1799 Silver Dollar

It's a bit surprising to see an early dollar of that grade in an old, stapled 2x2.

I wonder if those aren't scans rather than photographs, which might account for how odd the luster (or lack thereof) looks. I'd certainly like better images before shelling out that kind of money.

I'm not seeing anything that screams "fake" to me, but I don't understand why a seller on the up and up wouldn't have a coin like this first certified, even with a details grade it'd bring in a lot more than this pathetic raw presentation did.

No matter fake or not, it'd be really risky to buy this coin. You can suspect three things: one, a high-value coin not residing in a slab; two, the pics are low quality; and three, the coin is in a 2 x 2 that isn't the correct size for that coin; if I was to handle such a high-value, higher grade coin and sell it, I'd at least put it in a proper sized holder.

Compare to mine.

How come wveryone right away questions a coin because its not in a TPG holder? Is this for peace of mind because of not only the fakes, but the altered coins on the market? My grandfather prefered raw coins. I dont know why but he did. Yes, a lot of his collecting days were when TPG didnt even exsist, but he collected for many years while pcgs, ngc etc were around. I have also spoken with many big collectors who feel the same way. They like to actually hold the coin vs it being in a plastic holder. I for one like graded. My reasoning is simple. Out of every raw coin I bought in the last several months, all had some sort if issue... Cleaned, polished, whizzed, tooled, questionable obverse or reverse etc. id like to think people dont know but they came from dealers! So I assume right away something is wrong with this coin. Its high value not in a holder. Id wait till one shows up graded

Ant76 -

I also prefer raw coins, but...

An expensive and often counterfeited coin such as this is a different story, especially if you can't examine it in hand.

I'd remark that no reputable auction house would nowadays sell something like this uncertified. Most brick & mortar dealers wouldn't, either. So some fellow hawking one raw on ebay is just a questionable situation on the face of it.

Absolutely. But how do you exercise that due diligence under these circumstances? I concur that the absence of a slab isn't proof that the coin is bad, but I'll go back to a comment I made earlier in this thread - why isn't it slabbed when that could easily double the selling price? So it's a red flag, and I think I'm doing exactly what's expected of a forum member to point that out. I also agree that the existence of fake and "basement" slabs complicate the whole evaluation process, but again, Stack's Bowers, Heritage, Goldberg, et al would absolutely no way ever publicly offer a coin like except in a reputable TPG's slab (even though even they can make mistakes).