I'm trying to help a widow I know value some coins she came into. What would a dealer pay her for this? What grade would you give it? Thanks!
You are going to need to learn how to grade (Online Photograde, https://www.pcgs.com/photograde ) and a FMV Price guide, e.g. https://www.numismedia.com/rarecoinprices/fmv.shtml with the proviso that those are retail sales prices and wholesale buy prices will be 50 to 70% of those. VG8 might retail for $60, so $30-$45...
Thanks for the info. I do grade my stuff, but I wanted a second, more expert opinion. I had it pegged at G-6, but I'm really out of my league with SL halves. As for price, I have seen prices all over the board, from $29 (Numista) to $90 (slabbed by pcgs), and wild swings on eBay. I will probably end up buying it myself, mainly because she needs the money, and I wanted to know what is a fair price.
Well….. I am a big, big fan of the seated series and the 1853 arrows and rays is probably my favorite coin and I own a few of them. First off, I’ll say that the arrows and rays was only struck in 1853. It is attractive and unique making it a desirable coin……… Now, the reality is that it is obviously well used. I would say she is in the “good” camp…. But she is honest and not tampered with….. The price guides are probably going to call this a $75.00 coin, but I wouldn’t pay more than fifty for it….. Still is a good honest piece though.
I use my Red Book a lot, and it has a great deal of information in it. Unfortunately my most recent one is 1991, which is not much use for current prices. My oldest is 1962. I got it when I was 12. (Wish I could buy today for those prices!) For more recent information on US coins I use the on-line sites, including CT.
I don’t see this coin as a VG. It looks like a G-6 to me. The Grey Sheet says $50 in Good and $68 in VG. I see this coin retailing with those numbers in mind. Figure what a dealer can pay from that. I was always told that there were lots collectors who want type coins in Good. As a dealer, I never met those collectors. The collectors I met wanted better.
The widow I mentioned received it as a gift from an elderly and disabled couple whom she took care of, both of whom recently died. Before he died he gave them to her, but he told me how he acquired them. Back in the 1960s and 70s he was in the Navy and traveled a lot. He collected coins as souvenirs of places he visited. Most of them now are worth a few cents at most. But he also went to a dealer and bought several coins from 1853, a hundred years before his birth, just because he thought that was cool. He didn't care about condition, only the year. Most of the coins are close to junk. There is a dime that would grade XF details but has been scratched clean. Horrible. There is a G-4 half dime, a damaged cent, and a British penny that would be nice except for the hole. I figure this half is the best of the lot. A dealer somewhere was probably glad to empty a jar of trash, although I'm not sure my friend bought them all at once. Anyway, thanks for your helpful comments!
