One that got away: neat 1803 gold piece

Baley

was watching this, ready to snipe at the close, but in the last few seconds, the bids exceeded my max.

was willing to pay about 4X melt

The auction

anyone else watch this one finish? opinions on the piece? did i dodge a bullet or miss a bargain??

commoncents05

Ex-Jewelry always scares me enough to pass.

-Paul

Baley

at any price? what about if you could get it at melt or less? still pass?? on principle or fear??

commoncents05

<< <i>at any price? what about if you could get it at melt or less? still pass?? on principle or fear?? >>



Melt or less would be fine. Mostly based on how hard they are to sell.

-Paul

dsessom

Well, I'm not a gold collector but I do know that's a rare piece. HOWEVER, being that is an ex-jewelry piece and has solder on it and it's about Net AG3 - I'd say you dodged a bullet. Just because the die variety only has 10 or less known specimens doesn't necessarily make it an R7. A true R7 has that many pieces known in TOTAL - all grades and die pairs.

Well, that's my $0.02. I'd say be thankful you didn't win it.

TPRC

I agree..probably tough to sell. But a truly scarce coin that seems like a value at that price.

BillJones

That coin is not something that would please me for my collection. Generally I try to buy coins that grade at least VF although I did buy a Fine-15 for my 1796 half dollar.

The fact that it is a rare die variety really does not mean very much for an early gold piece. If it was copper, that would be a totally different story because most early copper coins are worn. The same is true to a lesser extent for early silver. Early gold on the other hand usally went from one bank to another in bags and seldom grades below VF.

I would not lose any sleep over not getting this. I don't see it as an item that would be easy to sell if you had to liquidate it. It's kind of in a never-never land. The medium sized collectors would not want $3 grand + in it because they would rather have something else, and the big collectors would be turned off by the low grade and ex-jewelry. Most would figure they would find an example of the rare die variety somewhere along the line.

Unless you can't afford any better as a collector I'd say you did well not to get it.

jdillane

I threw down a bid for grins but was shy of $2K. Love early gold but I wouldn't lose sleep over not winning this one, R7 notwithstanding.

Nysoto

<< <i>probably tough to sell >>


The seller more than doubled the realized price of $1495 from Heritage in 2003, after cracking it and selling raw on eBay. There will always be buyers for early eagles at any grade. The seller is the all time cherry picking king of eBay, it is amazing the number of rare varieties he has sniped.

I would want more detail than this for type, I have some early half eagles as they are much less expensive than eagles.

BillJones

<< <i>

<< <i>probably tough to sell >>


The seller more than doubled the realized price of $1495 from Heritage in 2003, after cracking it and selling raw on eBay. There will always be buyers for early eagles at any grade. The seller is the all time cherry picking king of eBay, it is amazing the number of rare varieties he has sniped.

I would want more detail than this for type, I have some early half eagles as they are much less expensive than eagles. >>



Yes, but he held this coin for severn years, and unloaded it at a time when gold was flying high. Historically high priced bullion gold drives up the price of collector gold. Now the new owner is into it for almost $3,200 after shipping. I wonder how long he'll have to hold on before he gets to cash in?

AnkurJ

That price was very strong for the details the piece has. For an extra $1k, I would rather buy this. A LOT nicer look.
Regardless of condition, these things always sell. All things aside, I cant imagine paying that much for a problem coin.

1799 $10 with issues

Or this

If I had the extra cash available, I would have bought this one:

1797 PCGS VF30

AJ

MrEureka

The price seems a little low for that coin. However, I think you dodged a different type of bullet, because I think that it won't be long before it is commonly recognized that, in today's world, coins that are so far gone can no longer be authenticated with certainty.

Studio60

<< <i>The price seems a little low for that coin. However, I think you dodged a different type of bullet, because I think that it won't be long before it is commonly recognized that, in today's world, coins that are so far gone can no longer be authenticated with certainty. >>



Agreed. There was a Gobrecht dollar not long ago that wouldn't cross with PCGS because it had been tooled to the point the experts would not confirm it to be a genuine U.S. mint struck coin.

Baley

ah, you guys are great, you've articulated many thoughts and feelings about this that kept me from bidding, and raised new concepts for coinsideration. thanks!