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Man gets 1804 Dollar as retirement gift in Surprise, NE UPDATE! Link to video of coin added

Saw this on the news last night. He lives in Surprise, NE. Is he in for a suprise?

Here's the link to the original story

NEW! Link to video of coin (Thanks for the heads-up Coinhusker1image) FYI the video of the coin starts after a short ad




Edited to add video link
Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
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Comments

  • dbldie55dbldie55 Posts: 7,731 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This line here may be a clue He bought it for $1 at a currency exchange in China.

    Collector and Researcher of Liberty Head Nickels. ANA LM-6053
  • Svoboda said the man who gave it to him didn't know its value. He bought it for $1 at a currency exchange in China.
    image That's where all the fakes come from.

    Glenn
  • rainbowroosierainbowroosie Posts: 4,874 ✭✭✭✭
    Sounds real to me!!!! I'll buy it for $1....image
    "You keep your 1804 dollar and 1822 half eagle -- give me rainbow roosies in MS68."
    rainbowroosie April 1, 2003
  • Best retirement gag gift ever! image
    Dave - Durham, NC
  • He bought it from this guy


    Happy Holidays !!!!

    Herb
    Remember it's not how you pick your nose that matters, it's where you put the boogers.
    imageimageimage


  • << <i>He bought it from this guy


    Happy Holidays !!!!

    Herb >>



    image

    Glenn
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Best retirement gag gift ever! image >>



    Seeing the guy, and his excitement on the news last night I don't think he'll be laughing. image

    He'll find out soon enough it sounds like.
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭


    << <i>He bought it from this guy


    Happy Holidays !!!!

    Herb >>



    You guys amaze me at how fast you find stuff!

    They showed a close-up shot of the coin on the news story last night. Wish they had it on their website about the story.
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    Maybe a posotive will come out of this and the Chinese counterfeiters will get some exposure for what they are.

    That newspaper reporter and editor must have gone to the Dan Rather School of Evidence Verification
  • atleast it was given to him, so hes not out any $$


    Sam
    I'd rather be driving a titleist

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Maybe a posotive will come out of this and the Chinese counterfeiters will get some exposure for what they are.
    >>



    It's more likely that people all over Nebraska are buying 1804 (and 1806!) dollars on eBay right now.....
    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah, he hopes to get $2.7 million because another one (ex-Childs) sold for $4.5 Million. And he's been offered over a million for it already....right!

    If he has one of the 15 known specimens, it would in all probability be stolen property. He's offered to split the money with the guy who gave it to him. It will be interesting to see the two of them split
    the cost of a big mac. If it's a good fake, it could be worth a $100.

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭


    << <i>
    That newspaper reporter and editor must have gone to the Dan Rather School of Evidence Verification >>



    Not only that, but what's up with the "coin dealers" in Lincoln, NE? image
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Too bad we will never get follow-up on this one. It would read like this:

    Nebraska Man Thought To Have Rare Coin Has Fake

    SURPRISE, Neb. -- A man in Surprise said he was duped.

    Larry Svoboda said that the retirement gift given to him by a longtime collecting friend was counterfeit. "When he first gave me the coin, I could not believe it. I knew that there were only a few of these around."

    Mr. Svoboda spent $3000 travelling to visit numismatic authorities, culminating in a trip to Ft. Lauderdale to an annual national coin show. There he met several numismatic luminaries, including Q. David Bowers and the heads of the two major coin authentication firms, all of whom told him this was a common counterfeit from China. If it were real, it would have been worth more than one million dollars.

    When asked what Mr. Svoboda will do next, he replied, "I'm gonna sue that jerk from the coin club for travel expenses and emotional distress!"
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,162 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You gotta love the press. It is a fake most likely but coins in the press can be a good thing!

    Tbig
  • nwcsnwcs Posts: 13,386 ✭✭✭
    I sent an email to that paper. I told them it may do well to do a followup as it is assuredly a fake.
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Too bad we will never get follow-up on this one. It would read like this:

    Nebraska Man Thought To Have Rare Coin Has Fake

    SURPRISE, Neb. -- A man in Surprise said he was duped.

    Larry Svoboda said that the retirement gift given to him by a longtime collecting friend was counterfeit. "When he first gave me the coin, I could not believe it. I knew that there were only a few of these around."

    Mr. Svoboda spent $3000 travelling to visit numismatic authorities, culminating in a trip to Ft. Lauderdale to an annual national coin show. There he met several numismatic luminaries, including Q. David Bowers and the heads of the two major coin authentication firms, all of whom told him this was a common counterfeit from China. If it were real, it would have been worth more than one million dollars.

    When asked what Mr. Svoboda will do next, he replied, "I'm gonna sue that jerk from the coin club for travel expenses and emotional distress!" >>




    image
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • MrEurekaMrEureka Posts: 24,252 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I hope the Byron Reed specimen is still in Omaha...
    Andy Lustig

    Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.

    Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
  • Anyone want to bet the dealers he visited were messing with him?


