Story time! What is your biggest EBAY score? My story

TexasNationals · January 28, 2012 12:51PM

Well lets see, 2 come to mind for me. The biggest in total was a BU roll of 1949-D nickels I bought off a non-coin seller for about $105 shipped. I have been building a BU roll set for quite some time and just popped the roll, all looked UNC so I tossed the roll in the box (the cardboard white and blue 100 roll box with foam). Fast forward a few years and I decide one weekend to look for steps so I could trade a few for another coin I needed. Realizing I never checked for D/S I bust out the loupe, low and behold the first coin is a strong D/S! So excited I get on the phone and start bragging. Hours later I finally get around to checking them all. In total 17 BU 1949 D/S in the EDS known. They were sent to Billy Crawford for an article in Die Variety News and to be included in his book. Then he handed them to PCGS at F.U.N where 6 were MS-64, 6 were MS-66 and 4 went MS-66 (1 bagged due to that black, hard ta goop some get). I gave away the bagged coin, gave away a 65 to Larry NJ, a 66 to Bubba R. and discounted a 64 (basically free) to a variety collector for a news letter. I kept the best 66 and sold the rest. Bear in mind when I did this there were only like 14 MS-66's and far less 65's and 64's than now. I did very well even after giving away 4 of the 17.

The best single coin nab was back in 2002 when bad photos were okay. All I saw was a bright red picture of 2 coins described as DDO's. 1972 Lincoln DDO's were selling strong then but these 2 were so far unknown they were going for under $200 for the pair. Emailing the seller ( a guy my age at the time, young) showed me he knew jack about coins. He assured me they were nice so I said what the hay and put in a $300 bid. I won them for $222. When I got them they were DDO's, nice cherry red, mark free DDO's! I sent them to our host where they graded MS-67 RD and MS-66 RD. Boom! Consigned the MS-66 RD to Russ where it sold for good money and kept the 67. I took half the profit ($800 or so) and sent it to the seller as I felt bad even though I shouldn't have.

So tell the story!

coindeuce · January 28, 2012 1:37PM

I'll only reveal 1. An 1878 8TF Morgan $1, TOP 100 VAM 5. The coin is the sole NGC MS-65 with none finer, and has been since 2004. It is tied with the sole PCGS MS-65, none finer. Guess who owns the PCGS coin?

atarian · January 28, 2012 2:08PM

My all time greatest and ThePCC could testify to this was when i was helping him find notes to buy and sell on ebay. I found this old raggy national and 3 1923 large silver certs. BIN was $160. He liked it but said he couldnt do anything with that national and the silver certs didnt make up the 160. So he passed. I went along and bought the lot saying my gut says theres something more to it. and to show my arrogance back in the day I gave him the 3 silver certs for free. Saying this national is rare enough to off set that. It ended up being 1 of 5 notes on the bank and 1 of 2 date backs being the lowest serial number on the whole dang bank. Book value lists this at $200 and estimates might be as much as $400. When i went out to PA with a friend an auction house looked at it and said in a PA local auction with currency and historical buyers it could be a few 1,000. but to have a note that has never been listed in an auction setting EVER. and knowing its rarity its by far the best EBAY grab Ive ever had and so far nothing has come close to it.

BillyKingsley · January 28, 2012 2:09PM

Deals are out there. Last year, I found a diecast NASCAR that in a higher grade (& factory sealed) would sell for $400, I nabbed it for $30. 6th time I've seen one sell, first time one sold for double digits.

derryb · January 28, 2012 2:38PM

A whole lot of Rev. of 07, 2008 W ASE uncircs. before the general public became aware.

Lakesammman · January 28, 2012 2:43PM

Not really a personal ebay score, but I benefited a bit later.

Someone bought a IHC off ebay for $75. Off it went to PCGS - 67Red! He then consigned it to a dealer who I met at the FUN show. He wanted $6400 for it. It was the most original looking coin I had ever seen, so I bought it.

Within 30 minutes I had offers of up to $10,000. Sold it a few years later for $17,500.

