Frequently Asked Questions

It's easy. Go ahead and place your order online via the shopping cart and select PayPal. Once you finalize the order, click the "Pay by PayPal" button, log in to PayPal to finalize your payment.
Yes and No. If your offer is accepted, an order is automatically generated and you will be invoiced for the coin. However, if we make a "counter-offer", you are not obliged to accept our counter. Of course, you still have a 10-day return privilege with your order.
At DLRC, we often review incoming bids and, whenever possible, we will reduce the reserve on a lot to meet the current high bidder. In all cases, the new reserve is lower than the previous reserve amount and we are cutting our profits to sell more coins and get bidders a better deal. Some bidders are concerned that we start lots at a higher reserve in the hopes of getting higher bids, but this is not the case. We run thousands of lots per month in auction which means we rely heavily on computer formulas to calculate reserves. Whenever a bidder places a reasonable bid we use the lower-reserve tool to get the lot sold and the bidding process accelerated. This is in the best interest of the buyer and seller. Note that even though a reserve has been reduced, it is still possible to be outbid. The reserve reduction simply makes the process more efficient.
In some rare instances you can be outbid by less than a legal increment under the following circumstances. As an example, let's say the reserve on a lot is $100 and you place a bid for $200. The system will make you the high bidder at $100 with a "hidden" bid of $200 which will only be executed if someone else bids against you. If the next bidder comes along and bids $110, the system will automatically execute a bid of $120, and so on. As long as the next bidder comes in at least one increment higher than the current bid, he/she can bid any amount. Given that your hidden bid of $200 is unknown to all other bidders, it is also possible that another bid can come in an bid $201, which technically is higher than your "hidden" bid of $200. Therefore you will be outbid by $1. Note: all tie bids go to the first bid received.
BP stands for buyer's premium. This is a fee that auction companies typically add to winning auction purchases. DLRC Auction charges NO BP. At DLRC Auctions, you only pay the amount of your winning bid.
On items with hidden reserves, DLRC will place system bids to encourage and activate the bidding process to keep the auction lot moving towards its reserve. Outbid notices are sent via email as a reminder. On Consigned Auction Lots: DLRC will, from time to time, place bids to purchase items. In such cases, DLRC will often bid quite early in process to allow for the most competitive bidding possible. We do this to facilitate higher results for our consignors, as well as to uphold proper market values for inventory. In the case of Guaranteed Auction lots, all lots are entered with a minimal starting bid and a "hidden" DLRC bid which represent the Guarantee Amount that was promised to the consignor by DLRC. By its very nature, to win a lot, a bidder must exceed the DLRC guarantee. In some cases, DLRC will place a second bid on Guaranteed Auction lots that exceed our "Guarantee."
We hold one auction per week, ending Sunday evenings between 8-11 pm EST (Eastern Standard, or New York, time).
NO. If you enter coins into the want list, you will automatically receive an email notice if a match comes in. For example, if you enter a 1901-S quarter PCGS or NGC AG3 through MS70, you will get an email when ANY matching coin is offered in our inventory. Even if you have no intention to buy, but like to keep tabs on how common (or NOT!) that these are, this is a great way to monitor coins of interest.
You may have noticed that some of our coins are labeled with a CAC sticker. This identifying sticker designates that a coin has met premium quality standards set by Collectors Acceptance Corporation, an independent group of well respected professional numismatists. CAC-verified coins are continuing to gain popularity and acceptance and are doing well at auction compared to like coins without CAC verification. This service has instilled an added degree of confidence for online buyers that is being appreciated for many reasons. The bottom line is that it never hurts to get a second, or even third, professional opinion when purchasing rare coins. For more details regarding CAC, please visit www.caccoin.com.
1943 Copper Lincoln cents are the next biggest 'find' among many of our web-site visitors. In 1943, all U.S. cents were made from steel, as the government needed the copper for bombs and ammunition for World War II. A few pennies were mistakenly produced in copper, but these are very rare and mostly accounted for. The easiest test to verify you have the steel penny (even though it may look copper due to a coating) is to place a magnet on the coin. If it's steel it will stick to the magnet, if it's copper it won't. The average steel penny is worth about fifteen cents.
Double Headed quarters are simply a novelty item produced by private companies and sold in novelty/magic shops for up to $5.00. They are trick coins made for the sole intention of winning the age-old "Heads or Tails" game. We have also seen double headed nickels and half dollars. Apparently, the novelty wears off and the owners (or their children) decide to spend them, putting a new wave of "treasures" into general circulation. These double-headed coins have no monetary value and are only good for a conversation piece at your next get-together.
