1835 $5 Gold Coin—your Opinion On Grade And Value-Thnx

Ramapo was one of those coin shops that advertised heavily in coin magazines. I think the owner's name was Roger Herman and he didn't have a great reputation. I guess his business model was pushing common, optimistically graded coins to the mass market for their investment potential. It was like Littleton without ever reaching their scale.

The seller (Ramapo) might never have cleaned a coin but still sell cleaned coins. There's a cottage industry (and has been for years) buying problem coins (i.e. cleaned) and selling them to unsuspecting buyers as problem-free pieces at inflated prices.

The $775 price on the flip is likely close to what the piece is worth today but without better pictures it is hard to say. I would dare say there is very little chance the coin is worth less than $775.

Sorry sideways—-i just figured the cropping process—my pics are right side up throughout whole process then come sideways—got to figure this one out

I agree with the consensus of AU Details cleaned. Worth about what you payed for imo, $775-$800.

This coin has a different, more abrasive cleaning. Brilliant uncirculated (BU) coins have mint luster which looks like the hazy concentric surface of an LP music record (if you remember what those look like). This coin looks like the original surface of the coin was stripped of its luster. Over time you will get a feel for what that looks like. A BU coin straight from the mint would look like the one below:

That is a great question and it is sometimes tough to tell. But the difference is that wear is slight on an Au coin, and most importantly it does not mar the surface of the coin in a way not consistent with normal wear from handling a coin. Correct identification requires some experience.

I always ask myself: Is the wear on the surface of the coin consistent with what I would expect from slight, normal handling? If yes, AU, if not, cleaned or damaged.

I don't know Sarr, but I know CCC well. They are a large outfit with a really deep inventory of really desirable coins. They have a great reputation, imho. Their good stuff is all slabbed. Their sweet spot is in the $1k to $10k range, but there are no bargains there. You'll pay close to full retail there so many knowledgeable collectors would rather try to get into a discount situation at auction.