The Ugly Duckling is really a Swan

In my search to find the last coin needed to complete my registry set for Carson City Morgan Silver Dollars in the Original GSA Holders, the sun, the moon and the stars seemed to all line up for me at the recent October 2006 Dallas Heritage Auction. I wasn?t in Dallas, but was participating via the internet. I am more comfortable with internet auctions now, as long as the seller is reputable, the coin is professionally graded and the pictures of the coin are good.

I was looking for an 1879-CC, the key date and king of the Carson City Morgan dollars in the GSA holders, and wanted one graded by NGC in MS64. The PCGS retail price on the coin is $12,000 in MS64, though they frequently sell for less. I expected to have to pay around $10,500 to get one in the GSA holder. The lowest I had seen one sell for in the GSA holder recently was $9,775. There are only 32 of the MS64?s graded by NGC in the GSA holder in the population report, and TWO were up for auction at the same time. Any time there are multiple coins of the same date and grade up for auction, there is a chance that the bidding will be split among the coins and they will all sell for less.

I studied them both carefully on the Heritage website. The Heritage coin pictures are usually of very high quality, with the ability to zoom in on any specific area of the coin. The first coin looked TERRIBLE in the picture. I thought to myself, this couldn?t be an MS64. It looks much worse than a Morgan I have graded MS62. The second coin looked really nice for an MS64, and appeared to be an MS65 except for a nick on the forehead of Lady Liberty. Guess which one most of the bids went to. Guess which one I bid on...the ugly ducking. Apparently, other collectors shared my view that the first coin looked terrible in the picture. I was the only bidder!! I won the auction for a price of $8,050, which included the 15% commission. That is 67% of retail. Any time I can pick up a coin for 67% of retail, I am a happy camper.

So what did I know that the other potential internet bidders did not know? For one thing, there were two pictures, one close-up of the coin (the terrible looking coin), and another picture of the same coin in the GSA holder. When I blew up the picture in the GSA holder, the coin looked significantly better. Which picture gave the better view of the coin? Looking at them through the internet, I could not tell which picture gave a more accurate view. One thing I did know. It was professionally graded by NGC as MS64. How bad could it be if it was graded MS64? Was it really an ugly duckling or a swan?

I recently received the coin and anxiously opened the package. Out flew a swan. In my opinion, as a non-professional collector, it is a solid MS64. I think NGC got it right. I compared it to other MS64?s I have, and it is better than some, and worse than some. The terrible picture was not reflective of the coin I received. I am very happy and my registry set is now done (well?I think it is). By the way, the other coin sold for $9,775.

Lessons to be learned if you are a seller: (1) Don?t put your coin up for auction if there are others of the same date and grade up for auction at the same time, and (2) Make sure the picture of your coin shows the quality of the coin accurately. If you put up a lousy picture, you might get a lousy price.

Lessons to be learned if you are a buyer (and willing to take some risk): Ignore seller?s lessons (1) and (2). Look for auctions where there are multiple coins of a date and grade you want and don?t believe every coin picture you see, bad or good.

1879-CC MS