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Tell me some of your coin show fantasies.

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm like a kid in many ways.

Kids like to dream and fantasize. When I was a kid, my brother and I would fantasize about the yearly summer trip we made to Canada every year to fish for walleyes and northern pike. Just thinking about fishing made me happy. (Still does.)

So, what are some of your coin show fantasies?

Here's one of mine.

I'm walking the show, it's the end of the first day at Long Beach and I come upon one of my heroes in the coin business, David Hall. I invite him out to dinner and he accepts.

We go out to dinner and he tells me all kinds of great stories and then he pulls out his briefcase. He doesn't open it. He reveals that it's a collection that has been in a safety deposit box for over one hundred years and that the owners have consigned the coins to him to sell at his discretion. He tells me he has been trying to get this consignment for over 10 years and that it finally fell into place. The briefcase is big and very heavy.

He states that he just got the group of coins that afternoon and then says that he will give me first shot on the coins and that he will leave the briefcase with me at the end of the meal so that I can take it with me and formulate some offers at my leisure.

He reveals that he was going to give first shot to one of the female coin dealers that he knew and that he had talked to her over the years about his hopes of getting the deal and possibly give her first shot, but that he changed his mind and decided to leave them with me. I ask him why he changed his mind and he says just two words...."puttied Saint". He also goes on to in effect say that newbies like me should be given a chance to succeed in the coin business because it's good for the market - that competition keeps coin dealer profits reasonable and that that is good for collectors." I thank him profusely. (.....I'm feelin' pretty good by then....)

We finish the meal, I leave with the coins and take them to my hotel room. I get settled in, smoke a joint (just kidding!) and then start looking through the boxes of coins. Boxes and boxes. Nothing is newer than 1900. I see that the coins are all raw and that they are in all kinds of different holders which has imparted incredible colors to many of the coins. The collection was obviously put together by a rich man with an incredible eye for aesthetics and a huge wallet. One of the coins I see is a beautifully toned and uncirculated 1796 quarter with a fully struck eagle's head. Another is an uncirculated 1794 dollar without adjustment marks.

I lay out the coins in the hotel on every available flat surface and then call Brandon. He comes over and starts looking at the coins. Needless to say, he gets pretty hyped. He sets up his computer and starts doing research on the value of the coins. It's one AM in the morning.

I call Greg Rohan on his cell phone hoping to just leave a message asking him to loan me some money, but he answers. I tell him the story and ask him to loan me some money. He's in town at the show and says he would like to come over to the hotel and look at the coins. He does. He arrives. It's three AM.

He states that he can loan me as much as I want. We work out a partnership/loan on the deal (I just wanted a loan but he wants a piece of the action so I compromise.)

Brandon gets done doing his research and comes up with what we should offer for the group as a whole. There were lots of coins, many that were hard to value. It's 8 am in the morning.

I call David Hall, extend him an offer to buy the coins and he accepts. He sends his best looking administrative assistant over (AND she is hot!!!!....and unattached) to the hotel with an invoice. We strike up a friendship. (In my fantasy, I'm single.) I ask her to help me with the coin show later that day, and she accepts!! I sign the invoice and she leaves, telling me that David says I could just mail him a check. It's 10 am.

Brandon and I leave for the show with the coins. At the show we empty out one of the cases and display the coins. We start selling them raw and people are buying them and taking them over to PCGS for walk through grading. The female coin dealer that David thought about giving first shot to, shows up. She takes one look at the coins and asks "wherethehelldjahget thees?" I told her. She then turns on her heals and begins mumbling curse words and marches in the direction of the PCGS booth. Later I hear yelling and then the police arrive and then I see them dragging the female from the coin show, in hand cuffs.

The buyers are making good money on the raw coins they're getting and word gets around. Before the end of the day, all we have left in the case are checks for the coins. Five million dollars worth of coins.

The next day the female coin dealer shows up first thing in the morning at my table. She is still in the clothes she wore yesterday and looks really frazzled. She asks me where the raw coins were and I show her a horse choking fist full of checks. I don't say anything but ask "how was the show for you yesterday? She doesn't answer but looks at me with one eye almost shut, spits on one of my tables, points at me and starts screeming. The cops show up and drag her off again in hand cuffs.

