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 Replies: 29 / Views: 4,000 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
Ok, so I thought I was done buying gold for a while. NOPE! Bug hit hard again in a way I didn't expect it to. I have always revered the elusive southern branch mint coins of Charlotte and Dahlonega, but never really considered one because of the high cost needed to own a decent example. This one caught me by surprise. I initially bid on it, and ended up being the highest bidder except I was stopped cold by the seller's "reserve", as the next highest bid was way below mine. Oh well, moved on. 2 days later, the seller sent me a second chance offer at the bid that ended below mine! My first thought was it was possibly fake. But no, it was legit from ebay and I confirmed it with the seller. Honestly, I can't believe how inexpensive it ended up being. I couldn't find ANY in the Heritage archives that went cheaper than this until like 2002 or so, evern ones that were cleaned/hacked up/graffiti-ed whatever. Now this coin is certified by NGC and looks pretty decent from the pics, although the obverse picture leaves something to be desired(It's not very clear). The reverse looks quite nice to me. This US seller has sold thousands of coins and has a 100% feedback rating, and a 7 day full refund guarantee. So I jumped on it. It is a gamble based on less than great pictures, but given all of the conditions it was a calculated risk. I will say what I paid for it and the grade later and will post better pictures when I receive the coin. Now from you guys. What would you grade and value the coin based on the pics?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
532 Posts |
I am terrible with gold but just taking a stab at it for fun.....but first let me say WOW a 44D. I only know of the particular coin because of its scarce numbers.
I may be WAY off but I would think it would be at least XF and that puts it somewhere in neighborhood of about 3k doesn't it? It does look a little scratched up from wiping it off incorrectly or similar but still a widely chased coin.
It seems we all have different calculations of risk assessment but I wish you the best with it as it will be a great addition to your collection. Would I be crass to ask the price tag?
Nice, very nice.
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Rest in Peace
 United States
4849 Posts |
Thank you RFB! I will certainly post the price tag and grade once I get a few more comments.
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
It has a really great 'crusty' look to it, at least thats my initial impression!
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Valued Member
United States
124 Posts |
I know very little about gold, so I won't try to guess value, but I'll take a stab at the grade. The obverse picture is a little out of focus, but it seems like I can see some ridge lines in one or two of the stars. The reverse is beautiful. The eagle's feathers are distinct. There looks like there is a little wear on the leaves (or is this the picture quality?) I'd say it's on the high side of EF. Nice coin  Edited by Brian Mc
12/17/2009 11:19 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
It looks close to EF from what I can see. Problem-free the coin is worth at least $2K.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Way out of my comfort zone, but I don't think EF40-45 is unrealistic. That makes it approaching a $2k coin, judging from Heritage results.
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
Thank you all for your comments  Basically you all described my impression of the coin based off of the photos. Solid XF-40 to 45. The outcome may be a bit of a shocker as NGC gave it a VF details(improperly cleaned) and it sold to me for $660.00. So taking into consideration that the coin is probably hairlined or polished underneath the heavy toning, I still think it is undergraded at VF details, especially since most Dahlonega coins are weakly struck. NGC is much stricter, but maybe there is more wear on the obverse than what can be seen in the photos because it's blurry. Even still, Dahlonega's commonly have weak details for the grade, and there are a TON of cleaned ones in problem free slabs from what I've seen/read. So my hope is that NGC suddenly got much stricter on both detail and problem status with this coin, now that they slab problem coins. But even if the coin looks nowhere near as good in hand as it does in those pics, $660 seems like a good price for a cleaned certified VF $5 gold dahlonega to me at only 2.5x melt.  I'm quite surprised the seller sold it to me for that price in a second chance offer  . I will know a lot more when I receive the coin(fingers crossed). Here is the listing. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...TRK:MEWNX:IT I also am selling my AG-3 1916-d certified merc dime for this purchase. It is sad but I reason it this way: I can always get an AG-3 Merc dime for $600. Not the same with dahlonega half eagles. Edited by johnny54321
12/18/2009 01:14 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
532 Posts |
Good seller. No worries. I am confident you will enjoy the coin now that I know where it is coming from. Good guys. Very easy to speak to directly if you ever have any questions. I have bought from them before with some raw coppers I felt I was going on a limb on until they arrived.
Bummer about the "improper" label, but once in your 7070 it will look great.
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
Quote:
Good seller. No worries. I am confident you will enjoy the coin now that I know where it is coming from. Good guys. Very easy to speak to directly if you ever have any questions. I have bought from them before with some raw coppers I felt I was going on a limb on until they arrived.
Bummer about the "improper" label, but once in your 7070 it will look great. That is good to know! Honestly, I don't care about the improper label if the coin looks like the pictures. I will probably put it in my 7070, and consider resubmitting to ANACS or PCGS to see what they say. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
I think the reverse was abrasively cleaned but the price was right. You got it for 1/3 of the "problem-free" price and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
Perfect for a 7070 really because it looks pretty good really.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
The market for "problem" coins is strange. On ebay the bidders seem consistantly bearish on them, but on Heritage they sometimes fetch the same as a problem free example. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
so buy on ebay and sell on Heritage? But yeah, dahlonegas seem to get consistent high bids on Heritage regardless of problem status. I haven't checked ebay's post auctions; but it also may just be a slower market due to the recession and holidays. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
I maintain that it was an awesome buy and PQ for the grade and the designation.
I mean a 'presentable XF looking" D 1/2 eagle for just over $600? Thats ridiculous, and I've only seen culls go for prices like that most of the time.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Heck of a deal. HCC is on my regular online dealer route; I've bought from them before and I will again.
From what I can tell, you don't grade Dahlonega gold from the obverse; perhaps NGC let the strike interfere with their evaluation. Either way, that's a very well-bought coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
Congrats on a great buy! While I wouldn't want a coin that was obviously heavily cleaned, I wouldn't mind one that would require magnification to see. I bet the ebay vs. Heritage thing could be in part due to the nature of the two companies. ebay still has much more of a "caveat emptor" feel to it whereas Heritage is the most respected auction house there is for coins. I think buyers on ebay are looking for any reason to avoid a purchase (people want to buy, I just mean they spook very easily) because of the chance of getting taken advantage of. Whereas Heritage is seen as a safer source for coins. When talking about a gold coin worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, people get even more cautious. If you blow $20 on a coin that turns out to be junk you get annoyed but can just shrug your shoulders and move on. If you spend $1000 and find out it isn't what you thought, it is a much harder financial hit to take. |
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Replies: 29 / Views: 4,000 |
Posted 12/17/2009 10:05 pm
