Hi Guys! I was wondering if someone could help me out. I'm looking to build my own Proof sets from 1936-1955 with Gem Proof coins. Are there any coin sources out there besides E-Bay that I can get these coins from at that quality, and still pay similar prices to E-Bay? It doesn't appear that E-Bay has all of the coins I'm looking for in that condition. Thanks for the help!
@Histman Despite being a source for many coins, I'm sure that you realize that FleaBay allows most buyers to use bidding services, and these services enable some of the buyers to minimize their costs. You won't find this service available for dealers and auction sites like HA. Therefore you are apt to pay more for what you need. If it is going to cost you more anyway, you might want to develop a relationship with a reputable dealer who has his own resources that he/she can use to find items for you. You can tell the dealer that you have limits on what you are willing to pay, but be aware that if any of those limits are not high enough, you will simply have to raise them or accept a coin in a lower grade. Chris
If I were building these sets in gem quality (65 and over), I would stick with PCGS and NGC coins if buying from images. Many sellers will call a raw proof a gem when it is actually not. It's a pain to receive a coin that is not what you were really looking for.
Thanks for the info. I realize E-Bay has a lot of issues, but they sometimes have decent coins. The issue is they don't necessarily have the coins I need for the sets I want to create. I'm not a big fan of toned coins, otherwise I would just purchase the sets in OGP.
I recently built two sets (1958 proof and 1965 SMS) PCGS graded from EBay. I found that some were a bit hard to find in prices that were even consistent with what PCGS had them listed for (1958 proof nickel in PR67CAM was an example; could not find it for less than $10 over PCGS listed price! Had to bargain to get one just $5 over PCGS). Both sets are now complete and among the top 40 registered sets at PCGS.
