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 Replies: 22 / Views: 2,358 |
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Valued Member
United States
202 Posts |
http://cgi.ebay.com/FREE-S-H-1921-M...BU_W0QQitemZ a href= https://www.coincommunity.com/go/link.asp?target=https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/380049579797 target= _blank rel= nofollow 380049579797 /a QQihZ025QQcategoryZ39466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I recently decided to start collecting coins and I just made my first purchase. I have read some books and from what I can tell this is a good quality coin. What are the opinions of others from this site. Edited by Forum Mom to move to Classic Coin Forum
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Valued Member
United States
201 Posts |
It's a nice looking coin from what I can tell in the pictures and the value seems there. I would love to see closeup pictures though.
Edited by Steamwalker
07/30/2008 12:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
    Nice coin...looks like a good purchase to me ! And certainly a nice choice to start with !...  ..... AND WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION ! Glad to have ya aboard !  And yes, we all LOVE pictures here ! The more detailed the better !  Edited by eaglefoot
07/30/2008 11:59 am
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
Great. Cheap (for the standards here). I wish I remembered my first buy |
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Valued Member
 United States
202 Posts |
Thanks for your opinions. I'll probably put up some high quality close ups once the coin actually comes to my house..
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Looks like you did good for a first purchase and you haven't fallen for any of the newbie coin traps out there. |
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New Member
United States
34 Posts |
Excellent first coin and it looks like you got it for a nice price also.
Congrat's!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
I hate to be a wet blanket--and since I am being outvoted by others, feel free to disregard my comments, but I have a couple of issues I'd like to bring up with the coin and the seller-- 1. The coin. Looks great at first glance. Then you notice a couple of nicks, both obverse and reverse, and a scratchy-looking thing on the neck that will probably keep the coin from going higher than MS-63. I could be wrong about that, but...MS-63 1921 Morgans are common enough that they sell for under $20--certified by NGC or PCGS--on average on Teletrade. (Teletrade [www.teletrade.com] is a certified coin auction website with results I check fairly often to compare ebay prices to.) The bottom line is that dealers that I know consider MS-63 and under 1921 Philadelphia Morgans to be a bullion coin, and I have even seen them in the 'junk silver' section of my local dealers stock on occasions when his main stock is full. So your coin was priced over what I personally would pay, simply because I know that silver has to go to about $40 before a dealer would pay me what I paid for that particular coin. 2. The seller. He has been on my Do Not Buy from list for some time, because although he claims not to doctor his photos he makes no such claims about his coins. It is my opinion that he could not make that claim in court without committing perjury. When a seller has as many uniform-looking pewtery-shiny circulated silver coins--I suspect he is dipping/doctoring to make the coin appear it's very 'best' in his undoctored photos. He definitely did something to this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/FREE-S-H-1937-S...CE_W0QQitemZ a href= https://www.coincommunity.com/go/link.asp?target=https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/260268492631 target= _blank rel= nofollow 260268492631 /a QQihZ016QQcategoryZ39462QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem This coin is also a basically a bullion coin (I would sell it for no more than $4-4.50) that he wants $15 for. If you do get one of his dipped coins, you might not notice it at first, and you'll think you got a great deal maybe. Then after a few months, you'll notice some fading, maybe some spotting, and you'll realize you've been ripped off. By which time it is too late for returns or negative feedback. He also keeps his listings private which I am not a big fan of. All of this is not to say that there is anything at all wrong with your purchase, just to note that there is more going on with coin sellers and their listings than meets the eye. Welcome to the forum, let us know what you think when it arrives. Edit: one caveat. If the coin turns out to be some ultra-rare VAM, then all my points are useful only in a more general sense, Edited by halfabustisbetter
07/31/2008 01:43 am
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Valued Member
United States
131 Posts |
I have to echo halfisbetter on most of his points although you should just understand that e-bay is full of sellers looking to sell to first-time buyers who haven't fully figured out what to look for. An important thing to look for with respect to e-bay sellers is return policy -- a return policy like this seller's that only allows returns if the coin is "not as described or pictured" is, in my opinion, not worth much. It does not allow you to return a coin that for instance has been cleaned or has other deficiencies not readily apparent from the photo. There are dealers on this forum that can give you better guidance than me but I would look more for dealers with a no-questions-asked return policy.
Enjoy and realize that you will make some mistakes in your initial purchases, which is a good reason to limit the amount you spend until you get a better feel for the value of coins.
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Valued Member
United States
202 Posts |
Thanks for all of the helpful information. I guess I still need a lot of practice as to knowing what I need to be looking for. Would anybody mind pointing me to a listing that has all of the good quality's shown in the previous two posts. I would really appreciate it.
cabomhn
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
Is there a particular coin or budget you'd like to explore more than any other? I could put up what I think is a decent listing for a 1916-D Mercury dime, but if you're not ready to spend $1,000 it would have less practical use for you. If you want to you can put up some examples of coins/sellers you want to know more about, and we can look at the listings together and get more feedback from the members that way. P.S. I'm glad to know you're willing to stick with it--this is a lifetime thing for so many, so if your personality is such that you view this as a challenge you will last a long time in the game. |
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Valued Member
Philippines
107 Posts |
great first buy...unlike mine when I bought my first Morgan here in the Philippines... its is a fake  anyway that made me knowledgeable on some sort because when I got fooled I bought books.. now I know a little bit... if I got no knowledge about a particular coin though they are selling it for cheap I always shun away... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
Cabomhn, if you are a newcomer to this addiction (and believe me coin collecting can become an addiction) I would like to offer some advice I got when I started back in 3rd grade from a wonderful older, long since deceased dealer that had a coin shop near my fathers office. He wouldn't let me buy coins when I first started wandering in on Saturday afternoons, what he did was made me sit and look at 100's (and I mean 100's) of examples of coins. Then he would ask me to pick out the best examples and tell me why the were the best. He taught me to look for signs of "tooling" on older coins, signs of cleaning, dipping, whizzing, odd wear spots, alterations, signs of repairs, etc. My point isn't that I was lucky to have a mentor, it's that you need to look at coins, lots of coins and you need to do it in person. So instead of starting your collection by purchasing coins on ebay sight unseen, I suggest you join a local coin club if there is one, go to local coin shows, go to regional coin shows and really look at the coins. Buy books and read them, knowledge is what this hobby is all about. Get exposed to something the makes the collector gene in your personality scream out "this is what I want to collect". And then go for it. |
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Valued Member
United States
202 Posts |
@ halfabustisbetter: I don't know if you have seen, but on one of the other subforums I put up a post saying I was going to try to make a date sate of all minted years of the Morgan silver dollars. As far as price range. I'm 15, so the prices of coins that I purchase can't be too extravagant. As far as local coin shops, around where I live they are practically non-existent. So I have to basically resort to traveling long distances or using online sites for purchases. Do you know of any trustworthy ebay sellers? Or possibly other sites that you can make purchases. My last question for this post is, is there any books that I can use for reference for Morgan dollars. I have bought and read the "Coin collecting for dummies" book. The problem with that is that it talks about all of the things mentioned in jfransch's post, but no real examples are give. Thanks again. cabomhn |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
RedBook of Morgan dollars is a pretty good book that deals specifically with Morgans , also the PCGS grading guide book will get you started on grading . these are available at most book stores ,hastings , or online at Amazon .
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
You did fine. Nice coin. swcoin.ecrater.com
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Replies: 22 / Views: 2,358 |
Posted 07/30/2008 10:48 am
