I had not received the coin yet and I had the package ready to ship it back!

I have always liked the Washington silver quarters. I was born in 1958, so well circulated coins were still available in pocket change in the mid 1960's when I started to collect as a kid. I collected the usual things you could get out of change- Silver Roosevelt and Mercury dimes, Jefferson Nickels, wheat pennies. You could not get close to a full collection from change in any of these, but enough different date/mintmarks were available to partially fill a coin book. Even back then, we knew the silver quarters had more value since they were silver, so it felt like instant profit! I was trying to think back how I could afford to save change on a 50 cent a week allowance. The other day my mom reminded me I had a paper route for years. This was until I got my first real job flipping burgers at aged 15- for a whopping $1.25 an hour! My Dad collected coins from change too- but he had the neat albums with the sliding plastic sleeves. I had just had the cheap blue Whitman folders that every time you folded them a couple of coins would fall out. I am sure everyone can remember that frustration!

When I got back into collecting about 6 years ago, my first goal was to complete my raw circulated Washington collection. That was easy except for the 1932-D and S. I eventually got a VG 32-D but still no S mint. I was making a little more money so I decided to switch to MS coins because a lot of them were only 10 to 20 dollars. I bought mainly raw coins that were of nicer quality, but I have also bought some ANACs, PCGS, and NGC. I have learned that for the more expensive coins the only way to go is certified. As I expanded into the 1930's dates, I found they were getting too pricey for me. The 32-D and S, and the 1936- D are $600.00-$1400 just in MS-62. Therefore, I decided I would go for all MS coins except AU for the big three.

I couple of weeks ago I put in a bid on EBay for a PCGS AU58 1932-S for $259, about 3 hours before it closed. The coin did not have nice luster and actually looked way over graded in the pictures- lots of black toning and no breast feathers. Looking back, I do not know why I even bid on it- I think I was buying the holder and not the coin- breaking the cardinal rule! I was not going to be home when it closed and I did not even check to see if I won the auction until the next day when I got to work. Turned out I won the auction for 237.49. I went back and looked at the pictures again and thought -what have I done- this coin is ugly and over-graded! I did not even have it yet and I was ready to send it back!

Then I got the coin in the mail. It did have a little dark toning in some spots- but it still had some luster left. The breast feathers were almost totally complete- a true AU58 coin! PCGS price guide says 410, which to me is just about always excessively high. The NGC/Numismedia guide has it at 318. Turns out, I got a good deal! Not as good as Gary's 1880CC PL- a $750 coin for $220- but I will take it. I think the bidding was not as high on my quarter because the seller just had lousy pictures! A good lesson for all sellers!

I am making my first attempt at adding a picture- will see how it comes out.

Thanks for reading and may great coin buys be in your future!

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