Hypothetical Question: Let's say you collect Morgans and you have a pretty nice collection all in AU and a few MS64 quality coins and one or two VF to XF in the mix. You don't have the cash to get the key dates, but you'd love to have one. So you walk into a coin shop and there is a nice little 1889cc in a slab marked VF with damage. You check it out and the damage is on the reverse and it is a deep scratch or maybe you'd call it a gouge about and 1/8 of an inch on the bottom left side. Not terribly noticeable and no other damage other than the normal wear for a VF grade coin. If the coin was in a slab graded VF it would be priced at $1400 according to the Red Book. Considering it is VF details with damage how does that effect the value of the Morgan? Does a bad scratch/dig kill the value or just reduce it by 20% or something like that? In other words, how much does the old 'Not Gradable' effect the value?
If this gauge was on the obverse, it wold definitely affect the value much greater, upwards of 50% or more on most date/ mintmarks. Giving a price on a coin with "details" is difficult no matter how you look at it. If the dealer has been sitting on it for a while, you already have the upper hand.
Like I told you before, a problem coin can have its value decreased anywhere from 20% to 80% from that of a problem free coin. That is an accurate statement for almost any coin. Here are some examples for the specific coin you are asking about. This one, graded VF20 by NGC, sold for $1,057 less than 30 days ago. http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?saleNo=1187&lotNo=4277&lotIdNo=99010&inventoryNo=0&id=10191525 This one, graded VF30 by NGC, sold for $1,527.00 back in Feb. http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?saleNo=1182&lotNo=4406&lotIdNo=106002&inventoryNo=0&id=9454824 This one, the NGC slab says Cleaned & Damaged VF Details. It sold for $352.00 less than 30 days ago. http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?saleNo=1187&lotNo=8405&lotIdNo=5443&inventoryNo=0&id=10147763# This one, the NGC slab says Improperly Cleaned, VF Details. It sold for $822.00 about 3 months ago. Do you see what I mean ? The prices will vary greatly for problem coins. There is no rule of thumb beyond what I have given you. And you could take either of those 2 problem coins, sell them tomorrow, and they can bring prices different from their previous price I reported above by 50% or more. That's because the price will also vary depending on who it is buying the coin. One person may not see the problem as being as significant as another guy does, so he will pay more, or less than the other guy did. What I am trying to tell you is that the only person who can decide what any problem coin is worth is the person buying it.
This was just an example. I have looked at a few coins slabbed and not graded and was wondering how much it effected the value. My thinking was about 50%, but I noticed on some key dates people will tend to pay quite a bit more than the coin is actually worth. I guess it is what the buyers or bidiots will pay. Ah, I kind of thought damage was really bad if it is front and center on the coin. I have seen a couple that had damage on the reverse toward an edge and it didn't bother me that much. I have to assume I could safely pay 50-60% if the damage is on the reverse and not horrible damage. To be honest I wouldn't even consider a coin with obvious damage to the obverse. Eye of the beholder! Yeah, I know that one guy will pay more than another and that's true of any antique etc. I gather from what has been said that if there is slight to moderate damage that it is better on the reverse than the obverse.
You want to find out more, go here and sign up, it's free - http://www.ha.com/ Once you do get registered, then do your own searches through their Past Auction Archives. You will find hundreds of thousands of problem free coins and problem coins, in every grade you can think of. And you can see for yourself all of the examples and what people paid for them. I don't know of any better way for you to get a feel for the coin market.
