What You Need To Know - Grading and Buying coins Based on Images

[warriorbassman-migration]

(thumbs u

 

The premise of this article seems solid to me. Most people do not have the means or the time to see a coin in person etc. etc. Some people need to rely on the photos and learn which ones they should buy and which ones they should let fly.

 

Pax,

Paul

[J3_Dog]

Good Info.... I can't post my photo as it say's cannot process over 200000 something

[KMAG100]

Very good thread and I find the topic very interesting......I have bought a lot of coins off eBay, and like anyone who has purchased coins off eBay with regularity there have been some disappointments. I consider it the cost of learning; of course I am not spending much over $400 on any one coin so the learning experience is not overly painful either. Anyway, to help and avoid the mistakes of poor coin purchases I ended up sending some coins in from a couple of the sellers I buy from off eBay which I thought were of high quality. I wanted to reaffirm what I personally thought of the sellers and the coins they were selling me. I was very pleased with the grades I received from the coins I sent in to be graded. I submitted very small sample sizes of 3 from one dealer and 2 from another and got one coin from each dealer graded in at 70, and the others 69. Maybe I got lucky, but I will continue to buy from them. However I have been more disappointed from the raw coins I have bought from the 800 lbs. gorillas in the market place. There is little doubt in my mind the big players cull most of their coins, because I have never found a 70 in any of the raw coins they have sent me unless they were bought that way. For me the most important thing is know WHO you are buying from if you cannot see the coin in person.

[eastcoast-migration]

Guys - I joined this forum about 6 years ago but haven't frequented it since. I've got a question about buying on ebay. What are your thoughts on just sticking with buying graded coins on ebay? I wouldn't necessarily trust somebody if it were an ungraded coin, however, I think a high ebay rating lends some credence.

 

I recently purchased an 1894 $10 gold US Liberty Head ungraded. The seller had a high rating but I wouldn't know if the item were a fake. Do you think its safer to stick with graded coins in the case? Have you heard of people making fake cases?

 

Also, what do you think is a fair price to pay over spot for gold? Do you think I'm better off going to a coin dealer if I'm looking just at bullion?

 

thanks in advance

[jpcienkus]

Eastcoast,

 

I have bought many coins on eBay, both slabbed and raw. I buy more slabbed coins than raw, but one thing I'm very nervous about is buying gold on that site. I buy mostly silver coins. Whether it's slabbed or raw, if you read enough threads here, gold coins have the highest rate of doctoring. I'm not expert enough to tell when a gold coin has been doctored via only a photograph.

 

If you are going to buy any raw coins on eBay, make sure they have a return policy. If they don't, I wouldn't buy from them.

 

There are many good bullion dealers on the web. I've used APMEX and JM Bullion and am very pleased. If you can find a local dealer you can trust, that's a great way to go as well. You can also use these sites as an indicator of spot price for gold, silver and platinum as they are constantly updated based on market forces.