(The admisistrative assistant and I hit it off so well that at the end of our first day at the coin show together that she says she would like to come to Dallas for a few days to "just check it out". She says that she has the next week off and that she can leave with me right after the show. I tell her that I'm driving to Alaska from the show and she asks if she can go with me, that she has always dreamed of driving up to Alaska.

The coin show ends and I take off with my new friend, to Alaska.

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Comments

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,146 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We hit it off so well that later that day she says she would like to come to Dallas for a few days to "just check it out". She says that she has the next week off and that she can leave with me right after the show. I tell her that I'm driving to Alaska from the show and she asks if she can go with me, that she has always dreamed of driving up to Alaska.

    The coin show ends and I take off with my new friend, to Alaska.


    What'd you do, bail her out ... or did PCGS drop the charges? imageimage

  • coinlieutenantcoinlieutenant Posts: 9,305 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah. I could live with that fantasy...
  • vega1vega1 Posts: 941
    Well, I have to be honest. I guess mine would involve Carmen Electra or Evangeline Lilly.... not David Hall.imageimage
  • ANACONDAANACONDA Posts: 4,692
    I bailed her out because I actully like that female coin dealer.....a lot...she's just misunderstood by some people.
  • ANACONDAANACONDA Posts: 4,692
    Carmen Electra or Evangeline Lilly are not coin dealers. Coins can get you women. Women generally don't get you coins.

    Well, I gotta get a shower and get ready for the day. Later dudes and dudettes.
  • vega1vega1 Posts: 941


    << <i>Carmen Electra or Evangeline Lilly are not coin dealers. Coins can get you women. Women generally don't get you coins. >>



    Hmmm, wise words.
  • carlcarl Posts: 2,054
    WOW! That's one fantastic fantasy and so much detail. That could be the start of a fiction or fantasy coin book. Just think there are many, many coin books out there all about real stuff but no one has written a fiction type book that I know of anyway. You could start a new thing right here with that story as a preamble to the greatest coin story ever told.
    With me a fantasy is just simple. I go to a garage or yard sale. There is this hugh jar of coins in the corner on a shelf. I ask about it and am told they are on the way to the bank as soon as the sale is over. I look at the bottom of the jar and see Indian Cents, Two cent pieces, three cent pieces, etc. All are like new. I ask how much for the whole jar and am told to count it and give them face value for the stuff. I then wake up and go about a normal day still thinking this could someday happen.
    Carl
  • orieorie Posts: 998
    My fantasy would be going to the ANA, meeting Laura, and we would go on a three week trip to Alaska. Purely educational, of course. The great thing - 3 weeks would feel like three years.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The cops show up and drag her off again in hand cuffs. >>



    I had to stop reading at this point I was laughing so hard.

    image
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Anaconda---You could give Clankeye some competetion when comes to writing fiction!

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • BladeBlade Posts: 1,744
    Here is one...

    I go to the annual Texas major show, TNA. Since it is located in Dallas, the show is well attended by Texas dealers. Anaconda is there with his usual display of high-end, stunning eye appeal coins. I saddle up to the display cases and he tells his partner to "treat me right". One of the coins is in a special group marked NFS (not for sale). It is a dream coin of mine since childhood, the 1907 $20 High Relief. And it isn't just any High Relief, but one graded MS66 by PCGS, with surfaces of silk and no perceptable marks at all.

    I tell my story to Adrian, how I first saw one of these coins at the Detroit ANA show in 1983 when I was 16 yrs old, and have lusted for it ever since. He says "Hell, it's been a great month at the law firm. If you can scrape up 63 money, it's yours". I race to the bank for a certified check and take the coin home.

    imageimage Nice to see you last weekend Adrian and that High Relief was a beauty. Another few years under my belt and I would have jumped all over it.
    Tom

    NOTE: No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

    Type collector since 1981
    Current focus 1855 date type set
  • Mine is simple...... I go broke before I get everything I want......
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,772 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is from Dave G's show report this weekend:

    The big excitement of the day, however, came when I noticed an elderly gentleman who was sharing Norman Cornish's table. He had a stack of Numismatic Scrapbooks with a sign: "50 cents each; buy five and get a sixth free". When I started flipping through them, he said "I've got a whole box full. My wife told me to get rid of them, in fact, she said not to come home with them. If you buy a bunch, I'll go down to a quarter each." I thanked him and proceeded to walk around some more. When I was ready to leave, I went back to him. It didn't look like he had sold any, so I asked "How much for the whole box?" He said that 25 cents each was the best he'd do, so we counted them quickly and he let me take the box of 115 issues for $28!

