Buying An Expensive Coin From Ebay Seller

Guido, you can give anyone that is a collectors society paid member the serial numbers and they can tell you if they are legit or not

Tights, Good points. Unfortunately, I've checked Heritage and there are none of these that have sold on there. There are less than 100 that have been graded by NGC and PCGS, so sales are rare for this one.

Bryan, thanks for that idea. When you say collectors society member, what organization is that?

Sleak, you can bet I will do that as well if I decide to pursue this one. I keep going back and forth on it, though.

This may seem like a stupid question so forgive my ignorance. Are the top three companies' slabs sealed? As in chemically sealed, not just "snapped" together? Reason I ask is that Bryan brings up a good point, but me being the skeptic/devil's advocate am trying to figure out if someone can open a slab, remove the coin, and replace it with another? There are people out there that can machine any material in the world and very well I might add. What would stop someone from doing this to a coin?

I also pose this question, even though the fees would be the big answer, but why would someone sell on ebay versus a big name auction house that will potentially attract the high end bidders over a longer period of time. At least high end bidders that would feel comfortable pulling the trigger...

I would choose a local expert to inspect it, and then do the transaction in the experts shop, with the expert in attendance to verify it is the same $20,000 coin.

But that's me. I always have my mechanic inspect any used vehicle I am considering.

Thanks everyone for your comments and ideas. That's what I like about this forum. Everyone is very cool and always willing to help out.

Sorry for the delay in posting back. Things have been hectic these past few days. Ok, here's the deal (which I am not going to do at this time). The coins are a set of 1995-W Silver and Gold eagles. It has the silver eagle and the four gold eagles that all came together in that set (there are only 79 of the PF70 silver eagles graded by NGC and one by PCGS, hence the high price). They are all graded PF70 by NGC and the "Buy it Now" Price was almost $30,000. The seller is a coin dealer in Texas. Since the start of the auction, he has raised the price to $33,000. That in itself makes me angry. But, after a lot of thought, I decided that I don't want the whole set, just the one coin, so I will have to wait for another opportunity. And, at this point, I may change over to collecting the PF69's instead, since without a microscope you probably can't tell the difference anyways and it will be a lot less money in the long run.

Here is the link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...99&rd=1&rd=1

SuperDave,
No, I wasn't looking at flipping this coin. I am in the process of collecting the entire PF70 series and this, of course, is the key (and most expensive) coin. I actually saw a complete PF70 set for sale on ebay and the seller wanted $45,000, which I'm sure could have been bargained down some. I think that would have been a decent deal (If I had THAT much extra laying around ). Here is a link to that auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1986-to-2006-NG...IN_W0QQitemZ110126112818QQihZ001QQcategoryZ39488QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have quite a few slabbed coins, but I don't know that this makes me an expert on slabbing. But you raise a very good point that is a very real concern.

I guess the real question would be is it better to buy a coin like this, or buy something else that not Modern (like a St Gaudens or a myriad of others coins out there).


Tights,

The slabs are sealed and supposedly tamper proof. When you have a valuable coin, you certainly want to make sure the coin in the slab matches the grade on the outside (not counting judgmental errors by the TPG. )

Thanks for your comments and input. I have studied a lot of coins and still can't tell the difference between a 69 and a 70 (or a 68 for that matter), but there seem to be few 68's in Modern grades these days. That in itself brings into questions the who grading system. Although proof coins are generally a higher quality. And, the demand for 68 grades on proofs and even mint state coins is not that great. I think everyone has bought into the system and wants the "perfect" coin. I will admit I'm not immune to this either.

I think the next generation of grading has to go to machines. I think they should be able to take pictures of all the coins they grade so that when someone breaks a coin out of a slab to get it regraded they would be able to tell. That would cut down on the crazy numbers people who resubmit a coin trying to get that one additional point (especially on those coins where that one point is worth thousands of dollars).

Your points on the future values of currently graded coins are interesting and do not sound that far out of line. As technology improves, the process of grading coins has to as well.

But I think if your scenario comes to pass (machine grading), the TPG's will have to cut some slack on previously graded coins. I can't see them changing a system so much that millions of coins would lose value due to better grading techniques. The outcry could very well kill off collecting. Imagine all those high value coins being downgraded and their values dropping by 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2. The screaming would be heard around the world and I don't think PCGS or NGC will risk that.

I was thinking more of older coins rather than 70's Modern coins. Since there are so many more valuable older coins, that was where I thought the issues might arise, but so long as the coin is not sent in for regrading, I guess that coin would be fine. But it would stop the crack and resubmit crowd.

On the Modern 69's, I notice that the largest number of coins graded are 69's. It's pretty amazing how many there are compard to other grades.