• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
0
  • entries
    270
  • comments
    91
  • views
    8,891

Is My Coin "Too Good"

0
jackson64

1,485 views

Okay, I may have screwed up a bit. I have bought a few of the coins for my Washington album already slabbed and have had to liberate them for my album.

The primary reason for this is that a few of the pricier ones I was able to get at a very good price in the grades I wanted and as a plus I got the added insurance with the purchase of knowing they weren't cleaned or had issues I couldn't see with the seller's pictures. I am down to just the final 3 or 4 holes in my Washington album. The final slots are not particularly challenging to fill, I just was looking for nicer detailed coins at a good price. Some of these coins I found in BU grade for little above melt cost and others I found in XF or even VF+ quality for some lower mintage issues.

The final 4 coins needed are the 1940-D, 1947-S, 51-S and 52-S, none of which are rare or even particularly scarce--they just happen to be the last 4 holes by random chance. Much of the album was filled with some strategy behind it. I started by buying 2 incomplete albums and taking the decent coins and adding to my singular set. Next came a process of buying the P, D and S together of the same year which got me some great 3 BU runs with some and 3 circulated coins with others.

Whittling away any group dates I could ( the prices are significantly better when purchasing 3 coins for an $8-10 cost per coin as opposed to the asking prices of $15-25 often for single slot fillers.) I finally have ended with these four. I tried hunting for the 51-S and 52-S together but there aren't any groups of these 2 dates. I did find some larger lots which I might purchase and can resell the 51 P& D and 52 P & D and make my purchase for the S mint coins a good bargain.

My "mess up" was with the 47-S. I couldn't find any group lots of this issue and started looking for just nice single coins at reasonable prices. Most raw BU coins were in the $20 range listed which is about the pricelist costs of $17 for a 63 and $28 for a 64---but low and behold I threw out a wild flyer bid of $30 for an NGC MS66 that was attracting my eye. I actually won the MS66 for an unbelievable $24.50 --I was pretty excited to get a $60 coin for under $25 but when it arrived there was a bit of a conundrum. The coin is almost too nice to break out and stick in an album. If I don't crack it out I'll have to buy another and then what to do with a single slabbed Washington quarter?

I already have way too many coins that aren't a part of any set but were just too attractive and well-priced to pass up, so I will eventually crack it out and plug the hole in my album--but for now, I'm just leaving it on my desk and enjoying it....

 

Here's some pics--It is more of a personal taste thing and I know many here won't see it the way I do, as I love the peachy/rose blush overall on the obverse and the reverse has blotches of really vibrant emerald greens, turquoise and purples...a fun coin but it may skew the "balance" of that page in my album. Oh well, if I have to upgrade a few of the surrounding coins on the page to give the overall look a better blend then that is what I'll do...happy hunting everyone......

DSC02559.jpg

DSC02560.jpg

0



5 Comments


Recommended Comments

Jackson,

 I guess it all adds up to how nice you want your album to be. I build sets in the club that are also NGC certified for "what it's worth"..  I also cherry-pick the same sets in raw coins for the albums I collect. O-K so I have 2 sets --- one NGC graded and one raw in albums. To me they are both the same value but honestly!!_---- the raw set in albums is more collector friendly. :)

 Later---Rick

Link to comment

Here is the rub...  Crack it out and say goodbye to MS-66.  If you decided to recertify it may come back in anything from an MS-67 to a "AU Details Artificial Color."   Enjoy the coin, I have cracked out many coins for an album set (I tape the slab insert to the inside cover of the album.)  But, recognize that it is a one way street.  One trick I use for a coin that I know that I am going to use in an album is to buy a "details" coin that I think might pass for original.  Here are my 2 most memorable crack out/recert coins.  These were coins that on close inspection I thought were good original coins; that the "Details" grade was inappropriate.  1) 1909-S Indian 1c was in an ICG AU-58 corroded  holder.  I cleaned the coin carefully with some old Coin Care (the stuff with the now banned TFTCE (trifluoro-trichloro-ethane.)  After removing a small amount of verdigris I sent the coin to PCGS and got it back in a PCGS AU-58 holder.  The second 2) and my favorite is a 1923-S FH Standing Liberty Quarter that I bought in an NGC AU details improperly cleaned holder.  It really did not look cleaned to me.  I CAREFULLY dipped it, let it dry for 24 hours and PCGS put it in an AU-58 FH holder.  It is now in an NGG MS-61 FH slab and is now in my NGC registry set with picture so you can judge for yourself.  I love the albums and I loved the spending time on the NGC registry as a way of enjoying virtual albums.  The business decision to no longer allow PCGS has really slowed me down.  For most all of my registry sets I have an album as well and for many I only have the album (Lincoln cents, Washington quarters where it make no sense to me to slab a 1964 quarter for the registry.)  Buy the coin not the holder... And enjoy the hobby. 

Edited by JTO
Link to comment

Maybe I'm missing something, but why would you ever crack out a high grade NGC or PCGS slabbed coin to put in an album?  An album does not protect the coin as well, it eliminates the professional grade, it limits the ability to sell the coin at a later date, and it is harder to fully appreciate the coin in an album.  I recognize that some of these points are my opinion, but all in all, it seems like a bad idea in many respects.  No doubt you have some beautiful coins and I'm sure the album is an extraordinary set, I just genuinely am at a loss about moving them from slab to album.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now