    That is my fantasy!
  • PhillyJoePhillyJoe Posts: 2,682 ✭✭✭✭
    Here's my fantasy:

    Go to an ANA show in my home state
    Meet MadMarty with his arms full of SMS proof sets
    See the infamous IdahoGal smile
    Be seated at the PCGS registry luncheon with Richard Green, owner of the #1 Kennedy set
    Meet someone with an armful of books. Big reader, I ask? No, an author. My name is Coppercoins.
    Sit next to Tassa at dinner
    Talk to Don Heath about coins & cars
    Meet Will Rossman
    Share a beer with KSteelheader in church

    Wait a minute. All of the above came true. It only seemed like a dream.

    Joe

    The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. image
  • mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    Ok here you go.

    I actually get some time off and get to go to a show.
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section


  • << <i>I call David Hall, extend him an offer to buy the coins and he accepts. He sends his best looking administrative assistant over (AND she is hot!!!!....and unattached) to the hotel with an invoice. We strike up a friendship. (In my fantasy, I'm single.) I ask her to help me with the coin show later that day, and she accepts!! I sign the invoice and she leaves, telling me that David says I could just mail him a check. It's 10 am. >>



    Now in my fantasy at this very moment in time, before the assistant leaves -- I knock on the door to your hotel room and you look through the peephole. Not knowing who I am you are hesitant to open the door, so I tell you, I'm Mr. Hall's personal lackey and he decided he really wanted the check now. So feeling safe and worried you might lose the deal, you open the door. Once inside, I remove a very large handgun from my jacket and 3 sets of handcuffs. I handcuff everyone, except for the hot assistant, package up the coins back into the briefcase. Yank the phone cord from the wall, duct tape everyone's mouth and head out the door.

    Looking back at the hot assistant, I tell her I'm driving to Alaska and is she coming? Knowing I got the coins, she readily agrees and we jump in my Aston Martin Vanquish and we're off. While driving up the the Golden State Freeway -- she decides that I really need to relieve some stress due to what really was a great morning at a coin show!!!!

    imageimage
    TPN
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Ok here you go.

    I actually get some time off and get to go to a show. >>



    Hey, that's my fantasy too.
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • TUMUSSTUMUSS Posts: 2,207
    "Tell me some of your coin show fantasies."
    image
  • coinguy1coinguy1 Posts: 13,485
    Is it just a coincidence that the two attorneys who have posted to this thread left their wives out of their "coin show fantasies"?image Oh, maybe the wives are awaiting our "fantasizers" in Alaska? image
  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,146 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What the heck is a 'photo cord'? Perhaps it's the connection to the digital recording camera I was using to tape Adrian drooling over the young assistant so that his gorgeous wife and I would end up with all the coins after the divorce? image
  • eyoung429eyoung429 Posts: 6,374
    I finally get some time off from work and my wife says that it's ok to go to the show. As I am walking across the parking lot to the entrance, I am stopped by a homeless person who asks if I could spare some change. I give him a couple of dollars and start back towards the entrance, he stops me and hands me a bunch of coins that he thought were crap as a thank you. I tossed the coins in my pocket and walked into the show.

    I came across a table that had nothing but error morgans in the raw and made an offer on a group of them, after haggling for 20min or so the dealer cuts me a break and sells me the coins. I pull the bills out of my pocket and dropped a couple of the coins that the homeless person had given me. After picking up a couple of them, the dealer picked one up that rolled under the table and freaked out. The coin that he handed back to me was a Strawberry cent!!!! I looked at the other coins and they were a mixture of trimes, flying cents and bust quarters!!!!!!


