Someone locally just got burned on some junk commem's

jdimmick

Just came back from the local club meeting where one of the members bought a bunch of commem's last month. Included in the group were:

Antietam'
Bay Bridge
Grant w/star
Oregon trail
Ft Vancouver

Well apparently he sent them into NGC and they all came back cleaned/polished. He was asking my opinion on the coins and most of them were fairly obvious that they had been cleaned or worked. He had bought them while down in Georgia from some coin dealer at a gun show. I understand that he paid several thousand for the group, and was highly dissapointed and distressed when they came back BB.

Just wanted to post here for INFO, for those of you new or unknowledgeable collectors please seek asssistance from someone you can trust(dealer), or buy slabbed coins from a top tier TPG, and for god sake learn to grade the series your intrested in pursuing, especially if your going to shell out big bucks for raw coins.

jim

LindeDad

My rule of thumb is don't spend over a hunderd dollars on any coin not is a TPG holder. I like PCGS but a lot of People like NGC and a few others. After you have played the game for a while then maybe you will be ready to play with the big boys on the RAW coins.
Just thought I'd add my 2c worth.

BillJones

These days you really have to watch your step with raw coins. Yes, some pieces are raw because they have been in a collection for a long time and only now coming on the market. Most pieces are raw or in a "third world" cetificaiton holder because they have something wrong with them.

Steve27

"I understand that he paid several thousand for the group,..."

That's just crazy!!!

DorkGirl

Several thousand is tough to loose, but I just bought a coin from a collection that the guy paid $15,000 for originally. The dealer won't give me the name of the company, but she said they advertise in all the coin magazines. I doubt that he got over 1/3 of his money back. Morgans and Peace dollars, all in the square Kointainers, all in album pages in lovely albums. All cleaned....

Conder101

He violated two very important rules. 1.) Never buy expensive coins if you are not competent to judge them for yourself. And 2.) Never spend more for a coin than you can cheerfully afford to lose.