  • << <i>

    << <i>He bought it from this guy


    Happy Holidays !!!!

    Herb >>



    image

    Glenn >>



    Friend, How do you do!! image
    "I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather did, as opposed to screaming in terror like his passengers."
  • nankrautnankraut Posts: 4,565 ✭✭✭
    Here's yet another example why you should be skeptical about what you read in the newspapers these days.image
    I'm the Proud recipient of a genuine "you suck" award dated 1/24/05. I was accepted into the "Circle of Trust" on 3/9/09.
  • RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Svoboda got the coin as a retirement gift from a man he often traded coins with. >>



    One has to wonder how many times this schmuck came out on the short end of the stick in these trades.

    Russ, NCNE


  • << <i>Svoboda said the man who gave it to him didn't know its value. He bought it for $1 at a currency exchange in China.

    * * * *

    Svoboda hopes he can get $2.7 million. He’s keeping the coin in a safe place until he decides to sell. >>



    The stuff dreams are made of! imageimage
    Collecting eye-appealing Proof and MS Indian Head Cents, 1858 Flying Eagle and IHC patterns and beautiful toned coins.

    “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Mark Twain
    Newmismatist
  • robertprrobertpr Posts: 6,862 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Here's yet another example why you should be skeptical about what you read in the newspapers these days.image >>

    image
    What ever happened to "investigative journalism"???

    Yeah, sounds like an exciting story. Problem is, if the press were responsible they would actually wait for verification of the authenticity of the coin before doing such a story. I guess the cable news outlets have everyone so scared the so-called legitimate press is now turning into a bunch of National Enquirer wannabies.

    "Man gets retirement gift, rare coin worth millions!"
    "Aliens to invade Earth, predicts Nostradomus!"

    I predict bloggers will have a still-frame of that coin from the news story and pick it apart as a cheap counterfeit within a matter of days. image
  • mrearlygoldmrearlygold Posts: 17,858 ✭✭✭
    You not no how talk him!


    Tomimage
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭
    Well, he may not get rich from it, but he got his 15 minutes (more like a minute and a half) of fame on local TV. image


    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • UPDATE:

    I e-mailed the new channel to send me a picture of the coin, and they sent a link with a video of the story. (I think it may be an update to CoinHusker's original link) Surprise, NE 1804 Dollar Link

    The story starts after a short ad for a community college.

    The coin in the video appears to be one of the well known Chinese fakes, but I'm not an expert as to which one it is. If some board members knowledgeable about the 1804 fakes could add commentary (and, better yet, add links to this type of fake), I will send a link of this thread to the news channel. Thanks!

  • Here's the real deal!
    imageimage
  • tjkilliantjkillian Posts: 5,578 ✭✭✭
    The video clearly showed a reeded edge, Chinese counterfeit. He will be disappointed, no doubt.

    I'm sure we'll never hear a follow up to this story.

    Tom
    Tom

  • keetskeets Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    .................pulled from the headlines..................

    Woman Gives Birth To Vampire---
    ---It Sucks Blood From Family Pet


    al h.image
  • FAKE!
    Thus, we find three classes of 1804 Silver Dollars. Class I examples were made circa 1834 - these all have lettered edges and no rust pit in the field just left of the top leaf of the olive branch on the reverse. Class II examples were made after 1857 - the only known specimen has a plain edge. Class III examples were made after 1857 - they all have lettered edges and a rust pit in the afore-mentioned place on the reverse.
    His coin.

    image

    Clearly a fake!
  • GeminiGemini Posts: 3,085
    Next Headline..........Larry Commits Hari Kari
    A thing of beauty is a joy for ever


  • << <i>

    << <i>Here's yet another example why you should be skeptical about what you read in the newspapers these days.image >>

    image
    What ever happened to "investigative journalism"???

    << <i>

    its Nebraska, every day is a slow news day.
  • Wednesday December 29, 2004 7:48 PM - Link to picture posted
    Wednesday December 29, 2004 8:06 PM - Positively identified as a Chinese counterfeit.


    Once we got a picture of the coin, it took us less than 18 minutes to positively identify it as a Chinese counterfeit.
    What the hell ever happened to researching your story BEFORE you broadcast it. I find it sad that reporters just can't seem to do their job.
    Oh yea, you're no longer reporters, you're "journalists."image
    I hope channel 7 "The Omaha Channel" apologizes to it viewers for this report.

    Glenn
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭
    Thanks for the link to the video! I'll paste it into my original post!

