I just bought my first 'old' gold coin!!!! (Now with pictures!)

Jdurg

FINALLY! I now have a gold coin that isn't modern bullion. This is the coin I got. An 1880 $5 Half-Eagle. While I'm sure some will die in horror over some major error I comitted in this purchase, but let me explain myself. I've wanted a 'real' gold coin for a while now, but never really thought I could afford it. I also had no idea what the common dates were. After reading through the forums and seeing everyone else's beautiful coins, I decided to see what E-Bay had to offer. For a date, I decided to choose 1880. I was born in 1980, so I thought that it'd be nice to have a gold coin made a century before I was born. So I did a search for some 1880 gold coins and there was a decent amount. I then put a price limit on what I was going to spend. I was only willing to spend about $150 for the coin. I just didn't feel it was worth it to go any higher. So I found a coin for sale and put in my bid of $150.00. I was winning that auction until about ten minutes ago when someone outbid me. I felt a little bad but then noticed the BIN price of the auction I linked to. It was right below my limit, and the coin actually looked a bit nicer than the one I was bidding on. I checked the auction closely and read the seller's feedback. Everything looked good, so I went and bought it. When it arrives, I'll get a picture of it and put it in the gold coin thread we have going. (Since the picture in the listing looks a bit low-res).

So did I do alright with this? I'm pretty certain that I messed up in some manner, but this is my first gold coin purchase and I'm more of a very casual coin collector than a serious one. So as long as this coin isn't found elsewhere for half the cost, I'll feel alright. I'm here to learn.

Regulated

You can't have done that badly - the coin has about $110 worth of gold in it, so your downside is limited to say the least.

dthigpen

Bad picture but I'd say possibly cleaned. Regardless, you have a little piece of history in that coin, so enjoy it . Next time you're looking to get a common date gold coin like that in 'original' condition, post on the BST board with your price limit, I'm sure you'll get some reputable offers.

Congratulations on your first old gold purchase.

Jdurg

I too thought that it looked somewhat cleaned. Mostly because of how there appears to be some toning right by the edges but not in the main fields. I'll have a better idea once the coin arrives. Knowing that it has aout 110 bucks worth of gold in it nice to know as well. So now I feel really happy about it. I don't plan on getting it slabbed. I'll probably just pick up a PVC-free capsule to keep it in. I think this will be a nice trinket to have at my weekly poker games. (Trinket as in thing to place on my cards, not bet with it. I'd have to be crazy to risk this coin).

lordmarcovan

It's hard to see much in that washed-out picture, but I would imagine you probably did OK.

mrearlygold

Hey Congratulations! You gotta start somewhere and you didn't get beat up too bad so enjoy!

Rgrds
Tom

dthigpen

<< <i>I too thought that it looked somewhat cleaned. Mostly because of how there appears to be some toning right by the edges but not in the main fields. I'll have a better idea once the coin arrives. Knowing that it has aout 110 bucks worth of gold in it nice to know as well. So now I feel really happy about it. I don't plan on getting it slabbed. I'll probably just pick up a PVC-free capsule to keep it in. I think this will be a nice trinket to have at my weekly poker games. (Trinket as in thing to place on my cards, not bet with it. I'd have to be crazy to risk this coin). >>



Toss it in an larger diameter airtight and use it as your card weight in the poker game, always very effective

Jdurg

Okay. I've finally gotten the coin and it's beautiful. I don't have a digital camera, so I had to scan in the coin. In real life, it's got a lot more luster and is much more yellow. For some reason, when being scanned it took on a reddish brown hue. But trust me, in real life this thing looks great. Definitely worth the 150 I paid for it.

Gonfunko

Looks like an OK coin. I would have waited for a gold dollar - the mintage was under 5,000.

RYK

Looks like a decent coin and a lot of coin for the money. Nice pick-up.

Louis

Congrats, glad you like it. Being happy with a purchase is the main thing.

Jdurg

Thank you. I really just wanted to get a gold coin from 1880 that wouldn't cost me too much money. The half-eagle kind of fell into my price range and is a nicely sized coin. (I've got some 1/10th ounce GAEs, but they're just not 'real gold coins' and are fairly small). So when I picked up this coin I felt it was worth the risk. Now that I have it, the risk was well worth it. Nothing like holding onto your first gold coin and feeling the heft and seeing the great luster and color it has. Can you tell I'm happy?