Heritage Auctions 1 1

[Modwriter]

Has anybody used Heritage Auctions to buy or sell their graded coins? They were mentioned in a YouTube video I found researching state quarters. Signed up with them to check the sold at auction quarter prices and was amazed at the high dollar amounts that they are being sold for.

[VKurtB]

2 minutes ago, Modwriter said:

Has anybody used Heritage Auctions to buy or sell their graded coins? They were mentioned in a YouTube video I found researching state quarters. Signed up with them to check the sold at auction quarter prices and was amazed at the high dollar amounts that they are being sold for.

Gaudy high grades or rare varieties?

[Modwriter]

2 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

Gaudy high grades or rare varieties?

Mainly just wanted to look at 2009 state quarter pricing. PCGS outnumbered NGC graded coins. A lot of MS67/68 grades. The coin search tool is well worth the free account sign up. It's like going down a rabbit hole, I could spend hours there. Could be the international sales driving up pricing.

[kbbpll]

I have used Heritage to purchase one coin (my profile image). I've never looked into selling anything there (because I've never sold anything). I am on there several times a day - it is an invaluable tool for research, in my opinion. I don't know of any other site with so many images of coins (like, 2.5 million of them). I figure my one purchase's BP covered me for the many years I've used them for free.

[VKurtB]

57 minutes ago, Modwriter said:

Mainly just wanted to look at 2009 state quarter pricing. PCGS outnumbered NGC graded coins. A lot of MS67/68 grades. The coin search tool is well worth the free account sign up. It's like going down a rabbit hole, I could spend hours there. Could be the international sales driving up pricing.

According to the purists, maybe including me, the concept of a 2009 state quarter is an oxymoron. They were territories that year, not states, and were only created after the fact by a separate piece of legislation after the state quarter law. But then again, Whitman did add them to their map products, even though Dansco (initially) kept them in a separate album. I’ve never mentally counted them as state quarters, but something apart. 
 

If you’re looking at 67/68, yes, those are very gaudy grades indeed. 

Edited July 13, 2020 by VKurtB

[Coinbuf]

I have purchased a handful of coins over the years thru Heritage auctions, but the high seller fees make it an unattractive unless you have some major rarieties.  In fact they aren't really all that interested in consignments under 5K.  For selling Great Collections is a much better option for most collectors.  While they do have a ton of photos (Heritage) their photos leave much to be desired much of the time.

 

Edited to add here is one I bought many years ago.

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by Coinbuf

[Modwriter]

43 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

According to the purists, maybe including me, the concept of a 2009 state quarter is an oxymoron. They were territories that year, not states, and were only created after the fact by a separate piece of legislation after the state quarter law. But then again, Whitman did add them to their map products, even though Dansco (initially) kept them in a separate album. I’ve never mentally counted them as state quarters, but something apart. 
 

If you’re looking at 67/68, yes, those are very gaudy grades indeed. 

Thanks. Not a big fan of the map holders. I have seen a six quarter lens holder at Dave's Coins for the 2009 quarters, but may send them in for grading. I have been using the five quarter lens holders for annual sets. Very gaudy indeed for not being proofs.

[Modwriter]

1 hour ago, Coinbuf said:

I have purchased a handful of coins over the years thru Heritage auctions, but the high seller fees make it an unattractive unless you have some major rarieties.  In fact they aren't really all that interested in consignments under 5K.  For selling Great Collections is a much better option for most collectors.  While they do have a ton of photos their photos leave much to be desired much of the time.

 

Edited to add here is one I bought many years ago.

 

Nice! Thanks for the heads up for Great Collections.

[FAS_Coins]

I've bought a lot of Venezuelan coins on Heritage. Once I get old enough (I'm 68 years young) I'll consider Heritage to sell my entire collection instead of leaving that pain in the butt to my kids.

[James_OldeTowne]

My best friend worked at Heritage for quite some time, so I have a bit of "insider information".  I have purchased a boatload of coins at Heritage over the last twenty years, but have been much more careful in recent years because I'm a little unsure as to their current policies in bidding on their own coins.  (I mean, their practical policies, not what's stated in the "small print".)

I have also sold some through Heritage, but my last consignment (a few years ago) was almost certainly my last.  It was 100% unreserved, and I was quite dissatisfied with the net results.

But that's only my personal experience - I know many collectors who have been happy both directions.

[Coinbuf]

10 hours ago, Modwriter said:

Nice! Thanks for the heads up for Great Collections.

I just realized my post may have not been clear, my comment about the photos was directed to Heritage and not Great Collections.  Heritage photos tend to be dark and not very good for many of the coins, GC photos do at times receive criticism but are better than Heritage photos most of the time imo.  

[kbbpll]

I wonder if it depends on the coin series. Heritage images prior to 2006 or so are pretty bad. Lighting aside, HA images seem to have better resolution than GC for most of the coins I look at. I don't know which one more accurately depicts the coin in hand. Below is HA left and GC right for a random recent MS63 1901 dime.

[James_OldeTowne]

51 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

Heritage photos tend to be dark and not very good for many of the coins, GC photos do at times receive criticism but are better than Heritage photos most of the time imo.  

