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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,612 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
I was browsing and reminiscing proof sets from the 80's and 90's on ebay this evening admiring their simplicity. I think I would be more inclined to buy sets that way rather than today's over-sized sets. Anyways I was having some ethical issues about proof sets bought from places other than the mint. I often wonder if dealers, weather in brick and mortar or places like ebay cherry pick the best coins and repackage the lenses with inferior coins? I mean you can actually buy the empty packaging so this could actually be done. Does this happen and how do you feel about it? *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
Darn, something else to worry about. I would have assumed the mint packages would be tamper-proof.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12815 Posts |
The recent cases/lenses just pop open. Friction fit. I would expect that it happens a lot on ebay. And it stinks but buyer beware. While you can generally get better deals buying on the secondary market (depending on the year), you run the risk of such unscrupulous activity. At least if you buy from the mint you know (hope) you're getting "unsearched" sets... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
757 Posts |
The sets definitely get cherrypicked, but I highly doubt they replace the coins. Typically the sets have more value separated than whole. So why would people go through the trouble of carefully opening the set, pull out the coin, replace the coin, and reseal the set? If you purchased the set for $2 took out the "good" coin you could still sell the other coins and get all the initial investment back plus have the "good" coin. There really is no upside that I can see to repackaging a proof set.
Edited by davec13
11/05/2015 07:16 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4867 Posts |
Maybe if the single coins weren't up to par for individual sale I could see this happening so it's not a total loss to the seller. But yet the buyer would lose out. I don't think the lenses are tamper-proof...I could be wrong though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-1998-C...AOxyRNJSk7l2Edited by TheForce
11/05/2015 08:33 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
757 Posts |
I don't know if you have access to or have ever looked at a greysheet, but proof sets from the 80's and 90's are typically bid at $2-$5. I know one dealer who has so many proof sets in inventory he offers 20% of bid and people still sell them to him. He is getting the coins at under face and I'm sure he isn't the only person that gets these kind of deals. There is no financial incentive to waste time trying to cherrypick a coin and reseal the set for sale.
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Moderator
 United States
187931 Posts |
Quote:
Maybe if the single coins weren't up to par for individual sale I could see this happening so it's not a total loss to the seller. I know one dealer for a fact who did this. He would cherry pick the best for individual sale and re-package the lesser ones back into lenses for sale as sets. To his credit though, he priced these "sub-par" sets accordingly. If someone was at his table looking for sets to crack for the coins, he would let them know he had nicer examples for sale individually. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
1380 Posts |
When my Dad passed away in 2006 and left me his collection the proof sets ended in the mid eighties. I went to ebay to bring the collection up to date and over the next year picked up most of the ones I needed. When I got to looking at them closely, I noticed that several of the silver quarter proof sets or partial sets looked off. Checking them more closely I discovered that four sets of silver proof quarters had been removed and replaced with clad proofs. Going back to my ebay records I found that three of these had come from the same seller. I complained and he replaced the one I had just bought, said too bad on the others as it had been too long before I noticed, and he blocked me from future purchases. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1119 Posts |
now that is just plain wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1788 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
187931 Posts |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,612 |
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Posted 11/05/2015 12:36 am
