How much is the story worth?
shirohniichan
Posts: 4,992 ✭✭✭
Original coins out of old collections generally bring more money than coins that have made the rounds from dealer to dealer over the past few years. So what is the premium?
Earlier this year I bought original mint bags of 1960 Canadian coins because I wanted a mint-sealed bag for a research project I'm doing on Canadian dollars. I bought the other silver coins because they came from the same estate. I don't think I paid much of a premium (if any), but the story was great. Supposedly a collector bought $100 face mint-sealed bags from a bank (I think it was the bank of Montreal) closest to him. He lived in upstate New York and drove across the border every year to pick up $100 bags of each denomination from the mid 1950's until he died in 1966. The son, who inherited the estate, is now in his 90's and has poor health. His family is selling off everything bit by bit as they go through his possessions. Supposedly there were steel boxes full of unc bags. The dealer who sold the bags to me said they haven't called him lately about the 1 cent and 5 cent bags I want to complete the set, and he doesn't want to bother them until they call.
I guess the only way to make sure the coins haven't been jostled around and banged up would be to open the bags, but that would spoil their mint-sealed state.
Earlier this year I bought original mint bags of 1960 Canadian coins because I wanted a mint-sealed bag for a research project I'm doing on Canadian dollars. I bought the other silver coins because they came from the same estate. I don't think I paid much of a premium (if any), but the story was great. Supposedly a collector bought $100 face mint-sealed bags from a bank (I think it was the bank of Montreal) closest to him. He lived in upstate New York and drove across the border every year to pick up $100 bags of each denomination from the mid 1950's until he died in 1966. The son, who inherited the estate, is now in his 90's and has poor health. His family is selling off everything bit by bit as they go through his possessions. Supposedly there were steel boxes full of unc bags. The dealer who sold the bags to me said they haven't called him lately about the 1 cent and 5 cent bags I want to complete the set, and he doesn't want to bother them until they call.
I guess the only way to make sure the coins haven't been jostled around and banged up would be to open the bags, but that would spoil their mint-sealed state.
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Comments
K S
I hate it when you see my post before I can edit the spelling.
Always looking for nice type coins
my local dealer
if i do buy i must admit i like to hear the story but it adds nothing to my process if i want to buy the item or not but if i want to sell the bag after i bought it and IF i am on ebay (which i am not) and i want to tell tall tails to hype proprespective buyers (which i would not do) i guess the story is great!! and i have seen many things sell in the ladt 38 years all based on advertisements hype whatever you call it! and i guess that is okie but just remember let the buyer beware let all coins you buy stand on their own merits slabbed and story not included
if not then me thinks you MIGHT be paying too much.................................
sincerely michael
Now if the coins in question were an original 19th century proof set, I might pay more for an original matched set (If I collected proofs). Could you imagine finding a pristine set with documentation from an old collector? Scher showed me a matched 1862 proof set he bought. If it came with documentation as to when the original collector bought it from the Mint and other details, it would appear more valuable to me. Even better, could you imagine finding one from an ancestor (e.g. great-great-great grandfather)?
There comes a time when the value of the coins in question is determined by sentimental attachment, also. If I were to find that one of my great-grandfathers kept a silver dollar from when he arrived in San Francisco in 1893, I'd pay a lot more for it than I would for one from someone else's collection.
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<< <i>Now if the coins in question were an original 19th century proof set, I might pay more for an original matched set (If I collected proofs). Could you imagine finding a pristine set with documentation from an old collector? >>
The difficulty can sometimes be keeping that documentation. About ten years back there was a major auction house that got a long run of original proof sets from about the 1860's to the 1890's consigned to one of their sales. All of the sets were still in their original holders and wrappings from the mint. After the sale the new owners requested the original holders to keep the sets all original only to find that the auction house had trashed the holders. A similar thing happened with a large cent set out of a major colletion. These were well known coins the pedigree on many of which could be traced back to the 1870's. These coins had gone through many famous collections and each step of the way the colletors had kept the previous collectors flips with their hand written notes. After the auction the eacer's were shocked that all they received were the coin in a vinyl auction flip. When they asked about what had happened to all the old flips they were told that the auction house had thrown them away. One hundred years of continuing documentation just tosed in the trash.
Two final thoughts about pristine sets. The King of Siam set is now an empty case with same coins in generic plastic slabs. And does anyone know whatever happened to the Pitman original 1843 cased proof set with the original documentation from the mint including the itemized bill for the coins and the reciept from the firm that made the case? Is it still intact or has it been broken up?
Take a look at antiques for a moment. A pocket watch that supposedly belonged to a past president, that is photographed/inscribed, and that has a good, traceable story to it, is worth a lot more. If anybody watches the "Antiques Roadshow", you will see items that have great stories, but no proof. They are good as family heirlooms, but you can't sell them with that story. Proof/documentation is everything.
I would pay extra for a coin of historical significance if it had documented proof. Otherwise, I would treat it as just a regular coin.
That's the way I would look at it.
Proof Dime Registry Set
If a seller trashed all the documentation and holders I asked them to keep with the sets, I'd be so pissed I couldn't sleep for weeks!
My dream is to find an old set with original Mint receipt. In years when several proof varieties were struck, establishing a date for a later variety could be really interesting. For example, in the trade dollar series I'd like to know when the first 1876 II/II's were sold. I know Breen estimates around September of that year, but wouldn't it be interesting to find out one had been sold earlier than that?
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