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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,611 |
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Valued Member
United States
153 Posts |
 I probably just made an ill advised coin purchase on ebay totaling $102.06, although I'd love to hear otherwise from the experts here. The coin in question is an 1803 Half Cent, which looks to me like an AU Details (Damaged?) coin. First the cons. Frankly I do not even know for sure if it is genuine. The person selling the coin has no record at all, and only the obverse of the coin was pictured in the description. It says that he will not accept returns. He also listed the item at a silly time, which suggests he is new to ebay rather than a crook trying to get the most value. The coin does look nice and from what I can tell a genuine example with AU sharpness such as this one could be worth upwards of $500. I am looking forward to receiving the coin and finding out if the mysterious reverse is consistently preserved. Hope to get some feedback on this purchase, and if you think such gambles are worth the trouble. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1803-Draped...p=true&rt=nc
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
In this instance, I would have passed.
cons:
zero feedback, this was the only piece offered.
No other items for sale.
Great picture, but obverse only.
Pro: paid paypal, so, protected.
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Pillar of the Community
Israel
2420 Posts |
Since you are protected by eBay/Paypal, the downside is very limited (a bit of time + perhaps shipping cost).
As for the upside, most likely you won't receive the coin, or you will, but it would turn to be fake (or just a low grade example, unlike the coin in picture).
That said, we can't really say, and you might have just found a coin inheritor with zero knowledge.
I'd ask for more pics before paying.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1211 Posts |
I am of the opinion that these types of posts are often "overreations" and overly suspicious.
However, this one seems to have a lot of cons stacked against it. Even I think this one looks bogus. I wish you the best.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
I'd say the coin in the picture is genuine and I don't see any damage unless it was very lightly cleaned long ago. AU might be slightly generous, but if the rev matches the obv you have a winner.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Just me, but that photo looks like a stock one. If there was some sort of background, maybe not, but it looks like they stole the image. Hopefully you get something good, but there is no description at all telling about the coin. I wouldn't have been brave enough, but...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
Quote:
Member id spark8000 ( 0 )
Member since: Jun-12-13 in United States
 Member for 1 day on ebay and numismedia fair market value of $1,470.00 for a 1803 ½¢ in AU-50 condition, yet lists this for $99.00 I think I would have avoided this one. http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/price...icesgd.shtml keep us posted if you receive the coin |
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Forum Dad
 United States
24163 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8516 Posts |
Lol that's an exact match.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
Good call, Dad! That's straight-up proof of an ebay violation, right? Edited by philadelphian
06/13/2013 11:55 am
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Valued Member
United States
68 Posts |
How do people think they will get away with things like this?
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Valued Member
 United States
153 Posts |
Thank you, bobby, for finding that exact match as the Coinfacts.com poster child. It's one thing copying an image of a coin which is the coin you're selling, but this is a ridiculous attempt at theft (unless he stole the coin and does not know its value/trying to sell it on the black market.) I'm not expert but the reason I thought the coin might be counterfeit (which we now know Superior Galleries has deemed is an Cohen-3 AU-58 which sold for over 5 grand in 2003) is because of what appears to be light obverse damage on the number 1. I'm not sure exactly how to proceed, but I will contact the seller and then open a Buyer Protection case.
Edited by coins4fun
06/13/2013 12:26 pm
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Valued Member
United States
153 Posts |
He had not yet claimed the funds on PayPal, so I was able to simply cancel the transfer of funds with the click of a button. Hope this is all
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1211 Posts |
Quote:
"Thank you, bobby, for finding that exact match as the Coinfacts.com poster child. It's one thing copying an image of a coin which is the coin you're selling, but this is a ridiculous attempt at theft (unless he stole the coin and does not know its value/trying to sell it on the black market.) I'm not expert but the reason I thought the coin might be counterfeit (which we now know Superior Galleries has deemed is an Cohen-3 AU-58 which sold for over 5 grand in 2003) is because of what appears to be light obverse damage on the number 1. I'm not sure exactly how to proceed, but I will contact the seller and then open a Buyer Protection case." I think there is a big lesson that we can all learn here. Understandably so, we are all numismatists and thus we automatically study the coin for signs of a problem. In this case, the numerous problems were with the listing and not with the actual coin. I only say this because so many posts are focused on "is it real" scenarios. I think we all need to look at the entire picture as a whole and using common sense, make a determination if something is too good to be true. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
My first thought was that the image looked a little too "nice" for a new ebay member who has most likely never photographed a coin along with the fact that no reverse image was provided. Unfortunately, I am a bit dismayed to have been proven correct  |
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,611 |
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Posted 06/13/2013 07:00 am
