Seated Dollar pricing.

ajaan

I'm thinking of getting a common date Seated Dollar in F-VF, preferably slabbed. I don't have a Grey Sheet so the only price guides I can go by are the PCGS or NGC guides. How accurate in real transactions are these guides? High? Low? about right? eBay seems to be all over the place on these for asking price. TIA.

Catbert

CoinFacts auction history and Great Collection archives can be useful for you.

ajaan

@Catbert said:
CoinFacts auction history and Great Collection archives can be useful for you.

Thanks. Didn't think of those.

Project Numismatics

Depends entirely on whether you are okay with a dipped out lightly cleaned market acceptable example or an original A-level CAC example. The spread between the two in a given grade is enormous in this series.

Walkerguy21D

You may find that actual sales prices are also all over place. There are a lot of doggy coins in straight grade holders in this series. The solid grade coins with original surfaces are tough to come by, and these sell for stronger money.

Catbert

Calling @Crusty

retirednow

@ajaan said:
I'm thinking of getting a common date Seated Dollar in F-VF, preferably slabbed. I don't have a Grey Sheet so the only price guides I can go by are the PCGS or NGC guides. How accurate in real transactions are these guides? High? Low? about right? eBay seems to be all over the place on these for asking price. TIA.

Why not use the PCGS or NGC auction archives. They post almost all auctions records ( except ebay and Great collections) for PCGS or NGC slab coins. Just keep in mind they include the buyers fee's when listed.

Crusty

Others have already summed it up well. The vast majority of surviving coins in this series are dogs. My advice is to wait for a nice original example. You can’t just go off of the grade on the slab because most of the straight graded examples have issues. If you want a CAC approved example (what I would suggest) you can throw the grey sheet out the window.for CAC examples coinfacts is a starting point. CAC price guide has made tremendous progress over the last year trying to catch up with the market but there is still a few more dates and grades that have some room to rise imho. Auction records unless very recent probably won’t be helpful right now. Because all of the coins in this series has jumped significantly in the last year or two. This series doesn’t really have any common coins compared to Morgan’s. But in your desired grade range your more likely to run across 42,46,47 and 71. If you are lucky enough to find a slightly better date for the same money or a slightly more I think it would be an even better buy. From what I’ve seen lately nice XF more available dates are available around the 1k-1250 level. A nice VF of a commoner date will run about 750-1k or so. Look forward to seeing what you end up buying.

ajaan

I have noticed a lot of these coins that are in TPG holders appear to be cleaned.

DelawareDoons

Take a while to find one, and be picky, and be ready to pay a nice premium. It's gonna be tough but original, wholesome examples are so, so, so, so much better than the dogs you see in holders a lot. Some of those things you can hear barking from across the dang bourse.

MFeld

@ajaan said:
I have noticed a lot of these coins that are in TPG holders appear to be cleaned.

Many of them have been.

pcgscacgold

Prices have increased recently because Daniel Carr is doing a restrike where you have to send in a host Seated Dollar. It pulled a lot of lower end coins off Ebay and other places. Last check he had already overstruck 40+ coins. I spoke with several dealers at the ANA that had been asked about cleaned or low grade coins.

yosclimber

@ajaan said:
I'm thinking of getting a common date Seated Dollar in F-VF, preferably slabbed. I don't have a Grey Sheet so the only price guides I can go by are the PCGS or NGC guides. How accurate in real transactions are these guides? High? Low? about right? eBay seems to be all over the place on these for asking price. TIA.

It's better to use the eBay "Sold items" filter, which is on the lower left corner of the search page.
This shows actual sales prices, instead of those widely varying asking prices.

skier07

I’m not trying to derail the thread but I recently bought this and paid a hefty premium. The photos don’t do the coin justice. Like @Crusty said finding an attractive unmolested one is very difficult.

spyglassdesign

I use multiple places... Gc, ebay, coin facts (they list heritage and other auction houses too). I try to find a somewhat average price. I also try to look at the coins that actually sold when possible to see why they may have gone high or low. Often times I find with many coins that sold high they had some feature, such as being a part of a specific collection or unique or nice toning etc. Same for those that sell for low...

Grading is very subjective so I will parrot what many others have said here before me... Buy the coin not the holder. Take in all the data you can and determine what you are willing to pay for the coin you want, and be patient.

Cougar1978

You might want look at CDN CPG get a consensus. I consider PCGS CF and NN CP Coin Prices very accurate. On My NGC material I may look at the NGC price.

The higher quality the coin the more the seller is going to ask. For nice material expect to step up and pay the money.

As far as the 1847 PCGS CAC 55 Dollar expect to pay thru the nose for something like that. What an outstanding specimen. These coins are where the serious players (who have money) put their money on the table. CPG CAC AU 55 on the 1847 $ is $1750. As PQ as it is I can’t see somebody asking less than $2000 or more on it. It’s an inventory cornerstone coin.

This piece whatever local show I attend (setup) it likely will be the only one in the room. So they lay out the green and pay up (give me what I want) or hit the highway on that one. Want a 30 pct discount? I have stacks of World Paper Money and album pages of raw collector coins from $3 and up.

Inspired70

I have been buying seated dollars for years and continue to be an avid collector. @Crusty is correct that they have really jumped in price in the past few years, but that could be said about numerous series, especially gold. I agree with what has been said earlier that sticking with a PQ example and hopefully CAC will cost you a little more, however it will be a prize in your collection and will hold its resale value nicely. If you can find one with nice toning/eye-appeal, all the better.

Good luck in the hunt and be picky. You will be glad you did in the end.

RichieURich

The key and semi-key Seated dollars are selling well above price guides. I couldn't believe how much was being asked for those coins at ANA.

BillJones

I would aim a bit higher than F-VF. A good, solid VF-30 might fit in you budget. These coins did not circulate that much, especially after their melt value came to exceed their face value. For whatever reason, Congress didn’t lower their weight along with the other silver coins in 1853. Low grade ones are actually unusual.

I would look at the notices in “Coinfacts” and “Collectors Corner” if you are not going to shows. You might get a lead on something there. I have done that numerous times.

coinkat

Hello Ajaan- hope all is well...

The series is tough. I agree with the approach of buying some representative examples- perhaps one from the 1840s, an 1859-0 and then perhaps an 1871 or 72. These dates will likely be the most available in a nice original VF grade- I would not go lower than 30 mainly because the original higher end circulated grades likely have a better shot at retaining value and will be easier to sell to type collectors.

I like the the series and buy nice originals when the opportunity comes which is rare. I think have bought 11 over the past 20 years. I write this just to elaborate on how often I see ones with the look and at the right price.