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astonishing new developments in the deb'n'harold saga - check it out!!!

dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
i'm a longtime c4 member (colonial coin collectors club). of all the wacked-out things i might ever seen in my coin-collecting lifetime, i would NEVER .... EVER have expected this. "deb", our evil-sophisticated-coin-dealer-turned-ebay-scammer may not be such a smart coin dealer after all, but she sure shows up in the darndest of places...

volume 11, number 2, page 13 of the c4 newsletter: article by roger moore (NOT of 007 fame) about cherry-picking new-jersey coppers on ebay, discussing how he tried to cherry a 21-R, a very rare variety (i myself, don't have 1). he tried to snipe 1 on ebay from some obscure seller - the image shows a heavily worn, holed specimen, maybe a net-grade of PO-1 at best. 2 other snipers drove up the price so that the author ended up paying $5211 for the coin (it had been at $40 w/ 1 minute to go). $5K is not a bad price for such a coin, even heavily worn w/ hole. but roger was bemoaning the fact that, due to simultaneous snipes, his "cherry" ended up costing him a lot of smack. some cherry-pick, huh.

then things get interesting... get this! direct quote:

"The second tale has a happier ending - at least for me. The coin was listed as: "Husband's Estate: 178? Penny, extremely bad!" The listing was followed by a very involved three page detailed reminiscences of the person who was selling the coin, including memories of her husband and friends. Finally, the long narrative ended with the description: "As far as I can tell, this is probably the worst coin in terms of grade in Harold's entire collection. It is in utterly awful condition, with a lot of heavy rust on it, and it is just about as worn out as it can be. It is considered to be a large peny of some sort, and despite how awful it looks, we can see that the first three digits of the date are '178'. I don't think much else needs to be said once you see the picture of this coin. I shall make it extremely cheap." I have to admit that my first impression was that this was a come on by some deceptive coin seller trying to induce bids from the unwary. I scrolled down tot he coin's image and couldn't believe my eyes - another 21-R!! I will admit that the details of the coin were much less evident than the previously mentioned 21-R ..." etc. etc.

roger-moore goes on to describe how he saw the coin rise from $5.00 after 1 day of bidding to $62.88 a half-hour before ending. he was expecting to get sniped again, ended up winning after it "had jumped to only $127.50!! as it turns out, several other 4c members who are good cherrypickers themselves never did bother to attrib the coin.

just thought this might be interesting developments for those of you who follow the deb'n'harold saga. if "deb" is indeed a coin-dealer, she is not very smart. her coin was worth at least $5000 to anyone who knows a danged thing about nj's.

1 thing that's worth mentioning here. i recall some forum members alleging that newbies were getting ripped by deb by paying way too high of $$$ for her unslabed coins. the claims were that the long-winded narratives were somehow inducing idiots into paying double, triple for deb's coins. imagine the uproar on this forum if roger-moore would have ended up driving deb's awful nj to $5000! i'd say this guy did extremely well w/ deb's auctions.

K S

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    RBB617RBB617 Posts: 498 ✭✭
    Karl - I'm not familiar with the saga, but thanks for the great story.
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    hookooekoohookooekoo Posts: 381 ✭✭✭
    RBB617,

    "deb" is an eBay seller discussed here in the forum before. She claims to be selling coins from her dead husbands estate, but there is evidence that she is just a seller adding sob stories to her descriptions to get people to bid on her coins out of sympathy.
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    braddickbraddick Posts: 25,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If the second Colonial sold for $127.50 Deb (or her "husband") only lost money if she (or he) had purchased it for more than $127.50. Otherwise the only money lost was potential profit.
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    Deb has been selling off Harold's "never ending coin collection" for quite a while now--plus you get soap opera updates with each auction--pretty gripping stuff!
    Curmudgeon in waiting!
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    RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    Harold has a habit of adding to his collection from the grave - again and again.

    Karl,

    I hope you don't think that the story you related is some kind of indication that "Deb" is legit. There are plenty of dealers who can't identify some obscure variety of a colonial copper

    Russ, NCNE
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    << <i>Harold has a habit of adding to his collection from the grave - again and again.

    Karl,

    I hope you don't think that the story you related is some kind of indication that "Deb" is legit. There are plenty of dealers who can't identify some obscure variety of a colonial copper

    Russ, NCNE >>



    What does the fact that 'there are plenty of dealers who can't identify some obscure variety of a colonial copper' have to do with whether Deb is 'legit'? If one variety is worth $20 and a second, similiar, variety is worth $5000 I would hardly call that 'obscure'. All the specialists are trolling ebay with a vengence and yet the rare and desirable (what you may call obscure) still slip through the cracks.

    The Deb and Harold hoard has yielded a treasure trove of really great material for those who have taken the time to research it instead of blindly bad mouthing the seller because of her smaltzy verbosity.
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    RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    abuell,

    So, you buy her schtick about dead Harold's never ending estate? image

    Russ, NCNE
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    << <i>abuell,

    So, you buy her schtick about dead Harold's never ending estate? image

    Russ, NCNE >>




    In case you just happened to miss it - she's selling coins, not schtick. Bidders are bidding on coins and some real gems are coming out of the woodwork. Why should I care if she's a little old lady with a penchant for smaltzy prose or a pasty faced, gaunt old geezer wearing a green eyeshade and sitting under a bare light bulb in a run down Bronx tenemant?
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    dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I hope you don't think that the story you related is some kind of indication that "Deb" is legit >>

    nope. thread was purely for entertainment purposes.

    for all we know, so was "deb"

    K S

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