    I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!!! I paid the dealer (he wanted one of the 1804's that I had for trade) and walked over to the PCGS table and non-chalantly set the coins down and asked if they were worth anything...............The lady at the table fainted and the guy who was sitting there grabbed a pair of gloves and offered to submit them personally. I stated that that was ok and he asked me to follow him. He placed the coins in an attache case and we walked downstairs to a limo waiting outside. After a brief ride (santa clara show is only 10min away from san jose airport) we boarded a lear jet and took off. To make a long story short, we arrived at PCGS headquarters where we walked in with the coins and had 15 graders drop what they were working on (incidently all of the sub tickets in front of them were from Marty and Russ). All the coins graded XF-AU and I was offered $3mil on the spot for them. I cheerfully declined and walked out and caught the next flight back to san jose. I listed the strawberry (xf-40) and took all the money and donated it to the homeless shelter. I never found the guy who gave me the change but I sold 3 more of the coins and am retired with Anaconda working for me.
    This is a very dumb ass thread. - Laura Sperber - Tuesday January 09, 2007 11:16 AM image

    Hell, I don't need to exercise.....I get enough just pushing my luck.
  • coppercoinscoppercoins Posts: 6,084 ✭✭✭
    Hmm....fantasy, eh?

    I sit down at a table to pick through the cents (as I normally do), and the dealer sitting across from me asks if I'm interested in Lincolns. My answer, of course, is yes. He reaches around behind him and pulls out two 3-ring binders and sits them on the table in front of me. He says, "take a look and make an offer. I've been trying to get rid of them, so any decent offer will suffice." I glance through the book and find it to be a nearly intact set of red Lincolns in flips...to include the early stuff.

    I turn to him and tell him that there's no way I could afford to give him a decent offer on the group, but I would broker the coins for him and make him some good money. I asked what he would have asked for the two books full, and his answer stunned me....$5 grand is all he wanted, and there was a red 14D, 22 no-D, 26S, 11S, et. al. I told him I could easily double that, so we worked out the plan for me to take the books.

    The rest of the story...

    I get the books home and carefully inspect each coin. Evidently the collector who put them together knew what they were looking at. Every coin was even in color, relatively mark-free, and EVERY possible issue was either a #1 doubled die or mintmark variety. For instance, the 1944D was a cherry red OMM#1. The 1911D was a cherry red OMM#1. The 1917P was a cherry red DDO#1.

    So I call the dealer and tell him the news. The books are now worth over $100 grand, and I stand to gain two years of income from their sale, and he stands to become a very happy camper from the 20-30 times money he will make over his way-under $5 grand sell price. I tell him that we need to get the CPG listed items in to PCGS for slabbing, and he sends a check. The coins (200 of them in all - nearly a complete red CPG listed collection) come back min. 64RD, with many being the finest known of their variety by a very long shot.

    The dealer and I end up making a fortune on the coins, and we continue to work together with me checking the better collections he gets for die varieties. Every time I find one, I take care of it for him and he lets me in on the profit.

    That's my dream....and I think it could realistically happen, but hasn't to date.
    C. D. Daughtrey, NLG
    The Lincoln cent store:
    http://www.lincolncent.com

    My numismatic art work:
    http://www.cdaughtrey.com
    USAF veteran, 1986-1996 :: support our troops - the American way.
    image


  • << <i>What the heck is a 'photo cord'? >>



    its early -- you know it should have been phone!



    << <i>Is it just a coincidence that the two attorneys who have posted to this thread left their wives out of their "coin show fantasies"? >>



    Hey Boy Scout --- its my fantasy and I'll include anyone I want!!!!

    How about this one --

    "And as I walk out of the hotel with my new hot assistant -- sitting there in the lobby, wearing sun dresses and sandals are Coinguy and TradeDollarNut, closely scrutinizing the lastest issue of PoolBoy Fanatasies Magazine. Very odd I think to myself as I wisk the hot assistant towards the valet."

    image
    TPN

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,146 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What's a Fanatasies? image
  • I just knew you couldnt resist.

    image
    TPN
  • coinguy1coinguy1 Posts: 13,485


    << <i>What's a Fanatasies? >>

    I don't know, but it sounds like you and I are in one, TDN.imageimage
  • elwoodelwood Posts: 2,414
    Adrian you have quite the imagination.....have you be playing with toads again???
    Please visit my website prehistoricamerica.com www.visitiowa.org/pinecreekcabins
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,777 ✭✭✭
    Not quite fantasy, but

    As a kid I often went to "Coins of the Realm" in Rockville Maryland area. I bought circulated wheat cents in 2x2s, rolls of wheats, etc. Often the dealer would give change in Ike Dollars and Kennedy Halves. This was 1972-1974. I wonder if I had some 71-72 Gems?
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • ANACONDAANACONDA Posts: 4,692
    What the heck is a 'photo cord'? Perhaps it's the connection to the digital recording camera I was using to tape Adrian drooling over the young assistant so that his gorgeous wife and I would end up with all the coins after the divorce?

