Sacagawea/Quarter mule auction sabotage?

CaptHenway

Several years ago, one of the Sacagawea Dollar/ Statehood Quarter mules was about to come up for auction, when somebody reported that a lady had come into a coin shop somewhere with a couple dozen or so of them that she did not sell.

As a result of this unverified report of a hoard existing, the coin sold for much less than expected. It was speculated at the time that somebody may have spread a false rumor to influence the bidding to allow them to buy it cheaper. I am sure that that was never proven.

Does anybody remember when this happened, and/or who made the unverified report?

Thanks.
TD

dcarr

I remember reading about the woman who supposedly showed a dozen or more of the coins to a coin shop owner.
I read about it in Coin World. But I don't save back issues.

jmski52

TD, was it fairly after the first mules were first found? I remember the story. The woman never reappeared. Isn't the total population around 12, and doesn't one guy own about 10 of them?

sumnom

I remember this story coming out very soon after the mule story broke. Was that in 2000?

CaptHenway

Somebody on the dealer-to-dealer network gave me this link:

linky

This gives us a time frame of around early September, 2000.

TD

goodmoney4badmoney

Almost all of these mules will probably not reappear on the market for a very very long time.....it wouldn't surprise me if this story has a ring of truth...but, in my opinion they are over-valued anyway.

wayneme

Why would you sell till things get cleared up on who owns them you or the mint
jmt!!

ebaybuyer

if memory serves, it was a dealer that came up with that story, and it sounded fishy even at the time. come on people who was that dealer ?????

Dollar2007

I used to save my Coin World's but recently threw all of them out. I would recommend a trip to a library that gets them. My library only has about a year of archives, I'm sure there is a library that has kept all of them.

Edit: While looking around I found a pretty neat resource. EBSCO HOST "Business Source" has access to full text of Coin World's from 1/1/1997! This service is available free to library card holders in San Francisco, and I'm sure other places as well, especially colleges. I'll have to get a library card for SF next time I'm there.

Edit 2: EBSCO HOST has turned out to be a bust, I got in and it is missing a lot of the good years, including 2000 and 2001.

astrorat

<< <i>I used to save my Coin World's but recently threw all of them out. I would recommend a trip to a library that gets them. My library only has about a year of archives, I'm sure there is a library that has kept all of them. >>

That would be the ANA library.

Dollar2007

That is a better idea than I apparently had, I got into the digital archive I posted about above but it is missing 1998 up until the early 2000's!! The most interesting part of modern coinage.

stealer

<< <i>I used to save my Coin World's but recently threw all of them out. I would recommend a trip to a library that gets them. My library only has about a year of archives, I'm sure there is a library that has kept all of them.

Edit: While looking around I found a pretty neat resource. EBSCO HOST "Business Source" has access to full text of Coin World's from 1/1/1997! This service is available free to library card holders in San Francisco, and I'm sure other places as well, especially colleges. I'll have to get a library card for SF next time I'm there. >>



My library has quite an extensive collection of magazines, but I'm not sure if they get CoinWorld. I'll be sure to check it out the next time I go there.

edix2001

Coin World's customer service would likely do an archives search for you using keywords.
My own local library has old Coin World's , etc., in the stacks.

FredWeinberg

Tom, I remember this situation very well.

Just before the ANA Convention in Philadelphia,
in 2000, Coin World's issue the week before
stated this:

A Michigan coin dealer (who no one had ever
heard of before, or since) reported to Coin World
that someone brought into his shop 12-15 or so
Mule Sacagawea Dollars.

That dealer reported that the person got them
in change from a Stamp machine at the local
post office. (It was something like "I put a $20
bill in the machine, got $8 in stamps, and the
rest of the coins, as change, were all Mules")

It was a ridiculous claim, and a horrible story
to print. The first day of the ANA, I went up to
Beth Deisher, and told her that whoever printed
the story, based on the report from the 'dealer',
simply didn't use their head: Think about it -

If the person rec'd 10-12 Mules back in change,
what were the odds that either ALL of the dollar
coins in the stamp machine were Mules, but not
another coin was ever found or reported?

If the report was one or two Mules found in the
machine, as change, it would have been believable,
but not that quantity - all in a row, all in order, all
coming out as one after the other as part of this
person's change - but no other Mule coins at all!

I was quite upset with Beth for not having her
staff think thru this 'report' - and as it turned out,
the coins did not exist....

Yes, it certaintly dampened the auction fever, and
final price, of the Discovery coin, which was sold
a day or two later in the ANA Auction Session at night.

I always thought that if that article had never been
published, the Discovery coin would have brought
at least $75K, maybe $100K or more......

Fred

Lakesammman

I recall it certainly dampened my enthusiasm for bidding at the time.

CaptHenway

Thanks, Fred!
That's what I needed to know.
Tom