Had a couple of lots waiting for me after a quick trip this weekend. These were sort of bad-picture gambles. The first: LOT OF 19 BARBER HALF DOLLERS NO BEN FRANKLIN This looked like a mostly-harshly-cleaned lot with one key and one semi-key date. It turned out to be an entirely-harshly-cleaned lot, still gunky enough for a couple to stick together, and smelling strongly of stale smoke, but it does have the 1892-S and the 1904-S. I was the only bidder; I rather expected at least one or two others to take a chance at the starting bid ($200 shipped). Not a real bargain, but I think I got my money's worth on the basis of the 92-S even if nothing else is worth more than melt. The second: Lot of 11 US silver coins 1809-1943 includes dimes, quarters, half dollars I was eyeing that 1919-S at the bottom right; it looked F or better to me. I won the lot at $113.61 shipped; my snipe was a good bit higher than that on the basis of the 1919-S and the 1831, and possibly the 1923-S (although it was obvious that that one had problems). In hand, the 1831 is a disappointment; it's been cleaned, as the photos and description indicated, but it actually seems to show less detail in-hand than in the photos. Still probably a $50-80 coin, I'd guess. The 1923-S is a bit of a bummer. It's got solid XF details, I think, but it's been scrubbed hard and put away wet with PVC. I'll hit it with acetone ASAP, and then probably try come Verdi-Care on it. It's still got enough meat to be worth a bit of work. That 1919-S, though... it looks like a solid VF-20 in hand, and while it has some hairlines under strong directional light, it's got good, honest dark toning around all the crevices. I think it might actually grade cleanly; even if it doesn't, it's appealing enough to easily cover the cost of the lot. All in all, I'm happy. I'm finding it pretty absorbing to cruise the poorly-photographed mixed-lot auctions, looking for hidden better-date/better-condition combos. I don't find much to bid on, but on the few I do land, I seem to be doing fairly well.
NIce writeup. I find the same, not a lot to bid on really, but there are still enough deals out there to make it worth looking.