    Ooh...that hurt. Lose the wife.....that would be a major drag. Lose the coins, that's uh....also a major drag.

    (In another fantasy, I'm married and my wife says I can have a girlfriend. She picks one out for me, she's hot and all three of us work together and everything is great. Got fantasy?)

    And by the way, honey, Brandon knows my PCGS.com password and just because all of this girlfriend, not being married stuff appears under my icon doesn't mean that I typed it. Brandon is smart enough to include at the end a statement like: "And by the way, honey, Brandon knows my PCGS.com password and just because all of this 'girlfriend', not being married stuff appears under my icon doesn't mean that I typed it."
  • poorguypoorguy Posts: 4,317
    image Oh Crap!
    Brandon Kelley - ANA - 972.746.9193 - http://www.bestofyesterdaycollectibles.com
  • My coin show fantasy involves a Matte proof Peace dollar and your assistant .... Stefanie I believe her name was?
  • DUIGUYDUIGUY Posts: 7,252 ✭✭✭
    I finely get time of work, and go to a coin show, with plenty of money.



    Thats as good a fantasy as it gets!

    image
    “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly."



    - Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
  • Y'all need to get out more!!!! image
    RAD
  • TassaTassa Posts: 2,373 ✭✭


    << <i>And by the way, honey, Brandon knows my PCGS.com password and just because all of this girlfriend, not being married stuff appears under my icon doesn't mean that I typed it. Brandon is smart enough to include at the end a statement like: "And by the way, honey, Brandon knows my PCGS.com password and just because all of this 'girlfriend', not being married stuff appears under my icon doesn't mean that I typed it." >>



    image
  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,412 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Here are a few:

    1) Finding a nice coin for my type set without having to take out a mortgage on my house to buy it.
    2) Being able to choose a type coin between three attractive for the grade MS 65 Barber Halves (they are as scarce as hot babes at an all-you-can-eat restaurant)
    3) Finding an attractive MS (not PF) Shield Nickel that isn't dated 1882 or 1883 (haven't yet seen one on a bourse floor)
    4) Finding an attractive MS 65 Seated or Trade $ on the bourse floor (I usually need to put on gloves before inspecting them, to protect my hands when the coins bite)
    5) Finding a 1919 P SLQ in PC FH 6 with nice surfaces, good strike and eye appeal and attractive rim toning
    (I know one is out there somewhere)

    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • One of the most hectic, chaotic and infuriating days of my life is drawing to a close. You know the type of day I'm talking about; when months have passed and your frazzled psyche has healed you tell and re-tell the story to others. It's your best "worst day" scenario.

    I'm making my way home in my beat up 1992 Explorer in the pouring rain. I'm cussing under my breath and intermittantly slamming my open palm into the steering wheel. I need to calm down, relax. I reach into my pocket to grab a cigarette and find the pack empty. This makes perfect sense. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and I have reached a level of acceptance that is near zen. I pull in to the parking lot of the only convenience store in town to buy more smokes. It's just after three in the morning and I barely have enough money to feed my habit.

    From the murky darkness I enter the harsh flourescent lights of the store so saturated by the rain that water is running in thin rivulets from my hair down my temples and the middle of my back. I shake some of the water off and mutter. The cashier, indifferent and reading a tabloid, barely even looks up at me. I walk to the counter and give my order. "Marlboro Mild," I say. Without looking up from her magazine she reaches over her shoulder and gets the cigarettes. She taps a few buttons on the cash register and says, "$4.90." I toss the entire content of my pocket, a single five dollar bill, on to the counter. She swipes it up, puts it in the register and without interrupting her movement scoops a single dime from the tray. She casually lobs it on to the counter and I hear that familliar ring.

