Let’s hear your best/wildest “Saved from the trash story”!!
2windy2fish
Posts: 835 ✭✭✭✭✭
I’ll go first! I won the above coin in an overseas auction, bidding started at .99 i was high bidder at roughly 1200$.
This seller had just this coin to auction, the rest of their items were antique/vintage doodads with no other previous coin sales. I am always curious to hear the story of how US coins end up in Europe, once in a while you get an interesting response. Gentleman told me he and his sister were clearing out Grama’s flat after she passed. They went to the recycle yard and we’re throwing stuff out of the car into the pile. He notices an old tin hit the ground and coins spill out…He went over and picked it all up and asked his sister about it. Oh, i just noticed it was metal and threw it in the tin pile! He was savvy enough to note what they were, he said 6 or 7 other early UK silver coins got them a payout of several hundred Pounds and he thought he should try the US coin at auction…Needless to say he was pleased with the result!
So was I!
Difficult to see in the Trueview but there is a bit of luster on the obverse near the rims in the russet/orange toned areas I was SO hoping for an AU50 grade…but alas…XF45 was the result.
PCGS price guide XF45 is 6K
PCGS price guide AU50 is 12.5K
Sold at Great Collections in 2020 for 4100$
Comments
It’s clear why you’re happy with the result!
Congratulations! You were rewarded for looking at overseas auctions! I’m too much of a scaredy-cat for that.
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
Great backstory and a super result. I tend to stay away from overseas auctions/sales, though, in the past I have had three transactions and all were positive. None as good as yours though. Cheers, RickO
Not coin related, but a company I worked for once was closing down and I found a bunch of electronic equipment (motor drives, etc....) thrown out that were no longer used. I salvaged it all and made about 3 grand on Ebay.
Not a coin but I found this in the scrap metal pile at our local transfer station, flipped it to a collector through an online marketplace. Couldn't believe someone would just throw it away.
Also this doesn't quite count, but since it's coin related I'll add the story. Someone brought a bunch of rolled quarters and halves from the early 1970s to our church, and I offered to look through them before they returned them to the bank. I ended up finding a 1972 DDO half that I sold for $100. Made for a more substantial donation than the original $0.50.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Hey, I had that as a kid in the early 60’s! Loved the elevator.
Back in 2021 I found these at a thrift shop.
$4 for the pair.
My YouTube Channel
How about a flashlight filled with Krugerrands?
I had helped three sisters liquidate their dad’s coin collection for about $150K. They thought they were all done and were cleaning out the house. One of their teenage sons tripped over a flashlight. Mom said, “Pick that up. You’re gonna kill yourself.” That sounds like a mom, right?
The kid picked it up with an unexpected “Ugh!” So his mom said, “Open that up.” He did and poured out 25 Krugerrands worth about $30K at the time.
Who knows how close that flashlight was to being tossed into the dumpster?
I too remember having one of those Marx Service Center tin buildings as a kid in the 60s. As @Tomthemailcarrier said, the elevator was one of the coolest features.
Life member of ANA
Not a coin, but I did pull this out of circulation before it got worn any more.
Life member of ANA
All of these stories are great, but only one is truly epic.....
@FredWeinberg wishes he could share a story here.
Several years ago I was going to throw out my college briefcase after about twenty years in the attic.
When I was looking through the pockets I found a half ounce and a quarter ounce gold eagle in flips. No idea when I bought them or how much I paid.
The briefcase was otherwise empty.
how about a reverse story? Also not coin related, but still, collectible related.
When I went away to college in 1963, my mom, in her neat nick way, cleaned my room. All of my baseball cards from the 50s were summarily dumped in the trash. I Have no idea what these consisted of, but there was about a standard storage box full. I'm sure there were some good ones in there. Boo-hoo. Luckily, she did not throw my coins away or spend them.
Not really coin related but it is money related. Decluttering the house for sale, going through a bunch of company provided notebook binders I was throwing out and come across a Starbucks gift card. What do you know, good for $25.
USAF (Ret.) 1985 - 2005. E-4B Aircraft Maintenance Crew Chief and Contracting Officer.
My current Registry sets:
✓ Everyman Mint State Carson City Morgan Dollars (1878 – 1893)
✓ Everyman Mint State Lincoln Cents (1909 – 1958)
✓ Morgan Dollar GSA Hoard (1878 – 1891)
I have posted this story before, but never tire of telling it.
My 1856-D gold dollar newp. Found in the wild! PCGS XF40 CAC
I had been looking for this date in a more affordable grade for a very long time.
I bought this one from a non-collector who was liquidating his uncle's hoard. The family discovered a huge accumulation of coins in the uncle's apartment. He was a hoarder and they literally had to climb over mountains of stuff just to get in the place. He had some better date silver coins but most of the gold was generic common date stuff, except for this.
Doug Winter estimates that there are about 100 of these in all grades. Now there is 101! With only 5 receiving CAC in all grades. Original mintage was 1,460.
Since the seller and I did not really know each other, we decided to each drive 3 hours and meet at a police station to do the deal.
The real fun part was, as his wife was counting the stack of $100 bills he reaches into the back seat of the car and pulls out a zip loc bag filled with gold coins!!!! Had to be $60k worth. He wanted my opinion on which ones are worth submitting for grading. No super rare dates but some potentially higher grades.
As I was looking at very nice St. Gaudens double eagle in a filthy plastic holder, he says "there is quite a story behind that one". As I mentioned, his uncle was a bit of a hoarder and after his death they were going through literal mounds of stuff at his apartment. Before they were able to finish, the building burned down! They found this $20 gold under water in the basement among the debris. The saddest part of the story was the fire destroyed a 1900's era baseball card collection valued at $150k.
There's a moral behind that story. Coins or currency/baseball cards.
USAF (Ret.) 1985 - 2005. E-4B Aircraft Maintenance Crew Chief and Contracting Officer.
My current Registry sets:
✓ Everyman Mint State Carson City Morgan Dollars (1878 – 1893)
✓ Everyman Mint State Lincoln Cents (1909 – 1958)
✓ Morgan Dollar GSA Hoard (1878 – 1891)
And I didn’t post in this thread, because it said “saved from the trash“
My Stella was certainly not “saved“ from the trash!
WOW! That is really really rad! Gotta be worth a real pretty penny.
Well...........actually a little more than that.
Pete
Is that the Stella that Marlon Brando was yelling for?
Pete
Well @BuffaloIronTail I did see a currency dealer at the 2022 Spring ANA show in Colorado Springs with one in a similiar condition for sale. He was asking $1100.
Life member of ANA
@ColoradoCoinGuy that is quite the serial number!!! 😎
He was asking $1100.
He should have been asking $1111.
Ar the dump (transfer station) a few months ago I looked down and saw a scruffy ziplock bag. I picked it up and it was someone's jewelry scrap. There were several gold stud earrings and a pair of sterling hoop earrings.
The hoops were marked TIFFANY. One was slightly damaged with a broken clasp, but I called the Tiffany repair shop and for about $150 they will make them as good as new and put them in a new box. Not sure of retail value but I think it's about 3 or 4 times that.
I haven't dealt with the gold yet.
Pretty sad that I thought of THIS story! 😔 😟 🙁 😥
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@FredWeinberg
Please share your story! I am certainly not the only numismatist that would like to hear it!