    You've got to feel sorry for this sovboda guy. First a good friend who he has been "trading" coins with for years dumps this on him. Then the "coin dealers" he visits lead him to beleive it's real. and finally a television station builds his false hope by broadcasting his story. Sad examples of human behavior all the way around.
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • photogphotog Posts: 242 ✭✭
    Let's not be so hasty as to blame it on the dealers he went to. There's a chance Mr Svoboda was so convinced he had a genuine piece there was no telling him otherwise. I can't count the number of callers convinced they have a rarity, and despite telling them the earmarks of a fake, all of which their piece has, or that they have a different type of coin than the one they saw on tv, they state that we must be lying and trying to steal from them and that they will call someone else! Must happen once a week, more during a big news story about coins (like the Du Pont dollar, the 1913 publicity, the Strawberry Leaf publicity). Seriously.
    Even as a non-numismatist on staff, when a lady called and said she had "one of those pennies" and then proceeded to describe it as an 1898 penny with "a guy with a mohawk," on it, in "bad shape" but it had "strawberry leaves on the back like the million dollar coin," even I knew she had nothing special. She hung up on me!

    Jenna
    ANR
  • CoinHuskerCoinHusker Posts: 5,033 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Let's not be so hasty as to blame it on the dealers he went to. There's a chance Mr Svoboda was so convinced he had a genuine piece there was no telling him otherwise... ...
    ...Jenna
    ANR >>




    Point well made and taken. image
    Collecting coins, medals and currency featuring "The Sower"
  • It is sad if the man really believes he is going to get a fortune. He said something to the effect that he came from nothing. If he has struggled all of his life and believes he is rich, this news could devastate him. I feel so bad for him. image
    Melanie
  • MadMartyMadMarty Posts: 16,697 ✭✭✭
    Accroding to KinCoin, I have 3 pissing minuteman quarters that are worth $100,000 each!!!
    It is not exactly cheating, I prefer to consider it creative problem solving!!!


  • I emailed the TV station yesterday right after I read the story. No reponse thus far. Maybe if I email them and tell them that I was given a 1913 Nickel by a friend.........then perhaps they would respond. Of course they would fail to mention that it has a Buffalo on the back.
    www.jaderarecoin.com - Updated 6/8/06. Many new coins added!

    Our eBay auctions - TRUE auctions: start at $0.01, no reserve, 30 day unconditional return privilege & free shipping!
  • I just sent a reply to Newschannel 7 with a link to this thread. I suggested they should run a follow up story to let their viewers know the dollar is fake. I'll let you know if I get any response or follow-up.
  • Cool. This is going to be very informative about the behavior of the media.
    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Apropos of the coin posse/aka caca: "The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse."

    image
  • dthigpendthigpen Posts: 3,932 ✭✭


    << <i>I emailed the TV station yesterday right after I read the story. No reponse thus far. Maybe if I email them and tell them that I was given a 1913 Nickel by a friend.........then perhaps they would respond. Of course they would fail to mention that it has a Buffalo on the back. >>



    I too emailed and even called and left a message with the station when this story was first aired. I've yet to hear a reply, I honestly don't think they care.
  • I think Larry Svoboda's story about this coin is a joke!
    I bet Larry & that friend of his are sitting at home, drinking beers and laughing at this whole thing.

    Glenn
  • Poor sap. He's already planning on how to spend his windfall.
    "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes"--Hugh Downs

  • I think Larry Svoboda's story about this coin is a joke! I bet Larry & that friend of his are sitting at home, drinking beers and laughing at this whole thing.


    I think that he really believes that he struck it rich. I get calls like this all of the time: 2 headed quarters, 1943 copper cents, 1913 nickels, etc, etc. Based on the news story that I watched, Larry fits the exact profile of our typical "I hit the jackpot" caller.

    It doesn't take much to get the TV stations to run a news story. In fact, you may remember an Illinois dealer last year who "discovered" a rare new variety of a Seated coin. This guy actually had the TV station run a story on this monumental find. He even posted advertisments that the coin would go on tour under "armed security". He claimed that the coin was worth over $100,000. All of us dealers familiar with the coin were guessing that the variety would fetch about $1000 or so......tops. Well, the tour never happened and nobody talks about the coin anymore.
    www.jaderarecoin.com - Updated 6/8/06. Many new coins added!

    Our eBay auctions - TRUE auctions: start at $0.01, no reserve, 30 day unconditional return privilege & free shipping!
  • UPDATE:

    Well, I got an e-mail from Brandi Petersen at Channel 7 in Omaha, asking me to call her. I just spoke to her, and they are going to run an update of the story with our info.

    She contacted the coin owner regarding the coin's reeded edge, and (sadly) the coin owner suggested to her that his coin was one of the "undiscovered" 1804 dollars. I said that the coin was very likely one of the well known Chinese fakes, but suggested she follow up with Jenna at ANR to positively confirm from an authoritative source (other than us) that the coin is fake (Jenna, I hope you don't mind!!).

    So credit them for trying to get it right!

    "Film at 11" (or 10 in Omaha) image
  • photogphotog Posts: 242 ✭✭
    ACK! Heaven forbid anyone calls ME!
    Seriously, if someone calls here we have a whole staff of numismatists at the ready to help. I will certainly connect them with someone who can help.

    Jenna
    ANR

  • Nice Job! image
    www.jaderarecoin.com - Updated 6/8/06. Many new coins added!

    Our eBay auctions - TRUE auctions: start at $0.01, no reserve, 30 day unconditional return privilege & free shipping!

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