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Strangest packaging you have received

BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,370 ✭✭✭✭✭
Coin people can sometimes be a...well... different breed. I have at times received some strangely packed purchases which just make me scratch my head.



Today I received a coin from a major auction house in Europe packaged normally in a padded envelope but when I opened it found that the coin was wrapped in aluminum foil in a "ziploc" baggie. Could you imagine buying a several thousand dollar coin from Heritage and have it coming packaged looking like either brownies from mom or drugs?



My weirdest was buying a $10k+ coin from a dealer and having it come packed in a small priority mail flat rate box wrapped in a dirty sock. That was a major head-scratcher.



Any good stories?
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Comments

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wondering if the aluminum foil was an attempt to hide the shape/size/identity of the item from x-ray machines? People who might open a package with a coin might bypass a "blob"??



    As to the question, the worst I've received was simple white envelopes with a flip inside. "Oh, white envelopes don't ever tear!"
    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • KyleKyle Posts: 1,822 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I haven't had anything too strange.



    Recently a coin was shipped to me loose inside a padded mailer.
    Successful BST Transactions With: tonedase, streg2, airplanenut, coindeuce, vibr0nic, natetrook, Shrub68, golden, Lakesammman, drddm, Ilikecolor, CoinJunkie, wondercoin, lablover
  • AmazonXAmazonX Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭
    I once had a coin come in a Stouffer's lasagna box. Fortunately, the coin was not lasagna toned.
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 20,236 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I receive stuff now and then that makes me scratch my head, but nothing truly strange. It usually involves childproofing a stack of flips with so much packaging tape that forces me to spend a significant amount of time opening the package surgically.
  • epcjimi1epcjimi1 Posts: 3,489 ✭✭✭
    Does a stack of 10 govmint.com $16.95 ea., free shipping, 2016 ASEs in an 8 1/2 x 11" bubble mailer count? Included what appeared to be a single, clear, pvc band to hold the stack together. Bought two of 'em. Both 8.5 x 11". I thought it strange.
  • BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,850 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I received a package of 200 generic Ikes once that arrived loose in a large paper envelope. Well, I paid for 200. By the time they arrived, I only had 190 or so and several more fell out when I picked it up on the porch. It's a minor miracle any of them made it.
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,756 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Brian,

    The sock coin wasn't me was it? (the 1863 $5.00)


    I do use socks on occasions, but mainly to ship rolls of coins . And they are not dirty, they are actually washed kid socks from when my kids were younger. My wife means to take them and drop them off and the needy drop off , but most of the time they just sit and get used by me at times for shipping.
  • I once received a $2000 coin in a recycled bubble mailer that was half ripped open and no signature. A trusting seller he was.
    Avid Collector of Early US Type Coins.
  • oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 12,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't think that it was coin related, but I received a brown paper wrapped, budweiser 12 pack carton with the product wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap. We got a good laugh over the "box" since it was considered "taboo" in the middle east, you know...no alcohol in the bigger majority of the middle east.
    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
  • CoinRaritiesOnlineCoinRaritiesOnline Posts: 3,680 ✭✭✭✭
    Some years ago I sold a coin for 8 or 10 thousand dollars to a customer.



    He asked if he could make a downpayment using 1 oz gold eagles, and the rest by check. I said OK, we figured out the rate, he says he'll send me 5 eagles and we were all set.



    About 3 days later I receive a priority mail envelope with no return address. I open it and find a 6 month old copy of Model Railroader magazine. No letter, no note and no explanation of any kind. Just the magazine.



    Now, since I used to have an interest in this stuff, I casually leaf through the pages instead of just firing it directly into the trash and am shocked to discover, shoved into the binding, a bank envelope containing 1 gold eagle. Which was the first indication of who this was from. So I hold the magazine over the desk and shake it out and 3 more fall out. But only 3 more. So of course I tear the thing apart looking for the missing last eagle which is nowhere to be found.



    So I call the guy and he said that he changed his mind, and only sent me four.
  • BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,370 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: jdimmick

    Brian,



    The sock coin wasn't me was it? (the 1863 $5.00)





    I do use socks on occasions, but mainly to ship rolls of coins . And they are not dirty, they are actually washed kid socks from when my kids were younger. My wife means to take them and drop them off and the needy drop off , but most of the time they just sit and get used by me at times for shipping.




    Nope... Was another sock shipper image
  • fastfreddiefastfreddie Posts: 2,893 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not a coin, but when my kid was smaller I bought him a vintage Garton Speedster and it was delivered UPS just with a piece of tape to hold the corner of the shipping label and nothing else but a dangling wheel from rough transit. Gotta love ebay sellers!
    It is not that life is short, but that you are dead for so very long.
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,756 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I forgot about this until reading Johns post:

    One of my customers who has since passed, didn't mind spending what ever it took to buy a coin. often he would tell me to buy it no matter how much it costs, just get the darn thing. But, when it came time for the little expenses involving like grading , etc, he was tough and cheap as dirt. Once sent me about an 8k Bust dollar taped to a piece of cardboard in a regular envelope he had bought at a local show to get it graded. Luckily it made it.
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,632 ✭✭✭✭✭
    From my ANACS days.



    We got in what felt like a section of 2x12 about 16 inches long, heavily covered in brown wrapping tape. No gap anywhere you could slip a knife into, as with most boxes covered with tape. Finally managed to scrape off enough tape near one corner to see that it was three sheets of half-inch plywood nailed together around the edge, with one nail about every half inch, coming in from both sides!



