Blurry Morgan
dsessom
Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭✭
I will admit that I spend probably WAY too much time on Ebay - but some of the things you see on there are truly baffling.
While browsing this morning, I came across several raw Morgan dollars that the photos were obviously heavily doctored - and yet - this seller is getting all kinds of bids on their auctions, AND they have a 99.5% positive feedback rating with over 85,000 reviews.
Am I living in a dystopian world? Are people just not aware these images are doctored? I mean, in some cases (the coin I am posting below), the seller even blurred out some of the stars on the coin. ...and it has 9 bids so far!
The seller has hundreds of Morgans for sale and many, many photos look like this.
Am I missing something?
Best regards,
Dwayne Sessom
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Comments
I can't believe how much money he gets for his Morgans like this.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
Not sure that it could look much worse in hand than the images.
Nice clean cheek, just how I like ‘em.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
I can think of two things you might be missing: 1) How clueless so many bidders really are and 2) That a feedback score of 99.5% isn’t a very good one.
I’ve seen terrible sellers, who sell grossly doctored coins, as well as counterfeits, with feedback scores of 100%. That’s because many buyers of their coins mistakenly think they’re getting bargains, so they’re happy customers. And in the cases where the buyers are unhappy, the sellers usually allow returns in order to avoid negative feedback. Thus, they have highly misleading feedback scores.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
You know who I am referring to then? I didn't want to name names. I see doctored coins photos all the time, and they normally get zero bids, but this dealer is selling them like hotcakes with those photos, and with apparently few complaints! That is what really had me flabbergasted.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Anyone committing obvious fraud should be named and shamed.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
That makes sense. They definitely have some sort of system going. I could not sleep at night defrauding people like that.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
And then there's the Auction Kings that make every Morgan into a high contrast DMPL Morgan.
I was looking at shield nickels w/rays, what a bummer to see the way fugly stuff 😕 😵💫
That looks at least GEM BU
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
BHNC #AN-10
JRCS #1606
That's probably the seller.
God bless all who believe in him. Do unto others what you expect to be done to you. Dubbed a "Committee Secret Agent" by @mr1931S on 7/23/24. Founding member of CU Anti-Troll League since 9/24/24.
What'd he do? Take it to a buffing wheel?
Throw a coin enough times, and suppose one day it lands on its edge.
That's digital image manipulation. (Like Photoshop, etc.) It looks like they just blur out most of the field and cheek to make it look smooth but to anyone who sees Morgan dollars every day, knows that Morgans don't look like that.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
This particular coin sold for $37.40, + $4.50 shipping. So, about $13 above melt.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Yep. This is egregious, but if used correctly the tool that created this “blurry” image can make a very convincing photograph of a coin to make it grade several points higher.
Coin Photographer.
That coin is BU all day long.........Buffed Up.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I posted about my purchase from him a while back.
Could be the seller putting the coin on a scanner and that it the result.
Probably not and the seller is doing it on purpose as a selling tactic.
Some people have too much money.
Listings like this are deceitful at the least.
The reason the buyers are so satisfied is the coins probably look far better than the pics so the buyer thinks jackpot! Years ago, 12 at least, I purchased a pair of Indian head cents by placing a low bid and won. The photos were terrible, but semikeys that I could make out woodgrain so I took a chance. Coins came and were absolutely beautiful. I went back to his website and sure enough he had almost all the late 60's and early 70 IHC's. I now bid higher and won most I had bid on. I bought maybe 30 coins over the next few months and his washed out photos never improved. Finally, he quit selling IHC's and moved to silver commems and Morgans and finally quit selling at all. So some do it on purpose and some think tbey make great photos or scans.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
No, that couldn’t be what the seller is doing. Coins imaged on scanners don’t look anything like that. As was already mentioned, the seller’s fraudulently manipulating his images and to a ridiculous extent.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
You can take any dipped out looking Morgan dollar picture like this one I copied off of a google search
And just using my iPad image editor, just slide the “noise reduction” thingy to the max and the image looks similar to the eBay sellers images
He’s probably using another picture editor program, but that’s all he does to his images to make them look like that. Once you are aware of the deception, it’s impossible to be fooled by this type of image manipulation, the bad editing makes the very noticable.
Heres some of that same ebay Sellers negative feedback
Mr_Spud
Liberty's cheek is as smooth as a baby's.................
This thread is a very good reminder of why the major third-party grading services are so popular especially when buying coins off the internet.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I'm trying to buy one of his Morgans but with shipping and tax it is going for too much.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
A quote from P.T. Barnum would be appropriate right now.
Lordmarcovan, WTCG, YogiBerraFan, Phoenin21, LindeDad, Coll3ctor, blue594, robkoll, Mike Dixon, BloodMan, Flakthat and others.
I wanna buy one and cause trouble. Who is the seller?
Could someone who knows please post a link to one of the seller’s listings? Perhaps, as a group, we could coordinate an effort to .bombard eBay with reports of the seller.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
This would be my guess.
https://www.ebay.com/str/morgandealer?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211
With over 179,000 ‘positive’ feedbacks given it may be a bit tough…buy then again you never know!
Correct dealer!
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Thanks, gents. Several items reported for fraudulent blatant manipulation of images in order to hide flaws. I expect nothing to come of it, however.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Maybe he sucks at taking pics and doesn't care to get better at it.
You should have used the “😉”
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I would like to see some before and after pics. I see someone said that he commented about them, but I'm too lazy to try to dig it up.