Why

[cartwheel-migration]

Looking on E Bay i see so many coins plated in gold, why oh why do people destroy beautiful coins by plating them? Pure monetary gain is no excuse for ruining the coins.

[nemo656]

All you have to do is go to one of the big coin shows for your answer and you hit the proverbial nail right on the head when you said PURE MONATARY GAIN.

 

I had a few days off in September and decided to attend the Philly Whitman Coin show. Now mind you I have not been to a real coin show like this in probably 20 years. I was disturbed and disappointed with that show and MOST of the dealers there. The only coins that were for sale where big gold and what I would call high end coins.

 

What happen to the love of COINS? I've been collecting since I was a kid and I collect because I love the coins and the history that goes along with them. Since when did you have to be a millionaire to collect coins? I have literally hundreds of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and such, I went to the coin show to maybe buy some upgrades or fill some holes in my collections. After walking the first few isles of the show I said to myself WTF? I didn't see ANY pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters. I saw $1500 Morgan's $5000 gold coins and almost any rare or top of the grade coin one could want if you had the deep pockets to afford it. I was looking for a BU 1955 Washington quarter, I imagine they would have laughed at me if I asked for one. I was willing to pay a whopping $20 bucks for one. What happen to the love of COINS? There is no money in it.

 

So why would someone gold plate a coin? Like you said, PURE MONATARY GAIN.

 

The highlight to that show for me was ONE dealer in the last isle in the back of the show who had three huge buckets of 2x2 flip carded foreign coins. Bucket one was any coin in the bucket 50¢, bucket two was any coin $1, bucket three was any coin $2. I filled a bunch of holes in my Swiss collection out of those buckets. and not one of them was gold plated.

 

 

 

[Conder101]

The problem was you were at a BIG show. It costs a dealer a small fortune to set up at a major show. You would have a much better chance at finding the coin you were looking for at a small or mid sized show. At a major show a dealer can easily expect to have $7K or more in expenses even if he doesn't buy one coin. So he is going to have to have $70K or more in sales just to beak even. For this reason they bring their higher value items. (If you are only making fifty cents on each coin you sell you going to have to sell 140K coins at the show.) Also these shows are the ones more likely to be attended by those collectors who can afford those expensive coins. (You much more likely to sell a $5K coin at one of these shows than at a local club show.)

[nemo656]

I hear what your saying Conder101, I was just so disappointed with the show. I do understand that many of the national dealers are in business to make money, but it seems to me that is the ONLY reason they are in the coin business. It just did not appear to me that there was any love for the coin there, if you know what I mean. Not sure that makes sense. The comment cartwheel made prompted me to vent on the topic of why would any one gold plate a coin. The only reason I could see that someone would destroy a coin like that would be to CON someone into buying a worthless coin by fooling them into thinking it was something of value. Just venting….

 

Jim

 

[cartwheel-migration]

Exactly nemo, some person on ebay keeps listing "Gold Nazi 5 marks" when in fact it is the Hindenburg 5 marks that has been plated, some unsuspecting novice in coin collecting might easily be conned into buying what they think is a gold coin when in fact it is plated.