Upgrading my PCGS AU58 1901-M Australian sovereign... help me pick between two MS62 coins

lordmarcovan

I recently started shopping for 1901 Victorian set upgrades.

Since I have just trimmed off all of the circulated coins from the set,
I should have the funds to buy one or two nice MS pieces I need.

This means the set has shrunken and I've created empty holes where I used to have coins,
but the overall quality will have improved, because the set will be all slabbed and all Mint State from here on.

But this leaves me in a bit of a pickle over my Aussie sovereign. It's not quite MS- it's a PCGS AU58.

So I browsed around and saw an NGC MS62 on the Drake Sterling website from Australia.
I enquired about the possibility of trading up, offering my AU58 in exchange for their MS62, and paying the difference.
I got this reply:

<< <i>Yes, we can do this. I'm paying AU$365 for your AU58 sov at today's prices.
The website price for the MS62 is AU$495 + AU$50 shipping, so the cash difference is AU$180.
Let me know if interested, and we can go from here. >>



I haven't done the currency conversion yet, so I don't really have a mental handle on how fair or not those prices might be,
but this collection is more of a longterm "true collector" pursuit than my others, so I don't watch the bottom line as hard.
They'll all pass down to my daughter Victoria in a decade or so anyway.
So when I want something for this set and I've got the money, I usually pull the trigger and price be damned.

Wandering back to their website, I see they also have a PCGS MS62 for a little more money.

Which should I buy?

Here are the seller's pictures.


NGC MS62 @ AU$495





PCGS MS62 @ AU$525





Here is the one I'd be trading in (for an AU$365 trade allowance):







Now... where is that currency converter? Hmm... what is all this in US$?

Pokermandude

For currency conversion rates I use www.x-rates.com (not porno, honest!)

It's showing an $1 AUD = $1.031 USD or $1 USD = $0.970 AUD. This is the wholesale rate. Typically you'll get a 2.5% worse rate on the conversion no matter if it's paypal or your credit card. But since it's as a credit it'll basically just end up making you pay less AUDs for the coin you want. Meaning a smaller amount to pay 2.5% juice on.

Basically their offer of AUD365 is $376 USD, essentially 1% over melt value on your sovereign.

bronzemat

You can find converters with a search on google.

Looks like there is a carbon spot at 5 o clock on the obverse of the $525 one.

ajaan

AU$50 shipping. I would sell yours on eBay and hold out for one from a US seller.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>You can find converters with a search on google.

Looks like there is a carbon spot at 5 o clock on the obverse of the $525 one. >>

Yes, I know about finding currency converters. I just hadn't done it yet, because of this @#*%ing satellite connection which runs like molasses and has had about twelve mini-crashes in the last two hours.

Thanks for the spotting of that spot- I hadn't noticed that. I sort of like the overall look of the NGC coin, but from those pictures, I just can't tell if I'm admiring a nicer coin or a nicer picture, if you knowhutimean. Perhaps I should ask for larger pix, if I'm gonna buy from these people and pay AU$50 shipping. Like Don said, that seems a bit excessive? I mean, I know international shipping is pricey, particularly registered or insured or however one sends gold across the globe, but... ow.

Still, if I am to eBay mine, I've still got to ship it, and list it and do all that stuff. And maybe it will do OK and maybe it won't, if I use a true auction.

Decisions, decisions.

I think I'll stall for time (not that they are rushing me by any means) and ask for bigger pix of the NGC coin, at least. Looks like the PCGS coin might have cleaner fields, but then there is that spot that Mat noticed. I'm not a fan of spots on my gold. (Holes, sometimes, when they're on my hat, but not spots. Haha.)

lordmarcovan

BW, I went with the "Vegemite" option in the poll.

I've heard it's nasty stuff, but I'd be willing to give it a go, just once.

HoledandCreative

I selected waiting. The horse(center below George's thigh) looks to be damaged in the first picture. The second looks to have a little wear at Victoria's hair.

lordmarcovan

Hmm. Well, if I wait too long, the money I have will go elsewhere (saving? pah! what's that?), and my limited window of opportunity for being able to actually afford slabbed MS gold of this size will have passed.

Thanks for pointing these things out, though.

Surely if there were "a little wear in Victoria's hair" on the second coin, a TPG of PCGS' caliber would have noticed it?

And as to the first coin, I do see the mark on the horse, but I could live with that. These are MS62 gold coins, after all, not MS64 or or MS65+ examples. A few marks go with the territory. St. George's head looks pretty flat on that coin, too, though surely that is a strike issue and not wear.

It's impossible to tell from these pictures, but the darker fields on the first (NGC) coin look to me as though that has some luster that's reflecting back in a semi-prooflike way. But who knows.

My AU58 has a better strike on the reverse than either two of these MS62s, judging from St. George's head and helmet. But it has a lot of small chatter, not unlike the NGC coin above. The PCGS coin above does seem to be more mark-free than either the NGC MS62 or my PCGS AU58.

mnemtsas2

I know the owner of Drake Sterling coins quite well and he'll do well by you whatever the case. Personally I wouldn't go for either. Sit and wait for a 63 to come along in a PCGS slab.

lordmarcovan

Thanks, Mark. I was hoping to hear from you on this. Thunder from Down Under, and all that.

