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Poll: How long has it been since you bought a coin sight-unseen?

Dave99BDave99B Posts: 8,524 ✭✭✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
Been over 5 years for me....

Has the Intenet changed collecting, or what....?


Dave
Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.

Comments

  • JrGMan2004JrGMan2004 Posts: 7,557 ✭
    I kinda consider EBay auctions and internet to be sight-unseen, since pictures can be manipulated...
    -George
    42/92
  • danny72170danny72170 Posts: 122
    I've bought several coins via eBay over the past few months sight unseen. Granted they were certified state quarters (so no big surprises) but that still counts, right?image
    Dan

    My quarters:
    Silver
    Clad
    Statehood
  • Dave99BDave99B Posts: 8,524 ✭✭✭✭✭
    JrGMan2004 - Good point.

    Dave
    Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
  • kamehameha00kamehameha00 Posts: 2,077
    Never have,probably never will.
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,075 ✭✭✭✭✭
    if eBay counts then 6 days.
    theknowitalltroll;
  • Dog97Dog97 Posts: 7,874 ✭✭✭
    I voted less than a year. It was on eBay, some kind of 1997 PCGS MS69 or PRF69 coin so I wasn't worried about it.
    I say sight unseen because it didn't have a picture.
    Change that we can believe in is that change which is 90% silver.
  • LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,376 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Only reason to buy one sight unseen is if you plan to stick someone with it for a profit. image
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose.
  • boiler78boiler78 Posts: 3,056 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bought this last night in the Heritage internet auction so I guess that would be about 9 hours ago.
    image
  • cosmicdebriscosmicdebris Posts: 12,332 ✭✭✭
    Oh man I want one of those.
    Bill

    image

    09/07/2006
  • MrEurekaMrEureka Posts: 24,240 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have thousands of sight unseen bids on Eureka. All are for the purpose of resale, of course.
    Andy Lustig

    Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.

    Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
  • nwcsnwcs Posts: 13,386 ✭✭✭
    Well, I consider digital photos to be just barely better than sight unseen. After taking a grading class I could see very clearly how different it is to grade with the coin and grade with a pic. But if you don't count my recent purchase of 2 pounds of random wheats as sight unseen, it's been a long while since I bought sight unseen. Last October, I think. Probably won't be doing it very often, either.
    Blog and Pics
  • LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,376 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hey Boiler, that's not sight-unseen!imageimage
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose.
  • boiler78boiler78 Posts: 3,056 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Oh! I just figure if I can't look at it with a loupe under a light it is sight unseen. Buying coins from images can be very hazardous and I don't normally do it without a return privilage or on expensive coins.
  • relayerrelayer Posts: 10,570 ✭

    How come you measure your poll in years? It was 3 days ago for me
    image
    My posts viewed image times
    since 8/1/6
  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,391 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have bought two coins sight unseen in my collecting history. One turned out to be one of the nicest circulated coins I have ever seen. The other I bought about three weeks ago. It was a 1904-O half in VF30. Such a difficult date I thought I would roll the dice and see what I got....Snake eyes baby!

    Cleaned and ugly. Never, ever, ever again.

    Tyler
  • KeleragKelerag Posts: 241
    I got a couple of coins off a trusted forum member last week image
  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    Monday.

    Ordered 3 coins from Brian Greer's latest list I received by mail, including a $2500 coin. Of course, there's a return privilege. There are just a handful of dealers I buy from like this, even with a return privilege. Too many send junk, hoping the hassle factor keeps the coins from bouncing back to them.
  • RGLRGL Posts: 3,784 ✭
    Hmmmm ... yesterday? image
    The Ludlow Collection (DCAM/CAM)
    The Ludlow Brilliant Collection (1938-64)

    image
  • FairlanemanFairlaneman Posts: 10,423 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nine hours ago. Four of them with one more on the hook.

    I go along with Boiler and say if it is not in hand it is Sight Unseen.

    Ken
  • Conder101Conder101 Posts: 10,536 ✭
    It depends on how you are defining sight-unseen. Most of the people here call buying a coin that you haven't seen in person and then having several days to examine it and still being able to return it, Sight-unseen. In short, regular mail order is sight-unseen to them. I remember sight-unseen as it was back in the mid 80's. You buy the coin based on the grade. NO RETURNS. You buy a MS-65 and as long as the slab says MS-65, doesn't matter what the coin actually looks like, it is YOURS. That was the marketplace that PCGS and NGC was supposed to provide and that is what sight-unseen is supposed to be.
  • ms71ms71 Posts: 1,537 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Been a couple years. Bought a nice gold dollar from a classified ad in CW. (It was in a PCGS slab, though).
    Successful BST transactions: EagleEye, Christos, Proofmorgan,
    Coinlearner, Ahrensdad, Nolawyer, RG, coinlieutenant, Yorkshireman, lordmarcovan, Soldi, masscrew, JimTyler, Relaxn, jclovescoins

    Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't an optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.

