. It would be my pleasure to help you.
hllywood, A true BU/AU Peace dollar will have at least a bit of original lustre and no obvious marks from cleaning.As Doug said,let us know before you buy a coin if you're not sure about it.It's free advice from friends with some experience.A good AU/BU '23 shouldn't be hard to find for $20 or less.Here is one I paid $16.50 for.It has bag marks which are OK but no other apparent hairlines or wear.We love to help!
So do you mean cleaned or polished? The picture on the auction wasn't as detailed as my scan, but I knew it didn't look like it was cleaned like that Morgan dollar did. Ok fine...I am not buying anymore coins off of eBay...apparantly everyone on there is trying to screw you. Luckily I didn't pay very much for it.
I mean cleaned - harshly cleaned with something that was abrasive. A polished coin will look very shiny - a cleaned coin is dull. Believe me, I know how you feel. But there are many trustworthy sellers on ebay, you just have to learn how to tell the difference or else know them. It also helps a great deal if you know what you are buying before you buy it. That of course can entail a good bit of study & experience. Because quite simply, you can't always believe what is written in an ebay auction. You are correct - there are plenty of people out there just waiting to take adavantage of those who lack the knowledge & experience. But not all of them are. That's why I made the offer I did. When you see a coin you'd to buy - post a link to it and ask our opinion - BEFORE you buy it, not after. We are here to help you and will do so gladly. It wouldn't really take that long for you to gain enough experience to begin to be able to recognize problem coins and save yourself not only money, but heartache.
I think you're missing the point young man. No one is trying to warn you against using EBay. We're trying to warn you against buying anywhere without knowing exactly what you are buying. Sure there are ripoff artists galore on EBay, but that venue centairly doesn't have a monopoly on scammers. By the same token, brick and mortar stores don't have a monopoly on honest, informed sellers. There is one way, and only one way to avoid being ripped off, whether your're talking about coins, or anything else. That way is to to know what you are buying! The members of this forum can help you avoid getting ripped off, or just generally overpaying, if you post links to the site you propose buying from, but education can keep you from being ripped off wherever you buy, including swap meets, antique stores, pawn shops, etc., etc., etc. Learn to protect youself by reading and studying. If you have a library card, use it. If not, get one. The more you know the harder it will be for anyone - EBay or elsewhere - to scam you. (Education will even protect you against the many sellers out there who are themselves victims of scammers, but don't even know it.
Ok...then please share with me your definition of "dull." This Peace Dollar looks bright and shiny to me. The only part that looks dull is that section on the reverse that looks like someone took an eraser or something to it. Compare it to the 1896 Morgan that I posted a couple days ago. I agree that the Morgan is dull...no doubt about it. You can tell where some of the original metal was removed, hence making it look "clean" because the dirt is gone but so is the luster. Looking at these coins side-by-side, they look completely different to me. I assume that all cleaned coins look the same? I can buy that maybe the Peace dollar was polished, but I really don't see where it was harshly cleaned. Maybe my scan was too high of quality and it gave you an inaccurate picture.
hyllywood ... do you have the link to the original ebay auction to post for us so we can look at the photo as posted by the seller? I'm very interested. Thank you.
Yes I do. It isn't the worlds greatest picture though. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8376933709
No, it's small, that's always an issue with me when I'm choosing a coin to buy on ebay and it doesn't show that reverse. I almost never buy a coin without seeing the reverse too. What if there were problems on the reverse? You want to see that. Also when you see the coin big enough and both sides you can compare what you get with what they advertised to be sure they sent you the right coin and it was misrepresented. In this picture I can see the shininess better that probably you can see in hand but it not showing in your scan. Your scan is quite up close and so you can see that looks like marks on the surface of the coin which would indicate cleaning and would result in a superficially shiny looking coin. My whizzed coin deal I mentioned on another thread was similiar.
I still don't understand. Here...let me post a side by side scan so you can see the difference. I don't see how you can think both of these coins have been cleaned when one looks so much different than the other. Don't small scratches happen under normal circumstances? Just being in a roll or bag next to other coins would cause surface dings, scratches, etc. The luster is what I am looking at...and it still seems to be there on the 1923.
To me the Morgan doesn't look cleaned but the Peace looks like it might have been but I would have to see it in hand to really be sure. That's just my opinion. Most of the other people on this board are more expert than I.
Well, first off, I think you are using a scanner, so your picture is quite dull. Coins to get bag marks, but to me it looks like your coin has a horrendous amount of scratches. They are very small, but pretty much everywhere. A uncleaned coin will not have scratches that fine. I believe that is why scratches from cleaning are called hairline scratches. I'm sure someone here can offer a better explanation, or even point out some flaws in what I have said.
A scan tends to wash out the luster on a coin and that can make it look dull. But on the other hand a scan does an excellent job of showing minor detail. And it is the detail on this coin that tells me that the luster is largely gone. It also shows me that the coin has been harshly cleaned. It might help to understand that the definition of harsh cleaning is anything that leaves marks on the coin. But let's take it by the numbers. Here is your picture - Do you see the parallel lines I have circled between the 1 and WE and on the neck ? Those are the result of someone rubbing a cloth across the surface of the coin. That is harsh cleaning. Now, look at the tops of the rays that I have circled in this picture. See the lines going across the tops of the rays ? You can even see where the rubbed surface starts and the unrubbed surface ends. That is also the result of harsh cleaning. Now look at the surface of the coin as a whole - see all the light grey and dark grey areas. Notice how all the light grey areas are concentrated on the high points of the devices - that is a combination of wear and harsh cleaning. Same thing applies to the reverse. The rectangular area ( that you call eraser marks ) is obvious. Personally I think it was the result of a cloth and cleaning compound, but that's imaterial. Either way, it is extremely harsh cleaning. But let's look at other areas as well. Notice the high points of the rock, the ends of the tail feathers and the talons; also notice the head and neck. That is the result of wear and harsh cleaning. You can also look at almost any other area of the coin and see similar marks on all of the high points. To answer your other question, no two cleaned coins will ever look the same. It depends on too many variables - the condition of the coin before cleaning, what it was cleaned with and how harshly or gently it was cleaned. Was the coin only dipped or was it rubbed - etc etc. So of course the Peace dollar looks different than the Morgan.