A coin's value is based on many factors: the country of origin, denomination, year of production (minting), the Mint facility where the coin was struck, the condition and survivorship of similar coins. Demand is also a huge factor, of course. To simplify this complicated answer, we simply recommend that you pick up a copy of the industry-standard reference: "The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of U.S. Coins". This price guide is affordable, very clear and will answer most of your questions. If your collection is large, and you already are aware that it is valuable, please contact the at DLRC with an image and description of your holdings.
That's called cross-over service and we tend to discourage people from buying coins in one service pending "crossover" to PCGS (or NGC) because the statistics generally do not support the expense. It takes at least 30 days and only a small percentage of coins cross. Therefore it's simply better to wait for a coin in the holder of your choice. That said, we still advocate the "buy the coin, not the holder philosophy." The coins we sell, certified by PCGS, NGC and ANACS, are nice, high quality coins for the grade. We do not sell coins that we feel have been mis-represented.
The OGH designation at the end of some coin listings stands for "Old Green Holder". When PCGS first began grading coins, their first labels were green, not blue as they are today. Many collectors like to know if the holder is either the older green label or the newer blue label in order to keep their sets in consistent colored holders. There are many other reasons or factors individuals collect green label or old holders, so we decided to make it easier for those collectors by designating all green labeled holders with OGH.
That's a very complicated question. Generally the prices of these coins is determined by supply & demand and the population at the different grading services. PCGS tends to grade very few MS and Proof 70's while NGC hits that mark more often. Hence the price difference. We price our coins based on cost and what we believe to be fair market value. In many series and grades these prices are the same. But the PCGS Registry has also skewed the prices of PCGS coins in the highest grades as collectors complete for the ultimate PCGS-graded sets.
The answer to this question is simply just a matter of PCGS versus NGC. PCGS uses the designation DCAM for Deep Cameo surfaces. In other words: strong frosted devices (the raised parts of the coin design) against deeply mirrored, clear fields. NGC uses the term UCAM for the exact same designation, only they call it Ultra Cameo. Likewise, ANACS uses the UDCAM (Ultra-Deep cameo), etc. It all implies the same depth of mirror and contrast. The CAM designation only would suggest a partial effect. Usually this is seen more in earlier proof coinage.
DPL is the same as DMPL. NGC simply refers to 'deep mirror proof-like' coinage with the DPL designation, and PCGS uses 'DMPL'. ANACS uses 'UDM' (Ultra deep mirrors) for the same thing. PL is used by all grading services to designate a lighter degree of proof-like surfaces.
It depends on a number of factors including value of the coin, the current surfaces of the coin and the type of solution you are using. The best advise, however, is that only a coin professional should dip (or conserve) coins because you have more to lose than gain in terms of damaging the coin.
Often different dates of coins (within a series) are graded with different expectations. For example, 1933 $10 gold are almost always seen with bag-marks on the reverse -- even in the highest grades. The Richmond coin is an example of this, as well. For this reason, the professional graders at NGC and PCGS will use a reference of the "typical" example they see of a specific coin to measure how they grade a specific date. Another example is the 1919-D Walking Liberty half dollar. This date is a notoriously poorly struck issue. For that reason, even a mildly poorly struck coin can be considered well struck and therefore potentially worthy of an MS65 grade. The same weakness of strike on a 1933-S Walker (which usually comes very well struck) would be considered a detriment and therefore graded lower than the same coin dated 1919-D. One other consideration is rarity. Famous rarities, like the 1933 $10 are always in high demand by the grading services for their notoriety, and often they get the benefit of the doubt during the grading process because of their fame.
We have long used a color & star rating to help buyers understand more about the coin before purchasing. A typical star rating is built of a single digit from 1-10, followed by a sequence of asterisks. The number...is a numerical description of the degree of toning. 1=pure white (or untoned for gold; full red for copper, etc); 10=black, or so dark features will not be visible. On average, most coins fall between 1-4 in toning. The stars...we typically try to sell coins with 4-stars (****) which represents above-average eye appeal. Five star coins have exceptional eye appeal; and a 3-star coin is just average appearing.
All copper coins are designated as BN (brown), RB (red-brown) and RD (red) by the grading services. Typically RD is the most desirable with RB second, etc. However, it's not that simple. Some collectors prefer brown colored copper coins because the color of the planchet is generally more even and stable. Red coins can turn towards RB and BN, etc.
Civil War Tokens (CWT) were a form of emergency currency issued by merchants during the Civil War (1861-1865). The tokens, struck mostly in copper, were created for commerce because official U.S. denominated currency became virtually impossible to find during the Civil War era due to hoarding. There are two primary types of collectible CWT: Patriotics and Store Cards, the latter acting as a marketing tool for merchants of the times. There are thousands of collectible CWT's and the definitely catalog was written by George and Melvin Fuld (last published in 1982). Tokens are usually cataloged by their Fuld, of F number.