Anecdote from the Silver Dollar Show, re: SLQ's

[James_OldeTowne]

J Cline and his table partner had three 1916 SLQs in stock at the Silver Dollar show, all in identical grades of VF-20, a coin I would really like to get my hands on some day. One coin was graded by NGC, one by PCGS and one by ANACS. All three were problem-free originals and nice in that regard.

 

Having three identically graded coins yielded a rare opportunity for a side by side comparison - something I was more than happy to take advantage of. To my surprise, the ANACS coin was clearly the superior coin, appearing abou five points better than either of the other two, and the PCGS coin was the weakest by a slim margin. I would dare say the ANACS coin was slightly undergraded, and I brought this to the attention of Cline's friend (never did catch his name), who agreed completely.

 

I asked for the best price on each coin, and here's what's odd: the ANACS and NGC coins were priced the same, while the PCGS coin was priced $300 higher than either of them. The guy literally said he "has more" into the PCGS coin. (All three were priced too strong regardless, in my opinion).

 

Isn't it rather disappointing when the brand on the slab means so much to the price of the coin? Just food for thought....

 

James

[kryptonitecomics]

Very nice opportunity you had there............buy the slab and not the coin....isn't that how the old saying goes

[michael]

 

 

 

 

 

michael

[TomB]

I don't know that you can really come to the conclusion that the brand on the slab dictated the price, though I will not argue that this does happen for some coins. If he told you that he has more into the PCGS coin then I would expect that he has paid more for the PCGS coin than the other coins. He may have bought the coins from three different sources, who asked three different prices. Alternatively, he may have had the coins in inventory for varying lengths of time.

 

Please note that I am not trying to debate the point that the brand of plastic has an unfortunate influence on price, I just don't think that that is necessarily the case with these coins and the details you gave us.

[gmarguli]

I agree with TomB 100%. When a dealer says he "has more" into a coin it literally means he has more money invested in that coin. He might just be the type of dealer that expects to make X% on every purchase and even if he has two identical coins, he'll want different amounts of money.

 

For the price difference, there could be other factors. He might have had 5 people come by and express interest in the PCGS example. Knowing there is more demand at the show for that coin (regardless of who graded it), he is going to want a slightly higher price. He could have had 3 people come by expressing interest in the NGC coin and no one in the ANACS coin. He could have priced the NGC at a certain level knowing there is some interest and coincidentally the ANACS coin at that same level, but because he knows it is a PQ coin and not because of the amount of interest in the coin.