1841 $10 : The market perils of an upgrade

ranshdow

At the end of last year, this coin sold at auction for $2680. It was one of two 1841 $10's in the auction from the same collection, both XF45 CAC, both OGH, and it sold for more than the other one ($2310). Presumably the buyer thought it was nicer of the two.

It was quite nice. In fact, when resubmitted to PCGS it came back AU55. It was then sold at retail as an AU55 to it's new owner (ahem) for $2000.

What happened here? Is this the realized danger of an overgrade? Or a case of the excessive cachet of PCGS/CAC/OGH?

TomB

Classic gold has an enormous pool of buyers who avidly search for OGH coins, but who will glaze over and ignore new holder coins. One reason for this is that few folks have the time, resources or inclination to build a set of classic eagles, yet many folks appreciate the coins and are happy to pick them off when they have all the bells and whistles. I know, because I am also one of that group who would really be interested in this coin in the OGH, but who would ignore it in a new holder. My own opinion is that unless one thought the above coin to be an AU58 (I don't) then it would be foolish to sacrifice the OGH and lose the pool of buyers associated with it simply to chase a grade.

KellenCoin

The market may just have changed and the value decreased.

Boosibri

@TomB said:
Classic gold has an enormous pool of buyers who avidly search for OGH coins, but who will glaze over and ignore new holder coins. One reason for this is that few folks have the time, resources or inclination to build a set of classic eagles, yet many folks appreciate the coins and are happy to pick them off when they have all the bells and whistles. I know, because I am also one of that group who would really be interested in this coin in the OGH, but who would ignore it in a new holder. My own opinion is that unless one thought the above coin to be an AU58 (I don't) then it would be foolish to sacrifice the OGH and lose the pool of buyers associated with it simply to chase a grade.

I completely agree with this

mercurydimeguy

Somewhat similar, I passed on a coin in an XF45 holder for a $1.3 price tag, 3 months later buying the same coin in an AU50 holder for $1.2k. Right now is a great time to dollar cost average (down) / upgrade coins in your collection. I just bought a coin in an AU58 CAC holder for $3.95k, I couldn't buy an AU55CAC a year ago for under $4.2k...with AU58 CAC's around the $8k mark. Today non-CAC AU58 sit at $3.5k... go figure

steveben

here's what i think happened:

• there were a lot of bidders because of the ogh and the cac, so it sold for a premium
• pcgs upgraded it because they get the money for doing so and it gets another cac coin off the market
• cac won't sticker it at au55
• not as many people are interested in it now because it's over-graded
• it probably sold to an under-bidder on the original auction who wishes they could have it back in the old holder, properly graded.

the person who bought it meant to flip it, but didn't count on out-bidding the people who ultimately wanted it for their collection...and probably want it less now it's over-graded.

i would pass on this coin in any holder or raw because of those distracting marks on the obverse. pcgs probably net-graded it for those to begin with...which is was the right call.

don't overlook good coins just because they are in the wrong holder. similarly, don't overpay for coins just because they are in the right holder. pay up for the keepers!

logger7

The sharp collectors with the dough know how it will grade and they bid accordingly. Occasionally some speculate that it should be worth even more or grade higher than it would. The same factors into raw coins at shows offered way above likely grades. They hope the lighting or other factors will cause likely buyers to make incautious purchases. Always sleep on a purchase unless it is a sure thing, or run it by others.