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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,747 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3234 Posts |
A friend asked me to see if I could find a 1900 $5 gold coin that she could potentially use as jewelry (her original was presumed stolen and it some memories for her, esp. that date). I thought it might take me awhile to get lucky enough to find that exact date in a grade that would make sense (i.e. circulated, not banged up, etc.). But, I have a real hard time buying any coin that has any problems, so I thought this would be a very hard task. Well, the weekend after our discussion there was a small, local coin show. Wouldn't you know it, I found a 1901, 1902, and bingo....a raw 1900 sitting at one of the last dealer cases I would look at. It was perfect. I phoned my friend and she was happy with the price. I gave it to her a few days later (of course, she paid me exactly what I paid for it...I had no intention of making a dime on it). She began having second thoughts about what to do with it. I sort of put it in her head that as a numismatist I would preserve it just as is and never use it as jewelry. A couple days later, I recanted, and said, hey what the heck, she didn't pay a huge premium above melt, do as she pleases...get a bezel and wear it. It's a beautiful piece. The following week she returned the coin to me and I bought it back for the same amount she paid (I almost always offer a 1-week return policy). She was astounded by my willingness to buy it back for full price and I was proud to buy the coin back. Well, it's mine now. I can tell you, I'm very happy to own this little piece of dirty gold. I was even surprised to find that it has some luster (more on reverse) around the periphery. What do you guys think? What do you think the services would grade it (and, I have no immediate plans to send this in, if ever).   I like it in this Airtite  Edited by Prethen
01/31/2013 8:31 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2189 Posts |
I have a similar 1881 Half Eagle...looks about the same. XF-40 is my guess
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
Circulated gold is just about my favorite type of coin and that one has exceptional eye appeal. VF35 CAC. :) Sounds like it was meant to be yours.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
That is a very nice piece, indeed!
Giving it a stab - I would say AU50, possibly AU53. Details are what are pushing me there. Possible luster?
This is just like vermontensium's recent post - your response would be one of the ones I would be looking for in a case like this!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1704 Posts |
Have a bezel made for the airtite and wear it yourself. It looks great with the black around it and with a bezel custom made to hold the airtite closed it would be perfectly protected and quite nice to look at too. Ed ANA LM-3175 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
A bezel for an airtite! Now there's an idea!
I've always thought that coin jewelry is exceptionally cheezy and unimaginative. There's a delicate balance between choosing a cheap enough coin to "damage" yet expensive or important enough to show it off. I was talking to one lady who was so proud of her Russian 10 roubles gold ring. She thought it was worth $300 and I couldn't bare to tell her that it was only $200 because it was VF and quote "damaged" by virtue of its being bezelled. I told her that one should only use inexpensive non-collectors' (common) coins in jewelry and she pretty much corrected me, saying, "you mean expensive". I looked at her in disbelief and I couldn't bear to tell her that her father's coin was inexpensive (later I looked it up and it was a very common date compared to a few years later of a mintage of 10 total! could've been $2000-3000 if rare), but it was worth only spot, but to her $300 is a lot of money and apparently she had it "appraised" for $300 (not worth that much even at $1900 gold/ozt). People just have a warped view on coin jewelry. Other people just plain saw a coin to its bare design and somehow that's artistic.
End rant!
I have a question/comment for the original poster: You must've already been in the market for your friend's cherished coin because it would be bad business to just buy coins for people at no premium and then get stuck with them after they said they wanted it. (!) Why would she have you search for something so specific, have you running around, love it, only to return it later for full price? That's just.... Were you able to return it on your end if you wanted to?
Edited by Libertad
02/01/2013 12:08 am
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
Why would she have you search for something so specific, have you running around, love it, only to return it later for full price? That's just.... Maybe she found the original and doesn't want to say it specifically? Well, that's the only reason I could think of anyway. (And, oh this is a beautiful coin. How unfortunate that I couldn't possibly afford one of these...) |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3234 Posts |
Libertad...normally, I wouldn't have done what I did and yes I did take a risk of hanging onto the coin...like what happened. I guess that's a lesson learned. However, I picked a coin that I wouldn't mind owning in the first place and got what I thought was a decent deal, so it worked out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1432 Posts |
Great eye appeal in the airtite. If you're going to end up with a coin that you had no intention of buying for yourself, that's a nice one to "get stuck" with.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2311 Posts |
Nice gold coin for sure, but what do you pay? (if that's okay to ask)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3234 Posts |
$460 (which was below the lowest Sheet number for the generic coin). It's value is absolutely tied to melt but of course has some premium. If I were to resell it, I would attach a higher premium than the dealer I bought from did since it is 100% original, dirty gold that can be very difficult to find. Typically, you find yellow, dipped out stuff that has no originality left.
Edited by Prethen
02/01/2013 1:14 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36744 Posts |
Nice original EF-45 coin. Not worth slabbing but definitely worth hanging on to.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,747 |
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Posted 01/31/2013 9:35 pm
