Burned on eBay - an educational experience with a 1796 large cent
jonathanb
Posts: 3,764 ✭✭✭✭✭
I bid on this 1796 large cent on eBay expecting one thing, and I got something different. Now that I have the coin in hand, I think I know enough to avoid making this particular mistake again.
These are the seller's pictures. Would you have read them better than I did? Describe what I thought I was getting, and what I actually got. Try to be specific -- guesses are fine, but better if you can explain why the pictures support your guesses!
I'll post my pictures tomorrow.
BTW, I don't need advice for how to deal with the seller. As it happens, this might even be worth more or less what I paid. I was hoping that it would be worth a lot more. That's my problem, not the seller's. I'm not going to criticize them for forcing me to pay a fair price.
These are the seller's pictures. Would you have read them better than I did? Describe what I thought I was getting, and what I actually got. Try to be specific -- guesses are fine, but better if you can explain why the pictures support your guesses!
I'll post my pictures tomorrow.
BTW, I don't need advice for how to deal with the seller. As it happens, this might even be worth more or less what I paid. I was hoping that it would be worth a lot more. That's my problem, not the seller's. I'm not going to criticize them for forcing me to pay a fair price.
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Comments
<< <i>As it happens, this might even be worth more or less what I paid. >>
"Burned on eBay"?
How much under what it's worth do you need to pay before you'd feel you weren't burned?
Is there a big "M" or "W" stamped on her head?
......I collect old stuff......
you were disappointed you didn't score a ... variety?
The main problem isn't subtle. I think you'll agree when I post my pics.
As for "burned", well, maybe that's a relative thing. If you go to the store and buy a blueberry pie, then take it home and find lemon filling, that's really not what you thought you were buying even if it was good lemon filling. Doesn't matter if you paid a sale price for the not-blueberry pie, it's still not-blueberry...
www.brunkauctions.com
<< <i>As for "burned", well, maybe that's a relative thing. >>
Fair enough. But everybody who's replied so far has been critical of some sort of problem, lemon filling or otherwise. Well, not me (yet, anyway), but based on the pictures you posted, I'd definitely expect a problem coin of some sort, so there's another vote.
Ignoring for the moment the problem you have yet to reveal, what were you expecting?
One ( 1 ) Cent aus Kupfer von 1796.
Durchmesser 29 mm.
Freiheit / Wert im Kranz.
Gering erhalten.Noch sammelwürdig.
which I translate roughly as ->
One (1) cent from copper of 1796. Diameter 29 mm. Freedom/value in the wreath/ring. Keep small. Still collect with dignity.
which I extrapolate as ->
nice coin but,
cleaned, retoned, damaged obverse hair area, pitting obverse in field and RTY of LIBERTY - possibly damage repaired
reverse scratched, odd wearing and green growth on wreath
and entire coin is hard to see anything but I used my fancy light and polarizer so you can see great detail
coin has problems and keep bid small so you are not disappointed - happy cinco de mao!!
<< <i>I think the sellers description says it all ->
One ( 1 ) Cent aus Kupfer von 1796.
Durchmesser 29 mm.
Freiheit / Wert im Kranz.
Gering erhalten.Noch sammelwürdig.
which I translate roughly as ->
One (1) cent from copper of 1796. Diameter 29 mm. Freedom/value in the wreath/ring. Keep small. Still collect with dignity.
which I extrapolate as ->
nice coin but,
cleaned, retoned, damaged obverse hair area, pitting obverse in field and RTY of LIBERTY - possibly damage repaired
reverse scratched, odd wearing and green growth on wreath
and entire coin is hard to see anything but I used my fancy light and polarizer so you can see great detail
coin has problems and keep bid small so you are not disappointed - happy cinco de mao!! >>
I like it.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Obverse photo is washed out, so coin is likely much darker in person. Fair rim ding at 6:30. Significant blunt trama to head, leaving deep impression.
Reverse show verdigris around left half of wreath. Uneven wear indicates possibly dented coin (maybe from the blunt obverse trama?).
Here are my pics, or at least the first pics that I took. I simply put the coin in front of the camera, centered in the viewfinder, with lighting at an angle from the sides. All things considered, that's a pretty good match for the seller's pics, huh?
This is the same coin with the coin off-center in the viewfinder, so that the light reflects directly off the coin and into the camera lens. It gives just a slightly different feel to the piece...
Unfortunately, the third set of pictures are the ones that best match the coin in hand. So... everyone who said that the color looked a little odd can take partial credit, even if that's something of an understatement!
Looking across the three pictures, the one constant is that darker outline around the devices. It's particularly obvious under Liberty's chin, and between the leaves of the wreath. That's the lesson I'm going to take -- watch for color changes that shouldn't be there.
As for what I thought I was getting... I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that this is S-116, an R-5- variety. It would have a premium, even in low grades.
Here are my two concerns: the obv and the Rev pics don't seem to match. However, they both seem to be the same variety so I don't think that is the problem. The left wreath stem looks like perhaps it has been tooled or engraved in relief.
edit to add that my post was made before he posted the buyer pics and I'll leave the above portion unedited.
--Jerry
Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose -- but the seller's obverse photos are, in retrospect, (a) overexposed (along with the resulting narrowed contrast) to minimize the appearance of the pits in the hair and (b) the lighting positioned to suggest a much smoother coin.
Sorry to hear of your disappointment, but that's the eBay risk, I suppose...Mike
If you go to a store and see a pie which you assume is a blueberry pie but dont ask, buy it, take it home and it turns out to be a lemon pie, not the sellers fault.
On the other hand if you ask the seller and they say its a blueberry pie, you take it home and its lemon, its the sellers fault.
PCGS Registries
Box of 20
SeaEagleCoins: 11/14/54-4/5/12. Miss you Larry!
has your result been much different?
with the strong collector base there, the aggressive prices, the risk involved with shipping - I have found I have done good when the purchases from there do break even (limiting my purchaases from there to small low valued purchases like buffalo nickels)
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
<< <i>It almost looks like he did you a favor and cleaned it up a little after he took the pics. --Jerry >>
I had somebody do that once on a token I bid on. He was insulted that I complained.
TD
<< <i>..............though it won't slab.
Of course it will slab. It just won't grade.
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