Worth buying at spot gold price? 1863 S Coronet Head Gold $20 Double Eagle

1863 S Coronet Head Gold $20 Double Eagle... Civil War Era.
Scratch across the face and some rim damage.

 

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The edge and rim look chewed up, too; wonder if it's ex-jewelry.

That said, to my mind, classic gold at spot is ALWAYS a buy, unless gold is plummeting. Sometimes even then. Not always much of a numismatic premium on double eagles, especially common and damaged ones, but I still think there'd be some.

 

It peaked my interest till I turned it over and saw the S mint mark.
A guy could always scrape that off to match the holder
I figured with the condition issues, bullion at this point.
With gold heading south??
Melts for $1775
$1500 would be a deal.

 

Any gold at spot is a bargain.

 

Yeah, I jump all over gold at 15% below melt, too, whenever I find it -- which is one reason I haven't bought a gold coin in years.

 

Seller was looking a little more than just melt at $1775.
Pretty much everyone at the coin meeting agreed it's a bit ruff, maybe ex jewelry so bullion value.
I explained to the seller that if it was a philly and not a San Francisco, maybe a collector would want it a bit more.

 

If it were doubled over on itself and smashed flat with a hammer, wouldn't it still be a good deal at spot?

 

Depends where gold goes from here...Up,Down Sideways.
If it was converted into a ring, it might increase the value.

 

But of course that would require labor, the source of value.

 

I just assumed Cherd already had the hammer and worked cheap like situations I get into

 

But, the "Up, Down" consideration is always the case.

As I understand it, spot price is the current market consensus on the base value a commodity in raw form (no premiums). Therefore, if you desire that commodity, then spot represents the lowest price that you would possibly expect to pay. For instance, if that coin were melted down and solidified into a puddle, then that blob would still be worth spot.

I think the question that you are asking is less "good deal at spot?", and more "Is the spot price going to drop?". Similar questions from a decision making perspective, but different questions none-the-less.

 

I am a sucker for pre-33 gold at spot. I haven't been offered any for a while now and what I have accumulated over the years has doubled and sometimes tripled in value..... Yeah, if I were offered pre-33 gold at spot, I would jump without hesitation.

 

I have a different tactic. Twice a year or so, when Spot is decent and not going down, I pawn 2 (OK...sometimes 3) of HER pieces and sell for a few dollars behind Spot.

SHE hasn't looked at the Jewelry Box inside a bigger box inside the closet on the top shelf in the corner behind the old 1 gal. Crisco Can full of buttons, for 10 years. I know, I know....she collected buttons for years. Go figure.

Easy no stress.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead and judge. I paid for the stuff anyway. So.....

 

The scratch looks pretty nasty ! The problem what would that do to value ?
but at spot maybe is still a good deal.

 

From what I gathered by talking to the guy, he loaned his friend some money and took this as collateral.
After a longer hold time than he wanted he started asking around to see what it was worth.
As people started to look it over he then really looked into the scratch, previous thinking it wasn't on the coin itself but lint or something else.
Pretty much everyone said the same thing. Shame it's ruff but love the Era.
I told him about the local gold and silver shop and said he might try over there ( the place doesn't have one out on a shelf or any US gold for that mater ) the seller looked somewhat interested in that option... here's where I was a little surprised I was at the gold and silver store yesterday, talked to the owner and told him about the interaction with the guy showed him the pictures and he said that the guy was in the shop last month ( interesting ) the owner recalled offering something like $1700 ( gold was $100 more at the time)
The guy at the coin meeting has a good pokerface he didn't flinch when I recommended the gold and silver store I'll make a mental note of that for the future.
I talked to the seller after the meeting for about a half hour...nice guy, pretty smart ( retired disability) dabbles in a lot of collector stuff and seems to not need the money.
He's into the 1863-S for $2000.
I told him looks like a nice pocket piece was I wrong

 

I have a few civil war era pieces, the history
is pretty amazing, I am a bit surprised
he didn’t have the value established before
hand, that would have been the smart thing to do

 

I think he was slow playing it and knew what the expectation on value was, but was looking for someone that really wanted it or wasn't sure to make him a good offer.
Like I said he wasn't tipping his hand and as I found out later wasn't that person that didn't know what he had.

 

If you are a stacker buy it.
If you are collector save for a better example.

 

As long as the 'damage' hasn't appreciably reduced the weight and the coin is genuine, I would think an 1860s double eagle for spot is an absolute great buy, especially if you can still buy it for below spot.

I'd do it.