1880 Gothic Florin brooch-not real happy

laurentyvan

Its cleaned and polished-pictures don't show that too well but trust me.
The coin was easy to remove from the holder-just a couple of twists and it was loose.



two pins, top and bottom secured the florin in place. The out of focus pic shows the hole in the top-an identical one on the bottom.


Krause lists this coin at $85 XF and $275 in UNC. With holes top and bottom, cleaned and polished, is it worth the $37 some odd dollars it cost me?

I've learned a lesson the way I had to, the hard way!

Do I neg the seller for not listing the coin as cleaned and polished or do I swallow hard, knowing I should have known better?

Obviously since I've removed it from it's metal frame, it's not going to be returnable.

spinaker2000

start swallowing!! If it's jewlery, it's been cleaned.

But, still a nice coin, lots of detail.

Aethelred

At $37 that was a cheap lesson.

Did the seller make any claims about the condition of the coin? If not I'd say no neg is due.

laurentyvan

Spinaker old man, I was afraid you'd say that...

Where was that advice before I bought it? Never mind, silly retort on my part.

edited to add: And you edited your reply to add a nice, encouraging statement. I needed that...

laurentyvan

Seller described the coin as AUNC. And it may have been, before the cleaning-but I don't think so.

Aethelred

I was thinking just a few weeks ago "I hope Laurent does not buy any mounted coins."

I am very sorry I didn't say something, this is all my fault!

laurentyvan

Yeah, well, I'm a sucker sometimes and it certainly isn't your fault. Well, it wasn't the first cleaned coin I've purchased-hopefully just the last.

Edited to add: college cost me a whole lot more-$37 was an inexpensive lesson and I'm much wiser now than before.

Must be time for me to shoot my dog-not literally.

trozau

Dip it blast white and make it a great pocket piece.

Aethelred

May I be so bold as to ask for a link to the auction? If the seller made claims about the grade of the coin and those were unreasonable claims, you should request a refund. If he/she fails to give one, a neg might be in order.

laurentyvan

Trozau- you don't understand-this coin is already blast white under a direct light-lots and lots of shine!

laurentyvan

link to coin/brooch

Here you go.

wybrit

I think a neg is in order. Easy for me to say, I know. Sellers should be exposed for incorrectly describing their items if they are unwilling to accept a return and refund.

laurentyvan

I paid immediately but the seller has not given me feedback-perhaps holding it back until he saw what I had to say after receiving it?

wybrit

I paid immediately but the seller has not given me feedback-perhaps holding it back until he saw what I had to say after receiving it?

Highly likely. This is the tactic many sellers use to avoid getting negative feedback. It is one of the reasons the feedback profile is a poor gage of the quality of material you are apt to get from a seller.

Stork

Very deceptive if you ask me, I would have expected an aUNC coin with some kind of value approaching 'catalog' given what s/he said. The seller was using coin language, not jewelry language to describe the coin. Do you think you can put it back in the mounting?

python

The auction says that you can display either side, I assume that means can remove and put back.

Lloyd

I really don't know about this. I disagree with just about everything I've read. I thought it would have been apparent that 95% of mounted coins have been rubbed/cleaned/polished/mishandled in some way. Let's face it, the coin loses all collector value when it's mounted so what difference does cleaning make?

And Tom... as far as waiting for feedback before leaving feedback --- well I do that EVERY time. The reason is that this isn't a game. The level of my family's income depends to a great extent on feedback and there are too many idiots out there to leave yourself exposed. Once it's there it's there. I know sellers who received negs because the goods arrived three days after payment when first class post was paid for. And others who left negs because you the seller had 400 emails and chose to ignore theirs because it was pretty irrelevant. Anyway, the transaction isn't over when a customer pays you. It's the latter of when he accepts the goods or his cheque clears.

Honour is one thing but business is another.

Lloyd

rhound1977

In my minds eye (hind sight being 20/20), I would have to assume that any coin jewelery has been mis-handled, rubbed, dropped, banged, cleaned, and polished at on time or another.

Now the question has to be asked what did the seller know and think? I would find it hard to say any jewelery piece is UNC or AU, unless it was encapsulated before monting as jewelery..


Just my thought/opinion....

theboz11

Here is one with 12 hrs left,,, $38 and it is well worn. I like your coin and think in the long run you got a great coin at a good price. IMHO

edit: Since it is ruined, in your opinion, why not put a beautiful artificial tone on it.

Florin Link

laurentyvan

I really don't know about this. I disagree with just about everything I've read. I thought it would have been apparent that 95% of mounted coins have been rubbed/cleaned/polished/mishandled in some way. Let's face it, the coin loses all collector value when it's mounted so what difference does cleaning make?

Lloyd-I do agree with you. I hold myself to blame, falling for the very hype that I lampooned in "E-bay sellers, What they say and what they mean". The hype was coin language; obviously a piece used for jewelry would be cleaned and polished and I wanted to believe the hype. So, here we are... I should have left coin and brooch intact and gifted my wife with it but I failed there as well.

All in all, the best quality filler I own, which will eventually go to my son or on e-bay with an honest explanation of the coin's condition.

Compa

I would expect any piece used in jewelry to have been cleaned/polished. Any older piece to have scratches that have perhaps been polished out. - Coin is in a condition that is to be expected of one mounted as jewelry.

As for the seller stating, UNC ... that I have a bit of a problem with. If it was a seller that sells all sorts of things or one that sells just jewelry I would chalk it up to not knowing any better. But this seller sells coins. He should know better!

The 2 sort of balance out - the seller didn't do quite right, but the buyer should have known that jewelry does not a collectable coin make!

No neg.

You can ask to return it ... but even that shouldn't be expected.

ajaan

Not that expensive a lesson. You don't want to loose $37 but the coin is worth at least $20 IMO so it is a $17 lesson, maybe less.

trozau

<< <i>Not that expensive a lesson. You don't want to loose $37 but the coin is worth at least $20 IMO so it is a $17 lesson, maybe less. >>


Laurent, if you are willing to take the $17 lesson, I'll take it off your hands for $20 delivered (so that you don't have to be reminded everytime you see it).

laurentyvan

Positive feedback given the seller with this remark: wish the seller had described the coin as cleaned and polished.

He gets a positive, I get to express a simple wish-balances out, I think...

farthing

Hey, I'd get you $25. for that coin - postpaid. Cut your losses to $12.