Bad Photo Lottery Rides Again: 1945 Walking Liberty Half Dollar For Grading (?)

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I honestly look at the prices you guys pay for stuff on ebay and it blows my mind. I pick up locally so much cheaper. If this coin was offered to me at $19, I would pass.

I am with the OP, bad photos are fun. I picked up an uncirculated 1831 bust half for $70.99 a few months ago. It just takes experience from studying all kinds of lighting, background colors, recognizing luster, all while looking past a blurry lens. With enough knowledge you can buy anything with the utmost confidence.

Same here, well stated.

My greatest issue with coin shops is selection. There are a few around me but they hardly ever have anything I want. With an internet connection you can compare most of what is currently available for sale in a few minutes of searching ebay, auction houses, shop aggregates, etc. At this point I am really annoyed having to travel to a coin shop crap shoot even if it's a short distance. Also I get automatic notifications if something I am looking for comes up for sale. I have want lists in many places.

Coin shows are ok for socializing, but I get overwhelmed because the stuff is so haphazard throughout the expansive floor. It is really difficult to comparison shop. You can't look at stuff side by side which is easier to do online even if the pictures aren't great.

Everyone has their preferred method given how they've adapted to their circumstances. There is no way to say that one method is absolutely better than another.

Yeah. I really miss the days of browsing coin shops, picking through piles of coins looking for hole fillers, etc. Used to sit and sort through stacks of raw silver and chit chat with the owners and fill up holes. Unfortunately at least here where I am at all of those shops have either closed up or switched to bullion sales only and no longer sell collector coins, only modern bullion. The nearest shop to me closed its doors and went online only due to the expense of running a B&M storefront, the insurance costs, and constant issues with theft.

I remember being a kid and picking through the 10x face box of junk silver and that was so much fun. Whatever happened to shops like that? I don't know, but they've all gone away, it seems.

There is another shop about an hour away but the owners are legendary for being complete jerks and also have a bad reputation of scamming newbies by lowballing the heck out of people who come in looking to sell inherited collections, etc. The shop won't even let you take out and examine or hold any of their coins unless you buy them first. Beyond that, there's not a coin shop within a hundred-mile radius. But I can throw a rock and hit 50 gold and silver bullion stores selling rounds, bars, etc. all hyping the coming end of civilization and the urgent need to spend all of your income on stacking PM's before the impending apocalypse.

Show-wise, the only show that comes here now is the Grapevine show, but it's an hour+ drive and a small show with only a few tables. Our main show here was the TNA annual, which was held about 20m from my house, and always had tons of great tables and dealers, but due to rising costs of floor space TNA relocated to a small town outside of Houston which is 4+ hour drive even if I drive well above the speed limit. I am still working 50-65 hour 6 day weeks and don't have time to go on road trips.

I prefer to win coins by bidding instead of outright purchases; after 30+ years now my collection is pretty full, so I focus on things that you can't buy in most coin shops, mostly foreign coins, medieval and ancient coins. If I had a lot of money to spend on coins I'd just shop on Heritage or GC. I'm part of a network with a lot of dealers and we have a private buy-trade-sell group on facebook but it's mostly stuff I don't need, don't want or can't remotely afford.

AU-58, light wear on the high points.

Decent Walker. Has nice full cartwheel luster in hand, but there are a few faint hairlines on the obverse, so I'm okay with calling this one AU58 / Slider Unc. which is how I will be adding it to my inventory.