There are still good deals on ebay.

baccaruda · January 28, 2012 2:57PM

Pre-eBay, but this was part of a giant group of files I bought at a garage sale in 1988 or so. A few hundred file folders with paperwork consisting of cancelled projects during the construction of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (dates 1928-1933). Bought all the files for $5.

mkman123 · January 28, 2012 2:57PM

I bet deals are becoming fewer and far between as each year passes as people go through closets and eBay things off or go on the internet to check on their value.

coolkarma · January 28, 2012 3:36PM

My two best EBAY scores are both buffalo nickel varieties (and I've posted about them before). The first was a little over three years ago. I purchased a 1936-D buffalo for less than $40. It was advertised as BU but more importantly the image appeared to show a weak leg. It did. PCGS graded it AU58 (now AU58+) three and a half legs, the second finest they've graded!

The second score was about 7 months ago. The image was fuzzy, but the 1916 and the ribbon ties were clearly doubled. Yes, it was an unattributed 1916 DDO which I purchased for $6. PCGS graded it G06. Not a high grade but a great deal for the King of buffalo nicklel varieties!

alohagary · January 28, 2012 4:48PM

interesting report, I cannot think of anything that great a buy

rodzm · January 28, 2012 6:52PM

For me itsa simple story...I usually buy rolls of 90% silver. The one time...about 2 years ago I bought a roll on Ebay of SLQs. When i received the coins I put them away. Well about a year later I decided to check my coins for any varieties or rare dates. Bought the roll for about $125 turns out I ended up having this...(it graded at G04

Mockingjay · January 28, 2012 11:28PM

Best deal is a +$400 new with tags Johnston & Murphy leather jacket I got for $20.

Coinwise, I'm hoping the PCGS First Strike PR and MS70's I bought multiples of will eventually pay off.

chipper10 · January 28, 2012 11:38PM

Did a BIN for seven 1 ounce silver Pandas for $700, one was a 1999 Lg Date Serif 1 and one was a 2000 frosted ring plus some of the others were decent dates. When they arrived I listed them individually on Ebay and netted about $1500 profit on the lot.

mbogoman · January 28, 2012 11:48PM

Just before Christmas 2010 I did a BIN of $350 for a raw 1879 CC Morgan that graded MS61 at our host. A few days after that I did another BIN of a raw Pine Tree for shilling that graded VF20. It was a great week!

Moral of the story: Christmas season is a great time for buying, but not so great for selling...

ricko · January 28, 2012 11:55PM

I bid on a '95W ASE on ebay years ago, and dropped out when the price went astronomical. A day after it ended, I get an email from an individual who referenced the auction and said he had one, PCGS slabbed, that he wanted to sell. Said he would send it on approval (wow). Okay says I. I receive the coin, check it for cert number etc, scrutinize the coin... all is good. His price was even better. He sold it for much less than the going figures on ebay or elsewhere. I immediately sent him the money. Still have it, but could sell it for triple the cost. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin · January 29, 2012 12:32AM

That's an awesome score. You get like 17 "YOU SUCKS" out of one roll ?

rhedden · January 29, 2012 1:53PM

I can't say I picked a single rare variety off eBay from 1997 to 2010. I bought underpriced coins for sure, but nothing that counts as a really good cherrypick. For whatever reason, I then suddenly got three killer picks in 2010-11 within a few months of each other. All were Seated coins, of course, given my liking for those. The best was a $4,500 coin for $200.

WaterSport · January 29, 2012 2:00PM

Picked up a 1941 - 1972 Capital plastics cent board for $75. Turns out, all the possible philly dates were proof.

Then I cherried a 1936 Raw cent for $9 It was a DDO #2 and is now a MS 64 Red in my collection.

WS

NewParadigm · January 29, 2012 2:19PM

I bought a 1936 quarter. Seller advertised it as a shinny coin. I paid less than $10. It was a proof. Sent it in and got it graded as a 64. Not too bad.

Unknown · January 29, 2012 2:21PM

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itsnotjustme · January 29, 2012 2:21PM

$18 for 11 MS Ikes. Sent three for grading - 1 small score, 1 BIG score!

