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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;longshot, post: 2304090, member: 76266&quot;]No miracles here, but I think this can be a neat thread and wondered if I had something to contribute. I thought of one that I guess was too good to be true. This was years ago and an important step in my coin education. I was in a local flea market one day, the owner likes coins and always has some for sale, though he is no real expert. I have bought a good number of coins from him. He has always been a square shooter. When I walked up to the counter that day he grinned and said, &quot;I have something you need,&quot; and he slapped an 1803 bust dollar down on the counter. I had only seen pictures and now I was holding one! It had decent detail and to my eye a nice original look to it. The vintage design was captivating to me. He said that he had graded it AG because Photograde said all the reverse lettering needed to be readable to make Good. I looked at it and some of the letters in the motto by the eagle&#039;s head were not readable but as I examined the coin and noted the full rims and the amount of detail I knew there was NO WAY that awesome coin was only AG. I think he was asking around $300 and I was sure that was an absolute bargain. Heart thumping, I bought it. I got it home and got out a couple grading books and decided it was at least VG. My first real cherrypick! My superior knowledge of grading had allowed me to pick a great deal! But....over the next couple of days I showed it to a couple of guys who knew more that I did and they were skeptical. I took it back to the flea market and told the owner of my growing concern about the coin&#039;s authenticity. He said he felt the coin was good but said if a grading service condemned it he would stand behind it. I sent it to Anacs and groaned when it came back &quot;struck counterfeit&quot;. So back to the dealer I went and he made it good, let me choose some other coins ( I wasn&#039;t too hard on him). I then told him I wouldn&#039;t mind having the counterfeit and we worked that out too. Today I keep it around to remind myself to be a little skeptical, to not spend &quot;big&quot; money on coins I don&#039;t know anything about, and that raw coins can be a minefield for the fellow who has just enough knowledge to be dangerous to himself. I was fortunate the dealer was nice about it all and we still have a nice friendly relationship. I realize this story probably was not exactly what the OP had in mind but I think an occasional caution to those of us who are less then expert can be a good thing.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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