Anaconda called me out
Casey
Posts: 1,502 ✭✭
About a week ago, Anaconda told all Newbies to stop lurking. Here I am. Thanks for the push. I found this board several months ago and have been amazed by the amount of information I have learned in such a short time. I've been away from collecting since I was a kid. Now that I have some money to devote to the hobby, I'm hooked again. I'm having the hardest time figuring out what I want to collect, but I'm leaning towards Barber and Bust halves. You probably won't hear from me much since I don't have much to offer yet, but I do have a lot of questions. Sounds like the Breen book will be a good first step for reference material.
Some initial questions I have:
1) What is "dipping" and why do I get the impression that this type of "alteration" to a coin would be acceptable to collectors that normally would abhor cleaning of any type?
2) What is referred to as the "darkside"? Is this NGC?
The fun part of this post - My aunt recently pulled 50 rolls of Barber and Mercury dimes out of her safe deposit box where they've been sitting since the '40s. She wants to sell them and I agreed to go through the lot cataloging and grading what is there. She used to work for a bank back then and started saving them when found. I've been through about 500 Barbers so far. Unfortunately most are pretty worn and consist of Good grades or below. No rare dates yet, but I have found 20-30 grading VG and Fine. Will make a nice start for an album. My grading skills are nil, and I'm relying on the Redbook. It's a great experience though to be able to go though such a large, raw assortment.
I would like to purchase from my aunt all of the better examples I find. I was going to offer the current Redbook value. I'm not worried about overpaying since this is family money, but I am concerned about making sure this offer is fair from her point of view. What do you think? We live in a smaller city and I don't even know if their are any local dealers that might be able to make an offer for the entire lot. The rest would probably be offered on Ebay.
She also has several rolls of quarters and halves that I have not seen yet. Looking forward to those after the dimes are finished!
All comments are appreciated. Have a great turkey day!
Casey
Some initial questions I have:
1) What is "dipping" and why do I get the impression that this type of "alteration" to a coin would be acceptable to collectors that normally would abhor cleaning of any type?
2) What is referred to as the "darkside"? Is this NGC?
The fun part of this post - My aunt recently pulled 50 rolls of Barber and Mercury dimes out of her safe deposit box where they've been sitting since the '40s. She wants to sell them and I agreed to go through the lot cataloging and grading what is there. She used to work for a bank back then and started saving them when found. I've been through about 500 Barbers so far. Unfortunately most are pretty worn and consist of Good grades or below. No rare dates yet, but I have found 20-30 grading VG and Fine. Will make a nice start for an album. My grading skills are nil, and I'm relying on the Redbook. It's a great experience though to be able to go though such a large, raw assortment.
I would like to purchase from my aunt all of the better examples I find. I was going to offer the current Redbook value. I'm not worried about overpaying since this is family money, but I am concerned about making sure this offer is fair from her point of view. What do you think? We live in a smaller city and I don't even know if their are any local dealers that might be able to make an offer for the entire lot. The rest would probably be offered on Ebay.
She also has several rolls of quarters and halves that I have not seen yet. Looking forward to those after the dimes are finished!
All comments are appreciated. Have a great turkey day!
Casey
0
Comments
The darkside is the World and Ancient Coin Forum, where the beer is warm and the company civil.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
For question number two...
The lightside is US Coins, the darkside is world coins (Everything BUT U.S.)
Now, don't forget the grey side, ajaan and airplanenut.
Blaze - Yellow male b 3/17/93
Onyx - Black male b 3/7/99
Duchess - Yellow female mix b 3/12/02 rescued 9/18/02
Rifle - Yellow male mix b 12/1/02 rescued 8/8/03
Diamond - Black female b 5/3/05 adopted 8/3/05
First Cam-slam - 9/21/04
My eBay
Dipping is a chemical process to remove toning or oxidation from a coin's surface. It removes a minute layer of the metal in the process and with repeated dippings a coin loses its luster and appears lifeless and lackluster. Not always bad, but over time coins are forever damaged if repeated many times. many Uncirculated coins are dipped at some point and it is probably impossible to avoid them if you wish to collect coins. Circulated coins look very bad and artificial if dipped and those are the coins collectors tend to avoid.
Tyler
Dipping is what you do to your checking account everytime you want to get another coin!!!
The coin prices in the red book are what you can expect to pay. Most coins can be found at show and dealer for less money. Paying you Aunt full red book value is much more than she would get if she sold them to a dealer. She should be very happy with full red book value.
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
In the spirit of "Buy the Book before the Coin", I'd highly recommend you get Scott Travers' "Coin Collector's Survival Manual" (the fourth edition was published a couple of years ago). It discusses how to go about collecting - pitfalls, the grading services, price guides, etc. It's the book I wish I had read when I got back into collecting ten years ago.
If you're thinking about Barber and Bust halves, there are also specialized books to read and clubs to join.
There are folks here who are familiar with collecting both series, so don't hesitate to ask questions!
Check out the Southern Gold Society
fcloud is right, Redbook is more than fair value for the coins. No one but family would pay her that kind of money.
There are many commerical "dips" one can buy to "improve" the appearance of coins. It is alteration, in a sense, but less severe than other kinds of cleaning that involve abrasion or rubbing. It only makes sense for mint state or proof coins, and you really need to know what you are doing to avoid impairing the coin and its value. There are also professional services, like NGC's affiliate NCS, that "curate" coins in a similar fashion. They do know what they are doing, are conservative in their approach, and fairly inexpensive. I've used them and like them. Also, one should bear in mind that if a coin has what certain collectors considered to be "attractive" toning (a concept I had never even heard of when I collected as a kid), dipping can really destroy the coin's value. You will find both ardent tone-fanatics and the "blast white" crowds on these boards.
ARCO knows a lot about the Barber coins, especially in circulated grades, and he might be a good resource for you.
Welcome back to the hobby! With the predominance of grading services, the advent of registries, and changes in collector trends, it is a very different collecting world than the one that existed 20-25 years ago. It is best to proceed cautiously at first. Working on sets from stashed rolls is really a "no-lose" proposition, and sounds like a great way to get involved again. Too bad your aunt doesn't have any Bust half rolls put away, huh?
Good luck!
William S. Burroughs, Cities of the Red Night
Blaze - Yellow male b 3/17/93
Onyx - Black male b 3/7/99
Duchess - Yellow female mix b 3/12/02 rescued 9/18/02
Rifle - Yellow male mix b 12/1/02 rescued 8/8/03
Diamond - Black female b 5/3/05 adopted 8/3/05
First Cam-slam - 9/21/04
My eBay
Welcome aboard!
NOTE: No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
Type collector since 1981
Current focus 1855 date type set
So Barbers and Bust Halves. Good choice. I'd rather have a nice circulated oldster over a perfect modern anything.
I guess I just like my coins to be older than me.
adrian
Barbers are a highly underrated series, IMHO. If my reading serves me well, they were underrated when they were "moderns", too.
Jimmy Bear
The Ludlow Brilliant Collection (1938-64)
Enjoy the boards and try to not let anything said on here get under your skin.
As for trying to decide what to collect, my only advice is to buy what you like, and buy the highest quality material you can safely afford. The rest will take care of itself.
GSAGUY