Small: MS66 76-P T2 (Sits in my collection)

BIG: MS67 76-P T2 (Sold to Nation's top Ike collector)

stealer · January 29, 2012 2:32PM

<< <i>This kinda of counts:

I started collecting int he summer of 2005. In early 2006 I discovered Ebay and Rick Snow's attribution guides. So I circled what I thought was the toughest coin to find in the Flying eagle series and the highest graded example to boot, it was the formerly R-7 1858/7 S-7 , it is now an R-6, and set out to find it in ms65 or higher. In April of 2006 I found what I thought was a S-7 in an auction on Ebay conducted by Great Southern Coins, it was housed in an NGC MS65 holder. Their photos weren't like they are today so it was very difficult to attribute but i still thought that it had a 75% chance. So with 20 seconds to go it was still at $2500 with 2 bidders I put in a $50k nuclear bid to win it. Ebay bounced the bid, my newbeeness didn't alter me to the fact that Ebay only allowed bids up to $10k without previous approval. So I lost and it went for $2500. I must have spent 40 years during that week long auction and felt totally demoralized. I was determined not to give up. SO I followed that ebay winner, you could do that then, and found a coin he was selling and contacted him offering him a quick grand for the 1858 FEC. He said it was too late it was alreadys ent off to be consigned to an upcoming Superior Galleriws auction some time in the future. So I contacted Superior and asked to be added to their mailing list and got the approval to bid for this very expensive coin.
Zoom ahead 6months and approx 6 catalogs and in September of 2006 the FEC showd up in their catalog. On the day of the auction I had Superior's representation via phone and told the gal I was going all the way with this baby, I was determined to win it no matter what. At that point in time the most expensive coin that I ever purchased was approx $8 and this one I was willing to got to $50k.

It opened up at $2500 and in seconds went to $10k, I realized then it must be the rare Snow-7, and the gal on the phone said there was one other bidder bidding against me, I told her $10,500, and I won it. I then got nervous, did I get hoodwinked, why would this only go to $10k, a typical ms65 wiuld go for $3k, but the S-7 should go for many multiples, I got nervous. So I asked a member here to post it and see if the group here agreed with my attribution. They did, and minuted later that member who posted the pic was contacted by Rick Snow. Rick thought that the member who posted the pic owned it and told him that he was the underbidder and Rick offered him $25k for it. Obviously the member didn't have it, I won it but it was still with Superior Galleries. I turned the $25k down and later received it.
Last month I sold it for 5 figures to Rick Snow. >>

Only at GSC

Lakesammman · January 29, 2012 3:05PM

Realone:

You bought it for 5 figures and sold it for 5 figures. Did you come out ahead??

BTW, it's a beautiful coin that any FE specialist would love to own.

magikbilly · January 29, 2012 7:04PM

Oooh. Not coins though.
Well, I have good luck. Right before Xmas I bought over 240 items I sell at $45 to $95 each - got the lot on eBay for $1 each. That was nice. Another time I bought an entire photo album with unpublished maiden voyage photographs of every liner from every line from 1905 to 1920 - everythng except Titanic - even the Carpathia was there. This was $157 on eBay - the Olympic photographs sold for $600 each and there were perhaps 11!

Best,
Eric

seanq · January 29, 2012 11:15PM

My best is still the rare seated dime variety I cherrypicked for $150, then sold to a specialist for mid-four figures. About eight months later I picked off another example of the exact same variety for less than $20 and sold that one to a different specialist for mid-three figures.

Sean Reynolds

ambro51 · January 29, 2012 11:27PM

My Icon over there, on the left. 1786 Vermont Ryder 10 which I knew from the odd photos on the listing...it was in superb condition for what it is. The wheat sheaf design on the shield is seen at all on only a very few specimens. Unheard of Detail, Lack of wear, flow lines, luster and deep old Vermont mint red....these are things which set this coin apart from every other one. I took it to Boston to the C4 Convention and had Vermont Expert Tony Carlotto really look it over. He fell in love with it, as have I, and noted that its 'right at the top of the ryder 10s' and 'has detail like no other coin'. My Golden Numismatic *Moment* was when Tony said " I'm jealous of you"

Tony on Youtube reviewing the coin

This was not a cheap buy, and did attract attention. One dealer I met at the C4 said "Oh youre who outbid me...." another, while examining the coin closely with his loupe said "The staff, where it crosses the arm, is always a weak point.......wow...I see....I see....fingers". I have yet to remove it from its 20 year old or so 2X2. Dollar wise its tough to say since its a condition outlier but I suspect I'd make 20X my ebay investment if I sold it.