    The collector's instinct tells me to examine the dime immediately. I know it's silver, but there are many pressing things on my mind. I slide it in to the fifth pocket in my jeans, where I always put anything I find in circulation until I get home. I walk back out to the Explorer through the unrelenting rain and get in. I shake off the water again and curse out loud. I light my cigarette and drive home.

    Later that morning when I have cooled down a bit and put on dry clothes I remember the dime. I decide to take the time to check it out before I go to bed. I pull it out of the pocket of my still-soaked jeans and look at it under the desk lamp. It's a Mercury dime. For the first time that day a small smile tentatively crosses my face. I look a bit closer. It's a 1916 Mercury dime and it looks good. Really good. I turn it to the reverse and focus about seven o'clock. I rub my eyes and focus again. It's really there. 1916 - D.

    My mind is racing now. I give the coin the critical examination it deserves. It's lustrous. It's crisp. The obverse has a rich band of burnt orange around the rim fading to a mellow golden center. The reverse is blast white. "End roll?" I ask myself out loud. An idea strikes me like a lightning bolt and no sooner than I have the dime in an airtite in my safe I am driving back to the convenience store.

    "Stay cool," I remind myself as I enter the parking lot again. "There's no way what you're thinking could be true, so be happy with the amazing score you already made. And besides, if it is true, you don't want anyone to know."

    I walk back in to the store and glance around. No customers, no change. The cashier is reading the same tabloid. I walk to the ATM and withdraw my last $20. The fee actually overdrafts me. I walk up to the counter and say, "Can I get some dimes?" The cashier asks how many and I think it's best to make sure I empty the till just in case. "Five dollars worth," I reply. She grabs up the fistfull of dimes in the drawer and counts them out. "$2.30," she says as she hands them to me. "I have to get another roll." she continues, "Some old guy came in last night and paid with a two dollar roll. Ever hear of that?" I'm shaking a bit, but she doesn't notice as she gets another roll from behind the tray and counts out the rest of my five dollars. "No." I reply, because anything more complicated than that little lie would reduce me to a giggling heap on the floor. She hands me the rest of my change and I turn to leave. "They look old." she says. "It's okay." I reply.

    Ten minutes later I'm home again after driving ninety miles an hour down the dirt roads that take me there. Ten minutes more and I know it's true. There they are, lined up in front of me. Twenty best friends that spent the last eighty-nine years together. There is no doubt. There is only to wonder how and why.
  • pursuitoflibertypursuitofliberty Posts: 6,558 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Oh, it's late ... what the heck ... I've always loved to write ... this could be interesting


    So I'm being a little cheap, and since I'm not worried about my safety and am not bringing anything to sell, I decide to park some 10 blocks away. It's a beautiful day, San Francisco in all its glory.

    As I get to the second crosswalk, I notice a frail and elderly lady towing one of those wheel-on overnight bags, and having a little trouble with it. I don't think much of it (except to help her get it up the curb). She grabs my arm and thanks me. I don't think much of this either, as I do this when I can.

    Anyway, the bag is kind of heavy and I figure I'm in no real hurry, so I slow myself down and ask her if she'd like me to help her a little farther. We start to chat a bit, and I ask her where she's going (she's nice and I figure even out of my way a few blocks is no big deal).

    She tells me she's going to the convention center for the morning. Hmm ... odd I think ... wonder what she's going there for. So am I, I tell her.

    She asks what I am going there for before I ask her ... I'm going to a Numismatic Convention to see some friends and look at some coins I tell her ... explaining what Numismatic means in the process of walking slow and trying to be pleasant and a little funny at the same time.

    Interesting, she says. So am I ... but I'm afraid I have no friends there.

    Okay, now I'm a little intrigued. Are you a collector?, I ask.

    No, but my late husband was, she explains. Actually, and I shouldn't tell you this, she almost whispers, the bag you're towing for me has his collection inside.

    Gulp!

