MORE ON THE THE IRA REED COINS

1630Boston

This topic came up in another thread and I did not want to derail the OP's topic - I never heard of these but thought it might be worth a thread topic of its own

The E-Sylum (2/24/2019)
The Ira Reed Coins
by Dr. Sol Taylor

At the ANA convention in New York in 1976, dealer Abe Kosoff showed me a very unusual item. It was a small thick card about 25% smaller than a business card and there were two coins in the card visible from either side. One was a BU 1937 cent and the other a BU 1937 buffalo nickel What made this pair unusual was that they were both reeded! I examined the coins closely with my 10x loupe and sure enough the reeding was exactly what I'd expect on US minted coins- except the US Mint never reeded cents or nickels. In fact the reeding was much more like that of a half dollar-much larger than one would expect on these sized coins.

Kosoff explained that a fellow dealer named Ira Reed from Philadelphia had made a small number of these special "business cards" perhaps as few as 40 and probably less than 100. The date 1937 was probably chosen as the year Reed opened his coin business. They were available at the 1941 ANA convention and were given free to selected dealers and $4-$5 each to the public.

The name Ira Reed appeared at the top and Philadelphia below. I don't recall anything imprinted on the back of the card. The next time I saw such a two- coin card was at the 1995 Long Beach coin show and the dealer was asking $1,200. The dealer was unclear as to whether this was a US Mint product. I told him what I knew about this odd "business card".

I mentioned this to the late buffalo nickel expert Len Ratzman and he never heard of it (i.e. a US minted reeded 1937 buffalo nickel). Where are they now? At least one set has been slabbed by SEGS. And there are occasional mentions on the Internet about folks buying or selling a set here or there.

1630Boston

Thanks @TomB and @BuffaloIronTail for the info you provided that enlightened me about these rare coins
boston

JBK

@1630Boston sai d:
Thanks @TomB and @BuffaloIronTail for the info you provided that enlightened me about these rare coins
boston

What about that @JBK who raised the issue to begin with?

TomB

Great post!

WAYNEAS

What a story.
Thanks all for your input(s).
Wayne

1630Boston

My appologies @JBK

1630Boston

Thanks @JBK

golden

I can remember dealers trying to sell these at shows in the 1970's. They are not believed to be a Mint product.

RichieURich

Had two pair of these. Sold them, probably too cheaply.

1630Boston

@golden said:
I can remember dealers trying to sell these at shows in the 1970's. They are not believed to be a Mint product.

Perhaps they are a "doublemint" product ?
.

BuffaloIronTail

This is all news to me, as I thought the "Reeded" coins was mostly common knowledge.

My Buffalo Nickel preference probably made me aware of them, as I've known of them for a long time.

Pete

FredWeinberg

I’ve handled at least 10 sets in the past 50 years, and only once bought singles of each .

ricko

I have not seen these reeded cent/nickle coins.... Has it ever been conclusively determined how/who reeded them?? Cheers, RickO

1630Boston

I believe he only Mint-struck reeded edge 5-cent coins are silver half dimes.

1630Boston

1937 Buffalo Nickel With Privately Reeded Edge PCGS Genuine Unc Details
An artifact of from the 1941 Philadelphia ANA Convention where dealer Ira Reed gave out pairs of privately reeded 1937 Lincoln Cents and Buffalo Nickels as promotional items (Reed...reeding, get it?).... [full]

Bid history: 19 bids (view)
Time left: Ended
(Sun, Jul 25, 2021 04:38:56 PM Pacific Time)
Winning bidder: bidder 7
Winning bid: $247.50 with Buyer's Fee)

fathom

I recall a cent and nickel sold as a set in a Heritage auction about 7-8 years ago for more than $1K.

1630Boston

Housed in a customer Capital Plastics holder. Heritage auctioned one of these 2 coin sets for $1997.50 in June of 2016. This pair in a custom holder is just $1350.

From the E-Sylim - This is also from Dave Wnuck's email newsletter Making the Grade #41, published February 13, 2019, and republished here with permission. Thanks! -Editor