Cherrypicking Ebay?

Hello all coin lovers. I was wondering if anybody has tried to cherrypick for a variety on Ebay. Is that even possible to do that? If you have please share your experience and give us the story. I think that it would be hard to tell by the pictures that some people take. People on Ebay can be very decieving. I really just want to know if anybody has ever done this.

Thanks
Nickeldude

 

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It's possible. I don't do it intentionally, but I know some that do. If you know your varieties and there are good pics, have at it!

Here's a story of a very interesting eBay cherry:

http://www.pdxcoinclub.org/convention2005/bustHalf.html

 

Wow that's a great story. That would a great feeling if you found an unknown variety that like. Thanks for sharing.

Keep the stories coming.

ND

 

Yes I have, I cherry pick all the time from ebay. Not for varieties, but similar.

This one was identified as Claudius, I was able to read the legend and tell that it was a much rarer coin of Galba:



A tetradrachm of Diocletian, listed with poor pictures in a "grandfather's collection" sort of thing, this time it was true! $25


A tiny bronze dichalkon of Trajan from Alexandria, whereas other couldn't see the coin clearly enough, I was able to tell that it there was an elephant on the reverse from the year IZ (17). Its an R5 coin, with only a handful known in published collections. $8

 

Send a PM to Toad!

 

Wow that's really great. You must have a great eye for what you love to collect.

ND

 

You hit it! That is the key! If you know the special points, you can easily tell a 1936 Lincoln DDO type 1 all the way down to a AG-G coin. You have to know your series.

A good reference library will save you more money than the cost of the library. Even with the internet references.

Jim

 

I think it must be so difficult to do, with the vultures on Ebay. I can't seem to catch a bargain/break ever!

That story about the 1806 Bust was really interesting!! Thanks

 

What did I dew this time?

Ribbit

 

Rumor has it that you've cherrypicked eBay before.

 

If you have Toad will you please share it with us. We're dying to know lol.

ND

 

I have cherrypicked ebay several times, but if I told you how I'd have to kill you.

 

I cherrypick Ebay almost on a daily basis. There are so many great buys on Ebay but it takes a lot of looking to find them and you have a lot to learn first before you look.

The problem is trying to figure out what you want to collect? Most collect the more common series so it's hard to get a good deal with them, even cherrypicking, since there are so many others out there cherrypicking those series. I used to cherrypick Morgans, until I got tired of never winning an auction and I'd always bid appropriately but others also figured out what it was, so I don't play with Morgans anymore. I also used to cherrypick 2 cent coppers but I had the same result there as Morgans, so I no longer play with them either. :goofer:

Now, I collect the early copper, since it requires so much work to cherrypick them and most peeps don't want to take the time to learn them and I also collect 17th century trader tokens from England and since there are an estimated 20 thousand of them, with 14 thousand known, it's a great series to collect but one that is impossible to complete, but I have fun attributing them.

My most recent cherrypick was a 1787 Connecticut listed as a 1788. I'm not 100% sure of the variety but I'm almost certain it's a 9-E:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=230332326626

On CoinFacts it's listed as a R-5+ with 31 known, so there's probably around 40 known now but still a R-5. It hasn't made it in yet but it's in route. :eat: Connecticut coppers are a tough series to collect, since there are 350+ known varieties but that's why I like them.

Another recent cherrypick was a 1798 S-145 (R-5):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=180334027918

It's not in great shape but it has a lot of detail and it's a tough one to acquire so it will fill a hole until I can snatch a better example.

