Home› U.S. Coin Forum
Options

how many people here have the sack ....

ebaybuyerebaybuyer Posts: 2,984 ✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
the sack to buy raw coins in an auction where there is no paypal protection, no ebay protection, where you have to actually know what your buying or you run the risk of getting burned and again, with no safety net. just wondering because i have seen some coins go dirt cheap because no one is bidding on them
regardless of how many posts I have, I don't consider myself an "expert" at anything

Comments

  • Options
    RYKRYK Posts: 35,801 ✭✭✭✭✭
    In person, when I have viewed the coins, sure. Based on photos only and/or without representation, no way.
    My Box of 20: https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/box-20/ryks-gold-box-20/17132
  • Options
    relicsncoinsrelicsncoins Posts: 8,286 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Certain series, I would have no problem. I certainly wouldn't buy heavily counterfieted series such as trade dollars, seated dollars, and some gold.
    Need a Barber Half with ANACS photo certificate. If you have one for sale please PM me. Current Ebay auctions
  • Options
    tjc2120tjc2120 Posts: 714 ✭
    I don't have the sack. Sorry.
    "spot on my UHR, nevermind, I wiped it off"
  • Options
    SwampboySwampboy Posts: 13,244 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've got "A Sack O' Woe". image

    "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso

  • Options
    DUIGUYDUIGUY Posts: 7,252 ✭✭✭
    No Guts No Glory!! image
    “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly."



    - Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
  • Options
    CoinCrazyPACoinCrazyPA Posts: 2,899 ✭✭✭✭
    I used to about 10 years ago.
    Positive BST transactions: agentjim007, cohodk, CharlieC, Chrischampeon, DRG, 3 x delistamps, djdilliodon, gmherps13, jmski52, Meltdown, Mesquite, 2 x nibanny, themaster, 2 x segoja, Timbuk3, ve3rules, jom, Blackhawk, hchcoin, Relaxn, pitboss, blu62vette, Jfoot13, Jinx86, jfoot13,Ronb

    Successful Trades: Swampboy,
  • Options
    GoldenEyeNumismaticsGoldenEyeNumismatics Posts: 13,187 ✭✭✭
    I do it. You win some and you lose some. Every once in a while though, you really, really win.
  • Options
    MidLifeCrisisMidLifeCrisis Posts: 10,614 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why should I? Plenty of coins and good buying opportunities out there.
  • Options
    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,589 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You're better off using your brain rather than your sack when buying coins. Think about it.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • Options
    atarianatarian Posts: 3,116 ✭
    Ive done it once seeing the coin in hand. a 2.50 1904. Did pretty well with it. but I havent done any other auctions where I wasnt able to see the coin or anything like that.
    Founder of the NDCCA. *WAM Count : 025. *NDCCA Database Count : 2,610. *You suck 6/24/10. <3 In memory of Tiggar 5/21/1994 - 5/28/2010 <3
    image
  • Options
    OKbustchaserOKbustchaser Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most of the coins in my collection were purchased "where there is no paypal protection, no ebay protection, where you have to actually know what your (sic) buying". Admittedly, many of the coins in my collection were purchased before there was an Ebay or a Paypal, but probably 90 to 95 percent of the coins I bid on in auctions even today still come without such protection because they come from REAL auction houses, not Ebay.

    That said, on coins--regardless of whether they are raw or certified--that will go for more than an amount that one is comfortable losing (and that price level varies from collector to collector) I recommend that if one can't preview the coin in person that he pay for representation to preview it for him.
    Just because I'm old doesn't mean I don't love to look at a pretty bust.
  • Options
    phehpheh Posts: 1,588 ✭
    I've done it. I'll likely do it again. From my experience however, eBay is not the venue where I typically *score* in the practice. Too many eyes there doing the same thing with more sack or stupidity (depending on how it worked out) than I've got.
  • Options
    BillJonesBillJones Posts: 35,864 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There are a couple of token and medal dealers I trust totally when it comes to auctions. One of them is so consistent and accurate with his grading that I will bid hundreds of dollars on a lot with no picture. In over a decade of dealing with them I’ve returned a total to two lots out of over 300 purchased, and those lots were items that were worth less than $20.