    She doesn't stop. He was a very good man, provided well for us, but he loved his coins. We bought a great house, always had nice cars and vacations. When he was still working, he used to spend more than I wanted to let him, but he said someday they would help take care of us, although even in the last twenty years, we never needed to sell them, and he always enjoyed looking at them. When he heard the show was coming last winter, he was very excited. I don't think he'd shown them to anyone other than me in at least twenty years. He said some of them were truly special. He quit buying much when he retired ... ohh, about twenty-five years ago ... said things had gotten much too expensive. He was just happy with what he had, and his books of course.

    I am listening intently, walking slower and slower as she is slowing down.

    Almost without warning ... she stops me. I'm a little winded, can we sit down a moment and have a water she says, pointing to a cafe on the corner.

    Sure, I think ... I love a good story ... and this one's getting good. And the thought of what might be in that suitcase I'm lugging around is starting to pique my interest.

    We sit and order a water for her, a coffee for me.

    She continues on, telling me about her husband. Sounds like he was a good man. I ask about children. No, she explains, and then tells me why. She tells me a lot of things ... some of them not entirely pleasant, since her husband has recently passed away … quite suddenly in fact, despite his age.

    Sometimes it's good just to have someone to talk too ... and she's certainly in the mood to chat a bit.

    She asks some questions about me, and I share some of me with her ... about myself and my family.

    Finally we get back to the day at hand and the convention center.

    So, are you planning on selling his collection, I ask her.

    Yes, I think so, she says. As much as I don't really want to, I think he would have wanted me too. He was going to sell them, at least some of them, I am sure. He said something about only being their caretakers. They were almost like his children.

    I chuckle at my own tendencies, and she smiles as if she now understands a little bit more about me.

    She continues on. He made list after list of all of his coins (I guess you collectors do that? she queries, and I smile with a nod), and a few years back he tried to figure out what they were all worth, so I have those numbers on the lists as well. Everything was packaged carefully in little boxes and albums, with notes and scribbles. I really looked through them for the first time about a month ago and I cried. Just remembering him, you know, she says.

    And some of them were so dirty! she exclaims suddenly.

    Oh shi*! I think.

    But he told me if anything ever happened to him, to never, ever clean them. I remember that. He was so serious that day.

    Thank God! I almost murmur aloud.

    The waitress interrupts us ... can we stay a little longer?, my new acquaintance asks. Another water and a refill on your coffee?

    No matter what is in that case ... whether it's AG Indians or something more priceless, there is nowhere I would rather be. The journey is often so much better than the destination anyway. Certainly, please, I reply.

    She sighs. I really miss him, she says. I think he would have liked you.

    I'm speechless ... what can or would I say anyway?

    Do you think the dealers will be fair?, she asks, almost suddenly, with some concern. I remember he said some dealers where not very fair ... actually he called some of them a lot worse than that, she added with a blush ... but said some where good and honest business people. Unfortunately, he didn't leave me any names I could find

    I know of some very fair dealers, I say. In fact, I think today is your lucky day. If you don't mind a little extra help, I'll try to see that you get to the right one.

    She smiles.

    Heck, I add, depending on what you have in there, I'll probably want to buy one from you just to remember this by.

    She smiles again. Young man, she says firmly, if you can help me do this correctly, you can have more than one.

    She starts in about her husband again, explaining how he used to do that, buying coins to remember things by, and that’s what many of his notes are about.

    Then she unexpectedly unzips the front pocket of the bag and produces a sheath of tattered paper.

    Maybe since we are sitting here, you can look at these and tell me what you think, she explains, pushing the folder across to me.

    I'm a little flabbergasted, a little honored ... and anxious enough to flip to the first page almost immediately. I look up and smile at her, but she already knows, and nods toward the page.

    Handwritten notes. Aged. Fairly neat.

    Title on top ... this one says Indian Cents. Dates down the left. Talley marks next to the date ... then what appears to be the date purchased and price paid and a letter or number beside that … seems to match tally marks (three tally’s equal three dates and prices) … then another date (all 1985) and usually another price.

    My head’s spinning. I started collecting as an adult in 1988, and as I am deciphering the numbers, I am starting to think that this is a list of what appears to be a near complete set with quite a few duplicates of (CH) Choice Indians. Some of the seconds and thirds are marked UNC and EF. Holy Shi*!!

    I flip the page. Shield and Liberty Nickels. Same, same. Lot’s on UNC and EF marks, consistent with my memory of 1988 pricing OMG.

