Coin collecting horror stories

DuCrozat

This may have been done before, but after reading a post in another thread about coins being wasted on something, er, wasteful, what is an instance of this happening to you? Maybe a nephew or cousin stole the collection and spent it on gum. Or you used it for something you now regret.
Mine is I sold my silver dollars (all two of them) to a traveling buyer (hotel setup) in the 1979-80 silver craze to buy a gift for a girl I was dating. Nothing personal against her; just wish I had them now, because my great grandfather had given them to us.

Dumb kid.

AnkurJ

A local bank here contacted one of my pharmacy customers as they knew he collected coins. Someone cashed in over 300 Morgan silver dollars. Since no one at the bank collected or knew their value, he bought them at face value!!! I am sure it was a stolen collection as they were all in very nice condition. Sad sad.

joebb21

<< <i>A local bank here contacted one of my pharmacy customers as they knew he collected coins. Someone cashed in over 300 Morgan silver dollars. Since no one at the bank collected or knew their value, he bought them at face value!!! I am sure it was a stolen collection as they were all in very nice condition. Sad sad. >>



Not a very smart bank eh?

AnkurJ

Nope! It was a new Commerce (before switching over). Now that I recall, I did hear that an elderly gentleman went to the bank asking about the coins. His grandson stole them apparently.

ricko

That is a sad story... that occurs far more frequently than is reported. Cheers, RickO

edix2001

Cheech and Chong had a story about a kid with silver dollars up his nose. A heavily accented doctor used dynamite to blow them out. It might have been a metaphor for chemical abuse.

CommemDude

A good friend put a 1799 rattler AU58 gold draped bust eagle in a book to hide it from his son who had stolen a few pieces of his bullion gold, then threw out the book with the trash about 8 years ago..he was sick for two months.

johnny9434

i know someone who had about 80 morgans that as he put it looked like they can right off of the press. his father gave them to him many years back. his new wife who would soon be his ex took them and cashed them in at sears for some new clothes. this was back in the early 1960s.

ebaybuyer

i recently watched a nice VG 1870cc quarter sell on ebay for less than 25% of its value, couldnt bid due to "financial embarrassment" in hindsite i should have won the coin THEN figured out how to pay for it

gecko109

<< <i>Nope! It was a new Commerce (before switching over). Now that I recall, I did hear that an elderly gentleman went to the bank asking about the coins. His grandson stole them apparently. >>




So you then contacted your customer to put him in touch with the elderly man, right?

Cameonut

When I was a young kid (~10 or so) the neighbor kid broke into our cottage back around 1964. He took my coin collection which consisted of cents, nickels, and dimes in Whitman folders. Many were pulled from circulation and weren't worth much at the time.

He popped them out of the folders and spent them over the next week or so at the corner store on penny candy. He musta got spooked at some point as he dumped a number of coins on the road and made a run for it.

I got most of them back as the store owner knew that it must have been a collection and set them aside. Even in 1964, you didn't see buffalo nickels and mercs in circulation very often. I was a pretty happy camper to get those back - I still have them even though a few have a little tar staining from the road!

Taught me a valuable lesson. Make sure your valuables are adequately protected.

As for the kid next door - he was grounded the rest of the summer.

tincup

<< <i>

<< <i>Nope! It was a new Commerce (before switching over). Now that I recall, I did hear that an elderly gentleman went to the bank asking about the coins. His grandson stole them apparently. >>




So you then contacted your customer to put him in touch with the elderly man, right? >>





I would hope so.... the bank is the one the should be out of the money, for receiving stolen property. The victim should have gotten the coins back, since it appears that several knew where they ended up....

lordmarcovan

The one that bugs me the worst probably wouldn't rate high on most people's list, as the loss was only about fifteen bucks in monetary terms.

I bought a beautifully engraved love token on a Seated dime, once (this was long before I collected them by date). It arrived in the mail and I opened the package in the driveway as I left for work. Since I carried it to work with me and it was in a flip in my pocket, I stuck the flip inside my cigarette box, between the plastic outer wrap and the box itself (many smokers do this-some will even use their box of cigarettes as a temporary wallet by sticking a dollar bill or two in there).

Anyway, I smoked the last ciggie in the box and threw it in the trash.

And didn't think until about two hours later about what I'd just done. By that time the trash can had been emptied and there was no question of climbing into the giant compactor to find the bag. It was gone.

