What very rare coins/patterns/medals/territorials/tokens can coin collectors buy on a budget?

oreville

Post examples to give coin collectors hope that there are still lots of bargains out there!!!

Here is an example of what can be purchased on a budget:

4126 1874 Octagonal 50 Cents. BG-930. Rarity-5. Liberty Head. MS-64 (PCGS). $546.00 (pop 6 none graded higher --38 in all PCGS grades)

A NGC MS-63 sold for $776.25 at Heritage in October 2007 and the only other PCGS MS-64 was sold by Heritage in July 2005 for $1955.

Lot # 4126
1874 Octagonal 50 Cents. BG-930. Rarity-5. Liberty Head. MS-64 (PCGS).
Lot Information
Final Bid $546.00
Description: A prooflike example of the so-called Blindfolded Liberty, a moniker gained from the as-made die break that cover's Liberty's eyes. Boldly impressed, free from mentionable distraction, and housed in an older-generation holder.

It looks a lot nicer than the picture. The picture makes the gold piece look like it has hazy surfaces which is not the case.

tightbudget

Some of the Moffat $5 can be obtained with a bit of saving up.

mrearlygold

These seem to be a really good buy if nice and original like this one.

Zoins

I like that Tom

Nice looking Assay. I generally have a strong preference for Territorials over Federal pieces. Thanks for posting.

mrearlygold

<< <i>I like that Tom

Nice looking Assay. I generally have a strong preference for Territorials over Federal pieces. Thanks for posting. >>



Thank you!

keets

please define budget.

are you talking $500, $5,000 or maybe $50,000???

also, it might be worth noting that this is the type of game that is played by many who collect the much despised Modern Coins which can be obtained for only a little over face and are actually worth several hundred if not thousands of dollars. it's a fun, educational and profitable way to build a nice collection.

oreville

keets:

Admittedly, I was indeed thinking of not more than $500....or so as a budget purchase.

So my example of a purchase price of $546 is a bit of a stretch.

joeyuk

A low mint state set of Bingles can go for under $2,000. 8 coins total so affordable.
See sig line.

MrEureka

The list is large, and gets larger if you include errors, colonials and foreign.

RYK

I recently picked up this medal:




I think that it would fall within Oreville's definition of rare and Keets' definition of budget.

mirabela

Around a year ago I landed a problem free original VF example of HT33 A33, the "Executive Experiment" Hard Times token, with the denticled edge (beaded is common), an R5 piece, for $12.

Of course cherrypicking is not exactly what you were asking about -- but still, Hard Times tokens, especially in circulated grades, probably fall squarely within the range of things you are asking about.

Very high grade moderns, though, if you make them yourself, has to be about the best way to go. That's what Clapp did ... of course there wasn't plastic then, but that isn't the point ... and those coins became more or less half the Eliasberg collection. People probably laughed at him for trying to find the very best 1906 quarter in 1906, but 101 years later we are not laughing.

Newmismatist

<< <i>please define budget.

are you talking $500, $5,000 or maybe $50,000???

also, it might be worth noting that this is the type of game that is played by many who collect the much despised Modern Coins which can be obtained for only a little over face and are actually worth several hundred if not thousands of dollars. it's a fun, educational and profitable way to build a nice collection. >>



There are a LOT of scarce Conder tokens (18th century British tradesman tokens) that can be purchased for under $500 - many in very high grade - many with very neat designs and motifs - I bought a whole bunch of them at the last Baltimore show

cladking

The opportunities are simply boundless. They exist in almost all areas of numismatics
but in the most well traveled areas it becomes far more difficult. World coins are also
better understood each year that goes by but there are more undercollected areas than
US.

It's in tokens and medals that true rarity is most common. Consider that a salemen's
sample book of uniface California tokens was discovered a few years back. These were
struck tokens of the second largest token maker in the state. Tokens were bought in
lots of 1000 and distributed by merchants as an early form of couponing. The tokens were
good for 5c or 10c off of products and designed to bing people in. They were sometimes
passed out as change but were often refused as well. The sample book had hundreds of
different tokens in it but only some 10% had any known surviving examples!!! Many of
those which do survive have a single or only a small handfull of known examples.

I once acquired a pretty non-descript bag of aluminum tokens but on closer inspection
there was a lot more variety than a cursory glance suggested. It contained about 48
different Charlotte, MI good fors but the MI catalogue lists only 14 old tokens in it. There
was a single example of some of the unlisted tokens.

But these sorts of finds are getting less and less frequent. You can still find unknown and
unknown tokens in autions and dealer stock. Some collecting specialties have almost no
collectors. Modern amusement tokens are terra incognita. There are a few collectors and
no one really knows what's common and what's rare. I've probably distributed dozens of
rare tokens simply because I didn't know I was the only source for them.

A good way to get started is to see what's available in your area. Around here there are
lots of telephone tokens that turn up at flea markets and garage sales. Few people know
what these are and are happy to get a quarter or more for them. These mostly originated
in Chicago and were brought home to NW Indiana by visitors in the '20's and '30's. If you
tried collecting these elsewhere it might be a lot less fun. Availability of a wide array of an
item is a big help. It's not really necesary though since you can trade with other collectors.

Another of my favorites is transportation tokens. These were also made in batches of a
thousand for most users (though some cities ordered 10,000 or more). When new orders
were recieved the mint would cut new dies so there are numerous very dramatic varieties.
Very few collectors are concerned with either varieties or condition. This means that the early
varieties which are very rare in nice condition will be found mixed in with all the junk. ...not
bad for a few cents apiece. Older collections will sometimes yield very rare tokens that most
collectors don't recognize.

This applies across the board; if you look at areas that others have no interest in there
will be very rare items that simply aren't identified as such. Just because something is rare
there is no certainty that it will ever be valuable. Even rare US coins might not ever be
worth a lot in some cases and certainly this is even more likely with tokens and medals.
Tokens can be faked even though so far, counterfeits are not much of a problem. You need
to keep abreast if you're going to spend much for tokens so you know what the fantasies
are. A good rule of thumb if it's old and too good to be true it might be a fantasy. If tokens
ever did start getting valuable there would be more counterfeiting. In the mean time though
it's a hoot to own very rare items even if you're the only one who knows or if you don't even
know which are rare and which are common.