    Dimes. Ohhhh … the dates start at 1796, and although there’s no hash mark there, there is one at 1801, and 1802, and 03, and 07… and as I continue down the list they start popping up with some frequency. Lots of EF marks in the beginning … UNC … CH

    Next page, next page, next page. Quarters, Halves … Half Cents, Large Cents, Half Dimes. OMG … my head is really spinning. I can’t even see what’s there.

    I look up. She sees it in my face.

    I point to the bag.

    She nods.

    All of it, I ask.

    Yes.

    I’m a little nervous now. I look around. No one’s paying us any attention. Breath, I have to remind myself.

    I whisper, that could be a small fortune in there.

    She nods, and smiles innocently, shrugging her shoulders, as if she already knew that.

    I have to see. Just one thing. Just to know if her husband was crazy, or if was a real collector.

    Can you carefully slide out just one of the albums? I ask quietly, still nervous. I just want to see if I am understanding the notes correctly, I explain.

    She has sensed my concern, and now she looks around. Certainly, she says with a smile.

    Out comes an old bound-back Whitman blue. Barber Dimes. Cool, I think quickly, a series I know.

    She slides it across to me as I flip to that sheet and thumb open the first page.

    I immediately do the double-take. The list is open … the album is open to page one. Most of the grades say CH … and certainly, most of these are probably at least that. Probably a lot that are better. Wait … what’s this … I didn’t even notice it before.

    It’s on the list. It’s in the album. I flip the page over.

    Hey, we are talking coin fantasy, right? image




    “We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”

    Todd - BHNC #242
  • TTT
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭
    sellsatan and pursuitofliberty,

    Those were great stories. I was on the edge of my seat.

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!



  • Great story.
  • TTT again.
  • TrooperTrooper Posts: 1,450
    My fantasy usually begins with strolling up to a table full of coins with a beautiful girl standing behind it then below is what happens

    I can't believe this happened to me.....
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Name and address withheld......

    Penthouse Jan. 2007

    Ya it's a short story but a good one....
  • It looks like most "coin geeks" have TWO things in common...

  • gemtone65gemtone65 Posts: 901 ✭✭✭
    Recently I experienced a fantasy much like Adrian described, but it was real life. The story involved the following major variations:

    - David Hall was not the seller.

    - The coins were gems and near gems but were all of one denomination, type, and characteristic.

    - The intermediary was not picture perfect, but a person whose picture taking abilities are well known around here.

    - While I waited for the coins to arrive, the intermediary notified someone else about the situation, and sold off the single best coin before they were delivered to me.

    - I did not run off with the delivery person (just in case my wife reads this thread).

    - I selected the next 8 best pieces, consumated the transaction, and returned the rest.
  • I'm hooked on this idea. Great thread. Keep 'em coming folks.

    image
  • pursuitoflibertypursuitofliberty Posts: 6,558 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great idea Adrian ... I had a lot of fun with mine, and reading all of yours! image

    “We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”

    Todd - BHNC #242
  • TopdollarpaidTopdollarpaid Posts: 595 ✭✭✭

    Boy Can you all dream,,


    Here is a true story,
    I new a coin dealer and for years he had a coin shop in Riverside, Ca

    When he decided to retire he moved to Idaho and for the heck of
    it he opened a antique mall and traded small time in coins.

    One day this couple walks into the antique store and has a bag of placer gold, they make a deal to sell it to him for around 10k

    They told him that was all that was left of the estate,

    Seems that when dad was on his death bed he told mom that the gold was buried out back under the big tree, she did not
    tell anyone until she was dieing and she told her kids that the gold was buried under the big tree out back.

    Grandpa had buried a bag of gold out there around 1900 and they dug it up, they took the gold coins to a shop in Arizona and sold
    the U. S. Gold coins for about $42,000.00

    Man I would have like to see those coins

    (This is a true story although the are aproximent)
    Randy Conway

    Www.killermarbles.com

    Www.suncitycoin.com
  • cosmicdebriscosmicdebris Posts: 12,333
    Carol would bam me if I told you mine. image
    Bill

    image

    09/07/2006
  • northcoinnorthcoin Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'll settle for being the recipient of that uncirculated 1794 dollar that Adrian found in the collection.

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