Help please, Canadian Quarters issue, Solution Found !!
YQQ
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A few days ago I received a set of 40 Quarters (all Canadian, but that should not matter) dating from 1870 to the mid 1930 years.
you can imagine that they were not low priced. Images on Ebay were taken in groups of 10 and offered as each group.
some of these coins are scarce queen Victoria varieties.
The pictures showed better than normal condition of most coins, some could be seen as being high AU condition.
All pictures were taken through the plastic of the 2x2.
overall, these 4 lots were exciting and drew some attention and the end result was considerable prices for each lot.
I got them all 4.
2 days ago the shipment arrived. on a fast first inspection it appeared that each coin had been cleaned. None would pass PCGS grading and would be returned in a body bag. all were as a minimum cleaned, some more and many extremely heavy. several
of them must have made the acquaintance of a steel brush or a dremel tool.
some of the coins were chemically and mechanically worked on to make them "shiny". the pictures or description did not even slightly indicate cleaning.
I posted one set here to give you an idea of what the listing looked like.
needless to say, I am not a real happy camper .
One side of me says: return them, the other says : keep them because some are scarce varieties, nearly impossible to find.
What would you guys do? the vendor will take them back for a full refund.
it is a matter of rarity and scarcity against some heavy cleaning. which will win??
Help please, I welcome all the advise I can get.
Comments
I would return them. Every time I looked at one I would get angry.
Ditto.
They might not have been listed as cleaned, but the image you provided is screaming that the coins were, at the very least, thoroughly dipped. When you see an 1870 Canadian quarter with a holder marked F and the coin is a dull, lifeless white then you know the odds of these having been abused are really, really high. Regardless, if you are unhappy with the quarters then I would suggest you return them.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
which ones aren't cleaned? or may not have been cleaned I should say ? If the scarce varieties are one the fence then the decision is not so clear cut if it would take a lot of effort to find them again.
I don't think I have ever regretted returning disappointments.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Unless they stated in the auction that they were "not cleaned", then I don't know what the rationale would be to justify returning them. Id mark it off as a lesson learned and to inspect more before you buy.
Return.
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CCAC Representative of the General Public
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Send 'em back!
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
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Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
keep the rare varieties and resell the rest
I hate cleaned coins. I'd send them back.
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Thank you all for your input.
Below is the interesting rest of the story, how it continued and ended: ( you will never guess)
Originally the seller had four lots of Canadian quarters from 1870 to 1931 listed on Ebay.com in US $.
The default setting of the Feebay rip off Global shipping was not un-ticked in his shipping preferences.
This meant with every bid from outside the .com domain, the import charges and other fees increased by a undetermined and not sense making percentage.
This really ticked me off as I am a strong opponent to pay for something that is not required and not necessary and is contrary to everyone’s interest and pocket book.
So I had originally decided _not to bid at al_l, as it probably would be a considerable big chunk of $.
And perhaps it would not be worth it.
The 4 lots each contained 10 old Canadian Quarters dated from 1870 to 1931, with the majority being Queen Victoria from 1870 right to 1901. Every year was there in some grade. ALL key dates were part of it, right up to 1901.
1902 to 1906, King Edward VII and (1906 to 1916) was there (the next set was also listed, but I was not interested and did not bid. Then it was 1917 to 1931, George V.
The Images for Ebay were apparently taken by a friend of the seller without consideration for dates or looks. He just took images of groups of coins in sheets and had no idea what to show more prominent and what not.
The Photographer also took the images through 2 plastics, the 2x2 and the sheet. Focus was not always super, but was ok. There was no way to recognize any cleaning or manipulation when the images were enlarged. That was only later visible with all the plastic obstructions removed. See later.
While the listing were live, I watched the prices creep up and then suddenly the bidding stopped. A sure sign that many were testing the waters. There was plenty of interest, much from the same bidders.
I blew up the ebay listing pictures to try and assure myself to bid or not. If I was correct in what I thought I had seen, one coin could actually pay for the whole purchase and the rest of them would be gravy.
15 minutes before ending of the auctions, I decided to spike the 4 lots at 3 second before the end with what I thought would get them all.
I was lucky and it worked, the final bid coming in at about 2/3 of my high bids on each lot. Excitement pure!!
Seconds after the sniper had done its job, Feebay sent the invoices with the very impersonal order “pay Now”!
I looked at the total shipping costs added for each of the 4 lots of exactly 10 quarters each of $18.72, 16.75, 16.48 and 23.17 for a total of 75.12, NOT combined (not possible with GS rip off). (Same size and weight each shipment but a different price for each). And then I looked at the total combined Import fees of $ 315.48 And I got a bit uptight about that, asking myself: who gets that money? (see an explanation towards the end)
So I simply switched the Ship to address to an address in WA-state I have. And suddenly shipping was 8.95 and NO other fees applied. Yes, I had to make a trip across the border to pick it up.
I am the kind of person who does not want issues with the law, so I declared the coins and all my goodies I had shipped to the depot in WA to Canadian Customs on my return. I was sent into the customs house and handed my invoices to the officer, a trainee. He typed everything into his smart computer and came to a stop… Collector coins, can I see them please? Sure…and within seconds several agents were in Ahhhh about a quarter from 1870. Then the Supervisor asked if these were by any chance valid currency? So I informed them that these indeed are still legal. So he instructed the trainee cashier to make a change from collectors coins to Legal Currency! NO fees, NO taxes!ZERO at the border!
He looked at me, smiled, and suggested to remember that for future imports of similar items.
Thank you!!!
Finally at my friends house in Vancouver I got to roughly evaluate the coins and was not happy, as it appeared that most of them had been cleaned. Shhhhhucks !
Next day at home I called the seller in NC and we had a chat about undeclared cleaned coins being actually damaged goods.
He greed and the I heard the underlying story:
He had purchased a rather considerable Canadian and foreign Collection for a mere $ 1000 and was selling it off on Ebay.
I am doing very well with it, he said, revenue is already over 12K…so I do not care. We discussed the issue of cleaning in more details and he said:To make a deal right now would be my preference, or you can ship them back and I pay for all shipping! The deal he offered sounded really good, we agreed and he immediately sent a credit via paypal.
A great and happy story I think.
Last I checked, the seller is still selling off that collection, but now it is Mexican and European silver coins etc…
I have attached an image of the one coin which seriously attracted my attention.
Can some of you identify what the attraction is?
Can you please place a rough grade and perhaps a Value??
Thank you again for your previous input and suggestions.
In my 50 years of collecting I always said, a coin has to meet at least two criteria for me:
A: It has to make financial sense
B: And it has to make numismatic sense!
I should do well if and when I sell some of these Vickies, despite some having the “heeby cheevies” cleaned out of them.