How do YOU define "Dreck"?

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GritsMan
GritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
Just finished reading Laura Sperber's report on the Long Beach show, and she uses the term "dreck" repeatedly. In the last sentence, she seems to define it as anything "over-graded, messed with, or low end," but I get the feeling there's more to it than that. Your definition?

BTW, she says dreck has fallen through the floor and perhaps is below the readings of even sensitive seismic monitoring instruments.
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  • Bayard1908
    Bayard1908 Posts: 4,184 ✭✭✭✭
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    I believe the literal Yiddish translation is vulgar slang for feces.

    In the way she uses the the term, I think of ugly dark toning or spots.
  • Bear
    Bear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
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    The term really describes a number of the dregs in the barrel.

    1. Over graded coins

    2. Coins that have been auctioned over and over
    in a short period of time. No one seems to want to
    keep these coins in a collection.

    3. Just made it for the grade coins that in addition are
    somewhat fugly.

    4. Stale coins that have been sitting for a very long time
    in a dealers inventory. These are coins that all dealers
    recognize on sight and do not want.

    In a down market, marginal coins are extremely difficult to sell
    at almost any price. In this period, collectors smarten up and
    demand more coin for their money.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • stinkinlincoln
    stinkinlincoln Posts: 2,733 ✭
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    Ive never heard that word used in coin talk once in my life. Nor anywhere else that I can recall.
  • Bear
    Bear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
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    Well, now you can not make that statement

    any more. Now you have heard the term.image
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • rld14
    rld14 Posts: 2,390 ✭✭✭
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    << <i>I believe the literal Yiddish translation is vulgar slang for feces.

    In the way she uses the the term, I think of ugly dark toning or spots. >>



    You are correct. It's a vulgarity, an amusing one however.
    Bear's "Growl of Approval" award 10/09 & 3/10 | "YOU SUCK" - PonyExpress8|"F the doctors!" - homerunhall | I hate my car
  • Edscoin
    Edscoin Posts: 2,028 ✭✭✭
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    I just Love it when Laura learns a New Word. image
    ED
    .....................................................
  • Shortie
    Shortie Posts: 72
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    Coins not worth buying or owning at any price
  • Zoins
    Zoins Posts: 34,489 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    What if a coin doesn't get a sticker?
    Private Mint News | 2010 Lincoln Reverse Finalists
  • RedTiger
    RedTiger Posts: 5,608 ✭
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    How about any coins that most newbies think are terrific but most veteran collectors won't touch with a ten-foot pole? Coins that might fit include those coins that are overdipped, overgraded, coins with questionable toning, all of which look great to the newbie, but the veteran collectors know better. High priced, top tier "dreck" certainly has fallen through the floor because the supply of newbies with big fat wallets willing to buy has mostly fallen with the economy. Those newbies that used to buy that stuff mostly either got smarter or got out, or went broke.


    Investment blog: gold, stocks and more
  • Barndog
    Barndog Posts: 20,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    at every local show and some national shows I have seen dreck half dimes: the same exact coin in the same exact dealer's case for more than a year, and in many cases, two or three years
    JR Newsletter Online Edition
  • cladking
    cladking Posts: 30,312 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    To me dreck is the unlovable. It's what's left over from a massive
    collection after all the good coins have been pulled out and dozens
    of knowledgeable collectors have pawed through it looking for any-
    thing unusual.

    Of course one man's junk is another man's treasure and an oxid-
    ized Missouri tax token could be an unknown variety. A lot of that
    junk foreign stuff can be quite unusual since some coins rarely
    show up. But dreck can also be perfectly collectible material that
    others ignore because it's not their cup of tea or it has fallen far
    out of favor. From time to time nice attractive better date mercurys
    to gem unc common date morgans have been considered dreck or
    junk; real collectors will buy them but won't make an offer because
    it's so low it might insult the seller.

    I think a lot of the best deals in the hobby have always been on
    the least loved coins. The same rules apply here as they do for the
    coins that bring high prices; buy rarity and quality. Look at the dreck
    Pittman picked up for a song. Sure, today this is stuff is in huge de-
    mand but that's because he kept it long enough for its desirability
    and scarcity to be recognized. He bought quality and rarity that no
    one else loved.

    It sounds like it might be a good time to go loking for dreck. Just be
    sure you aren't buying the junk and you're getting nice low for the
    grade coins. Be sure to offer enough that you don't insult the sel-
    ler though. image

    Most ugly AU's will make very pretty XF's, and an overgraded AU is
    still AU and a steal if you can get it for an XF price.

