His father passed away at the age of 1 and willed him most of his collection. I became friends with him on another forum, he is only 14. He is learning at a good pace on coins, which is good. It's good to see younger people interested in the hobby, the younger you start, usually the more you know when you get older. He lives in florida and recently dropped by a coin dealer. Seems like a nice person he says. Has a bucket of v-nicks for 25 cents a pop, indian head cents 3 for $1, etc. Well today he went into this dealer and I think he tried to pull a "fast one" on him. He showed him a 1859 Indian Head Cent. Graded by PCGS as "Brilliant Uncirculated" Price? $100. Maybe the dealer didn't know what he had, but I doubt it. I smell a rat. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
I do not understand what you are trying to say since nothing has really been said which would make me feel sorry for the boy. (Gawd I really dislike the term "kid" since it refers to a young goat. I prefer child or boy/girl.)
Did he buy the coin?...Why do you feel bad for him?...Is this just a made up story looking for comments?...
No he didn't buy it...he asked me 1st. I really think that the coin is fake and the dealer is trying to pass it off. Keep in mind that our "friend" China has been hashing out fake coins, fake coins IN SLABS and fake metal detectors. I know of a site right now where you can buy fake coins by the semi load. How about a fake morgan for $2 or a fake $20 gold piece in PCGS slab for only $200?
Does PGCS really issue a "Brilliant Uncirculated" grade? Numismedia currently lists an 1859 IHC in XF-40 at $98, and an AU-50 (that's About Uncirculated) for $168. Maybe a little discount for the kid? So my first question is.. did you see a photo of said coin and holder? Or are you assuming it's fake simply because of the price? Just curious as to why you think it's fake. Perhaps showing members here the coin may produce different opinions. Never mind, I'm not gonna go there...
Not everything is a fake. It is a very good price for that coin.Not sure what you are trying to tell us.
I think the 14 year old may have misunderstood whatever grade was on the slab, plus the dealer just might also have been giving the kid a break.
Sitting here just thinking to myself...I don't recall ever seeing a PCGS slab labeled "Brilliant Uncirculated." But, I have seen NGC slabs with that on the label. Normally, that is issued on bulk submissions of modern coins. For example, I have a 1/10th oz AGE in one of those slabs. Someone probably submitted it in a bulk lot with instructions not to grade any coin below MS69. So, all the 69s and 70s get graded and slabbed with grades...and the rest got put in "BU" slabs. I have never seen this on anything other than moderns though. Also, Detecto. You are still quite new and inexperienced at this coin thing. I can see you are making progress...but be careful what advice you hand out. You're still learning too.
pcgs does have slabs labeled brilliant uncirulated.Think world trade center graded coins and other miscellaneous tags such as paradise mint http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-PCGS-G...ultDomain_0&hash=item20c305b42f#ht_500wt_1203 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-1-Amer...ultDomain_0&hash=item3cc3f5123b#ht_1125wt_954
If you could see some of his posts from another forum that he recently got booted from, you'd understand why I like this post so much. Some of his thread starters are most definately hed scratchers for sure.
I don't know the guy and this thread didn't make any sense to me from the get go, but don't you guys think that might be a little harsh and hasty with the character judgement? As for the penny, for 100$ I would be in his shop tomorrow to look at it myself even if there's only a small chance the coin was as described. Could be a great find at best and a cool trip to check out some coins at the worst.