Do dealers buy raw cameos at prices above prices for none cameos?
SanctionII
Posts: 12,104 ✭✭✭✭✭
Many times dealers will sell raw cameos for premiums (sometimes quite large) over the prices they charge for raw non cameos. Do any dealers pay similar premiums when they are offered raw cameos for purchase? If so, is there any particular price these dealers pay (i.e., 2.5 times bid). I understand that some dealers that specialize in and promote cameos will not buy raw cameos from collectors. Have any of you experienced this?
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Russ, NCNE
Of the 1950-64 proofs, only the 50, 51, 53 and 57 would not make cameo. Of the others, the 54, 56, 59 and 62 are best, with the 62 being a deep cameo. For the SMS nickels my 1965 has deep mirrors and very heavy frost (however, it has small flecks of copper imbedded in the coins, perhaps coppers flakes off of a capped die, though I do not understand how a copper planchet could have become capped on a nickel die) and my 66 and 67 are run of the mill. For my 68-70 proof nickels, they are deeply mirrored and very heavily frosted (similar in look to some of the recent cameo jeffersons that have been post on the forums).
Carl, what cameo jeffersons do you have?
I know of no rule of thumb to use to value cameos - they vary so much from date to date. For example, a 1950 Franklin in cameo is 10-15 times more expensive than a non-cameo. But a 1956 will only be a few times more expensive in cameo.
I have had great difficulty selling raw cameos to dealers - we never can agree on a price. I suspect you will run into the same thing if you know what your coins will grade and the current market price. I know of about 10 cameo dealers that will give you a fair price for your capital plastics holder full of cameos. Remember that they will assess what the coins will sell for and then apply their expenses and profit margin to arrive at an offer price. Non-cameo dealers will often give low offers because they don't want to get burned. They will then sell them one at a time or resell them to a cameo dealer.
If you are considering selling your coins, you may want to consider getting them graded. This removes much of the subjectivity of what the grade is - at least you have a third party grading companies opinion. Even though it costs money to get them graded, I believe you will be more able to maximize your sales.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
It sounds like you have a neat set of Jeffs. I thought it was very hard to find them raw and am impressed you have found so many nice ones!
I have not given any thought to putting together cameo year sets out of singles that have accumulated. Sounds like a good way to spend some leisure time. I expect that one day I will submit coins for grading. Have not chosen to do so yet.