    Of course the better bet is to collect something and learn what you
    can about it. Maybe even go out and find some underpriced dreck.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Bear
    Bear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
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    This type of material you buy for X

    and you end up selling for 1/4 X if

    at all.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • pennyannie
    pennyannie Posts: 3,929 ✭✭✭
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    Bear you are right. You get 1/4 what you paid when you sell it. So dreck is about 99.87 of all coins out there? Most collectors recieve 25 cents on the dollar when it comes time to sell. I do not include the collectors of this forum in the above statement. We usually get 50 cents on the dollar. LOL
    Mark
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  • Bear
    Bear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
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    I always thought that the mark of a true

    collector, was to buy high and sell low.image

    The real money was always made on

    collections of carefully purchased quality

    coins held for 20 -40 years. However at 71

    years of age, I really do not think that I have

    40 more years left in me.image
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • FullStrike
    FullStrike Posts: 4,353 ✭✭✭
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    Yo, dreck is that affordable crap that the ultra big mouth Dealers sell to poor commoners like me. Look at it too closely and you can see all the evils of the Numismatic World.

    This be the same dreck crap that the big mouf dealahs be poor moufin from de rouftops.
  • Bear
    Bear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
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    It take most of us a good while, but eventually,

    most of us do learn. We do indeed learn.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • PerryHall
    PerryHall Posts: 47,748 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    << <i>I just Love it when Laura learns a New Word. image >>



    I remember a few years ago when everything was "widgets" and the dealers that sold them were "wannabes".image

    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

  • PerryHall
    PerryHall Posts: 47,748 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    << <i>What if a coin doesn't get a sticker? >>



    Then it must be dreck according to Laura.

    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

  • Cameonut
    Cameonut Posts: 7,436 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    At least dreck is easy to spell.

    “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson

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  • TwoSides2aCoin
    TwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,216 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Dreck is something perused. Dregs and schlock are basically the camoflage at a coin show. Somewhere hidden among them are collectible coins.

    ...anyway, that's how I define them, or "it".
  • ibzman350
    ibzman350 Posts: 5,315 ✭
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    Dreck=Schmutz








    Herb
    Remember it's not how you pick your nose that matters, it's where you put the boogers.
    imageimageimage
  • BAJJERFAN
    BAJJERFAN Posts: 31,659 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Ugly coins, stained or spotted stuff. Low grade common dates. But no coin is worthless; it can always be used as a horrible example.
    theknowitalltroll;
  • bushmaster8
    bushmaster8 Posts: 5,616 ✭
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    Dreck: the stuff that settles below scum
    "Wars are really ugly! They're dirty
    and they're cold.
    I don't want nobody to shoot me in the foxhole."
    Mary






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  • Boom
    Boom Posts: 10,165 ✭
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    Dreck = over-rated/overgraded, problematic & hence undesirable POS.

    A coin that for whatever reason has flown under the radar,
    (made it past the graders) and later manifests "issues".
    Boom's Retired Registry Set & Boom's Retired Variety Set
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  • MORGANHUNTER2
    MORGANHUNTER2 Posts: 4,473 ✭
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    Definitions of dreck on the Web:

    * schlock: merchandise that is shoddy or inferior
    wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

    * This is a list of English language words of Yiddish language origin, many of which have entered the language by way of American English or C***ney. Spelling of some of these words may be variable (for example, schlep is also seen as shlep, schnoz as shnozz, and so on). ...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreck

    * trash, junk; worthless merchandise, crap
    en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dreck
  • WinPitcher
    WinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
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    My collection?


    Steve
    Good for you.
  • advalorem
    advalorem Posts: 227
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    You know it when you see it. I realized I had just bought 2-pieces of dreck from HA this past week. Within 12-minutes, I had opened the package and sent it back Express mail for a refund.

    It's like pornography. You know it when you see it. image
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  • GritsMan
    GritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
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    Hey, lots of great replies here, but it all seems to boil down to a gestalt, "You know it when you see it" kind of thing. For instance, most of my coins would fall into the dreck category. They aren't overgraded, ugly, or anything else, but no experienced collector would want them. Of course, I got most of these when I was a kid. I have tried to stick with higher quality since I resumed collecting, but since I collect mostly Moderns, many here would call that dreck, too! Maybe I just need to accept my fate that I am a "Dreckophile"!
    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
  • MrSpud
    MrSpud Posts: 4,499 ✭✭✭
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    I don't really know for sure, but the term might apply to any coin that goes down so much in value that a seller either has to just sit on it for an extended period waiting for the price to go back up or sell at a significant loss. As in "Even when a great coin pops up, its still going to be much LESS than it would have cost you a year ago". Meaning that what was considered to be a great coin a year ago was actually just a dreck in disguise.
  • RBinTex
    RBinTex Posts: 4,328 ✭
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    In the context in which she meant it:

