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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,544 |
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Hi guys! I'm really new to coins. I just inherited some american gold coins from my father and I have no idea what they are worth. However, I was told by my father that he paid a hugh amount of money for them. All the coins are in slabs. I manage to scan the coins using a flat-bed scanner. I know it is not the best way to photograph coins but its all I have. Can you guys give me a good estimate based on the picture alone? If this is the wrong forum to post, could you refer me to a better forum for quoting? Thanks, Adrian. IMAGE LINKS: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2...tGaudens.jpghttp://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2...ky/slabs.jpg |
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Member
United States
3242 Posts |
good bit if they were graded by a TPG like PCGS NGC ANACS |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19942 Posts |
A good bit regardless of who graded them, those are real nice coins. With gold going up like it has been, those are worth hanging on to.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
Hello, I'd like to try to give as complete an answer as possible. Others may expand upon it, and I'll try to keep the technical terms to a minimum: 1. The pictures you show are fine. If you are planning to handle your coins at all out of their holders, please reconsider. A single accident with a valuable loose coin (fingerprint, drop, scratch, etc.) can take away an enormous amount of value. Cotton gloves are available and holding them away from your face over a soft surface is as essential as holding them by the edges only. The way you store them is also important, there are several threads on this site that discuss that and other elements of owning and caring for coins, all of which will also tell you never to clean your coins. 2. You know that your coins come from an older collection but you might not be aware that the entire coin collecting hobby has changed a great deal since those coins were purchased. There are now two major grading services (PCGS, NGC) for coins that are considered 'problem-free,' and one that grades coins with or without problems (ANACS) and is considered close to the top tier by some, and not close enough by others. There are other grading services, but it's not necessary to discuss them for high grade US coins. Grading mattered when the coins were purchased and grading matters a lot now to many buyers for both authentication and valuation purposes. ebay, for example, wouldn't allow you to list those coins as graded since they were not graded by an approved service. 3. Each grade has an approximate value, that is why accurate contemporary grading is important. Coins are graded on a 70 point scale with 70 being a perfect coin under magnification. A 1907 St. Gaudens graded Mint State 64 would be valued at $1300-1800 or thereabouts. If you had those coins graded by one of the top modern grading companies they might grade the same or even higher since grading standards change over time. If those were graded MS-65 by PCGS, they would be worth at least $2600 each. For higher grades values go up on a parabolic scale because of something called 'conditional rarity.' Even if a coin is only slightly rare in Mint-State 64 condition, it could be exceptionally rare in higher grades, and therefore command a considerably higher sum. 4. Whether you are planning to keep them or sell them, I would make several different recommendations, but I would need to know more about your plans for them. I hope this helps. |
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New Member
 Australia
9 Posts |
Thank you halfabustisbetter! That is certainly very helpful. But based on what you said about the St Gaudens I guess my father must have paid more than what it is worth. Or maybe the market was different back then. I can tell you that my father paid $2200 on the St Gaudens alone. I have the receipts to prove it. It was bought on 09/18/1989. The company that he bought it from is called "Tangible Assets Management" I think it is graded by Accugrade. Since that's the only name on the slabs. And I assume that a3-63c means that it is grade ms-63? Am I wrong to assume that? Anyway, it is explained to me that the coins are like an investment and that it appreciate over time. But I know now that this is not the case after browsing through countless auction sites like heritage coins for example. As for the plans that I have for these coins, it depends. First of all, from seeing the news I know that gold is currently on a record high but and still going. However it didn't really went above the $800 mark like it did back in the 80s. Assuming that the price will continue to go higher I don't think the percentage increase would likely be high. Putting money in a term deposit somewhere might even be more profitable than in coins. Since the value didn't change much after almost 20 years. Sorry to say that I have no clue about coins and am looking at them purely as investments. So my plan for the coins would be to sell them in the near future. However, any advice will be appreciated. One more thing, my family have moved to Australia. So selling them is difficult. I think. ebay is certainly a very very last resort kinda thing for me as the few auctions that I've watched all have bad results. They didn't really listed what their grade is so I guess I'm not really sure if its good or bad. For example, the St Gaudens is only selling for about $AU800+. Before posting the pictures here, I post another them to another Australian Coin collector who is an active ebay member. He offered $AU2600 for all the 5 coins. I think that's just too little. I guess my question would be if I want to sell them what would be the best way for me to do it, and what is the fair market price for these coins? Thank you so much. |
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Oops, to answer one more question. I have no intention of taking the coins out of the slabs. Why would I want to do that? Will it increase value? Or do people just hate slabs. ;)
Cheers,
Adrian
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
If the coins have been graded by AccuGrade (ACG), the grade cannot be relied upon (in my opinion). These coins would be much more valuable in PCGS slabs. PCGS requires an annual membership. Personally, I am not too crazy about NGC. I find their grading too liberal for my taste. I would also like to point out that ACG has been known to slab cleaned and altered coins in the past.
