What was one of your best coin-related days?

mercurydimeguy

Did you ever have one of those days where all the stars aligned and then some? Where you felt like everything coin related seems to be working for you? Would be great if you shared one or more of those days...



I had one yesterday. Got a Gold CAC on a submission, my first one ever and on a very tough coin...in fact this specific entire series (eg. all dates and mintmarks) only had three Gold CAC coins total, my became the fourth.



A half hour later, my grades posted. A crossover order (sent in other TPG slabs) posted and 5 out of 5 coins crossed, 3 at grade and 2 got upgraded!



A few hours later a dealer e-mailed with availability of a coin that I've been hunting for more than 3 years, and it was super PQ in an OGH to boot! A sub 50 total pop coin, I could have been hunting for it for another decade.



Then in a non-coin moment, at my sons varsity basketball game last night, he hit three consecutive 3-point shots to electrify the home crowd and bring the team/momentum back to send the game into overtime, which we wound up winning.



Anyhow it was a really good coin day, capped off with a really good non-coin related ending

Boosibri

Sounds like a great run! What is the pop 50 coin?

mercurydimeguy

Originally posted by: Boosibri

Sounds like a great run! What is the pop 50 coin?

Here's the image of the coin he sent me, I'll photo it when I receive it. BTW, PCGS says it's R8.5.



Total pop at PCGS: 26, total pop at NGC: 7

TwoSides2aCoin

Had the opposite happen, once.


Bought a Cheerios Sacagawea about the time I joined these boards. Tried for 2 years to get it graded and recognized at PCGS. (It was tried and true ATS). At the time, there was the Q&A forum. One day, Ron Guth answered my question on that forum, and said "PCGS would, in fact, grade it ". (paraphrasing)

I was on cloud 9 (figuratively). In April that year (2007), I mailed the coin to PCGS. The very second my phone rang, with Jaime Hernandez telling me PCGS received it, my oldest sister died, as I stood at her bedside. It had the makings of a nightmare, and I remember telling Jaime : "This is not a good time".

( RIP Stephanie ) … the rest of the story. Now 8 years later (almost 9), there's one strange deTAIL…
Jaime told me it was the FIRST Cheerios dollar coin PCGS had removed from the original blister pack and only the second one graded at the time. And Stevie was the first born of all my siblings. Eerie parallels exist in the coin world, but few eerier than that, to me.


Modern crap just the same. The stars were aligned for one of my "best" and "worst" days.

unclebob

Circa 2009... While roll searching Wide AM's, I stumbled across a gift one of my wife's elderly clients had given her nearly a decade before. It was a proof set. At the time, I remember my wife being puzzled by the gift and laughing about her crazy clients. It contained a 1998 Close AM Lincoln. I had visions of decades and stacks and stacks of sets to search. Alas, she had moved away to be closer to family. Sold it raw for $200...

Walkerguy21D

A dealer I know well was set up at the Central FL show a few years back. Among a few other things I bought that day was
1798 large cent in one of the newer ANACS holders, no attribution info, just date and grade. Recognizing it as a Hairstyle I,
I took a shot that it may be a better variety, with no downside, as it was a decent coin and priced slightly under Bid for a generic '98.


I get home, do some research, contact a couple forum members to verify, and determine it's an R5 coin. One forum member even found where this same coin had sold raw some years prior in a copper auction for substantially more than I paid for it....how it 'got lost' I have no idea.


Fast forward to the next month at Summer FUN, I show the coin to Chris McCawley and Bob Grellman, they verify it, and Chris wants to buy it, and we settle on a price that gives me a very nice profit. I literally take 3 steps away from Chris' table, when the dealer from Central FL
is walking by, and says 'hey, are you still interested in large cents? I got an 1810/9 that you need to see'....I follow him back to his table, it's in a 3rd world VF details holder, but would likely straight grade at the majors, and it's priced at ~half of Bid...how could I say no, since it was essentially free with $ left over!

Mark

mercurydimeguy, what a great day!



My greatest day is also tinged with sadness, though not as direct as Twosides2aCoin experienced.



