Best Of

I think if you remove the corrosion, the "S" will also disappear. This is likely pareidolia.

It is not an "S" mintmark. It is the wrong size. It would also likely be a known variety since there should be numerous escapes of this as a die variety.

It’s scuffed next to the D -Not a mint mark
Not an error of any kind

@NJCoin said:

@Goldminers said:

@NJCoin said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@NJCoin said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@NJCoin said:

@ProofCollection said:

@NJCoin said:
There you go! As suspected, regardless of what the actual value is, eBay is NOT the venue for a profitable quick flip of something like this procured from some place like SB.

What venue would be? It's probably the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find. The ebay listings are very likely to come up in Google search results. How many dealers are active acquiring inventory on ebay or check ebay for coins to place with their customers? Probably tons. How many listings have been taken down and due to an off-site deal?

GC. HA. SB. With all due respect to @jmlanzaf, I'd never trust eBay with a 5 figure transaction, either as a buyer or a seller, given all the sketchy things that seem to take place there on a regular basis.

Obviously, YMMV. But SB is certainly not "the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find." And yet, to the great shock and amazement of several of our esteemed members, they managed to move 230 nearly identical items for the US Mint in a few short hours, grossing $8.23 Million.

If eBay was the ideal venue for these, why do you think the Mint didn't just dribble them out, either all at once or a few at time, on eBay? Probably because their net would have been a lot closer to the $6-12K each many of the experts here predicted if they had done so.

People thinking they were emulating what @jmlanzaf did with his comic book by scooping these up at $25-35K each on SB, thinking they were pulling off a "retail arbitrage," are about to learn the hard way that there is no such thing with such an expensive, widely publicized sale. People who wanted them knew just where to find them on December 12th.

Absolutely no one needs to pay a 50%+ markup to buy them a few weeks later at "the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find." Sure, eBay is very well known and widely available to anyone with an internet connection. So is Walmart, but Walmart is not the place most people think of when thinking of making mid 5 figure purchases. Which is probably why most luxury consumer goods are not sold through them, despite their wide footprint in the US.

Regardless of your preferences, lots of 5 figure coins sell on eBay all the time.

Understood. Which is why I prefaced my post by saying "with all due respect" to you.

If that holds true in this case, the seller soliciting @Goldbully should be getting slammed with acceptances, given how modestly they are now pricing their offer above the highest result achieved in the SB auction, after taking into account their seller fees and the fact that the Mint will never be auctioning 230 of these at one time and one place ever again. Since lots of 5 figure coins sell on eBay all the time.

I'm not sure that's the right price. Failure to have an offer accepted is usually about the price not the fact that the coin is on eBay... at any $ value.

Of course. Thanks for stating the obvious. The fact is that the seller paid $26K for the coin at SB, and will probably be lucky to get that, after fees, on eBay, while other 69s went for more at SB.

You do love to argue, and I am always thrilled to engage. If eBay was the right venue for items like this, there would be no GC, let alone HA or SB. It's ALWAYS about price. If you can get a higher price on one venue versus another, that's what makes it about the venue.

You can, should and will do you. Me too. I happen to think eBay is too sketchy to trust 5 figure transactions to, whereas I don't feel the same way about GC, HA or SB.

While there is obviously a market on eBay for expensive items, I doubt that I am alone in my feelings. If true, that makes eBay a less than ideal venue for things like this. Which is but one reason the retail arbitrageurs are having a difficult time with these.

My guess is if the seller asked $33,000 or $34,000 BIN, they would sell it on eBay just fine and make a nice profit.

The eBay fees are significantly lower than all the other venues that you mention, especially with a store. The total selling price at auction might be higher elsewhere, but the net to the seller after fees may not be any better at all.

JM keeps reminding you that eBay fees are actually quite low and the current problem for the arbitrageurs is not the venue, but their high asking prices and I agree with him.

Which is all well and good. My point is simply that, as a buyer of something this expensive, I'd be far more comfortable dealing with a reputable auction house than with whoever is on the other side of an eBay transaction. Same thing as a seller.

But there's a difference on ebay between random seller with a new account and well established reputable dealers who operate on ebay. There's no reason to avoid sellers with solid records on ebay, and there's plenty of ebay buyer protection.

Now, obviously, people can and do engage in high dollar value transactions on eBay. I just don't think it's the right place for something like this, even if your fees as a seller are lower.

The only other places you suggested are all auction houses. No flipper of these is going to turn around and let one rip at auction. Where else can you expect to RETAIL one of these? There's no place better than ebay.