Andres

<< <i>AU$50 shipping. I would sell yours on eBay and hold out for one from a US seller. >>

Pokermandude

<< <i>They'll all pass down to my daughter Victoria in a decade or so anyway. >>



I knew you were doing a 1901 Vicky set, but didn't know why until now. What a cool idea

FWIW 1% over melt (minus shipping cost to them in Australia) seems like a fair dealer buy price if the only other option to sell it is Ebay. Why not the BST here? Could probably squeeze a few more percent out of it.

I prefer the NGC MS62 based on the photos. Low MS gold is tough to grade in pictures since they almost always have what appears to be the "circulation fuzzies"- someone on this board I believe coined that term, or at least it was the first time I had heard it.

LochNESS

Lord M... I voted to keep the one you've got. Here's why if you choose to keep reading:

I know you want this set to be MS but there are instances where an AU coin is better than a 60,61,62 or even 63 for that matter. MS simply means it was never circulated it doesn't mean the coin is prettier. I've seen enough gorgeous 58s and enough ugly 62s to know that is true. Your 58 looks gorgeous. I would keep it. Perhaps if you found a 65 or better, and you really desire that MS look, then upgrade. But for now I'd hold onto that 58.

mnemtsas2

In defence of the $50 shipping charge Australia Post is nothing short of outrageous when it comes to shipping packages internationally. $50 is about the minimum you can get away with if you want a package shipped out of Australia and comply with all the eBay/Paypal tracking insanity. It's nothing short of embarrassing when an overseas purchaser contacts us for a shipping quote on a sub $100 item and the shipping ends up costing more than the item.

LochNESS

Shipping more than halfway around the world (to US) from a giant island for $50... I guess it depends on perspective. For some reason it doesn't sound horrible to me.

mnemtsas2

<< <i>Shipping more than halfway around the world (to US) from a giant island for $50... I guess it depends on perspective. For some reason it doesn't sound horrible to me. >>



It's disheartening when a coin is shipped here from the USA for $10 and the same coin is shipped back there for $40+. When I sell on these forums I send items on a lower level of service that isn't fully compliant with Paypal's rules. It's much more reasonable at $18 for 3 slabs.

lordmarcovan

OK, so I guess I'll keep the AU58.

Come to think of it, I guess there is nothing wrong with it being a slabbed AU-MS set. (Bummer- I just sold off a couple of nice AU coins from it, but oh well.)

Anyway, I've found something MUCH better to spend that money on.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>In defence of the $50 shipping charge Australia Post is nothing short of outrageous when it comes to shipping packages internationally. $50 is about the minimum you can get away with if you want a package shipped out of Australia and comply with all the eBay/Paypal tracking insanity. It's nothing short of embarrassing when an overseas purchaser contacts us for a shipping quote on a sub $100 item and the shipping ends up costing more than the item. >>

Kinda figgered it might be something like that.

RGJohn

<< <i>Lord M... I voted to keep the one you've got. Here's why if you choose to keep reading:

I know you want this set to be MS but there are instances where an AU coin is better than a 60,61,62 or even 63 for that matter. MS simply means it was never circulated it doesn't mean the coin is prettier. I've seen enough gorgeous 58s and enough ugly 62s to know that is true. Your 58 looks gorgeous. I would keep it. Perhaps if you found a 65 or better, and you really desire that MS look, then upgrade. But for now I'd hold onto that 58. >>



I agree. Although not familiar with the coin instant, the one you own is more appealing to me in many respects ( strike, luster, general appeal).
I would not regard the two choices as upgrades.
Another opinion and worth perhaps what you paid to receive it.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>I agree. Although not familiar with the coin instant, the one you own is more appealing to me in many respects ( strike, luster, general appeal).
I would not regard the two choices as upgrades.
Another opinion and worth perhaps what you paid to receive it. >>

No, no, a very valid opinion, which is why I posted this poll.

It helped me decide how to use the money for other things, as you can see from the thread I linked to in that last post.

I do think it's difficult to really say with any degree of accuracy which of these three pieces would be the most appealing, based on the pictures we have.

But I've rethought the dumping of ALL of the non-MS coins in the set, now, so it looks like it will be an AU-MS set.

Bummer that I just sold a couple of nice AU Straits Settlements pieces and a tough Cyprus piece, but so it goes. I might dangle a small monetary incentive to one or two of today's customers to see if they will let me "buy back" their newly-won coins before I even ship them. If they accept this offer (basically a few bucks to walk away from the deal), I'll keep those coins a little longer. If they don't, then I'll use the money towards different upgrade options (and some for the purpose Victoria herself preferred, as mentioned previously.)

But there are only two, perhaps three AU pieces I just sold that I'd want to buy back. Fortunately, I hadn't gotten around to listing another one of them yet, because I didn't have decent pictures.

debsbuying

They are only offering spot on your trade in,why sell at spot,and postage from Australia can be done for $14aud via express,which is not trackable to a cost of $34aud for trackable registered postage. I think your getting done on the trade figure and the postage. Keep looking