What I find SO amazing is that, from the seller, I am told it was in a collection in Maine for over 50 years. It has also eluded generation upon generation of Colonial coin specialists, the ryder 10 is usually so worn that many great collections had a VF as their finest piece. No one ever had one in red brown unc. I would love to be able to hand that coin to Walter Breen, and get his reaction...but, alas, too late. He never seen it either.

My Game plan is to Always have this coin 'on me' when Im at any major show where Dave Bowers is present....and hopefully to get him on video too!!

rmpsrpms · January 30, 2012 12:10AM

Two different eBay deals yielded good cherrypicking, and both were 1956-D OBW rolls:

1) Bought a small group of OBW 56-D Lincolns from an eBay seller. Opened them up and found a few 56-D/S plus a couple RPMs in each roll. And the rolls were Gem quality, lots of 66's. Same seller put several more small groups up for sale, same bank (unusual bank, too) over the next 6 months. I was of course a strong buyer of each of these groups, and they all had the same varieties. I won't say how many total rolls, or what the bank name was...but I still have a search for 56-D rolls to this day!

2) Another seller had a group of 14 56-D rolls and I got them for a good price. They were Cleveland Fed rolls, and my experience has been these are widely re-rolled, but I went for it anyway. Each roll had 2-3 RPM#1 in them, and like the above rolls were all gems with many 66's.

Those are probably the best deals from eBay so far...Ray

ModernCoin · January 30, 2012 12:16AM

Over the last few years I have been able to buy Au and Ag for 5% to nearly 50% below melt from foolish sellers pricing their wares too low combined with the rebate stacking game. There were a number of great scores, but my best score just came two weeks ago:

62 ounces of silver, for the price of 31 at melt!

31 *FREE* ounces of Ag =

OnWithTheHunt · January 30, 2012 12:23AM

There have been a few, but this is one of the better ones. It sat on ebay for a week with a starting bid of $175 and no takers. Don't know if they were scared off by the third world slab (NNC), the alleged grade (MS-62) or they just didn't see it was the 3-1/2 legger. Put in a nuclear bid at the last second, and got it at the asking price. I posted it on the forum a couple of years ago and the grades ranged from a minimum of AU-50 to AU-58, if I recall correctly. One day it will go into a PCGS slab.

PRIZ430 · January 30, 2012 1:55AM

Got an OBW roll of 1939 Walkers....180.00 last year....havent done anything with it but stash it in the bank vault.....

BigDowgie · February 4, 2012 6:33AM

I've been meaning to add to this post for a while! Tough to pick one and definitely not as exciting as TNs 1949-D Roll. Let me list a few Jefferson Cherries:

1938-D DDR-001 (raw) - PCGS65 (Not to many folks know about this one and I don't see them but rarely! $12

1941-S Large S (raw) - The listing only had an Obverse picture, but it had some characteristics similar to some other Large S's I have an rolled the dice, came in a Large S and awesome steps, sent to PCGS with 1945-P DDR below, waiting for results, my guess is MS65FS, $16

1941-S Large S (already graded) - PCGS66 (Just the other night, no one must have seen the Large S, paid opening bid $50

1941-S Inverted S (raw) - PCGS66, one of two in this grade, $25

1943/2-P (raw) - Will stay in my raw set, nice strike too, probably AU58, $10

1945-P DDR-001 (raw) - Sent to PCGS, waiting, looked like an MS65, the listing picture were pretty clear what it was, no one in-the-know was obviously bidding, only took $35

I'll keep you all posted on the PCGS results for the 2 listed above!

Story time! What is your biggest EBAY score? My story

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