For the beginning collectors, I just wanted to start with a little background terminology first.

Terminology

A raw coin is a coin that has not been slabbed by a grading service like PCGS, NGC, ANACS, SEGS, etc. Buying a raw coin is always more risky than buying a slabbed coin.

Uncirculated coins are assigned an MS grade of MS-60 through MS-70.

MS stands for Mint State. An MS-60 coin might be lacking luster and have a lot of blemishes. An MS-70 coin is absolutely perfect and has no blemishes at all. The higher the MS grade, the nicer the coin.

Hairlines are very faint scratches. If a coin has a lot of hairlines, it is possible the coin has been cleaned. The old time albums with the plastic slides can also cause hairlines. For example--a little piece of grit gets under the plastic and when the slide is moved, it pulls the grit along the coin and leaves a hairline. If a coin has several hairlines that go in different directions, it was probably caused by an old time album or some other storage method. If a coin has tons of these hairlines with the majority of them going in the same direction(s), the coin has probably been wiped/cleaned.


Advice and Questions to Ask

I do buy raw coins on E-bay and have gotten some really fantastic deals. But you really need to be careful. I see so many raw coins advertised as uncirculated coins, while in reality, they have wear or have been cleaned.

When buying coins, unless I know the seller really well, I always ask the following questions:

1. Does the coin have full cartwheel luster, including on all of the devices? For the beginners, if you take a new state quarter and tilt it while holding the coin under a light, the light seems to move in bands on the coin in a circular motion. This is called cartwheel luster. It is possible for a coin to be uncirculated and not have cartwheel luster. But the coin will be at a lower MS grade.

2. Are there any scratches or hairlines on the coin? Scratches and hairlines are usually damage that occurs outside of the mint. It is important to note that hairlines do not always appear in the picture of a coin depending upon lighting and the resolution of the camera.

3. Has the coin been cleaned? I kind of use questions 2 and 3 together. If a seller tells me the coin has not been cleaned, but has lots of hairlines, I get suspicious and will not bid on the coin.

4. Does the coin have any spots or other detracting marks? I ask this to help make sure I'm not overlooking anything. Maybe the coin has a light spot that does not show up in the picture or some other type of problem.

5. What MS grade do you estimate the coin to be? I ask this if the seller does not specify a grade. But a lot of sellers seem to over grade. For example, a GEM BU coin is considered to be at an MS-65 or better grade. But many sellers are calling an MS-64 coin a GEM BU. I also see some sellers advertising a coin as MS-67 or MS-68 and it is no better than MS-63. If I have an older coin that is an MS-67 or MS-68, no way would I ever sell it raw!! I'd send it to NGC or PCGS and get it slabbed.

6. Do you have a return policy? If a return policy is not clearly stated and you are unfamiliar with the seller, always ask this question. And save the seller's reply about the return policy until you receive the coin and inspect it. If you are unsatisfied and the seller gives you a hard time about returning it, the seller's initial e-mail may be helpful if you need to file a dispute.

Also, I'll admit I've gotten some great deals from sellers who do not offer a return policy. But I've also gotten stuck a few times when I first started buying raw coins on E-bay.

I know there are more questions I could be asking and if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I'll continue to update this guide.

Thank you for reading.

Bad Coin Pictures and Trusting Your Seller

I agree with others in general who have written that you should only buy coins that have really clear, sharp pictures showing lots of detail. But if you have bought coins from a seller before and the coins have been consistently good, sometimes that trust can pay off when a picture is bad.

For example, I paid $125+ for an MS 1854 Quarter about 2 years ago. Judging by the seller's picture, the coin appeared to have a large area of pitting (a large depression) on the right side of the obverse:



















The Reverse also appeared to have a planchet flaw near the letter F in the word "OF" in the original seller's picture (may be hard to see in this smaller picture):



















But I had bought many coins from this seller before and they have always been consistent in quality. So for $125+ I was willing to take a chance on this 1854 Quarter. The seller did not indicate there were any problems or damage on the coin either. The seller also had a solid return policy.


Now think of the above pictures as you scroll down.











I've taken a better picture below, and this is the obverse of the same coin:















And here is one of the reverse that I took:















Imagine my surprise when the areas I thought were planchet defects, pitting, or whatever turned out to be areas of toning!!!!

I also thought this was a wonderful example of how pictures of coins can be very misleading. But in this case it worked out well because I trusted the seller.

I do not recommend buying coins from sellers you do not know if:

1. The pictures are blurry.

2. The pictures are too small.

3. The pictures appear to light and washed out.

4. The pictures appear too dark.

5. The picture shows possible problems like damage, lots of hairlines, etc.

For numbers 3 and 4, remember contrast and brightness can be adjusted to make a bad coin look better.


But if you trust the seller and the seller has a solid return policy, you might want to take a chance.

Coins and Stock Pictures on E-bay--Buyer Beware

Please be careful when buying coins that use "stock pictures" (the same picture used for multiple auctions).

Most sellers using stock photos are smart people, and if they use a stock photo, it is probably one of their best coins. I have bought from sellers before that use stock pictures, and was very disappointed in the quality. I'd say maybe 1 time in 10 I got a coin that was of equal or better quality than the picture.

But the thing you really need to be aware of: Some dishonest coin sellers will use stock pictures in their auctions and not even tell you. I won what I thought was a beautiful 1884-0 Morgan Dollar, and it looked like an MS-66 or better in the picture. Just a beautiful coin with a super clean cheek and eagle.
















What arrived though was a coin more in the MS-62 grade range. There were huge hits on the cheek and a really deep one that went right through the entire nose. I have collected coins for about 30 years and I knew right away this was not the same coin in the picture. The auction never said stock photos were used. But I looked at some past auctions from this seller, and she had used the same picture of this coin in a few prior auctions. I had to file a dispute with E-bay to get the seller to even respond. And I finally did get my money back. But it was a big hassel.

Most sellers are honest and if they use stock photos, they tell you. But please watch out for the dishonest sellers who use a picture of a great coin and send you one of much lesser quality. It is a terrible bait and switch practice and personally, I think E-bay should outlaw it. If the condition of an item affects the value, sellers should either have to use a picture of the actual item, or state very clearly that it is a stock photo.

If this guide helps one collector avoid the headaches I ran into, writing this will be more than worth it.

Thanks for reading.

Update: I found out that E-bay probably suspended this seller. The seller is no longer a registered user. But there are still other sellers out there using stock pictures.