    I can’t say the same for coin auctions. I’ve learned that I can’t trust certified coins, certified coins with stickers, and I can’t trust their pictures because the pictures are, shall I be diplomatic and say, “optimistic.” I won’t bid on anything I have not seen. That’s a limiting factor, but I’ve learned the hard way (a bad deal on a $30,000 + item) that is the policy I must enforce upon myself.
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • Options
    tightbudgettightbudget Posts: 7,299 ✭✭✭
    Give me a good picture and I just might.
  • Options
    roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,374 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes, whatever did the coin market do before there was a PCGS or NGC? Were there even auctions way back then? How did dealers make a living? Imagine that the heirs of Louis Eliasberg even dared to sell off his collection 100% raw! image

    Hey, I just remembered, my entire collection back in 1986 was entirely raw! And most of the coins came out of major auctions with many via major dealers working on a 5% commission! And when it came time to sell them I did really well on most of those as the TPG grades were typically higher than what I had bought them as. Sadly, it's not like that any more.

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • Options
    JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
    I have bought a couple raw in auctions this year, but as already mentioned you really should have someone trustworthy look at them in hand first. If it has a good description, and a good image available, but I have not had it looked at in hand then I bid low, as many others do.
    JCM-Houston
    World Collection
    British Collection
    German States Collection
  • Options
    ConnecticoinConnecticoin Posts: 13,275 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>the sack to buy raw coins in an auction where there is no paypal protection, no ebay protection, where you have to actually know what your buying or you run the risk of getting burned and again, with no safety net. just wondering because i have seen some coins go dirt cheap because no one is bidding on them >>



    Are these local or online auctions? If they are online, got a link?
    *For Sale on Ebay*
  • Options
    BillJonesBillJones Posts: 35,864 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Yes, whatever did the coin market do before there was a PCGS or NGC? Were there even auctions way back then? How did dealers make a living? Imagine that the heirs of Louis Eliasberg even dared to sell off his collection 100% raw! >>



    My collection was also 100% raw. I bought all of my coins sight seen at shows. Then I moved to Boston and ran into two dealers, JJ Teaparty and the Worthy Coin shop. JJ Teaparty was (is) a retail store that specialized in collector coins. The Worthy Coin shop had a weekly bid wall. Before you laugh at the "bid wall" concept I purchased a Chain Cent, a 1796 Quarter and a number of other hard to find coins from that wall. At one point what is now considered to be one of the best 1804 dimes was sold from that wall. I scraped together every dollar I could on that one, but I was the under bidder; I just did not have the money to bid more. The Bay State coin shows, which were held three times a year, were also something I much anticipated very much.

    Things have note changed that much for me. The Internet is great for gathering information and finding out what dealers have in inventory, but I only deal over the Internet with dealers I know with a firm return policy. As has been said many times here, no picture can replace seeing the coin in person.
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • Options
    BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    I drank a glass of Dry Sack Sherry once.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • Options
    19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,503 ✭✭✭✭
    "how many people here have the sack ...."

    I've got the sack!





    But it's empty.





    Kinda makes me feel like I got left holding the bag.
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!
  • Options
    DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,431 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>the sack to buy raw coins in an auction where there is no paypal protection, no ebay protection, where you have to actually know what your buying or you run the risk of getting burned and again, with no safety net. just wondering because i have seen some coins go dirt cheap because no one is bidding on them >>



    I have to examine the coin in hand. I actually prefer to buy 'raw'.
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • Options
    TevaTeva Posts: 830 ✭


    << <i>Kinda makes me feel like I got left holding the bag. >>



    You got me Lee!! I was drinking a cup of coffee when I read your post it squrited out my nose I laughed so hard...

    I buy raw but it requires a good photo and something I want
    enough to take a chance on.
    Give the laziest man the toughest job and he will find the easiest way to get it done.

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Format
SpoilerCodeQuote
Heading 2Heading 1
Emoji
:):D:(;):/:o:s:p:'(:|B):#:*<3o:)>:)
Url
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file
Home • U.S. Coin ForumComment As ...