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Buying at My Price, an Uninteresting Story
Barndog
Posts: 20,515 ✭✭✭✭✭
at the Summer FUN show earlier this year, I saw an 1835 capped bust half dime for sale. The coin was nice, in my opinion. I did not think the coin was worth the $800 marked on the holder. When I inquired a second time about the coin (I returned back to the seller's table), I was told I could have the coin for $700. I told the seller I would need to think about it. I thought and thought and thought, even looked at the coin again on the second day of the show. I concluded that $700 was too much for the coin. So I passed, but didn't forget the coin.
About a month to a month and a half ago, I noticed that Northeast Numismatics had the exact same coin listed on their website. This time the price was $500. How did I know it was the exact same coin? Two simple reasons: first, I remembered what the coin looked like; and second, I remembered the holder. In each instance, the coin was being offered in an older PCI holder graded as MS-63 and the holder had a severe spider-web crack on the reverse. I thought about the coin at $500 at Northeast Numismatics, then added in shipping to and from PCGS along with grading fees (this would be a coin for one of my two CBHD registry sets: Capped Bust Half Dimes with Major Varieties, Circulation Strikes (1829-1837)). I figured fees would add about $80 to my cost. I passed again. I guess the reason I passed again is that I never pegged the coin as a bonafide MS63, otherwise $580 would have been a pretty good deal.
Recently, I saw the coin again, this time on ebay. It was no longer in the cracked PCI holder. Instead it was in a fresh PCGS holder (perfect for my registry set). The starting bid on it was three something. I set a snipe and won the coin for $416 shipped. Great service from the seller was an added bonus. I had not dealt with Salvatore Germano (SGRC in New Jersey) before, but would do so again based on this pleasant experience. I got a coin that I liked at a price that was appropriate. This coin will go into my PCGS registry set for CBHD major varieties (filling the Large Date, Small 5C slot) and will upgrade my current set piece for the 1835 LM-5.2 die remarriage from PCGS XF-40 to PCGS MS-61. Happy Thanksgiving.
This first image represents my former set piece, which is XF-40
The second image (seller's pics) represents my new set piece.
About a month to a month and a half ago, I noticed that Northeast Numismatics had the exact same coin listed on their website. This time the price was $500. How did I know it was the exact same coin? Two simple reasons: first, I remembered what the coin looked like; and second, I remembered the holder. In each instance, the coin was being offered in an older PCI holder graded as MS-63 and the holder had a severe spider-web crack on the reverse. I thought about the coin at $500 at Northeast Numismatics, then added in shipping to and from PCGS along with grading fees (this would be a coin for one of my two CBHD registry sets: Capped Bust Half Dimes with Major Varieties, Circulation Strikes (1829-1837)). I figured fees would add about $80 to my cost. I passed again. I guess the reason I passed again is that I never pegged the coin as a bonafide MS63, otherwise $580 would have been a pretty good deal.
Recently, I saw the coin again, this time on ebay. It was no longer in the cracked PCI holder. Instead it was in a fresh PCGS holder (perfect for my registry set). The starting bid on it was three something. I set a snipe and won the coin for $416 shipped. Great service from the seller was an added bonus. I had not dealt with Salvatore Germano (SGRC in New Jersey) before, but would do so again based on this pleasant experience. I got a coin that I liked at a price that was appropriate. This coin will go into my PCGS registry set for CBHD major varieties (filling the Large Date, Small 5C slot) and will upgrade my current set piece for the 1835 LM-5.2 die remarriage from PCGS XF-40 to PCGS MS-61. Happy Thanksgiving.
This first image represents my former set piece, which is XF-40
The second image (seller's pics) represents my new set piece.
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Comments
have softened enough for some pieces to find a more permanent home.
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
<< <i>i thought the story was very interesting and shows how coin prices
have softened enough for some pieces to find a more permanent home. >>
Interesting, but that's not the lesson I learned.
These were my take-home lessons:
1. Coins in PCI holders are not as marketable as coins in PCGS holders.
2. If you know your series well and think a coin is overpriced, it often pays to wait as you might be able to get a similar or identical coin, in this case, at the same price, later on.
Thats your reward for following your insticts and not caving in and regetting it.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
john
Several lessons to be learned there. Thanks for sharing.
It's nice to hear your comments about Sal Germano. He has been in the business for many years, a low key guy who deals on a wholesale basis. I bought a gorgeous Arkansas commemorative from him in Philadelphia, and sincerely believe the coin would have brought a lot more money if it had been placed in an auction. It has nice toning. Sal also has a strong inventory of gold coins. Thanks for the story.
Edited to add: removed the above as it was a different coin I was remembering
Gary
Great read.
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
and got it for $162 just 3 months or so after it sold for $300 and change at Heritage.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
1. Coins in PCI holders are not as marketable as coins in PCGS holders.
2. If you know your series well and think a coin is overpriced, it often pays to wait as you might be able to get a similar or identical coin, in this case, at the same price, later on. >>
RYK: In addition to your above quoted take-home lessons I woudl like to add a third:
3. There are coins worth pursuing in lower tier TPGS holders, if you know how to accurately grade them, and if they are priced correctly...
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
<< <i>It was interesting to me, I was just thinking about how patience often pays off ...
Bingo
This is the single most important thing I think I have learned through coin collecting.
I'm thinking if the coin is retail $416 at Ebay, wholesale for a person that MUST sell due to life circumstances, might be looking at a fair $250 cash dealer offer in today's market. $800 ask from the dealer looking for fish, $500 at the full service dealer (Northeast Numismatics) to $416 at retail auction, to the possibility of a $250 wholesale cash offer. Whoaa that might be one slippery slope for the collectors that often pay full boat retail ask.
PCGS holder, some crust disappeared from the 3 in the date, from within the shield pales and from the 5C. You made no mention of this transformation. Does the "conservation" look appropriate, or did you just overlook that apparent process?
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
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<< <i>My observation: somewhere in the evolution of the coin from the PCI holder to the
PCGS holder, some crust disappeared from the 3 in the date, from within the shield pales and from the 5C. You made no mention of this transformation. Does the "conservation" look appropriate, or did you just overlook that apparent process? >>
Those are two different coins as he stated!
Successful Trades: Swampboy,
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
<< <i>That is an interesting story.
I'm thinking if the coin is retail $416 at Ebay, wholesale for a person that MUST sell due to life circumstances, might be looking at a fair $250 cash dealer offer in today's market. $800 ask from the dealer looking for fish, $500 at the full service dealer (Northeast Numismatics) to $416 at retail auction, to the possibility of a $250 wholesale cash offer. Whoaa that might be one slippery slope for the collectors that often pay full boat retail ask. >>
the example is a bit harsh due to the fisherman but isn't that the way
it has always been? basically pay full retail and if you sell the next day
expect a good 30-50% loss. ebay, for the types of coins i bought,
has always been the "real" price things go for. Buying full retail from
dealers websites was always a good way for me to get buried.
And yes, Sal is definitely one of the Good Guys (tm)!
the example is a bit harsh due to the fisherman but isn't that the way it has always been? basically pay full retail and if you sell the next day expect a good 30-50% loss. ebay, for the types of coins i bought, has always been the "real" price things go for. Buying full retail from dealers websites was always a good way for me to get buried.
That's been my observation as well, fc.
I knew it would happen.
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay