instant buyer's remorse posted by Yankeejose

[CSJournals-migration]

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!

 

See more journals by Yankeejose

[greysoldier]

It appears you got a good deal ~ sure looks like a nice au to me. Your picture is not to shabby either. I have had the same remorse, also to be much relieved upon arrival of the actual item. Even though PCGS/NGC/ANACS are certainly not perfect, they are more reliable than not ~ use due caution otherwise, unless you know the seller.

[coinsbygary]

I like your new coin also, I just don't know why E-Bay sellers post lousy pictures. Speaking of my 1880-CC PL, the picture on the E-Bay listing was blurry. I only bought it for three reasons at $220 more than AU-58 FMV, but still much less than the $750 FMV (I would have loved to snatch it at $220). Reason one, the price was still %25 less than FMV, two, it was proof-like, and three, it was in a GSA holder. Sometimes a good AU-58 looks better than an MS-62 and especially so in Morgans. Proof like surfaces can also magnify contact marks. When I got the coin in hand, I had buyers remorse for a little while until the coin started to grow on me. Yes it looks a little scruffy, but it looks much better in hand than even my posted pictures of it. Strange, I only bought this coin (reason 4) because I couldn't stand the thought of three registry points for an AU coin. Little did I know that just one week later I could have bought an AU-58 coin with 466 registry points. Oh well, a strange series of events lands me a nice coin I would not have otherwise bought. All is well that ends well!

Gary

[Yankeejose]

Gary-sorry I misread your journal- but you still got a great price for a tough coin- just not the deal of the century as I insinuated in my journal. When I first read your journal, I was thinking I would have found a way to come up with $220 to buy that coin! The addition of XF/AU points got me another 405 points for this coin but the whole process knocked me down about 13 spots in standings!

[mkman123]

Nice wash!