You usually get what you pay for. Sellers desperately reaching out to prospective buyers only proves my point. The Mint had no problem moving 230 units in less than 3 hours. This seller can't move one with an aggressive markup in how many days and counting now?

There, I fixed it for you. Some things take time to sell no matter what. Almost always the inability to sell something is directly proportional to the price being asked. The fact that these haven't sold just means they're asking too much.

pay as you go will avoid and confusion.

‘’My guess is if the seller asked $33,000 or $34,000 BIN, they would sell it on eBay just fine and make a nice profit.’’

What’s the profit % when the “2” rated buyer (hypothetically) claims he opened the box and inside was an entirely different coin worth next to nothing and reverses his credit card payment on you (for which there is a high probability the seller loses the case).

I’ve been selling on eBay now for 25+ years and there isn’t a snowball’s chance in h-ll I would ever consider selling a $50,000 coin under current eBay terms and conditions. If others want to take that chance, more power to them!!

Just my 2 cents.

Wondercoin.

Fantastic looking examples ... thanks for sharing the coins and the story @CharlotteDude

I don’t care for the Fairmont pedigree

As to the look of Fairmont coins, I think Fathom captures it pretty well when he says "spectacularly original." They stand as reminders that almost all gold from the 1800s (including most of the stickered coins in my sets) have likely had some form of processing at some point in time, A truly natural look comes with a price - a crust that not everyone is going to find attractive.

When one of the first Fairmont sets was auctioned, I heard a dealer say that he sent his son to lot view the Fairmont coins so that he could understand what "natural" and "original" gold coins really looks like and why the terms are so overused in describing coins that are for sale.

@Eye_Boogie said:

@You said:
An electrotype is a replica, and it’s not a product of the US Mint. That’s why it won’t be put in a slab.

This one would have been made by Franklin Peale who was an officer at the US Mint and the only person to have access to the original coin (which is now at the Smithsonian) of which this coin is a copy.

Even if that were true, it would not make it a product of the US Mint. It would make it a replica made by Franklin Peale.

The notion that it's not 'a product of the US Mint' is both inaccurate and irrelevant, as the grading services holder privately issued pieces regularly

I don’t think PCGS or NGC have ever knowingly certified an electrotype. This is not just a “privately issued piece”, it’s a copy produced by transferring from an original coin. That’s an entirely different thing.

@NJCoin said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@NJCoin said:

@ProofCollection said:

@NJCoin said:
There you go! As suspected, regardless of what the actual value is, eBay is NOT the venue for a profitable quick flip of something like this procured from some place like SB.

What venue would be? It's probably the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find. The ebay listings are very likely to come up in Google search results. How many dealers are active acquiring inventory on ebay or check ebay for coins to place with their customers? Probably tons. How many listings have been taken down and due to an off-site deal?

GC. HA. SB. With all due respect to @jmlanzaf, I'd never trust eBay with a 5 figure transaction, either as a buyer or a seller, given all the sketchy things that seem to take place there on a regular basis.

Obviously, YMMV. But SB is certainly not "the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find." And yet, to the great shock and amazement of several of our esteemed members, they managed to move 230 nearly identical items for the US Mint in a few short hours, grossing $8.23 Million.

If eBay was the ideal venue for these, why do you think the Mint didn't just dribble them out, either all at once or a few at time, on eBay? Probably because their net would have been a lot closer to the $6-12K each many of the experts here predicted if they had done so.

People thinking they were emulating what @jmlanzaf did with his comic book by scooping these up at $25-35K each on SB, thinking they were pulling off a "retail arbitrage," are about to learn the hard way that there is no such thing with such an expensive, widely publicized sale. People who wanted them knew just where to find them on December 12th.

Absolutely no one needs to pay a 50%+ markup to buy them a few weeks later at "the place with the widest reach and publicity you can find." Sure, eBay is very well known and widely available to anyone with an internet connection. So is Walmart, but Walmart is not the place most people think of when thinking of making mid 5 figure purchases. Which is probably why most luxury consumer goods are not sold through them, despite their wide footprint in the US.

Regardless of your preferences, lots of 5 figure coins sell on eBay all the time.

Understood. Which is why I prefaced my post by saying "with all due respect" to you.

If that holds true in this case, the seller soliciting @Goldbully should be getting slammed with acceptances, given how modestly they are now pricing their offer above the highest result achieved in the SB auction, after taking into account their seller fees and the fact that the Mint will never be auctioning 230 of these at one time and one place ever again. Since lots of 5 figure coins sell on eBay all the time.

I'm not sure that's the right price. Failure to have an offer accepted is usually about the price not the fact that the coin is on eBay... at any $ value.