Copper Coin Secondary Grading Chart

This was a chart I seen online. I took it down and photo shopped it by category of colors. Letter and Number as you can see in each lower right hand corner.

The reason I like people to have this also is when people sell a coin online, lighting and camera can change the color of the coin drastically! As we all know some people

even like trying to trick people into buying a coin by photo shopping the coin from scratches and its normal color. Myself I will not buy a coin until I ask the seller by this chart

what color it truly is? And trust me as much as I buy coins you only get me once! I have hundreds of coins not listed on here. But a basic thing that makes a true collector mad is
1. Saying a coin is Gem BU _ MS67 etc.. and when you get it home under 40x magnification it has corrosion spots, tarnishing spots, or fine line scratches on it. Rim dings bag marks.

Even worse to a real collector? When you advertise a coin:

DON'T TOUCH or SHOW PICTURES OF TOUCHING THE COINS!

a. With copper coins it starts browning the coin the more its handled.

b. With Silver coins its starts tarnishing along with the oxygen making it blacken.

And once you start handling the coin most people make the next drastic mistake!

2. Cleaning the coin! - This kills a coins value and its so easy to spot if its been cleaned under magnification. Then try to pass it off as an upper grade coin. Well guess what sellers?

I would be sending that coin back to you really fast! Because you degraded the coin by more then likely half!

Plus no real buyer is going to want that coin now with you showing the coin is badly handled. Its really going to have to be a dirt cheap price or really rare coin to sell it for a decent price.

ALWAYS ALWAYS use cotton or latex non PVC gloves

Are your coins selling well? Likely reasons why they are not:

You are more then likely over priced on your coins! First drastic mistake.... People check the mintages and just because the coin is older does not mean its rare!
Now depending on the coin, its age, its mintage, rarity in general population, along with color and condition can make a coin valuable. KNOW YOUR COINS!

A coin over priced is going to sit for a LONG LONG TIME! You might find a sucker but all you do is piss them off in the long run to NEVER buy from you again once they find out you over charged them. Trust me your name gets around and it kills your business

Here is another thing that makes real buyers mad and more then likely, like myself, I will not buy from you at all because you do this not just once as a mistake. But over and over again.
Listing a coin as a RARE or KEY DATE coin when its not. I see it all the time even more so on places like ebay. Now if you are new to collecting coins I suggest you research your coins buyers. Know the true key dates and semi key date coins you are buying.

Another common sucker scam is listings that say proof like. There is no proof like coin. It is either a proof or its not! But you see people listing this and demanding an extra premium for the coin. Don't be fooled!

Know your coins diameter and weight! US Mints use certain amounts of each type metals to make the coins a certain weight and although a coin can look awesome!
They have not got down the weight of the coins just yet when faking them. Know what your coins look like as well. Because if it looks off a bit? It just might be!

Last but not least? Trying to sell coins in a slab as if they were truly graded coins and sealed when they are not. Beware of buying a coin that says it is rated by PCGS just to get it home to find the

case opens up and it is not sealed and they printed a fake grading on it. If your coin has truly been graded by a trustworthy grading company you will NOT be able to open it! It is sealed by a machine.

Do not open it! And if you do? You just messed up BIG TIME! That coin is now a non graded coin that could have been replaced by anyone.

Hope this helps some new sellers and new buyers. Or maybe some older sellers who are just trying to take advantage of new buyers. Heed my advise, honesty is the best policy!
If this pisses you off then more then likely you are not an honest seller!

3 things a new seller should know and have?

1. Research your coins before ever buying them!

2. Buy a coin scale and know the coin of what it weighs and its diameter.
3. Get a Jeweler Loop for about $5.00 US online to see your coin under magnification of at least 40X

Buying graded coins and non graded coins:

A truly graded coin is going to cost you more no doubt as I said above know what a truly graded coin truly is before getting ripped of for a coin someone say has a grading of say MS65 and the coin is not even professionally graded as I have even seen on here. NEVER pay a graded coin price for a coin that is not graded! Because to prove that coin really is say the MS65 you had just paid for being not graded. You now have to go pay to get the coin graded again. So you just got hit. Now what happens when you do go get it graded and its not the MS65 the seller said it was? Chances are you will never make up that loss within your lifetime to get the value back.

I will break it down for you if you do not understand.

Say a sellers says the coin is a PF70 and the coin really is not graded and in a slab. He sends it to you in a 2x2 flip. But you just paid a graded cost of $25.00US for that coin.

The Red Book says the non graded coin is only $5.00US, but the graded PF 70 worth is the $25.00US you just paid for it. So you just over paid already $20.00 US over cost just because the seller said it was a PF70.

Now to go prove that coin is a PF70 you have to go pay $20.00 US to get the truly graded just to prove it. So automatically you just over paid $20.00US for a $5.00US coin. . But that is only if the coin is the true grading the seller told you it was.

Now if the coin under magnification does not meet the PF70 and say it only comes out to be a PF68 or 69 that has flaws. You just took another hit depending on the coin that could cut the total worth BIG TIME! Face it you must look at collecting as an investment value if you are buying allot of coins. And to get that investment back before you die you have to get the coins at the correct prices. Don't rush in and be a sucker to get suckered. Know your coins. And ebay is not a price guide. Trust me you can walk into a coin store and get the same coins many time at a much lower cost then you see on ebay. And if that store is using ebay as a price guide? I would walk out QUICKLY! Take current price guide book with you if you have to if you are buying from a store. The cost of the book could save you allot of money and truly get you coins that will make a good investment.

Good luck happy buying and selling!