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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,696 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
So I was shopping on ebay, and I came across this seller who had an interesting selection of old silver quarters, dimes, half dollars, and a bunch of modern stuff. http://stores.ebay.com/VINTAGE-COIN...2QQpZ4QQtZkmI was looking at a nice FH SLQ and admiring the fresh mint look of it. It looked like it came fresh from the press without any scratches, toning, wear. nothing. That was cool, so I decided to check out some of his other stuff. After looking at a vast array of pre-1930 silver, I found it interesting that ALL of his coins look practically untouched! I mean seriously, no scratches...not even the slightest bit of toning, NOTHING. I mean, most old silver, even in MS-65 usually have some toning, or occasional bag marks. This set my " ebay red flag" on, since I've learned(the hard way) to be very suspicious. I'm not saying he's counterfeiting, or even cleaning all of his coins....but I just don't understand how a seller would ONLY have high grade coins that appear untouched(and FH/FSB designations galore), at least as far as pre-1930 is concerned. Maybe he came across a giant horde of very carefully preserved coins? Anyways, opinions? thanks, John Edited by Forum Mom to move from Classic US coins to Ebay/Auction Site Discussions |
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Rest in Peace
 United States
4849 Posts |
ok, well he guarantee's all coins to be genuine, but he's a bit anal with the return policy.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Yeah--I understand your questions regarding those coins. I have some of my own, such as why do so many silver coins have a similar look--is that simply due to photo lighting, or is something else going on? I don't want to speculate too much, but there's something that raises my "red flags" too. Consider this coin:  To me, something about the surface quality of the fields doesn't match the rest of the coin, such as the portrait. As one who's used Photoshop commercially for 10+ years, I suspect some manipulation of that photo--but then again I'm the suspicious type. Maybe he just sells good coins?  Edited by KurtS
05/09/2008 02:37 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
628 Posts |
My bet is he's a very good photographer and/or desktop publisher, using masks or filters or both. I don't know how to do it, but I've learned to recognize it when I see it.
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Moderator
 Australia
17002 Posts |
This seller gets a dishonourable mention by HABIB in the CCF Discouraged Sellers thread, here. Similar comments are made about photoshopped pictures, bait-and-switch tactics, overgrading and cleaned coins when you search the seller's username on other forums, too. I'm surprised someone with so much "bad press" doesn't switch usernames. I guess his target market are those who see a feedback score of 21,000+ as some kind of guarantee of integrity. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
ahhh! "halfabustisbetter's" comments on Sap's link matches my impressions exactly. I didn't want to say anything and hurt the seller's reputation if I'm wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
There you go--proof that first impressions are often correct.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1841 Posts |
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,696 |
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Posted 05/09/2008 02:15 am