Somewhere in a 1990s-era landfill, future archaeologists will be baffled by the presence of an 1870s love token.





<< <i>A good friend put a 1799 rattler AU58 gold draped bust eagle in a book to hide it from his son who had stolen a few pieces of his bullion gold, then threw out the book with the trash about 8 years ago..he was sick for two months. >>

OK, that pounds my story into the dust.

There's a similar moral in each, though.

1) Don't smoke, and watch what you throw in the trash.
2) Don't throw away perfectly good books, even if they don't happen to have early gold pieces stuck inside them. (In a slab? Geez.)

BobSav

Buying sight unseen Morgans from NY boiler room sellers in the early 1980's.

That's what you would call a nightmare.

JMHO

Bob

SaorAlba

Back in 1999 I bought a 1670 Bristol Farthing from a seller in Great Britain. It had the misfortune of arriving on the afternoon that I found out my mom was dying in the hospital. I remember opening the envelope, looking at the token and then putting it back in the envelope. I must have forgotten with all the upset that day and threw the envelope out without thinking about the token still being in it. So, I threw away a 329 year old token.

Shamika

My father tells of a glass jar full of Buffalo nickels he collected back in the 1940's that was stolen by his younger brother and spent on candy. Given my fathers hoarding nature (and I do mean hoarding), I have little doubt he would otherwise still have that jar today. I'm sure most of the coins were P mints and a big majority would have had at least a little wear, but still I've never forgotten the story.

And of course I just so happen to collect Buffalo nickels.

darktone

My Mom back in the 50's saw one of those ads that said they would pay a large sum of money for a 1909-s vdb. She sent the coin to them and never heard a word back from them.

AnkurJ

<< <i>

<< <i>Nope! It was a new Commerce (before switching over). Now that I recall, I did hear that an elderly gentleman went to the bank asking about the coins. His grandson stole them apparently. >>




So you then contacted your customer to put him in touch with the elderly man, right? >>



I dont know who the elderly gentleman was. This is what was told to me by the bank. They did not have any contact info for him.

AUandAG

<< <i>Buying sight unseen Morgans from NY boiler room sellers in the early 1980's.

That's what you would call a nightmare.

JMHO

Bob >>



And then, six months later he calls you again to inform you that the price is dropping on those
Morgans but I'll take them back at 50%, to bail you out, and get you into some investment gold
coins that are just starting to rise like a rocket (at the same 50% discount)!
bob

mtnman

My brother stole part of my collection. He had no idea what they were worth so a lot of
people got some very good deals. He got me for about $25,000.

lkeigwin

I spent my older brother's 1909-S Lincoln on a gumball. That's the story he'd been telling all my life (I have no recollection but might very well have done this).

A few years ago I sent him a nice AU. "Thanks, that fills a hole in my Whitman."

Fifty years later...he still has that album. Every coin in it came from change, except for the '09-S.
Lance.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Even in 1964, you didn't see buffalo nickels and mercs in circulation very often. I was a pretty happy camper to get those back - I still have them even though a few have a little tar staining from the road!>>

AS I remember Massachusetts in 1964, Mercuries were common and buffalo nickels were around. In 1959 I checked the nickels in circulation and found about 1/3 were buffaloes and 1/3 were silver warnicks. I know California was completely different with no buffaloes in circulation.

Tdec1000

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Nope! It was a new Commerce (before switching over). Now that I recall, I did hear that an elderly gentleman went to the bank asking about the coins. His grandson stole them apparently. >>




So you then contacted your customer to put him in touch with the elderly man, right? >>





I would hope so.... the bank is the one the should be out of the money, for receiving stolen property. The victim should have gotten the coins back, since it appears that several knew where they ended up.... >>





Honestly I don't think the bank has any obligation... It is US legal tender coin. Just like how would they know if someone stole a bunch of money from a house/store or another person and deposited it in their account.

They wouldn't.

kranky

Never mind.

GaCoinGuy

I had my previous Dansco type set about 80% complete when I went to Japan for 3 weeks for work. Came back and the Dansco, about 20 various Morgans and Peace $, and about 6 pounds of misc wheats and proofs from the 50s - 80s were gone. Called a couple local pawn shops and the one local b&m, found out where they had been sold, but the coins were long gone.