So there are some great buys on Ebay, you just have to find them but you have to be willing to do the book work first. :hammer:

Ribbit

Ps: I also recently picked up a 1786 Vermont Ryder-6 (Vermontensium landscape variety). I got it along with a Connecticut that I believe to be a 1787 11.2-K:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=390039213980

http://coinfacts.com/colonial_coins/vermont_coppers/vt_ryder_06.htm

http://coinfacts.com/colonial_coins..._ct_coppers/1787_ct_copper_miller_11.02_K.htm

Ribbit-Ribbit-Ribbit

 

It use to be a lot easier to cherry pick on ebay. I was able to get some pretty good ones in the early days (2001-2004). It has gotten a lot harder these days. Everyone seems to know many of the tricks. I use to be able to search for error names of coins and get coins because of the spelling error of the seller (eg. nickle instead of nickel). As the buyers became smarter, it became timing that was more important. I would last minute bid at odd hours on weekdays. Later, the skypers would out do me on that one. ebay now promotes the skyping function. I'm now looking for error coins or coins that seem to be getting little attention but I kind of like. I will sometimes take a leap on a grouping of coins if the moment seems right. My experience on ebay has been pretty good. I've had worse luck lately at coin auctions. It is hard to remember every coin at an auction and bid correctly.

 

My best cherry pick came off heritage - bought $100 solde for $1500. Gotta love auctions and put in the time.

 

I'm still waiting for lightning to strike again with you. You need to do it again. I enjoyed it and want to do it again and again and again! :whistle: It was too much fun and the wait made it worse. :goofer:

Ribbit

 

I've done that once, found one variety that was listed but hasn't been seen since 1910 and was long thought to be an error in the standard reference, and three others where my piece is only the second one known.

 

Conder, More details, please! ...Mike

 

About a year and a half ago I picked up a XF 1872 Indian cent off EBay for $276. The cent is a S10, shallow N variety. Current ask in XF is about $460 without considering the variety.

That means I've had my chance, probably won't ever find another deal like that.

 

You may not find it as exciting when you learn that they are all Conder tokens.

The new discovery piece was from the County of Shropshire. I found a piece being sold as a Shropshire 13, the diagnostic being periods after the date and one of the inscriptions. It is the only reverse that had that. But the placement of the date and the positioning of the letters didn't match up. I bought it and confirmed it. It is now listed in the addendum of the standard reference and I and credited with the discovery.

The second piece is also from Shropshire. I had been looking for a Shropshire 11 for many years and was never able to find one. Every time I found one listed or bought one off a price list it always turned out to be misattibuted. After returning my sixth misattributed piece to a specialist dealer I decided to send along pictures of one and point out the diaognostics. So I turned to the collection of a very advanced collector who had one an. . . . His wasn't an 11 either. But it wasn't anything else either. I had turned up a new variety in someone else's collection. Well we got that confirmed (11bis) but I started asking all the long time collectors and experts I could find if they had ever seen a Shropshire 11 that matched the diagnostics in the book and the answers all came back the same No they hadn't and they didn't know anyone else that had either. I was told that it was an error in the book and that it didn't exist. Well in Feb of 2008 I found a shropshire piece on eBay that seemed to match the piece I had discovered in the other fellows collection. It was a bad picture and I couldn't tell for sure but I bought it anyway. when it arrived I checked it out and it was not the 11bis I had hoped it was, but instead it turned out to be a Shropshire 11 that matched the descriptions in the book! A coin everyone said did not exist. I believe I currently have the only confirmed Shropshire 11.

The other three are a litle more anticlimatic. The first was a piece for Warwickshire, 340bis listd as unique at the time. I was attribuing tokens on ebay checking to see if I could find one I could use and found it listed just as Warwickshire and no attribution from a seller in England. Cost me about $18, and it is the finer of the two known pieces.

The second was from Inverness in Scotland. A frind of mine had recently discovered a new variety from there and had provided me with pictures. As I lookedthrough eBay I saw several Inverness pieces being sold so I checked them out and one of them turned out to be one of the new discovery. The Discovery piece was a Fine 15, my new find was an AU-50. Made for a nice confirmation piece.

The third one was last summer. A seller hade a token identified as a Middlesex 949, a common token but one I don't have so I double checked the attribution and it was wrong. It was a Middlesex 951 which was listed as an R-7 coin (Sheldon rarity scale). I won it and was quite pleased with it but when I tried to trace anything about it I learned that only one piece has been seen in something like thirty years. That coin and mine are about equal in sharpness, but the other one has a nasty heavy scratch across the obv. Mine is problem free.