Flee market coins. Your opinions and expertise.
GoldCoinLover
Posts: 1,244
Recently I went to the flee market and saw a seller of coins. He had morgan dollars, peace dollars, var I&2 2 cent pieces, et cetera.
He looked to be around his mid 60's, a "snowbird" as we call them, here in the small city of Lake Havasu. Obviously he collected coins here and there thoughout his life, and since this was a fleemarket, he was willing to sell them. From talking to him, he didn't appear to have much experience with coins, he even told me he used a red book to 'grade' the coins so he could sell them according to the grade he put on them.
By all means, this man was not an 'expert' like alot of the people on this forum. Since I had only $4 on me, I decided to look though the coins and choose which ones. He said he had a nice steel cent and plopped it on the counter. I looked at it; it had a date of 1943, was unusually reflective, and had a patina of colors diverging from the center; from light red, to light orange, to light yellow, and finally, to light blue around the circumference of the coin. It was a steel cent from the World War. I thought that this coin seemed to look unusually reflective. Was this just from the natural toning or was there something much more mischievious going on with this coin? Perhaps...artificially toned?
I asked the seller to hold it aside for me, then I browsed though some more coins. A red flash of glimmer caught my eye, it was a VF - EF 1908 Indian cent. It was in a plastic container, with a price that read, "2.00." I asked him if he could make me a deal for both of the coins. He agreed, and decided to sell me both the 1908 VF Indian Cent and the 1943 patina toned Steel Cent together for a price of $3.00 price. Considering this saved me a whopping $0.25, I decided it was better than leaving out empty-handed and purchased the coins.
I then thanked him and walked away merrily, smiling happily while holding a bag with 2 new coins in my right hand.
He looked to be around his mid 60's, a "snowbird" as we call them, here in the small city of Lake Havasu. Obviously he collected coins here and there thoughout his life, and since this was a fleemarket, he was willing to sell them. From talking to him, he didn't appear to have much experience with coins, he even told me he used a red book to 'grade' the coins so he could sell them according to the grade he put on them.
By all means, this man was not an 'expert' like alot of the people on this forum. Since I had only $4 on me, I decided to look though the coins and choose which ones. He said he had a nice steel cent and plopped it on the counter. I looked at it; it had a date of 1943, was unusually reflective, and had a patina of colors diverging from the center; from light red, to light orange, to light yellow, and finally, to light blue around the circumference of the coin. It was a steel cent from the World War. I thought that this coin seemed to look unusually reflective. Was this just from the natural toning or was there something much more mischievious going on with this coin? Perhaps...artificially toned?
I asked the seller to hold it aside for me, then I browsed though some more coins. A red flash of glimmer caught my eye, it was a VF - EF 1908 Indian cent. It was in a plastic container, with a price that read, "2.00." I asked him if he could make me a deal for both of the coins. He agreed, and decided to sell me both the 1908 VF Indian Cent and the 1943 patina toned Steel Cent together for a price of $3.00 price. Considering this saved me a whopping $0.25, I decided it was better than leaving out empty-handed and purchased the coins.
I then thanked him and walked away merrily, smiling happily while holding a bag with 2 new coins in my right hand.
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Comments
<< <i>I have never seen a steel cent toned like that (naturally). Sight-unseen, my bet is that it has been cleaned and/or artificially toned. >>
I agree. However, the toning is very light and the coin, if AT, is very well done. It looks nice, either way.
Blurred image of my new 1908 Indian head. I graded it at VF-20.
Check out the Southern Gold Society
Until you get to AU, and possibly high XF, there shouldn't be any red on an IHC. It's been cleaned harshly.