Home U.S. Coin Forum

Would you want a coin if you couldn't OWN it?

topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hypothetical: A crazy SOB offers you a really rare coin to .....HOLD. For as long as you wish. He has a security interest in something of value of yours so you have no way to "stiff" him even if you wanted to. But you can NOT sell the coin......or.....leave it in your estate.

You can LOOK at it. As long as you want. BUT.....when you're done either looking or breathing, it goes back to Mr. Stupidhead.

Would you WANT it? Would it become like a puppy and you'd get attached?

image

Comments

  • LincolnCentManLincolnCentMan Posts: 5,347 ✭✭✭✭
    Nope. I wouldnt want the liability of having it in my possession. If I got robbed or it was stolen... there I'd be.

    David
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    Not if I had to pay the insurance on it and be liable for loss from fire, theft, et cetera...
  • UncleJoeUncleJoe Posts: 2,536 ✭✭✭
    No.

    Joe.
  • WondoWondo Posts: 2,916 ✭✭✭
    Sure. I'd use it to pick up coin chicks! image
    Wondo

  • It sounds risky to hold someone else's coin. I wouldn't do it.

    Dan
  • Sounds kinda like some of the big old-time estates in England. Some families are "rich" and "own" some valuable artwork, etc., but they aren't free to do whatever they want with it (i.e. sell them or give them away) because of the principle of "entail."
    I heard they were making a French version of Medal of Honor. I wonder how many hotkeys it'll have for "surrender."
  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,967 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've done that.

    Years ago a dealer-collector let me borrow a 1793 Chain Ameri. cent that he had purchased after multi year quest to own the coin. This is a bizarre story.

    Years a go a less than ethical person (whom I will call “The Owner”) from the North Country purchased 50 large cents for $50 from a local yokel. Among the 50 large cents was a 1793 Chain Ameri. Cent in “old time grade” EF-AU condition. Today the coin would make AU-55 in a slab easily. A local dealer got wind of it and tried to buy the coin from The Owner. At one point he offered to trade him an automobile for the coin, but The Owner refused.

    In the mean time The Owner, who was not much of a collector but liked to brag about what he owned, carried the piece around with him and showed it to people. During the course of this time it picked up some nicks and scratches. Finally The Owner sold the coin to the North Country dealer. The nicks and scratches probably knocked $3 or $4 thousand off the value of the piece at the time of the sale.

    After the dealer bought the coin he loaned the coin to me to photograph and do most anything I liked. At one point I put it in a display at an EAC convention where it received a lot of admiring comments despite the marks and scratches.

    Finally it came time to give the coin back, and like a puppy that would grow on you, I wanted the coin. The most that I could scrap together was $10,000, which was not enough, but I made the offer anyway. The dealer refused, which did not surprise me, but none the less I did get to “live with” a really great coin for a while.

    So yea. Been there; done that; and it wasn’t so bad.

    Here's a picture of the coin. (Sorry guys the scan was from a slide.)


    image
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    keep it long enough to get some pictures and give it back
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section
  • Yes-- i'd llike to borrow a really rare, historical coin (1804 silver dollar) and photograph it side by side
    with coins from my collection. Then return it.
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,274 ✭✭✭
    If you have the 1933 Double Eagle, I would be willing to hold on to it for you.
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,967 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>If you have the 1933 Double Eagle, I would be willing to hold on to it for you. >>



    With a 1933 Double Eagle I would be concerned about losing the it or having it stolen. If I had lost the Chain Ameri cent, I could have paid for it with some stretching. With the 1933 Double Eagle, I'd have go for bankruptcy. image
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,781 ✭✭✭✭
    No!

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • Im not into that kinda thing, I would look at it for like a minute, and be like, "This is gay", and then give it back.
    Scott Hopkins
    -YN Currently Collecting & Researching Colonial World Coins, Especially Spanish Coins, With a Great Interest in WWII Militaria.

    My Ebay!
  • Catch22Catch22 Posts: 1,086 ✭✭


    << <i>Sure. I'd use it to pick up coin chicks! >>



    Now, that was funnyimage


    When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

    Thomas Paine
  • No!! I definetly wouldn't want it.
    If I'm going to have someone elses coins in my possession there would be a reason other then looking at it for fun, LOL!

    Katrina
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,654 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I "own" several items from family members on what we call "semi-permanent loan". There
    always callable and they have the right to look at them at any time but otherwise they are
    mine. We do occasionally call such things back so I really can't sell them without permission.
    Tempus fugit.
  • anablepanablep Posts: 5,097 ✭✭✭✭✭
    No. Unless the owner is willing to sign away any liability due to theft, fire, flood, al Quaeda, etc.
    I can go to the coin shop and look at the rare coins all I want and have no liability whatsoever.
    Always looking for attractive rim toned Morgan and Peace dollars in PCGS or (older) ANA/ANACS holders!

    "Bongo hurtles along the rain soaked highway of life on underinflated bald retread tires."


    ~Wayne
  • nwcsnwcs Posts: 13,386 ✭✭✭
    Absolutely. I'd be perfectly happy with being a steward of a coin without ownership of it if the coin is good.

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file