What's your biggest turnoff about a coin? How about a coin photo?

mercurydimeguy

Do you have different turn offs for circulated vs. uncirculated vs. proof? How about coin photos?

Mine are...

Proof -- haze/residue on top of the mirrors are just a deal breaker for me. Maybe cause one time I had it actually ruin a coin (e.g. PCGS pulled as "damaged"...but it was a tough coin so impossible to replace") or that if removed it tends to grow back or that it makes the coin unattractive/all of the above?? but it is a deal breaker for me

Business strike (circulated) -- can't stand dark coins that are mono color (brown, grey, black) and flat/dull. no matter how good of a deal no matter how rare, can't buy one/own one. maybe one day i can warm up to it, but it has been nearly 30 years and i still can't do it.

Coin photos -- can't stand coin images that are so good they make every coin look like a museum piece...making F15 coins look like mint state beauties. This frustrates me because if the picture is that good, the person taking it is really talented, and the fact that they take pictures in such a way as to hide all of the coins natural beauty (e.g. breaks in luster, hairlines, hits, scratches, blemishes, etc., all the things that one can examine and enjoy about a coin's history) annoys me because they are not really representing the coin for what it is and clearly they know how.

Mint state -- big gouges on mint state coins. I've tried owning these...I even had one for almost 6 months but wound up selling it. It was a wonderfully frosty PCGS AU58 1875-CC T$1 that had everything going for it except a big gouge/hit on the reverse under the wing. Every time I took it out to look at it, that is all I could see and I couldn't see past it. Had to sell it...

ms70

Debris. I actually bought (and returned) a PCGS slabbed coin that had what appeared to be a tiny piece of gum or candy on it. I mean really? That got a slab?

And staple scratches.

BillyKingsley

Toning.

CoinZealot

No matter what the coin.

1) Big, shiny new scratches.
2) Face scratches.

BryceM

Coins? Cheek hits on Morgans & Peace dollars.

Photos? Flat images that make luster hard to interpret. Really great photos take time and I think the big auction houses just can't do a stellar job on each coin with the volume they turn over.

AMRC

ED being passed off as Toning.

WingedLiberty1957

BLACK SPOTS!!!!

I hate black carbon spots on coins ... makes me want to melt the coin down and sell the metal.

TommyType

Coins in general: Mottled toning....even if they have "pretty colors".

I'm buying the coin to see the design. If that design is so obscured that all I see is toning, toning breaks, color transitions, etc, then I'll move on. A nice even color, or even graceful transitions between colors/tones, is OK in my book.

lostincoins

For me it is the coin it self I would say, if it has spots, scratches etc that the rest can not overcome then it is a deal breaker for one I will keep. I like the old copper color and don't need it to be all bright and shinny, I also like circulated coins for the imagined history so bright and shinny is not an option.

As to photos well Imaging coins is one of my banes of existence.

BillJones

Yes, I get real tired of photo artists who make "pig's ear coins" look like "silk purses." That's why I don't buy much on-line, unless I know the dealer and have an iron clad return privilege.

As for coins, chopped up surfaces, ugly toning, spots in the focal area of the design and milk spots are all be turn-offs. Also instances where metal has been moved, and yes not all of those instances end up in problem coin holders.