Has anyone ever ordered coins from the Coin Depot , I've been getting Coin Values magazine for years now and always wondered how they could sell PQ BU 1/4 Indians for $239 , and PQ $5 Libertys for $269 , How is the quality of these coins or are they sliders as I imagine . Thanks . rzage
For that much money, I want the coins slabbed. And by a reputable TPG. No slab, no purchase. If you personally don't care for slabs, then you can do your own cracking out. (But I like slabs.) Oh, and what's your definition of PQ BU? And what's the seller's? What if you disagree with him?
The $2.5 Indian price is very low if the coins are what they say they are. Since one doesn't get something for nothing, I suspect they are very overgraded. Low $200s is the price for AU55 / 58 coins (which can have very nice eye appeal). The $5 Liberty price is also too good to be true. MS62s run $300+. In general, whenever a class of coins is offered (as opposed to individual specimens) they're generic. Baggy. Nothing special. Not PQ. Could you get a gem ? Possible, but very unlikely. About as likely to finding an '09S-VDB in an "unsearched" roll of wheaties.
Never dealt with them nor do I intend to. Therefore I can't say anything bad about them. However, I do see some of the stuff people bring in that they have bought from the "big coin mag sellers". Generally ranges from highly overgraded to horribly cleaned or both. Scary how so many "big sellers" can take a beautifully designed coin and turn it into bullion. P.S. I HIGHLY doubt you'll ever stumble across a gem. Those would be slabbed for bigger money.
I never intended to buy any of their coins for the reasons you guys stated , but I'd like to know how these companies keep advertising this stuff year after year in such repubatle mags as Coin Values , Coin World etc. without getting booted out . Guess they pay to much money in advertisement fees . rzage
Because the magazines and newspapers buy paper and sell magazines, and newspapers, and advertising, not coins.
I have read PQ would be MS 64 or better I believe. But you bring up a good point, what does the seller call PQ. Who knows, their PQ could be our XF.
Big advertising is big money to magazines so as long as the money flows in they'll be allowed to advertise. This was pretty much covered already. Now a clembo story. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...... In May of this year a guy came in with some gold coins to sell. Paid good money from a firm in Texas I believe. High grade stuff - until he had to sell it. MAN! Polished junk! $2-1/2 and $5 Indians that are now bullion. Guy was not happy of course. We explained and even showed him examples of "real" coins. Well, he sold and lost a ton. He's obviously been stewing about this for a while as he called last week asking for a copy of the check he was given when the boss bought this stuff. My memory is a bit better than the boss's so I recognize him when he comes in. I also remember the condition of the coins purchased. We get him a copy of the check. Seems the guy intends to sue the company he bought these from. Just so happens we have a few of these coins still at the shop. We said we'd keep them for him. The boss has also offered to testify as an "expert" witness. Apparently he's done it before. Since I remembered I would be his backup. How cool would that be? Who knows what may happen but the bottome line is people need to know what they are buying. If they don't they shouldn't buy. If they do and it's falsely represented they should return it.
They are usually AU coins. Most average collectors cannot grade $2.5 Indians anyway, so they get away with that.
I have not bought from Coin Depot, but early in my collecting (about 2 years ago, just a beginner) I bought a number of 'pq' coins from another seller with lots of photos and multipage spreads in Coin World. When I sent them in for grading, I found out that that the 'BU' coins were dipped AU's. So, the 'bargain priced' Bu coins I paid AU money for were...AU! Not willing to give up completely, I purchased several thousand dollars worth of coins from the SAME SELLER (may I have a last cigarette before the firing squad?) but this time I knew how to spot cleaned and 'slider' coins, and 3/4 of the batch of 'BU' were just that. They had the nerve to try to pass off an xf $3 Indian as uncirculated. I sent the whole bunch back for a full refund and henceforth resolved to avoid such sellers completely. What I learned from this is that a knowledgeable seller is NOT going to sell a coin in an ad for less than its actual value. I would presume, without actual proof, that the 'bargains' up for sale are faux bargains, and you will get just what you pay for (and possibly less).
You mean 'likely' less. I see adds like this all over in Coinage. I have to ask, why are they trying to sell them this way? I'd say most that want you to buy sight unseen are not going to give you a bargain. It would seem to me as a way to get extra stock that doesnt sell, out the door. Maybe it gets sent back, maybe not. Knowing that most won't go through the hassle after it's done. If they truly were worth more, they would be selling them as such and asking more money. Wouldn't have to hide. With the abundance of greed just in shipping charges, I doubt many sellers are going to lose money and give out PQ coins just to be nice.
Yes, that's true. The really good stuff has already gone to be slabbed, or to fill want lists. The dreck, if you will, is offered up as pq to the credulous generic collector, who probably will not recognize that they overpaid, and dishonest profit is made. It would be a simple matter for the ANA, if they gave a rat's fuzzy patootie about the average collector, to buy some of this stuff through straw purchasers, prove that it's overgraded/undisclosed problems, and publicly out these characters. Of course they don't, because these very same numismatic charlatans buy the ads in the coin mags, donate to the ANA, and provide an outlet for all those problem coins from the premo dealers. Round and round it goes. just my humble opinion.
I've bought a few coins from Coin Depot, but that's only because they're right in my town and I can see what I'm getting.
I think it was a Scott Travers book I read it in about MS PQ being 64 +. I'll have to dig the book out, but as you suggest people use different definitions.