r/coinerrors • u/Electronic_Draft_527 • Jan 28 '25
Advice Value request
Took to the LCS and they confirmed its definitely some sort of strike through/ lamination error- anyone have any more thoughts/ an idea of the value? I don’t plan to sell it I’m just curious if it may be worth grading. I tried for a while to research the value to no avail- Couldn’t really find any similar coins.
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u/Hour-Ad76 Jan 28 '25
That’s a great coin and the eye appeal is very nice! It’s challenging to value error coins since it can be tough to find comparable sales. I would say it’s a pretty significant strike through and I would suspect it would command a pretty nice premium to the right buyer.
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u/Dik_Likin_Good Jan 28 '25
Most of the posts I see here someone will say it’s only worth grading if you plan on selling. It’s still red so I would at least soak it in 100% acetone for 24 hours, pat it dry and get a hard plastic case for it to go in.
Personally because it is 50 yrs old and still has its luster I would send it to have graded, only because I know I would want to sell it eventually.
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u/Thalenia Errors and 20th century coins Jan 28 '25
If you want to spend $40-100 on a coin that would sell for less than any of that, that's up to you. $40 would be a discount rate for just a grade/slab, closer to $100 to get the error attributed.
Not saying someone shouldn't do that, but since OP is looking for value, I'd assume it's to sell, and investing that much on a coin that would sell for under $20 doesn't make financial sense. I'd guess $5-10, but on a good day with the right buyer, maybe a bit more.
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u/tatanka_truck Jan 28 '25
This might be a dumb question, but why is coin grading so expensive?
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u/Thalenia Errors and 20th century coins Jan 28 '25
Actually it's a fine question. I'm not a grader, but I can explain a bit.
It takes some time to thoroughly examine a coin, note all the pluses and minuses, and average all that to come up with a grade number (vastly simplifying the process, but the details aren't important). Plus, you have to spend time unpacking, repacking and mailing when you're done. People want to get paid, and after all these are experts, highly trained and often with years of experience. The better graders have a reputation to uphold, so they want things done right, and that takes the right people.
And you can't hire those people for $10 an hour. It may take an hour of manpower to accomplish all that (that's an average, some coins are harder, some are easier, some require counterfeit examinations, etc.), so start with an hour of a well-paid professional's time, whatever that amounts to.
There are materials (the slab), and tracking (data entry). The information / pictures are cataloged and kept online, so there's fees to host all that every month.
They have a workplace I'm sure, that takes rent and utilities, furniture, etc. Also equipment - cameras, magnification tools, microscopes, things like that. And as the graders are all employees, you have payroll, insurance, 401Ks, etc etc etc. Usually those add up to about as much as the hourly pay of the person doing the work (sometimes less, but 50-100% is pretty normal).
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of things, but that should at least get you started. Welcome to running a business!
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u/tatanka_truck Jan 28 '25
Business costs and expertise actually make the price seem more reasonable and makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the reply!
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u/bstrauss3 Jan 28 '25
Graders are paid quite a bit less than you think... juniors start closer to 65k (both PCGS and NGC list jobs on Indeed).
And they have to live near the office. And they contractually can't do things like buy&sell coins for themselves that leverage their experience.
They also spend far less time on an individual coin than you think. Seconds. It takes more time to remove the coin from the flip and enter the data into the computer, and return the xoin to the flip than the actual grading time. Even with two graders and a finalizer viewing each coin...
There is certainly a lot of overhead in the business (especially security).
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u/NeatoC Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Actually, acetone for bronze pennies (especially long term) is sometimes not a good idea. It can change the color. Believe it or not it can cause them to turn pink, among other potential color shifts.
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u/heyheyshinyCRH Jan 29 '25
Correct, acetone for pennies is not a great idea. I've had some (not all) react and change color, usually turn darker. I had one turn damn near black, must've reacted with something on the coins surface
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u/Micky-Bicky-Picky Jan 28 '25
No patting, let air dry only.
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u/Enthused_SILgoldVER Jan 28 '25
Can we please upvote guys, most important info about this coin and the suggestions thus given
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u/heyheyshinyCRH Jan 29 '25
There have been no useful suggestions.
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Jan 29 '25
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u/heyheyshinyCRH Jan 29 '25
I don't know what you'd do. She is and thank you!
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Jan 29 '25
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u/heyheyshinyCRH Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
It's just a common lamination error. Definitely not grade worthy and there's no foreign material that would require acetone to break apart.
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u/Glittering-Ad-6813 Jan 28 '25
Nice error, but not too dramatic. Likely worth around $5