    Trash, especially inferior merchandise.
  • slumlord98
    slumlord98 Posts: 1,180 ✭
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    This coin is the epitome of dreck-

    dreck
  • GritsMan
    GritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
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    Please explain. Is it because it's not nice enough for top collectors to seek? Or is it just unattractive for its grade level? BTW, thanks for posting a specific example. I was hoping some people would!
    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
  • Gemineye
    Gemineye Posts: 5,374 ✭
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    Well ..I can tell you that pronunciation tells it all....you have to let it roll off the tongue to say it correctly....D r r e k k .....!!!
    ......Larry........image
  • lcoopie
    lcoopie Posts: 8,875 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    it's Yiddish
    LCoopie = Les
  • stman
    stman Posts: 11,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    image

    image
    Please... Save The Stories, Just Answer My Questions, And Tell Me How Much!!!!!
  • dizzyfoxx
    dizzyfoxx Posts: 9,823 ✭✭✭
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    I'll just define it as a coin that I don't want.
    image...There's always time for coin collecting. image
  • GritsMan
    GritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
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    Are you saying the coin below is dreck? Why? And with a CAC sticker (gasp)???



    << <i>image

    image >>




    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
  • slumlord98
    slumlord98 Posts: 1,180 ✭
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    << <i>Please explain. Is it because it's not nice enough for top collectors to seek? Or is it just unattractive for its grade level? BTW, thanks for posting a specific example. I was hoping some people would! >>



    Dreck has nothing to do with any particular grade level. There is dreck in AG and Unc. The example cited has been harshly cleaned, is heavily abraded for the assigned grade, and rates 0 in the eye appeal dept. vs. an ideal AU58. The issue is how does the coin rate vs. the ideal for the assigned grade.
  • jmski52
    jmski52 Posts: 24,011 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Are you saying the coin below is dreck? Why? And with a CAC sticker (gasp)???

    Very interesting indeed.
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
  • thisnamztaken
    thisnamztaken Posts: 4,101 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    << <i>How do YOU define "Dreck"? >>


    Answ: A coin that only a metal detector user might get excited about, upon digging it out of the earth? image
    I never thought that growing old would happen so fast.
    - Jim
  • CoinJunkie
    CoinJunkie Posts: 8,772 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Any coin that's worth at least 5% less than it was last month...

    image
    My Roosevelt Dime Registry Set
  • BAJJERFAN
    BAJJERFAN Posts: 31,659 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    This thread is useless without pics.

    Think this might qualify.

    image

    Or, I'll be along dreckly Matthew.image



    image
    theknowitalltroll;
  • stman
    stman Posts: 11,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    << <i>Are you saying the coin below is dreck? Why? And with a CAC sticker (gasp)???

    You asked.....

    << <i>How do YOU define "Dreck"? >>




    I posted an image of yes, what IMO is an answer to your question.
    Please... Save The Stories, Just Answer My Questions, And Tell Me How Much!!!!!
  • BAJJERFAN
    BAJJERFAN Posts: 31,659 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    One man's dreck is another man's treasure.
    theknowitalltroll;
  • DieClash
    DieClash Posts: 3,688 ✭✭✭
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    Oy! All this Yiddish is making me verklempt! Anyway, Boom posted it first, but I agree that dreck is POS. And I defer to Russ to identify POS coins. I will certainly stay away from these!image
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  • GritsMan
    GritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
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    << <i>Oy! All this Yiddish is making me verklempt! Anyway, Boom posted it first, but I agree that dreck is POS. And I defer to Russ to identify POS coins. I will certainly stay away from these!image >>




    image

    BTW, I think Laura is lurking. I noticed her new post specifically defines the term! Hi Laura!
    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
  • rld14
    rld14 Posts: 2,390 ✭✭✭
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    << <i>This coin is the epitome of dreck-

    dreck >>



    Hmmm... I don't like pinstripes on cars, let alone.....
    Bear's "Growl of Approval" award 10/09 & 3/10 | "YOU SUCK" - PonyExpress8|"F the doctors!" - homerunhall | I hate my car
  • PerryHall
    PerryHall Posts: 47,748 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Dreck sounds like a term used by a high end coin dealer to denigrate the coins being sold by more average coin dealers.

    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

  • dorkkarl
    dorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭
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    if your a dealer, "dreck" = "other dealers coins"

    K S
  • crypto79
    crypto79 Posts: 8,623 ✭
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    << <i>if your a dealer, "dreck" = "other dealers coins"

    K S >>



    No

    Dreck= coins in collectors innovatory
    PQ= coins in dealers innovatory

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