Casascius 1btc 2012 (brass)(hologram and original balance intact)

[Mreoss]

Good day kind sirs....
I am trying to decide whether to grade some coins I have. I am uncomfortable with the idea of sending them to anacs from the UK and would like to know whether it would affect value that would make it worthwhile.Can anyone give me an idea as to the going rate for a coin as described in the subject bar, graded, ungraded or redeemed. Thank you for your time.

[monkeynuts]

If you are planning on selling in the near term, its only worth grading a coin, if it is of a fair condition
A good grade will add value, the higher the grade the better the premium. 2012's I would say you want to be looking at 66 or above to make the grading worth its while

If you are planning on keeping, then grading can be a good way of preserving, and could possibly act as a timestamped safeguard should any compromises / fakes appear (but the grading could also be faked in that scenrio ... so I would recommend imaging by ANACS as well, as every coin differs slightly)

I am in the UK, and send a batch to ANACS every month or 2. I often do gradings on behalf of other forum members, to gain economies of scale, by grouping together. Happy to help, if you need it. Return shipping from ANACS is the killer for non US, starting at $75 (plus 1.25% of the stated value of coins, upto a max of $100 value per coin), hence getting a decent size batch of coins together to lower the effective cost per coin of the shipping. (Max of 50 coins, if you state $100 per coin, as $5k is the max total value)

Prices are subjective and fluctuate a little based on supply and demand. Just have a look at recent auctions / sales and you can see the differences between grades and ungraded. I would say that you will always get more for a coin in tact, than you would do for a redeemed coin + the redeemed btc value. Dont be tempted to peel

[Mreoss]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

[coin@coin]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

If you post a picture of it, people will make you offers, then you can decide if selling or not. Peeling is something that any collector in this section will discourage you to do.

[monkeynuts]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

I use UPS express on the way there, they use Fedex Express on the way back. So far so good. Their insurer would not payout any btc value. It would be a challenge getting any postal service to. So if they wont pay it, no point insuring for other than metal value. All couriers have quite strict rules about what can be sent, or that can be insured. The end to end single operator service of a courier tends to mitigate some of the risk, but not all of it - but its certainly more reputatble and lower risk than using a national carrier
I have had coins go missing using national carriers, or their in country partners e.g.Royal Mail, USPS, Post NL  etc. Not had any go missing with UPS, Fedex, DHL - but its UPS I trust the most, and use the most.

Its your choice what you do.

There are many UK based collectors, I am sure you could find a face to face deal with a trusted forum member, if you were reluctant to ship, and if you wanted to get more than face value for it. Key thing is condition of the coin. I can probably broker an intro to someone near you. Drop me a PM, if you want a hand. As coin@coin says, pics are key.

[Mreoss]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

If you post a picture of it, people will make you offers, then you can decide if selling or not. Peeling is something that any collector in this section will discourage you to do.

Yes I appreciate that. It's just that I can't figure out a way of assuring a potential buyer that I haven't made a note of the private key. Obviously I don't want to sell on eBay and suffer a charge back. I am newly registered on here so don't have an established reputation. I am aware of escrow but don't know how it works or who to trust. You can see my dilemma, no.
Obviously I can just hang on to them but these will all be issues even if I decide to hold the sale until a later date...

[Mreoss]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

I use UPS express on the way there, they use Fedex Express on the way back. So far so good. Their insurer would not payout any btc value. It would be a challenge getting any postal service to. So if they wont pay it, no point insuring for other than metal value. All couriers have quite strict rules about what can be sent, or that can be insured. The end to end single operator service of a courier tends to mitigate some of the risk, but not all of it - but its certainly more reputatble and lower risk than using a national carrier
I have had coins go missing using national carriers, or their in country partners e.g.Royal Mail, USPS, Post NL  etc. Not had any go missing with UPS, Fedex, DHL - but its UPS I trust the most, and use the most.

Its your choice what you do.

There are many UK based collectors, I am sure you could find a face to face deal with a trusted forum member, if you were reluctant to ship, and if you wanted to get more than face value for it. Key thing is condition of the coin. I can probably broker an intro to someone near you. Drop me a PM, if you want a hand. As coin@coin says, pics are key.

Yep. Photos have to be the next step. Thank you so much for your help. I may very well be interested in a face to face deal. I guess it depends on what sort of premium someone would be willing to pay on face value as to whether it was worth the time. However, if it retains an intact coin, I could get the best price and a collector could have a couple of good condition coins.

[Mreoss]

Hi. Thank you for your reply. The condition should be regarded as good. $100 dollar per coin max value is risky? So if it goes missing, insurance will cover $100?. Have to admit there is a temptation to peel and keep the coin. The overheads, the risk of losing in post, the risk of selling ungraded are always going to be relevant...

If you post a picture of it, people will make you offers, then you can decide if selling or not. Peeling is something that any collector in this section will discourage you to do.

Yes I appreciate that. It's just that I can't figure out a way of assuring a potential buyer that I haven't made a note of the private key. Obviously I don't want to sell on eBay and suffer a charge back. I am newly registered on here so don't have an established reputation. I am aware of escrow but don't know how it works or who to trust. You can see my dilemma, no.
Obviously I can just hang on to them but these will all be issues even if I decide to hold the sale until a later date...

If you "make a note" of the private key, this would indicate that you have peeled the coin (or at least partially peeled) to get access to the private key underneath the hologram.
Any coin in this state will command a very low price.
Most peeled coins go for $100 or less usually.
Keep them intact and the sales will come!!!

No peeking here. But I have heard, as I am sure many others have about a demonstration at Devcon whereby the hologram was removed and replaced. Now, I know I have not done this but I can't possibly expect anyone else to know/trust that this has not occurred....seems a bit of a stalemate situation....

[monkeynuts]

The devcon breach was not fully successful. The method of atack left visible signs of tampering.

[Mreoss]

The devcon breach was not fully successful. The method of atack left visible signs of tampering.

That's good to know. So some very close up photos is in order then really. ...Quite a lot of the 1btc coins around from what I can make out from the analyser website....

[Mreoss]

The devcon breach was not fully successful. The method of atack left visible signs of tampering.

My research has led me to believe that 1.25btc would be maximum value for my coin/s. I think I will keep them for now. Thank you for your help and time though. The risk of getting it wrong and being diddled out of a potential £1700 to gain an additional £500 minus the overheads of escrow/ postage etc opposed to redeeming face value and having some souvenirs that hold a value of £200+(combined)....is not a worthwhile one, to my mind.