Cursed by Dealers

harasha

Unbelievable! I received a medal from Sweden today. The dealer mailed it between pieces of cardboard held together by staples. You can guess what happened. The staples worked themselves loose from the cardboard. During the transit from Sweden, those same staples happily scratched the surface of the medal as it shifted about.
Now I don't mind staples if they are tightly secured and measures are taken to firmly protect the coin or medal. But don't send staples with coins that are not secured. Stacks did that to me all the time.
Is it an epidemic? The guy who sent me the unprotected coin in a corrugated mailer (see my previous post) was a German dealer with an office in the United States. This malefactor was a Swede. Can it be a Nordic conspiracy to send me finally off the edge?

lordmarcovan

Ebay sale? Give him a strongly-worded neutral, or a neg if you contact him and he is unsympathetic!

harasha

Actually, this dealer came highly recommended. And to do him justice, he was very solicitous about my needs. He also discounted the price of the medal because he could not quickly locate it.
In truth, except for the careless mailing, I would give him high marks. But I don't understand why a respected dealer would do something so careless when it would cost nothing in time or even money to do it correctly.
Or it could just be some employee who does not give a sestertius or a AE As.

wildjag

Out the dealer

And I just had a similar thing happen to me, I got a coin loose in a bubble mailer. Just a piece of paper with the auction printout and the coin. It went from an XF coin to a VF coin in transit

Cladiator

Unacceptable. The way many coin dealers (Light and Darkside) conduct business blows me away.

secondrepublic

Not quite on the same level, I got a coin from Germany that was TAPED (both sides) with sticky cheap tape into a hole cut into cardboard... unbelievable.

coinpictures

It's amazing how careless people are when it comes to shipping coins. I receive countless shipments that are just flips or 2x2s tossed loose into bubble mailers or envelopes. The worst are those that toss coins loose into Priority Mail envelopes.

The key to preventing damage, regardless of whether the coin is in a flip or a stapled 2x2, is to pack it tightly so it cannot move. Movement of a coin with respect to its packaging is what causes damage! Even corrugated slab mailers, while great for protecting slabs, are not good for raw coins, as a single flip or 2x2 can still move within the mailer.

So what's the answer? The method I use to pack nonslabbed coins, while a little convoluded, pretty much ensures against damage from the shifting of the coins or holders (obviously if someone sits on the darned package, there's not much you can do to guard against that):

1. If shipped in a stapled 2x2, the staples are crimped completely flat; most of the time I remove coins from 2x2s and ship in flips.

2. Flip(s) is placed in a bubble bag (I use 4x5.5" bubble bags with an adhesive seal from this company). I usually fold the bag over so it is doubled, then seal.

3. Bubble bag is then placed with all paperwork in a rigid cardboard CD jewelcase mailer. By folding the bubble bag so it is double thickness, it is thick enough to be wedged tightly against the mailer so it will not shift in transit.

It's more involved and more expensive than just using a bubble mailer or an envelope, but I've been using this method for almost a year now with zero coins damaged in transit, and boatloads of feedback on Ebay specifically mentioning the packaging...

Kurt4

Been through this myself. Bought 4 coins for a total of about $200. Coins came scotch taped to a piece of cardboard in a regular envelope. That's the same way they went back, on the cardboard.

harasha

I originally restrained myself regarding the corrugated naked coin, but after the stapled medal, I sent an irate e-mail to corrugated coin dealer.
He recently responded with a sincere apology, so I'm satisfied with that. Let's see how the stapler responds.

MacCrimmon

These methods are completely unacceptable, and I would really question not only the ethics but whether the seller was a numismatist, AT ALL.

This brings to mind a vaunted British firm....can you say Spink, which shipped 20-30 SOHO copper proofs to the old Bowers & Ruddy firm when they resided in LA. The proofs were dumped into a kraft envelope, loose, with not a wit of protection, and mailed across the pond. Is there any wonder why the majority of British milled material which I see is garbage?

Another British firm presently ships the coins in 2x2 flips, and while wrapped in an outer envelope, this still allows for friction to occur whilst they slide to an fro inside the inner envelope....bottom line is these types are at the very least, CHEAP.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Actually, this dealer came highly recommended. And to do him justice, he was very solicitous about my needs. He also discounted the price of the medal because he could not quickly locate it. In truth, except for the careless mailing, I would give him high marks. >>


Perhaps a lapse of judgment, then. The "could not quickly locate it" part sounds chillingly familiar.
I've been guilty of that, several times.
But I am very leery of staples, and never use them for anything but my cheap 35c stuff that goes in 2x2s instead of flips. And I always crimped them with pliers, until recently, when the wife got me a nice flat-clich stapler.



<< <i>Not quite on the same level, I got a coin from Germany that was TAPED (both sides) with sticky cheap tape into a hole cut into cardboard... unbelievable. >>


This has happened to me several times. At least your German cut holes in the cardboard. I have gotten coins taped TO cardboard, or with no cardboard at all- just wrapped like King Tut on both sides, with multiple layers of very tough tape. From people who should've known better, too. Had to use acetone to remove adhesive from the coins.

One very big dealer who's nationally known and well respected (including here, on the Liteside) once sent me some Brit large pennies in ancient vinyl flips that were so PVC-adulterated, you could remove the coins from the flips and see ghostly green outlines of the coins, and even read the lettering and dates in the ghostly PVC images. Ick.

harasha

This morning, the stapler sent me a note of self mortification, stating that he had thought the medal firmly secured. He also graciously offered to accept a return, a refund of part of the sale price or a discount on a subsequent order.
So, as far as I am concerned, although I would have preferred to avoid the aggravation and have received an unmarked medal, I will close the book.
I have had dealers who genuinely don't give a darn. The tone of the notes that I had received indicate that the two here were genuinely apologetic. The first probably had an untrained individual mail the coin; the second simply misjudged the security of his package.

Conder101

<< <i>It went from an XF coin to a VF coin in transit >>


!!! That takes a fair amount of wear. How many years was it in transit?

Burks

I've had coins shipped in 2x2's to start with but they forgot that only onestaple won't hold a coin in place. They arrived to me with several large nicks and marks. Never had my e-mails returned from the sell either....

AuldFartte

The few coins I have sold on Ebay I have shipped either in a 2x2 (flat-clinch stapled, of course) or a flip (most in flips), taped the flip, encased it in a corrugated mailer, and packed that into a bubblewrap envelope, and taped the hell out of the envelope. I've had no complaints