Back in the 1990s there were no coin chat boards but there were email interest groups. Belonging to one, I managed to exchange a few emails with Harry Bass, a vastly wealthy collector who collected and researched early gold by die states (!) and patterns. I enjoyed our emails immensely. I recall asking him what attracted him to coins and to pattern collecting. I got a response at about 8 AM, saying that he was tired after being up all night and was going to sleep, but he would answer me later. Unfortunately he passed away before answering, so I never learned what aroused his interests. A couple of years later Bowers and Merena auctioned some of his coins and I was lucky enough to win two patterns. The day those arrived in the mail I opened the package and then sat on a sofa for a couple of hours, looking at the coins and thinking about Mr. Bass. It was such fun to have a tangible connection to him but, as I said, there also was an element of sadness knowing that I would never be able to converse with him again.

BillJones

One of my biggest days was when I purchased a 1796 No Stars Quarter Eagle at auction. That completed my type set, which was something I'd been working on since high school.

Some other happy days involved some much less expensive items. I was really pleased to find this 1860 Lincoln presidential campaign token which is part of the "Wealth of South" series. The piece has all of the earmarks of an original piece that was used during the 1860 campaign with the worn through silver coating and the hole. The reverse with the shield makes it rare and unusual.

This Lincoln design most often is seen with the "Presidents House" reverse.

The two obverse dies are slightly different. At the time I thougth that I found both of them, but there is now a third die known.

TopographicOceans

My days are required to keep the universe in balance with y'alls good days.

unclebob

A story yet to be told... To quote Mel Fisher... "today is the day"

ricko

Some very unique stories here...I have none that could compare.. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

I got an email stating my last submission shipped. It's a great day.



You should read the _ _ _ _ I am reading from an ebay buyer who's a nut case.

johnny9434

congrats on your nice score.

MrHalfDime

Sometimes, 'great' days can be somewhat modest events which simply meant a great deal to you. I recall the day that I first met Jules Reiver or Russell Logan as being great days in my collecting history. Or the day, many years ago, when I first joined the John Reich Collectors Society, and the Liberty Seated Collectors Club as being significant days. Another event that made a lasting impression on me was when I made a presentation to my hometown historical society on United States coins in general, with emphasis on Liberty Seated coins, and half dimes specifically. I displayed a complete set of Liberty Seated half dimes to an audience who generally had no idea of what a half dime was. But one member, who was obviously very interested in the subject matter, spoke to me after the presentation and said that he probably had the second largest collection of half dimes in town. Although he was not a coin collector at all, in the early 1960's he had purchased from a local family a 'Civil War hoard' of small silver coinage put away by that family just prior to the Civil War, and comprised of about 60 half dimes! I was quite surprised to learn of this hoard, and the fellow later allowed me to study the collection in detail, and ultimately to purchase the hoard intact. It was somewhat common practice for families to amass small hoards of specie coinage prior to the war, but I had never actually seen one before. The Civil War was, after all, a few years before my time. There were no rare die marriages in the hoard, and they were all circulated, but a few of the examples were fully AU, and most of them had nice patina and were strictly original. I still have most of those half dimes. Opportunities like that can definitely make for one of your best coin-related days.

rhedden

It was that day I was metal detecting in a remote canyon in the New Mexico desert, and stumbled upon an old, rotting leather backpack. Liberty Head gold was spewing from its tattered remains, and every last coin had a "CC" mintmark.



And then I woke up.

TwoSides2aCoin

Originally posted by: rhedden
It was that day I was metal detecting in a remote canyon in the New Mexico desert, and stumbled upon an old, rotting leather backpack. Liberty Head gold was spewing from its tattered remains, and every last coin had a "CC" mintmark.

And then I woke up.

I had a dream, once; since joining the boards and getting back into coins.
I had this box of coins and was taking them to CAC. It was totally militaristic. I felt as though I was having my M1911A1 inspected by the OIC.

