Large cents at antique store. 1796,97,98
Spartcom5
Posts: 397 ✭✭✭
Thought I'd share these as it was an unusual place that I found these at. I know nothing about large cents but I thought they were interesting, no idea if they are fairly priced either! The 1798 looks pretty nice to me....? But at $1,250 I'd rather not take a chance.
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I'm pretty sure I know why they are raw.
I think it’s very possible to find authentic rare coins in odd places. For me it’s the hunt that’s enjoyable and challenging.
With the 1955 double die cent I found at an antique mall, it was more about the possibility of it being real, but the caution to not do it unless your really sure
For all we know, the owner has no familiarity with third party grading and even if the coins were nicer, they would still be ungraded.
Did you see the raw 1871-S quarter posted to a recent thread? It was was a gem, worth many multiples of the value of the coins in this thread. There are countless coins of significant value that haven’t been graded. And its not always for the reason you apparently assume.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
This is true. People overestimate the amount of slabbing that's been done. Most collections I see are still 95% raw. Of course, probably not on this forum! LOL
Local B&M did an appraisal on a UK copper collection last year that was STUNNING! Going back to the late 17th century and including many just gorgeous and rare proofs. 100% raw collection. It was put together starting in the 1960s through the early part of the 21st century. If he had ever bought anything slabbed, he had broken it out.
Our small community of collectors/dealers here, are part of a much larger collector group that has no idea the forum exists, nor do they care. Add to this the non-collecting community that has Grandpa's collection in the attic/cellar/closet and the casual hoarders, and there is an amazing amount of coins that are not slabbed...and among them, some real treasures yet to be exposed to the collecting community. Cheers, RickO
I think it’s very possible to find authentic rare coins in odd places.
I agree, and also that I'm not automatically suspicious of any raw coins like this that pop up.
Thanks for sharing, Spartcom.
If I was going to be a buyer, of course I'd be cautious....but I'm cautious even at coin shows, where fakes and many
problem coins abound.
We also don't know the backstory, if they are consignment pieces, etc - but looks like someone at least has some
sense of the value, albeit inflated.
A couple years ago, there was an older gentleman at a flea market that had a tray full of Large Cents at about $30 each.
Probably fifty in total... I should have a rolled the dice and made a deal for them all.
Another series full of treasure to be still found.
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It can be very rewarding to find coins in odd places. I am a car guy, and they show up at swap meets. Most are overpriced junk, but there are lurkers.
For example, one meet a guy was just setting up at a car swap meet, outside, and had books of 2x2's, and a big junk box of $1 each, 6 for $5. In the books, there was a lot of junk and decent 90%. The prices were old, and he did not care. I forget, but if the current price of 90% is 13x he was selling at 6x. (Silver was much higher then but the ratio was comparable).
I bought all he had of the low end stuff. In the junk box, among lots of coins were $1 SB and some Sac. I bought all he had of 6 $1 coins for $5.
I stopped at a small port in the Azores, off the coast of Portugal. In a small shop sellings can openers, paper towels, etc. he had a lot of coins for sale, nothing special, but many different countries. I don't speak Portuguese, but can somewhat understand it, so I would speak in my OK Spanish, and he responded in Portuguese. Nothing special, but he had stacks of US coins, all, IIRC, 16 cents each with the conversion factor. I bought all his 25 cents, 50 cents, and the few $1 coins he had.
Even bought some Canadian 50 and $1 and a single $2 coin.
Almost all of them had a greenish tint from exposure to salt air.
Traded the Canadian to a Canadian I was travelling with, and dumped the US when I got back to the US a few days later.