    My mind reader refuses to charge me....
  • jcpingjcping Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭
    Just did it again yesterday image to buy a coin with a board member. image
    an SLQ and Ike dollars lover
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,780 ✭✭✭✭
    Good Lord I can't remember how long it's been.
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,777 ✭✭✭
    A few hours ago, placing an order from the US Mint.
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • Fr8Tr8nFr8Tr8n Posts: 37
    Last summer but, the gentleman that I bought from was someone that I had established (email) contact with months before. Does that count? image)
    "The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." - James A. Garfield
  • islemanguislemangu Posts: 1,378 ✭✭✭
    couple days ago from people I know and trusted from past transactions...clear direct communications often makes for a good combination on getting good coins early from trusted dealers before mass marketed.
    YCCTidewater.com
  • NicNic Posts: 3,364 ✭✭✭✭✭
    45 years. K

    My 1866 Philly Mint Set

  • PeacemanPeaceman Posts: 5,098
    2 days ago... conversation over the phone went exactly like this....

    Me: Hi... do you have a so-n-so coin....
    Them: Yes we just got one in"
    Me: "is it 100% white"
    Them: "yep"
    Me: "is it blast white, not dull"
    Them: "yep"
    Me: "Any marks on the face at all"
    Them: "nope"
    Me: "Do you have a return policy"
    Them: "Yep"
    Me: "sold... here's my cc #....."
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Dont buy sight unseen. I usually at least ask for a photo, and/or approval. Heritage auctions of course have the photo file, but still like to find someone to view it in person for me if possible.

    jim
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
    any time there is a reasonable return policy, that is a sight-SEEN transaction.

    the most basic rule for buying coins has always been "do not buy coins sight unseen".

    i actually have bought a coin sight-UNseen recently (i was willing to accept responsibility), but it was for a variety. i didn't care at all about the grade.

    K S
  • Dave99BDave99B Posts: 8,524 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You guys are spitting hairs! I was implying that you have never seen even an image of the coin. I guess I should have been clearer.

    I guess one could argue that examining slabbed coin is really not "seeing" it. Maybe it has a rim ding, or the holder is concealing a scratch? Maybe only raw coins can be "seen".

    OK, I'll shut up now.


    Dave
    Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,944 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My real answer is never.

    But back when I was collecting Canadian dollars, I used to buy the current year's Loon or other dollars for a couple of bucks.

    I also got "desperate" one time and bid on an 1873 with arrows quarter in EF-40 in a major auction via a mail bid. I got the piece, and the technical grade was correct, but it had no eye appeal. I sold it off at loss, and chalked that up to experience!
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • RKKayRKKay Posts: 3,015 ✭✭✭
    Did someone say "DONE DEAL?"image
    Rick Kay
    Specializing in 1854 and 1855 large FE patterns

    <
  • Conder101Conder101 Posts: 10,536 ✭
    Done Deal Sight-Unseen Both mean the same thing. If you have the option of returning the coin it is NOT Sight-Unseen.
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
    ok, i'll put it another way. the ONLY way a coin purchase even has a chance at being sight-seen is if you actually, physically have an opportunity to examine it IN-HAND. a digi-pic does not make it "sight-seen".

    in other words, for you to make a coin purchase sight-seen, you must be able to examine the coin in your hand (and also under an environment YOU deem acceptable) prior to committing to the purchase.

    ANYTHING ELSE is NOT sight-seen.

    K S
  • Dave99BDave99B Posts: 8,524 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Dorkkarl - Then it would have to be raw, as well ......
    Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
  • ColorfulcoinsColorfulcoins Posts: 3,364 ✭✭✭
    Frankly, I am amazed so many people here answer with "never" or a response measured in years!

    The clear majority of collectors as a whole would almost have to be bidding sight-unseen as I'd assume few (if any) have a chance to view sight-seen ebay coins...and given the sheer overwhelming # of coins on ebay, like 10,000 per day, that's alot of sight-unseen bidding. SOme lucky collectors do get to see auction house coins but there's lots of internet bids too!

    For me, its unusual I don't buy a coin sight seen every week. Granted most are looooooow grade and cheap. If you were to ask me about my high-end coins (MS67, MS68 Roosevelts), I'd say perhaps a coin or two a month. So grade and specific interests do also play a role in sight-unseen bidding.....
    Craig
    If I had it my way, stupidity would be painful!
  • pontiacinfpontiacinf Posts: 8,915 ✭✭
    5 mins ago
    image

    Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill

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