Coin Listed on ebay now, (not mine) possibly worth over $400k? 1852-O "double eagle" MS 68?
flyingfoxfruits
Posts: 27 ✭
this is not my auction, and i can't afford to bid, but i want some professionals to take a look at what i believe is a once in a lifetime coin...maybe worth over $400K?
8
Comments
Without knowing anything about this particular coin's potential rarity:
Those are some of the fishiest images of a gold coin I've seen in a while. They just don't look right. Especially the random blues hues on the reverse.
Also this is a notoriously bad eBay seller so in addition to the fishy images, the seller makes two massive red flags in my book.
Successful transactions with: wondercoin, Tetromibi, PerryHall, PlatinumDuck, JohnMaben/Pegasus Coin & Jewelry, CoinFlip, and coinlieutenant.
I think I remember that coin, I have been looking at boarder in O mint DE and there was a 52 in an AU cleaned holder I thought was near MS but it went for Strong XF money so not for me. I don’t know but I would bet
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
LOL. This guy is known to buy problem coins, break them out, then sell them saying he found them in an old safe. $400,000 coins??? More like probably not even gradable.
Review his feedback, should give you some idea what your dealing with.
This thread makes me wish that I was in the Alabama card section on the set of a popular film... At least I liked it which is what matters... And well...I suspect most of you know the rest.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
The feedback doesn’t begin to tell the story. However, a perusal of some other threads about the seller, should.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I do not see any claim as to specific condition, it's all subjective. Tons of happy buyers though. One would think that they would have happily submitted their valuable coins for grading versus the lame story presented.
so glad i shared this here, thank you guys!
LOL i'm such a newb and a total kook when it comes to coin collecting....
Who wouldn't buy a $400,000 coin from a guy named "Big Al"? Seems totally fine...
No thanks.
Some people on here have done the leg work to find where he has bought slabbed problem coins from major auctions, etc, then relisted them broken out of their problem slabs. It will come back to bite him eventually.
Wow, it's not just uncirculated, it's "Highly Uncirulated"! And to think it was sitting in that "200+ year old pottery store" safe for decades. I've seen this guy peddle tons of stuff - There must have been a ton of stuff in that safe. I steer clear.
I wonder if the guy really calls himself "Big Al", or if that's just part of his gimmick - i.e., that he's a rube who just happened to stumble upon all of these coins and has no idea what they are or what they're worth. Either way, it's amusing.
When I questioned big Al as to how a slabbed coin got into a 200 year old safe he blocked me from bidding.
And I was very nice and polite about it...I showed actual interest in the coin.
I guess big al doesn't like questions regarding his items.
Way over exposed - hiding something.
Another one from the safe in the old store???? Wow... imagine that safe sitting there for a hundred years and no one bothered it....
Cheers, RickO
Hairline scratches from an old cleaning are easy to hide under certain lighting..
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
RUN. I do, any time I see a listing with a 'story' about how the coin was obtained. That includes all family members, old safes, attics, estate sales, and many more.
thedockter! Arrgh!
"Highly Uncirculated"? More like highly processed.
George Washington shopped here!
What do you base the "MS68" claim?? As bashing and venting are not permitted much here, suffice it to say there are many hard working, honest and very fair dealers on this site who have quality coins, not so much "the docktor". A 200 year old safe if taken as a statement of fact brings us back to 1820. So coins after that must have been stashed in there? The only thing that can be believed with this seller is probably he is not honest.
"Found in safe of 200 year old store during demolition!"
That's all we need to know.
Did they even have cinder blocks 200 years ago?
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Ebay is awash in false advertising. Sellers listing BU coins that are obviously cleaned. Sellers of "die break CUD" coins based on Webster's definition, and plenty of badly educated bidders. Outside of a few YouTube channels, like CoinHelpU for example, most channels represent die degradation, small hairline die cracks, and other common mint anomalies as rare die errors to coin hunt for and make hundreds from.
typo, should read Highly Altered
What if the story is the seller overpaid, is buried in the coin but needs the money to pay his divorce attorney? That, I would believe!
PT Barnum was right
Ha! Just saw a morgan listing recently that had that. Even showed a big pic of a canvas bag of silver coins in a safe - all washington quarters...
Like anyone would list a potential 400k coin and decide EBay was best place to list it.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Correct.
.....................and it came from the mouth of a "Barndog".
Pretty neat.
Pete
The only thing doctored were the pictures!
Run Run and save yourself wile you still can !!!
There’s just no rational reason to bid on an alleged coin like that from a questionable eBay dealer. None whatsoever.
That coin will straight grade when he// freezes over.
He Docktered the photo's. Don't let it fool you.
I think you all know this, but the building in that pic is 100 year old at most. It actually resembles closely 1920's and 1930's building styles, many like that in the neighborhood that I grew up in.
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
They built it AROUND the safe!
Only $2.95 shipping!!
- Bob -
MPL's - Lincolns of Color
Central Valley Roosevelts
The doktor is a known azzhat coin doctor
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https://www.cointalk.com/threads/does-this-hoard-for-sale-look-legitimate.325858/
Still selling off from 2018
@bombtech25
I hadn't seen that thread, before. I love the post from the guy who said he just won a double eagle and wants to find an expert to verify the coin before he pays the seller. What a mess!
you guys are great, i'm glad i ran this past the "hive mind".....Big Al has his story all figured out!
if you are looking at coins like this, you should spend your next grand on a grading class
Such mistakes can be expected, starting out - it's part of the learning process. A good book on coin grading is in order, I would say.
Interpreting photos - and also understanding their shortcomings - also comes with experience. As mentioned earlier, the lighting can hide a lot, and much of the coin surfaces in the listing photos are more or less obscured by glare.
As others have already said, there appear to be issues with this coin, the photos and the seller. For this date, there is a huge spread in value between lower CIRC, AU and MS grades, which makes the purchase of a raw coin a pretty risky endeavor, even without the aggravating factors!
To be fair, not everyone who takes photos like this is doing it to hide something. I've bought nice coins that were choice BU or better from an eBay seller who takes all of their photos that way. I know from experience with the seller that they are not doing it to hide dogs - I think they do it to emphasize that their silver coins are blast white (although I wish they would not do it, all the same!).
Those purchases were in the $10-$20 range, and the seller accepts returns, so there was a LOT less risk involved (to be completely fair, "Big Al" also accepts returns, at least on paper...
).
Coins like that are raw for a reason.
Looks like funny money to me
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.