I think your first step should be to get these coins to PCGS and, if any come back from there as problem coins, submit them to ANACS. I think they will be well worth the grading fees. Since PCGS requires a membership and you are in Australia, I can offer to submit them for you. If you are interested, please email me and we can make arrangements. I have done quite a bit of shipping to Australia and can assure you of the coins' safety.
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Hi Susan! What are the grading fees like? I've look through this list and still have no clue. http://www.pcgs.com/grading_list.chtmlYou must understand that I am a little bit paranoid about handing over my coins just like that. What kind of arrangements are you suggesting? I would email you but the forum said I have too few posts to use that feature. Haha. My email address is adrian_atya@yahoo.com |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19942 Posts |
I'd say it's well worth the expense to have them PCGS graded, those are valuable coins.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6384 Posts |
Hi AdrianA,
Just as a point of reference, if your 1914-D $5 and 1916-S $10 coins both "crossed over" into PCGS MS-63 slabs, you could reasonably expect to get close to $3000 and $4000 for them, respectively. In the Accugrade holders, most potential buyers are likely to mistrust the grades and would not pay that much. At a guess, it might cost $250 to $300 to have these 5 coins graded. If just one of them makes the PCGS MS-63 grade, the higher selling price should easily repay the grading fees.
Another point: 1989 was the year of a major peak in collectible coin values. In 1990 values for most coins dropped sharply and stayed low for much of the 1990's. Values have risen again over the last few years and in many cases have reached or exceeded the 1989 levels. Now would probably be a good time to put these coins up for auction at a major auction house like Heritage. However, to maximize your return I think you should try to get the coins into PCGS slabs.
Good luck!
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Thank you all. You all are so helpful.
Now do I need to remove the coins from the slabs myself to get PCGS to grade them? Or will they do it for me?
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Oh silly me. The gold is now way over the $800 mark. Shows what I know.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6384 Posts |
Hi again,
I suggest you check the PCGS website (www.pcgs.com) for specific information. You should be able to join their collector club at the Platinum level which costs $199 in the US. Rates for someone in Australia might be more. That membership gives you 8 free grading submissions (you only need 5, I guess) and they should be willing to grade your coins in the original slabs. They call that a "crossover" submission. You would probably want to specify a minimum grade for crossover; i.e., "MS-63" if you don't want them to possibly down-grade your coins. If they don't think your coin meets the minimum specified grade, they return it in the original holder (and still keep the grading fee!). You would have to decide whether you will be better off with the Accugrade MS-63 coins crossed into PCGS 62 slabs, or whatever. The hope of course is that they'll come back with 63 grades, or even higher.
You should email or call PCGS and make sure you understand the submission process before going ahead. Obviously, buy insurance if and when you decide to submit your coins. Good luck, and please post here again if you have any updates you want to share. I think everyone on the forum would be very happy for you if your coins come back with high grades!
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New Member
Australia
9 Posts |
Thanks again Jaobler. Will sure to keep you all updated.
Today PCGS send me an email on things to do if I want to send the coins in. This part I need some clarification.
PLATINUM MEMBERSHIP (1 Year)
All of the above plus a voucher for eight FREE submissions
Valid for US and World Coins (Excluding Mint Errors, Special Issues and coins valued over $3,000. Turnaround time on submission is approximately 21 business days. All coins must be submitted at the same time.)
Join at the Platinum Level ($199 US or $229 Int'l)
Does this mean that if my coins were to have a chance of going above that value, they won't grade it for me free? And I'll have to pay extra?
Thanks in advance.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6384 Posts |
Yes, officially it means that if any of the coins are worth more than $3000 PCGS would want you to pay more. For your submission and for your insurance coverage I would value your two $20 gold pieces at $1500 each, your $2.50 gold at $1000, and your $5 and $10 pieces at $3000 each. At those stated values you are not exceeding the PCGS value limit and you should not have any problem.
I expect that if they value the coins significantly higher they would give you a phone call or email to ask for an extra $20 or so for each coin that they think is worth more than $3000. It would be good news for you if that happens, since that would mean one or more your coins graded high. I would be happy to pay the difference!
Again, good luck and please let us know how it works out for you!
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,544 |
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Posted 11/09/2007 08:27 am