Made me laugh to think how I snapped back to the position of attention after one of JA's men snatched the box out of my hand

joeykoins

Yes! One was the day when I bought a spanking brand new roll of 2005 Silver Eagles for $178.00, than when I sold it, when Silver surged to over $22 an ounce for $410. This probably, was my first profit made in the coin hobby?

AMRC

Going through a batch of "Common" Buffalo Nickels when the 3rd one turned out to only have 3 legs. Graded AU55. :-)

golden

Originally posted by: rhedden
It was that day I was metal detecting in a remote canyon in the New Mexico desert, and stumbled upon an old, rotting leather backpack. Liberty Head gold was spewing from its tattered remains, and every last coin had a "CC" mintmark.

And then I woke up.

joeykoins

Originally posted by: golden

Originally posted by: rhedden
It was that day I was metal detecting in a remote canyon in the New Mexico desert, and stumbled upon an old, rotting leather backpack. Liberty Head gold was spewing from its tattered remains, and every last coin had a "CC" mintmark.

And then I woke up.

Good one!

coindeuce

MrEureka gave me a shot in the arm when he let me buy one of the finest PCGS certified 1851-O Seated Half Dollars from him at the Baltimore show on the same day that its equal sold in a ANR auction (the two were tied for 2nd finest), and it proved to realize a healthy gain in only one year from acquisition.

LanceNewmanOCC

.

some of my best, besides meeting several people over the years was when i learned to effectively image coins and use various editing methods to maximize quality but keep kb/mb small for minimal bandwidth usage along with really appreciating the usefullness of archiving original images for later editing along with snagging other people's images for later use; to the benefit of many.



also, becoming proficient at counterfeit detection was a monumental moment.



joining these boards was another VERY big moment for me and took months of working up the courage.



a recent big moment was recently driving 4 hours one way to a show ive never been to before, nor the state. now that i've driven that far, i may need to keep outdoing that record. it was a pretty simple drive.



getting to the point where a few dealers leave me at their cases while unlocked to have my way nearly put tears to my eyes. not many things in this life like having certain people have major trust and faith in me to really make it a much easier and enjoyable ride.



amazing what is communicated without words.

.

Cameonut

One of my biggest days was finding multiple 1961 Franklin doubled die reverse proofs in some "unopened" proof sets.



I still smile about that one - I wanted to find cameos and ended up with varieties.....



Edited to add photos of one of them.

mirabela

Oh, there's been some fun stuff. It's mostly the little things that stick with me, though.



I do wish our forum had a 'like' button, though, because some of these stories are pretty good.

unclebob

I have a story to tell... but don't want to jinx it...

TwoSides2aCoin

Originally posted by: unclebob
I have a story to tell... but don't want to jinx it...

You got me curious, unclebob

TheRegulator

Not a big or crazy buy, but a day I still remember...

It was the last day of school for me, I think it was the 10th grade. The last couple finals were in the morning so we got out of prison early and I was home by noon. Got on my bike and headed down to the local bank, picking up $40 in nickels. I remember being disappointed at the time because I only ended up finding one coin for my circulation Jefferson Nickel collection, but it was a nice, mostly white 1943-D war nickel. Still have it in my Dansco folder. I have the exact date written down somewhere in my old coin notes. That was a fun day and a good memory.

lordmarcovan

One night I was lying in in bed, half asleep, sort of brainlessly pawing through a bulk lot of Wheat cents in the insufficient light from my bedside lamp.



My interest perked up a little when I found a pretty nice 1914 cent. Not an AG like you'd expect, but more VF-XF-ish. Not bad!



Then I saw a little blip under the date.



That turned out to just be a piece of dirt.



But underneath that piece of dirt...



Ta-dahh!





Here it is, after a light Vaseline rub and a trip to PCGS, where it went XF40.



Not a bad lick for a nickel plus grading fees, eh?

mannie gray

Any day I'm at a coin show is a great day.

Trying to recall my best day though.

Interesting in that I have no trouble recalling my worst day.

TwoSides2aCoin

Every day above ground is a happy ground hog day. (sorry to go off topic).

thebeav

Some great stories.....

I like the basketball ending.....Sometimes I find sports to be more fun than coins....

