The wife and I went to Estes Park, CO for the Labor Day weekend, and there was a antique/coin store on the main drag there. While she was looking at lockets and other assorted knick-knacks, I was looking at the coins. The owner was super nice and seemed very knowledgeable about his coins. He had tons of ancients and tons of nice world coins as well. One thing I saw in the case that popped out at me was a 1925 Stone Mt. commem. priced at $35! Thing is, this thing had borderline MS ("slider") details, so it was either a very high-end AU coin or possibly MS. Because of the price. I asked if it had been cleaned. He said yes, and I inspected it further. There seemed to be tons of luster still present, no hairlines I could see (he even had a microscope which you could use to project the coin onto a small TV screen!), and so IF is was cleaned (due to the lack of toning and the price, I too, assumed it was cleaned, which is why I asked), it was a VERY light cleaning, and not abrasive at all. The wife didn't want me to buy it, as we had just spent $70 at a wine-tasting a few hours before, but dang...I really wanted that coin. What do you guys think? Does this seem like a good deal at $35? I normally do NOT go for cleaned coins, but this one...I mean, you couldn't barely tell it had been cleaned, and I'm sure it would re-tone nicely after time. Also, they guy had a Fugio cent for around $180 in one of the side cases...what's up with that? Even in G or AG I thought those ran about $400? Anyway, thanks for reading!
Hi Jhonn, In my opinion, $35 is not a terribly great price for a Stone Mt. if it is cleaned AU. But - if you like the piece, buy it. Only drawback would be if you ever go to sell, a dealer will tell you it's impaired and probably offer you melt or just over. For the Fugio, I would suspect a fake at that price. v/r Dan
i think i would buy that becuase the redbook says $63 in AU condition. even if it is cleaned, the toning will come back. i think $35 is a good price.
The best actual offer prices I can find are about $50 in EF, $60 in AU and $70 in MS60, so I would say that $35 is a good price for the coin you described.
you should've snapped that puppy up. I got my stone mt for just under $60 in MS, and that was cause I was wheelin and dealin and buying a bunch of other stuff too.
Sounds like a good deal on the Stone Mountain to me, and what was the condition of the fugio? (It wasn't that long ago that Fugios were available in Good in the 100 to 150 dollar range.)
I'd be going for the Fugio, if authentic. There are Stone Mountains available all the time, at the auction I go to. An MS-64 went for $70 at the last one. The one you mention doesn't seem like a bad deal, though. If you like it, go for it.
This is not correct. You can find poor examples under $100 (though for a hundred or two more you can get something you can actually read and see details). Of course it's hard to say whether $180 was a good price or not without seeing the coin.
Thanks for all the responses. I'm thinking of calling him up and seeing if I can't purchase it through the mail. It really was a nice looking coin. As for the Fugio, I didn't take too close a look at it. Seemed to have readable details. I certainly have questions about it's authenticity, since it is raw.
I would have bought the Fugio. No-one bothers to slab them so low, because the slabs don't really describe how attractive they are as coins. Most of the fakes are higher than AG.
