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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,430 |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
I'm going to sign up a heritage and keep my eyes open and on ebay to. It will be a month before I squirrell up the money though. I've decided based on rarity and affordability to look for a 1874 P in the AU range. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
Sounds good  It will be a while (okay, maybe until Christmas) before I get my first gold coin! Hope you get something nice! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Nice! 3 is my favorite number so it's on my list too right behind a cali fractional piece. Hope you get a good one |
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
I assume you are going to buy this TPG. If so, you might want to take a look at the certified numbers from NGC and PCGS. What you will see is a huge number of 1854, 1874, and 1878. With 1855 close behind. For just a few hundred more (I know that sounds uppity) you can get a similar grade (EF-40 - AU 55) for one of the much scarcer issues. You mentioned wanting a AU-50, which usually sell in the $950 to $1100 range for one of the "common" dates. Consider maybe $200-$300 more to nab a MUCH better date in the same grade range. In my opinion, spending 20-30% more to get a type coin with a much smaller certified number is well worth the extra money and extra effort in finding one. One final note is that NGC seems to encapsulate a fair number of these that have been cleaned (and you can see the parallel scrubs) without detailing the holder. |
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Valued Member
 United States
234 Posts |
"In my opinion, spending 20-30% more to get a type coin with a much smaller certified number is well worth the extra money and extra effort"
I would appreciate any input in that regard as far as date. But I do wish to stay in a at least AU grade.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I am not a fan of slabbed coins generally, but in this case, a slabbed 3 dollar gold from Heritage would be a safe way to go.
With such a piece slabbed, and with proof that it came from Heritage, you will NEVER have any trouble re selling it at a very good price.
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
I'm a fan of NGC slabbed photograded coins, at least I cal also reference the pics on the NGC website
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
I did not mean to disparage NGC. I myself prefer them to PCGS in many instances. I have a couple $3, and I look at all that are available when I hit any shows. Just like PCGS seems to have a "thing" for toned Morgan dollars, NGC seems to be a bit lax on light cleaning on the $3. I've seen enough of them that were NOT die polished to be a bit cautious in only buying that denomination when I can actually see the coin in my hand. Photographs only, no matter how well they are taken, almost always show or emphasize some aspects of a coin while neglecting others (like fine lines in the fields that continue into the design elements). |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Thank you for your input on NGC I'll keep it in mind
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Pillar of the Community
United States
589 Posts |
The 1874 issue is the third most common date of the type, well behind the 1878 , and almost as common as the 1854. Much of the reason for the higher mintage was the destruction and recoinage of old gold coins, mandated in the Mint Act of 1873.
Usually once a month you will have a good selection of these up for auction. Priced under $1,000 in AU. I purchased mine for $950,but had I played my cards right, I could have bought it for under $900.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
07/31/2015 10:20 am
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Valued Member
United States
177 Posts |
I just came back from the ANA summer seminar, and one of the instructors was talking about how AU-58 grades of the better coins/dates are really starting to go up in price. I think the reasoning is that AU-58 has very little wear, but also has very little PMD, or else it would be graded lower. Because of that, people are starting to gravitate towards AU-58 because the simple appearance of the coin is often better than the lower MS grades (60 through 62) that allow fairly significant PMD. And they're less expensive. Having your sights set on an AU is good from an economical standpoint, but if you look for an AU-58 of one of the scarcer dates (as others have suggested), you may be doing well from an investment standpoint also. |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
In situations such as this, I have two go-to sites for learning a bunch in a short time about a given issue in a given grade: http://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/PCGS' list of past auction results is comprehensive, including Heritage's entire archive as a subset, in addition to all the other major auction houses. This tells you what your competition for the coin is paying for it today. http://www.collectorscorner.com/Coins/Collectors Corner is a PCGS-sponsored consortium of dealers, all offering their coins in the one spot. There are, for instance, 287 $3 Gold examples offered there at the moment. Prices are a bit inflated, as you might imagine, but the efficient indexing of their database makes it a valuable research tool for comparisons of relative value by year and grade. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1582 Posts |
A few years back, I got a wild hair about adding a $3.00 Indian Princess to my collection. I wasn't looking for an investment.....just wanted one 'cause I didn't have one.....long story short - I bought this one for not a lot of money - even though its in a slab, there's no grade, and its a pretty common date, but I kind of like having it.   |
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,430 |
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Posted 07/28/2015 09:09 am
