From QDB's book-Cherrypicking is Key. But for the Gold Collectors, does Originality rise to level o

Longacre

I have been reading QDB's new book on coin investing. It is a great book and I reccomend it. One of the main themes of the book is that the key to collecting is cherrypicking quality coins and leaving all of the slop for the uninformed collectors (or the ones that just shop by price and not by quality). He gives several examples of dates of coins that come both weakly struck and well struck. He suggests taking the time to view all coins of that date and series that are available, and to pick out the ones that have great eye appeal and that are well struck. Frequently, the price of a well struck coin is the same as one that is weakly struck (even within the same grade).

For the collectors of gold, I am sure the same holds true. Other than strike, is it possible to cherrypick a gold coin that has fully original surfaces, or do those coins automatically command a premium in the marketplace? In my experience, most dealers sell bright and shiny gold coins, and coins that have never been dipped are getting harder and harder to find. Does anyone have any first hand experiece where two (or several) coins of the same type and date and grade are offered, but one is original and the others are dipped, but all of the prices are exactly the same? In other words, can an original gold coin be cherrypicked for a non-premium price, or do dealers generally price original coins higher than dipped coins?

mhammerman

I don't know about the other folks but I will pay a premium for an original skin. I particularly like my gold coins to have color, be it orange, peach, green, red, or just a little yellow. I don't mind a little mottling (sp?) or surface anomaly but it does have to be original before my wallet opens up. I have no interest in paying numismatic prices for dipped/cleaned/conserved gold and I do expect to pay a little more for the good stuff because it is becoming harder to find. Soon I suspect people will think that all 100 year old + US gold is bright and shiney with pristine skin and when they see an original skin, they will think there's something wrong but to each his own.

Regulated

I find it very difficult to buy original, pretty dated gold for generic prices. That being said, the levels that I have paid are all well below where I believe the coins will be valued in the not too distant future.