Nice '69 quarter Cal. I really like the Cal gold series and feel that they are very undervalued.

Rollerman

I've had a lot of fun days with coins, and I have a tie this time. The tie is between having the most fun and having the best financial jump.
A) Spending a rainy afternoon back in 2002 r so, going thru hundreds of Walking Liberty Halves building my circulated set. The local dealer had a bin where he put all of the higher graded coins when he was buying silver.

I sent in 5 Morgans, a couple I bought in the 70's for $10 and $15 dollars each. The others were bought at MS63 prices. They were 1888, 1904-O, 1883-cc, 1882-S and a 1898-O. They all came back as MS65 in their new PCGS holders! I was very pleased about that as felt 4 of the 5 had a real good chance at getting a 65.
Pete

unclebob

Originally posted by: unclebob
I have a story to tell... but don't want to jinx it...

A few weeks ago, I lamented on the struggle to find a second 1886 p VAM20 after a lucky unattributed discovery in late 2015. I searched Ebay for months and practically every new listing to the tune of approximately 25,000 auctions. It became an obsession. The night I made the post, I found my second example. The problem was that it was a .99 cent auction and I had to sweat it for a week. Slowly the bids crept up with NINE different bidders. I prepared my snipe bid ready to go nuclear. It was sort of anti climatic since I only had to go another $1 to win it at $40. I mailed it off and it arrived at PCGS on Tuesday for grading.

Barndog

too many to recount!

As someone already said, any day at a coin show surround by friends and metal disks is a good day.
The day I decided to start collecting Capped Bust Half Dimes was a good day.
The day I won an unattributed 1832 LM-9.2 at national auction for a fraction of my max bid was a great day.
The day(s) my daughter attended a Philadelphia ANA Summer Show with me were tremendous.

Can't narrow it down to just one

golden

One of my best days was back in 1968. A banker had 600 circulated Silver Dollars for which he wanted $1.75 each. My dad drove me the 15 or so miles to get them. We bought them and headed back home. While my dad was driving, I was taking out handfuls of the dollars and looking at the dates. I soon found an 1889-cc and then another! They would both grade around a VG. As I remember they were worth around $60 each at the time. I sold all 600 within a couple of years.

oih82w8

My best day is about to happen...at the ANA National Money Show Dallas, TX w. I am going to place some faces to some of the dealers I have dealt with in the past. I am also on a mission...to find my "Bucket List Coin".

lordmarcovan

Originally posted by: oih82w8

My best day is about to happen...at the ANA National Money Show Dallas, TX w. I am going to place some faces to some of the dealers I have dealt with in the past. I am also on a mission...to find my "Bucket List Coin".

Do tell us what that is!

tradedollarnut

Right around the FUN show in 2005 or so. I was about to give up on the seated dollar set when Laura happened to walk up to Akers' table. She hurriedly called me about the MS66 1848 and 1854 on display. And a half hour later Napolitano offered her the superb gem 1849. And to top it off, that night she said JFS was ready to sell all the seated dollars I had been stepping aside and letting him buy. What a day!

oih82w8

Originally posted by: lordmarcovan

Originally posted by: oih82w8

My best day is about to happen...at the ANA National Money Show Dallas, TX w. I am going to place some faces to some of the dealers I have dealt with in the past. I am also on a mission...to find my "Bucket List Coin".

Do tell us what that is!

With the 2016 ANA National Money Show (Dallas, TX) coming up in two weeks, I should have said that I am looking for "a" (instead of the "the") "Bucket List Coin". I have been kicking around the notion to moving to an Everyman Set (no higher than AU58) instead of my Variety Set, that I just about completed, or a hybrid of the two. I am looking for a...speaking of jinxing the search...I have a few prospects that I am chasing. I will taking a few of my better coins for sale...stay tuned for my trip report shortly after Dallas.

ctf_error_coins

Best coin related day .... set up at my first show, get swapped by dealers looking to pick me, one did, got my whole Morgan collection on the cheap ..... BUT....

That money bought me a fishing Kayak .... that was my best coin related day as it changed my life.

ctf_error_coins

Second Best coin related day was when I was offered a coin I had been looking for ten years.

