Where Can I Find A Cleaned/Damaged High Relief $20 St Gaudens ?

I can see why you want a high relief. These coins are the most beautiful ever produced by the US.

To be honest, I would happily pay $7500 (if I could afford it) for a lightly cleaned example. The coin posted in the OP is a perfect example, but I'd expect it to sell for $9000-10000.

If I was going to spend 7000 to 10,000 bucks on a coin I would want to have it in hand before I paid for it. Coins look different when you get them than when you see them online. I would get the best high relief coin I could afford rather than one with details or which has been improperly cleaned. Are their any coin shops or coin dealers in your area where you could actually see the coin before you slap down many thousands of bucks.

lightguy, I get where you are coming from. I agree with terry8835 on having it in hand before purchasing it and would suggest viewing a righteous example before you pull the trigger to have a reference point. You can pull on your car collecting experience on buyers remorse after viewing both to determine if you think you will have buyers remorse after purchasing the cleaned version. Good luck!

I don't consider myself an expert by any means. What I have learned is to look before you leap and if you want to get the details St. Gaudens then get it. It is sort of a No,No for most serious collectors to buy coins that are defective in some way besides natural ware. If I buy a coin in VF condition that is the condition I expect with no details or improper cleaning etc. This is just something I have learned over time. Most here would say to you to buy the best coin you can afford when you set your sights on a particular coin. However, if you want to get the "details coin" and know what you are getting into then just go ahead. I do agree with others to see what a defect free coin looks like before you buy the other. You may find that the near perfect coin is actually worth the extra money. I will not lecture you about it. There is no right or wrong way to collect coins. I like date/mint sets but many don't. I won't buy gold coins because the price of gold is too high IMO. That puts me in a minority. Hey, I was buying gold and silver back around 2000 and I quit. I am sorry now.

I think as Adrew99 has pointed out that with really rare coins the sophisticated buyers know the true market value of the coins they buy. They think about appreciation and consider the pro's and con's of buying less than perfect coins if perfect ones are available. You are probably going to get what you pay for and not get some great deal because a coin has "details" or is "cleaned". If a damaged coin appreciates 200% in salvage condition ( I don't think there is such a thing in the Coin World) then the undamaged coin will appreciate 400% in ten years. There is no secret knowledge in coin collecting for truly rare coins IMO. The idea of a "salvage rare coin" I don't think applies because you cannot fix them up or restore them. What you pay for it what you get. I don't think you can fix damaged coins without hurting the value even more. Many sophisticated coin collectors will not touch a dirty or grimy coin because they know that some will consider any fooling around with the coins appearance will be considered "cleaning" by some and reduce the value. It is sort of like buying rare pieces of furniture where refinishing a beat up piece of rare furniture is a gigantic mistake. My wife used to collect fairly rare pottery. If the pot has a hairline crack you can fix it to look at but it comes out under a black light which experts use. You might as well have left the crack because the repair will lower the value. It is sort of like buy a classic car and then replacing the engine. It is not a classic car anymore, but a classic shell with modern guts. I don't know anything about cars except what I like which goes for guns as well. You have expertise in this area and posters here have some expertise in coins. It would be like me telling you to buy such and such car and you telling me that I should reconsider my advise because given your expertise you see the problems with that choice. Am I making sense?

I understand where you are coming from and I advise you to get the coin you want. It would be fun to sit through a coin auction. I have been to many auctions when the wife and myself were in the collecting business for a short time. I found out my wife liked to collect and buy things at auctions, but had no idea in the world about selling stuff. She did sell some of her pottery at an auction and got burned as I did selling silver at auction. She never sold a thing again even when she could have made a profit.

I was buying sterling silver just because I got pretty good at it. I could pretty much calculate the price of a silver bowl or object within a few dollars and I bought just around the melt price. This was back in 2000 when silver sold for about $7 or $7.50 an ounce. I never guessed that there would be a silver bull market. I was just thinking about next year and selling to make a buck. I forgot that you need to take the long view if you are an investor. It is really hard to flip stuff and make a profit I learned. Some can do it and there were many that acted as the agents for others and took a percentage. Do you watch Pickers or Pawn Stars? These guys have been doing that job for decades. There are many in the Coin World that try and get the most perfect common coins. Then there are some who just want key dates. I like to collect date/mint sets. This is impossible almost for many coins because the few coins needed to finish a complete set are so rare and expensive you cannot touch them like 1995 Morgan silver dollar.