There was a time when Heritage images were very poor, given that they used to scan so many coins, but that was years ago.  Back then, GC competed well against them.  However, GC does not seem to have upgraded their imaging technology in a very long time (in internet terms) and I feel like that Heritage has, which means photos today are generally substantially better.  One of my critical factors is: Can I attribute a die-marriage or variety off the image?  The Heritage photos offer better resolution overall.

[Coinbuf]

In my experience the GC photos are brighter and sometimes a bit washed out while the Heritage photos are often dark and lifeless.  I do suspect that the coin composition (copper, silver, etc) will vary between the two.  I would also say that the Heritage photos were better some years ago than what I see today, the coin posted was from 2004, that same coin photo would be darker here is a current buy-it-now Heritage inventory photo of the same date as the 1925 in my post, this is an MS67 mine was MS66.

 

[Modwriter]

Going through HA last night, noticed that graded 1999 State quarters, with the exception of the Georgia quarter have sold for premium prices. Also the 2001 New York. There is also what I am calling the HA "Big Ten": 02-P Ohio, the 03-P Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, the 04-D Michigan, 04-P Iowa, Wisconsin, the 05-P Kansas,  and the 08-P&D Oklahoma. The 09 D.C. and Territories on top of all of the above. Sorry for the long post. Happy Hunting.

[Conder101]

On 7/13/2020 at 1:52 AM, Modwriter said:

 I have seen a six quarter lens holder at Dave's Coins for the 2009 quarters, but may send them in for grading. 

Just remember that unless you are a world class grader and you have VERY carefully selected the quarters you are submitting, the chances of getting back anything higher than a 66 are slim, and the chances of getting better than a 67 are practically zero. So 99.9%+ of the time you will pay way more for having them graded than they will be worth after they are graded.

I don't know your experience level, but way too many beginner see youtube videos touting high prices paid for things like state quarters and get they idea they can just go to the bank, get some quarters, have them graded, and start rolling in dough.

[Modwriter]

56 minutes ago, Conder101 said:

Just remember that unless you are a world class grader and you have VERY carefully selected the quarters you are submitting, the chances of getting back anything higher than a 66 are slim, and the chances of getting better than a 67 are practically zero. So 99.9%+ of the time you will pay way more for having them graded than they will be worth after they are graded.

I don't know your experience level, but way too many beginner see youtube videos touting high prices paid for things like state quarters and get they idea they can just go to the bank, get some quarters, have them graded, and start rolling in dough.

I am trying to do as much research and learning as possible before submitting any of my quarters. I am not in any hurry to sell at the moment. I do want to have a nice, organized coin collection to leave to my wife.

[gmarguli]

My favorite State Quarter: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $17,250

10 years later an example sells for: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $384

The nice thing about both coins is they both come with haze and spots, which are highly sought after on PR70s. 

[Modwriter]

58 minutes ago, gmarguli said:

My favorite State Quarter: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $17,250

10 years later an example sells for: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $384

The nice thing about both coins is they both come with haze and spots, which are highly sought after on PR70s. 

Amazing that quarters with that many spots would grade that high. I have cast aside nice quarters with spots like those. Must be graded high because they are mint proofs.

[VKurtB]

3 hours ago, gmarguli said:

My favorite State Quarter: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $17,250

10 years later an example sells for: 1999 Delaware PCGS PR70 @ $384

The nice thing about both coins is they both come with haze and spots, which are highly sought after on PR70s. 

Then they no longer are PR70 coins, despite what the label says.

[Conder101]

And if they went bad in the holder after they were slabbed (which they probably did), they are not covered by the PCGS grade guarantee.

[Coinbuf]

20 hours ago, Modwriter said:

Amazing that quarters with that many spots would grade that high. I have cast aside nice quarters with spots like those. Must be graded high because they are mint proofs.

Keep in mind that its at least possible that some of what you see is on the slab not the coin, photographing proofs is a tricky business and you can get some weird image effects.  I'm not saying that's the case with these two but notice the lettering on the second coin linked, that is almost guarantied to be a photo effect so its at least possible that some of the other stuff could be as well.  Just goes to show that nothing beats an in hand view.

 

Having said that coins do turn in holders many times after grading. 

[Modwriter]

27 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

Having said that coins do turn in holders many times after grading. 

I do not see how coins are able to "turn in holders". Do you mean the holders/slabs are cracked open after grading?

[Coinbuf]

4 minutes ago, Modwriter said:

I do not see how coins are able to "turn in holders". Do you mean the holders/slabs are cracked open after grading?

No coins develop spots, tone, or change color known as "turning in the holder" after being slabbed by a TPG.  This happens for many reasons, from as simple as someone along the grading chain sneezed and some droplets landed on the coin to a doctored coin that slipped past the graders.  An example of this is the milkspots that form on many ASE's, nobody knows for sure what causes them to form but it has been a problem with very fine silver coins and you will see many white spotted coins in high grade holders because the spots formed after the coin was slabbed.  Also slabs are not 100% airtight so in some cases coins change after slabbing due to improper storage in a high humidity climate.

[Modwriter]

Good to know. Thanks.