Thought about buying, but the money was already committed to my new Hobie fishing kayak, so I had to make a quick decision.

That day I decided that I was a coin dealer and not a collect who buys at retail.

Playing with coin as a dealer is soon much more fun than being a collector. You get to handle some really cool coins that way.

oih82w8

Originally posted by: ErrorsOnCoins

...That day I decided that I was a coin dealer and not a collect who buys at retail.



Playing with coin as a dealer is soon much more fun than being a collector. You get to handle some really cool coins that way.

Sounds like a "catch and release" program...I have participated in that as well.

cmerlo1

The one that comes to mind: Cherrypicking a 1942/1-D Mercury dime at a show that made PCGS AU58+ FB.

mannie gray

Originally posted by: cmerlo1

The one that comes to mind: Cherrypicking a 1942/1-D Mercury dime at a show that made PCGS AU58+ FB.

Yeah, that would be a day that I would remember too.

Boosibri

Yesterday was pretty good. Bought three potentially unique world coins for $1900, had a note from the dealer that a customer wanted to offer me a substantial profit for them. Made $6000 for being fast on the trigger. Best thing, the guy also lives in Ireland so the coins stay where they belong.

Yorkshireman

Originally posted by: Boosibri
Yesterday was pretty good. Bought three potentially unique world coins for $1900, had a note from the dealer that a customer wanted to offer me a substantial profit for them. Made $6000 for being fast on the trigger. Best thing, the guy also lives in Ireland so the coins stay where they belong.

If only collectors could count on doing that on a regular basis without quitting their day job...
What great collections we could build.

MrEureka

Four things come to mind:

My first coin show as a dealer, in 1975 at age 15. I sold about half of the coins in my showcase and was hooked for life.

The entire 1988 ANA Convention. Magical from start to finish, with the highlight being the purchase of the Amon Carter 1794 Dollar for 375K.

Two days at the Smithsonian in 2004, with a dozen or so good coin buddies, helping to put away our nation's coin collection as the exhibit was closed. The things I saw that day still blow my mind.

The fourth (and most recent) will get a thread of its own one day...

Cougar1978

The smell of the fresh Gem CU packs of $100 Bills I got when I retailed several Double Eagles at a show one time. Really good profit on that deal too!

mannie gray

Originally posted by: MrEureka

Four things come to mind:



My first coin show as a dealer, in 1975 at age 15. I sold about half of the coins in my showcase and was hooked for life.



The entire 1988 ANA Convention. Magical from start to finish, with the highlight being the purchase of the Amon Carter 1794 Dollar for 375K.



Two days at the Smithsonian in 2004, with a dozen or so good coin buddies, helping to put away our nation's coin collection as the exhibit was closed. The things I saw that day still blow my mind.



The fourth (and most recent) will get a thread of its own one day...

We must be pretty close, MrEureka, my first show was when I was 15 in 1977. What a thrill.

I remember a guy saying to me "When your dad gets back to the table, I'd like to know how much he wants for this quarter."

I responded that my father wasn't there and that the coins were mine and he could deal directly with me.

The look on his face changed from "WTF ???" to "Hey I can screw this kid over" in about a second.

Little did he know.....lol

unclebob

Just received my second 1886P VAM 20 back from PCGS.

Came back AU-Details and it will go into the grading set.

Grading RAW is a challenge for me. Just picked a third example and it will arrive shortly. It's likely a Details grade.

Been a nice few months on the VAM front.

My knowledge has increased daily. Though I lost a few bidding wars, I'm happy my detective skills ferretted out a desireable VAM but at the same time not buried in anything.

Here is my small victory...

http://www.pcgs.com/cert/28772014

Sonorandesertrat

When I was 10 years old, my paternal grandmother took me to the 1967 ANA convention (Miami Beach). She was a coin collector who couldn't get my dad interested in coins, but she succeeded with me. Seeing so many different kinds of coins really made an impression on me. I bought two British sovereigns from Dave Bowers, and now wish that I still had them.