Weekend impulse buys.
coinpictures
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Paid a little moon money myself on a few pieces as impulse buys/bids. None of these are inherently expensive coins, but they are very nice examples of the types, so I splurged more than I normally do, in terms of multiples of Krause...
Isn't it funny how multiples of Krause all of a sudden become more acceptable when we're talking low-catalog-value coins?
BELGIAN CONGO 1887 NGC MS65 BN 5 Centimes. Paid $40. Seems more RB than BN to me...
BRITISH WEST AFRICA 1936KN NGC MS66 1 Penny. Paid $25. I love these types, so I wanted to get a nice example...
FIJI 1936 NGC MS66 PENNY. Paid $20. Ditto...
GREAT BRITAIN 1937 NGC PF64 PROOF HALFCROWN. Paid $35.00. I don't own any of the early-mid 20th century British proofs.
PORTUGUESE INDIA 1936 NGC M65 1/2 Rupee. Paid $89. Low mintage of 100,000. Krause says $100 in UNC, so the BIN was fairly reasonable. Sucky pictures though...
Isn't it funny how multiples of Krause all of a sudden become more acceptable when we're talking low-catalog-value coins?
BELGIAN CONGO 1887 NGC MS65 BN 5 Centimes. Paid $40. Seems more RB than BN to me...
BRITISH WEST AFRICA 1936KN NGC MS66 1 Penny. Paid $25. I love these types, so I wanted to get a nice example...
FIJI 1936 NGC MS66 PENNY. Paid $20. Ditto...
GREAT BRITAIN 1937 NGC PF64 PROOF HALFCROWN. Paid $35.00. I don't own any of the early-mid 20th century British proofs.
PORTUGUESE INDIA 1936 NGC M65 1/2 Rupee. Paid $89. Low mintage of 100,000. Krause says $100 in UNC, so the BIN was fairly reasonable. Sucky pictures though...
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Comments
Here's where he bought it, so you got a pretty good deal. Those Portuguese India coins seem way underpriced.
Question for some of the regulars: Do you factor in slabbing costs (or the lack thereof) when buying/bidding on low-dollar coins? For example, on some $15-25 coins, do you allow a little extra because someone else has already gone through the trouble and expense of getting the coins slabbed? Looking at a $25 coin and figure that if you were buying raw it would problably cost you $10-20 (after fees and shipping both ways) to get the thing slabbed anyway... possibly more with the recent slabbing fee hikes...
Just curious how others think about this stuff.
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I sometimes account for a coin being slabbed and a nice grade. Esp. if it's a hard find and I need it for my collection. A MS66 is a top grade in Brit 1/2ds from NGC, with only proofs grading higher.
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Generally, I just look at the coin. Usually I'm willing to pay a little extra if it's a coin that I want, so maybe that gap is enough consideration for the grading fees - if they have been slabbed.
<< <i>Hey Coinpics, LMK when you are ready for some pristeen Brit coppers at mulitples of book!! >>
Sure! As long as you're pricing MS at VF book...
It's interesting -- lower-dollar coins seem to go for multiples of book much more readily than pricier material. Just economics I guess. It's easier to justify paying $25-30 for an $8 coin than to pay $300 for a $200 coin...
<< <i> On cheap coins, I'll balance the cost of the slabbed coin against the cost of slabbing. For example, you got a great deal on the Fiji penny, because you probably couldn't buy the coin, then slab it for less. If I had seen it first, I would have grabbed it. >>
The other problem with balancing the slabbed coin against raw + slabbing is that it assumes that you can readily find a raw example that will make that grade. Maybe it's just me, but I'm more likely to spend the premium on slabbed MS65+ coins just because the likelihood of finding a raw example that will make that grade is fairly small... hence the premium. Someone else has taken the risk and gone through the trouble of getting it slabbed.
I guess it depends on where you live and if you have a ready supply of high-grade coins that you can choose from and slab on your own.
I also think that it's a different discussion when we're talking 1950s and newer coinage, as the supply seems much more available. On older material, I question the supply and just how accurate Krause is on pricing. For example, the first piece above, the Belgian Congo 1887 5 Centimes, I think Krause lists at $12 or $15 in UNC (don't have Krause here at the office), so on the face $40 seems like a hefty price. On the other hand, just how many nice clean examples are extant that you would be able to pick up for less than $20-25 (so there's room for the slabbing costs)?
My guess is that this area (high-grade low-book-value coins) is coing to see tremendous growth in the next few years, especially countries and denominations that traditionally have gotten very little exposure (as opposed to the "tried and true" France, Germany, Great Britain, etc.).
Just random musings...
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Your 1887 Belgian Congo 5c is gorgeous. But so is mine and I paid $10 in AU. I just don't get it-maybe 'cause a really nice AU looks so much like an UNC to me. Now, I realize the MS65 is a much higher (cough, cough) grade than mine but I just couldn't spend those multiples without it being a much more expensive type of coin.
Mind you, this is not a criticism, just an observation. I enjoy you, your posts, and your images.
is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
<< <i>There's one more factor to consider with these inexpensive slabbed coins: ease of resale. I take this very seriously. There's an ever increasing market for these coins, premium examples of very low cat value coins, as can be seen from the auctions of members and non members. With a good rep and photo, they're gone as easy and nicely as they came, such as the Fidji coin. >>
Dimitri:
I agree with you on this
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<< <i>OK, I'm going to get blasted but what the aich...
Your 1887 Belgian Congo 5c is gorgeous. But so is mine and I paid $10 in AU. I just don't get it-maybe 'cause a really nice AU looks so much like an UNC to me. Now, I realize the MS65 is a much higher (cough, cough) grade than mine but I just couldn't spend those multiples without it being a much more expensive type of coin.
Mind you, this is not a criticism, just an observation. I enjoy you, your posts, and your images. >>
Nah, not blasted, just differing opinions.
I think we're comparing apples and oranges though. I would never have paid anywhere near Krause, let alone above it, for an AU. I'm pretty much a bottom feeder when it comes to circ and plain UNC coins; I usually like to get them for between 25% and 50% of Krause. Once we hit MS65 and up though, I recognize that there's a scarcity factor that has to come into play that isn't necessarily reflected in Krause. In my mind Krause UNC is 60-63. 65+ definitely goes into the BU column, regardless of reflectivity. 64 can go either way depending on aesthetics.
Then you run into the difficulty that for most pre-WWII material, Krause does not list BU, only UNC (exceptions for some Scandinavian material). The farther back you go, the worse it gets, when on some issues Krause only lists up to XF. Where do you then price MS60+ pieces? The sky's the limit...
Different folks have different ways of approaching this.
Oh, and those pictures are not mine, but rather from the auctions...
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<< <i>Not bad. I was watching the 1/2 rupia, but I got another one for less somewhere else.
Here's where he bought it, so you got a pretty good deal. Those Portuguese India coins seem way underpriced. >>
Hummm, not really, the main state bank (CGD) merged with BNU a few years ago and start selling what they found in BNU vaults for a while now:
http://www.cgd.pt/montra/moedas/numismatica_rupias.htm
1/2 rupias 1936 from original rolls (BU) are sold for 15 Euro, 1 Rupias 1935 also BU are sold for 10 Euro. The other Portuguese India coins for sale on that page aren't UNC tough.
Jose