An AG3 1921 dime was my first significant find
Barberian
Posts: 4,643 ✭✭✭✭✭
It was my first low mintage (1.230 million), "valuable" coin I picked from circulation. I found it in my mother's change when I was 6 or 7 and thought I had found an outstanding rarity when I saw the mintage. I thought of it today and took a scan of it while it was outside the bank. It's toned considerably over 62 years and remains my rarest dime mintage-wise.
What was your first significant find from circulation back when you were a kid checking change and roll searching? It doesn't have to be a particularly rare date, just a coin that you knew was a significant date or grade to be treasured. For example, my second-best find was a 1909 Lincoln cent in AU58 BN worth $15.
15
Comments
I found two 1950-D Jeffersons about a month apart. This was in the late 60's. The only 50-D's I ever found from circulation. After a year and a half of searching I finally found a 55-S Lincoln to complete my Whitman folder 41-64. This was also in the late 60's. Certainly not earth shattering, but to a teenage collector with no access to a B&M shop, it was a highlight for me. Yes, I still have them.
An AU 1943/2 Jefferson and two 1976-D DDO-1 quarters (40 years apart).
I found a 1934 buffalo a while back, when I was around 10 or 11. It was in absolutely terrible condition, but it was my first buffalo so I was happy!
"Another day, another Collectors Universe forum scrolling session."
- Someone, probably
My last nice 1934 was in 1964 at a school fair. It was actually lying on a table as a prize. When I requested it the "barker" told me I'd have to win it by sticking a sock 5' away on a saucer at one penny a try. Got it on the first try. From a distance it had looked better than the one in my collection which was a weak VF. On closer inspection the obverse wasn't quite as nice and the reverse wasn't nearly as nice. It was a nice well worn F.
By 1964 almost all the nice two digit and better buffalos had been removed by collectors and mostly dateless, cull, and a few single digit dates remained. Collectors in those days got pretty good at reading dates with almost no metal left. By the late '60's even the nicer dateless coins had mostly disappeared as well.
Today it's getting hard to find any of the pre-1987 nickels in nice collectible condition. Most of the coins are gone and most of the survivors are heavily worn and cull. Once in a while you'll see something like a nice VF or XF 1972-D. A nice looking set of VG and better 1965 to date nickels would be a significant challenge today.
It's a common date but I just recently found a nice well struck 1970-D. The obverse is AU-50 and the reverse XF-45. The reverse die is a little worn but it's a very attractive coin anyway. The '70-D is nearly twice as old today than the '34 was back in '64.
I found a 1793 Chain cent.
(Or course it was in a dealer's case at a coin show, but still. . .)
Identifying dates by partial number outlines and gaps in the "date block" rather than a clear date. Yes, I knew those days well. I cursed Standing Liberty quarters and Buffalo nickels because their dates wore off so fast. Nick-o-date nickels almost became a business plan when I was a kid. My worst trade ever - over a dozen Franklin halves for a roll of acid date buffalo nickels. No wonder I dislike Buffalo nickels so much.
I concentrated on searching nickels in those days and actually found a high end VF '50-D that I sold for $20 in 1964.
The most valuable coin i ever got was late in 1982 I got three '82-P quarters in change at the East Chicago, Indiana BMV on Indianapolis Blvd. All three were Gems and the nicest was an MS-67.
My first significant find was a 1914-S cent (found in a roll from the bank) circa 1962.
Einstein’s view of God was non-traditional and pantheistic, focusing on the harmony, order, and intelligibility of the cosmos rather than a personal deity. His quotes reveal a profound respect for the universe’s mysteries, a belief in rational laws, and a moral philosophy grounded in compassion and understanding, bridging science and spirituality.
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein (14 March 1879--18 April 1955)
Collecting Lincoln Cents as a kid on the East Coast, it was difficult to find "S" minted material... I finally found the '54-S and '55-S within the same month searching bank rolls...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
I seldom searched through quarter rolls back in 1962 due to lack of money. One summer day, however, I did go through a few rolls from the bank and found a 1932-D Quarter. At the time I was more into a date set of Indian cents so I ended up trading it for an 1860 Indian.
My best find searching bank rolls (around 1990) was a 1939-D Jefferson nickel in XF-AU with a little luster left. My second best find was a VG example of the 1939 doubled Monticello Jefferson around the same time. I also plucked an XF 1935 Buffalo from a roll somewhere around 1985.
Most of my roll searching was cents, however. My grandfather used to bring me $20 face from the bank once a week in the early and mid 1980s. For whatever reason, I never struck it rich with cents after all those searches. The best coin that ever came out of those rolls was a 1912 in G-4 that probably didn't even retail for a dollar at the time. Oh, how I loved looking through those rolls, though!
I wish I could remember finding some rare date coin(s). I spent much of my childhood annoying bank clerks. I got my own checking and savings accounts at the ripe old age of 10 so i could search coin rolls. I sold Fuller Brush as a teenager for several years. I do have one vivid memory of an angry red-faced woman, who twice refused to pay for her order; then got a mean look on her face and wanted to know if she could pay me in change.
She let me in the house and brought out a cigar box full of silver coins. The order was for something like $30 dollars and she paid the entire bill in silver coins. It took some arranging with my boss, but I kept those coins in a seperate container in my bedroom unril the Hunt Brother run up. Why? Because there was a huge Harley Davidson cycle in that ladies front yard and I was sure someday a 10 foot tall biker was going to show up looking for his coins. (No rare dates I can remember). James
(wrong thread)
My "best" probably was a VF 1909 VDB I got in change in 1971 (ok, I was in college at the time, not actively collecting, but not blind, either).
I found a 1939 Jefferson nickel with 'Monticello' and 'Five Cents' doubled. Probably Fine to Very Fine. That was back in the early 70's.
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
For me, a 1900 V nickel in about VF I found working at the register.
Within the last 10 years I've received a 1901 V nickel in G4 and a 1908 IHC in G4 in change from a liquor store I buy beer at. 2 years ago, the guy working the register said, hey look at this. He had 2 full rolls of silver dimes that someone cashed in for a six pack of beer.
Not from change or roll hunting, but from a “junk” silver bin at a jewelry store in Alabama or Tennessee when I was 13ish. It’s a 1921 Merc, very much like the OPs and I got it for 4x face. I didn’t have a poker face and the owner almost didn’t let me buy it. My uncle had to step in to get him to honor his junk bin price.
I don’t have a photo of it (that I can find on my phone) but will snap one if I get the chance.
That happened to me with a $15 capped bust dime in a $3 junk box in 1978. The owner took the coin away from the clerk and refused to sell it to me. Then I got tossed out of the store because the store owner offered an older woman bullion value for her inherited Mercury dime collection and I pointed out the 1916-D alone was worth several hundred dollars.
The only Lincoln cents I never found roll searching as a kid in the late 50s and early 60s were the 14-D and the 55 DDO but I did do a **LOT ** of roll searching back then.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Was in line at school lunch day in 1963 when some silver was till making the rounds. My school had hot dog day every Thursday the only day of the week that we could buy a lunch. I had 50 cents to buy two hot dogs and a milk for 35 cents. When I got up to pay I saw a half dollar in the tray and decided i would skip lunch and trade my quarters for the half. Turned out to be a 1917 Walker...I found plenty of Buffalos and Indian cents over those early 1960's years and silver dimes and quarters, but the best find I've ever had was that Walker.
In 1963 only silver was making the rounds.
I found the dime today and took a crummy cell phone pick in my closet…
Very cool. That is definitely a "wow" find from circulation!
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
A 1972 double die roll searching august 1972. Now a PCGS MS63 RB