Coins from a flea market
carl
Posts: 2,054 ✭
Just got back from my morning tour of the local flea markets. At one a guy was selling off his coin collection. He said he will bringing some each week until all are gone. I bought 1 Franklin Half, 6 Liberty stading halves, 20 Liberty head and 24 Buffalo nickels, 26 mercury dimes all for $38. Most were in just good condition but all dates and most features are visable. The Liberty Head Nickels were in really sad shape. I nomally don't save these so I'll probably give them away on this site as soon as I learn how to pack them and use PM. I'll let you know.
Carl
0
Comments
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>You'll never find anything good at a flea market.
Russ, NCNE >>
I beg to differ. While Russ' statement is usually correct, not all flea-market dealers are crooked and/or ignorant. I got my start as a flea market dealer. (Shoot, now that you mention it, I'm still only a cut above the flea market in the grand scheme of things).
I once had a fella bring a piece of Swedish plate money from the 1700's to my booth there. These are huge copper plates, bigger than your average Redbook. They were struck at a time when Sweden was short on silver to strike their silver coinage, so they struck huge "coins" of the same value, in copper. They're fairly scarce, and most are known from a single shipwreck on the South African coast.
That was in 1992. I had a chance to buy the plate money then for $100 but couldn't afford it at the time (I was dirt poor then, and flea-marketing cheap Darkside coins was my only way to finance my collecting habit). I did not see another piece of plate money until the 2004 FUN show in Florida, and I bought a 1750 2-daler piece there for $280.
So you never know. Most of the time at the flea market, you're likely to see AU clad Kennedy halves in dogeared 2 X 2's with $7.50 pricetags, or whizzed-orange Indian cents, all marked "Extremely Fine" and priced at twenty bucks each, but sometimes you'll meet a more serious dealer (or collector) there.
Not ALL flea market coin dealers are lowlifes.
Just 96% of them.
Russ, NCNE
i'd offer him 5 x face for all his silver, no matter the shape.
i'm sure the nickels will find a good home.
I picked this up last summer at a local flea market for $90. The coins aren't anything special, but they were still in the original packaging. I removed them to take some scans.
<< <i>Strange that nesvt's Morgans are all 1887. The Gates Rubber Company must've had a bag of them when they put that promo together. Interesting set. When do you suppose it was made? 1930's? '40's? '50's? >>
Yeah... and three of the five are from the same die pair. I was told it was a gift given out to a service attendant that checked a customer's fan belt (and recommended a Gates replacement). The customer was really the Gates "Mystery Man". I think they came from the early 50's. They changed to silver rounds in the 60's (made by the Franklin Mint).
Nesvt,
What a unique historical item; I never find anything at flea markets myself.
That Gates company is actually still around, believe it or not:
LINK
<< <i>Thanks for that link. I wonder if they have a museum in their main office? I wonder if they'd like a pricele$$ item from their own past? >>
Those were posted in the "Cointalk" forum weren't they?
<< <i>Those were posted in the "Cointalk" forum weren't they? >>
Yup. I think it was my first post in that forum... in the "What's it Worth" area. They're still pricele$$!