    Took the thing to the shipping/maintenance room where our handyman got out a cold chisel and a sledge. Chopped in between two of the layers all the way around. Finally managed to pry one layer off. Saw that the sender had routed out a 4x6 inch hole in the center of the center sheet to protect the coin and paperwork.



    Of course it was a replica!



    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 20,236 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: CaptHenway

    From my ANACS days.



    We got in what felt like a section of 2x12 about 16 inches long, heavily covered in brown wrapping tape. No gap anywhere you could slip a knife into, as with most boxes covered with tape. Finally managed to scrape off enough tape near one corner to see that it was three sheets of half-inch plywood nailed together around the edge, with one nail about every half inch, coming in from both sides!



    Took the thing to the shipping/maintenance room where our handyman got out a cold chisel and a sledge. Chopped in between two of the layers all the way around. Finally managed to pry one layer off. Saw that the sender had routed out a 4x6 inch hole in the center of the center sheet to protect the coin and paperwork.



    Of course it was a replica!



    TD


    In an earlier life, he smuggled people out of East Berlin in the hollowed-out seat cushions of a Trabant.



  • jwittenjwitten Posts: 5,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have received gold coins TAPED to cardboard on more than one occasion. Both $250+ dollar coins in decent condition (AU+), but then with sticky tape residue on them because of the idiot sellers. Why?!
  • MonsterCoinzMonsterCoinz Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lol these are great. I've had some oddballs, but the most frustrating was a package with graphics of GOLD COINS on it. So much for being discreet.
    www.MonsterCoinz.com | My Toned Showcase

    Check out my iPhone app SlabReader!
  • stevebensteveben Posts: 4,628 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: CoinRaritiesOnline

    Some years ago I sold a coin for 8 or 10 thousand dollars to a customer.



    He asked if he could make a downpayment using 1 oz gold eagles, and the rest by check. I said OK, we figured out the rate, he says he'll send me 5 eagles and we were all set.



    About 3 days later I receive a priority mail envelope with no return address. I open it and find a 6 month old copy of Model Railroader magazine. No letter, no note and no explanation of any kind. Just the magazine.



    Now, since I used to have an interest in this stuff, I casually leaf through the pages instead of just firing it directly into the trash and am shocked to discover, shoved into the binding, a bank envelope containing 1 gold eagle. Which was the first indication of who this was from. So I hold the magazine over the desk and shake it out and 3 more fall out. But only 3 more. So of course I tear the thing apart looking for the missing last eagle which is nowhere to be found.



    So I call the guy and he said that he changed his mind, and only sent me four.




    yeah, and a copy of model railroader. you drive a hard bargin! ;-)



    funny story

  • DollarAfterDollarDollarAfterDollar Posts: 3,215 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm sure the post early on referencing aluminum foil was the senders attempt to make a theft-worthy item much more ambiguous. Crossing boarders that makes sense.

    I mail cheap coins (under $30) in plain white envelopes. The coin is in a plastic 2x2 then wrapped in a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 cardboard protector. That cardboard is taped inside the envelope to make it movement free.

    I always pay for "non-machinable" (extra 22 cents) and label the envelope as such. Never have had a complaint but I bet it's fun getting the coin out.
    If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
  • clarkbar04clarkbar04 Posts: 4,976 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I got one in an empty Copenhagen chewing tobacco can once.
    MS66 taste on an MS63 budget.
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Years ago my wife's father found out that I was a coin collector and gave me one of those ~ 1970s-era "$1,000,0000 in cash!" novelties. Essentially a big plastic bottle filled with shredded US currency.

    It sat on my desk for I don't know how many years until I just couldn't stand it taking up the space it was and I started using it as packing inside envelopes for coins for things I sold on eBay and the BST. Lasted for about a year, maybe 15 coins in all.

    Some people emailed back they got a chuckle out of it, I have no doubt that some people never realized what it was. image

    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • ms70ms70 Posts: 13,956 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Got a box the other day of coin supplies off eBay. The box appeared to be a random box that was too big and then cut, squashed, and folded to fit with lots of tape.

    Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.

  • LanceNewmanOCCLanceNewmanOCC Posts: 19,999 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lol these are great. I've had some oddballs, but the most frustrating was a package with graphics of GOLD COINS on it. So much for being discreet.




    +1 - gr8 thread/posts



    Originally posted by: DollarAfterDollar

    I'm sure the post early on referencing aluminum foil was the senders attempt to make a theft-worthy item much more ambiguous. Crossing boarders that makes sense.



    I mail cheap coins (under $30) in plain white envelopes. The coin is in a plastic 2x2 then wrapped in a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 cardboard protector. That cardboard is taped inside the envelope to make it movement free.



    I always pay for "non-machinable" (extra 22 cents) and label the envelope as such. Never have had a complaint but I bet it's fun getting the coin out.





    +1



    i bought a non-machinable stamp with red ink. use a thick stock paper folded and staple the coin in. tape it inside too. if one has trustworthy customers and ships a lot of coins this way, it can result in some big savings over the year(s)

    .



    <--- look what's behind the mask! - cool link 1/NO ~ 2/NNP ~ 3/NNC ~ 4/CF ~ 5/PG ~ 6/Cert ~ 7/NGC 7a/NGC pop~ 8/NGCF ~ 9/HA archives ~ 10/PM ~ 11/NM ~ 12/ANACS cert ~ 13/ANACS pop - report fakes 1/ACEF ~ report fakes/thefts 1/NCIS - Numi-Classes SS ~ Bass ~ Transcribed Docs NNP - clashed coins - error training - V V mm styles -

  • TigersFan2TigersFan2 Posts: 1,442 ✭✭
    I'm stumped with sellers who will put a PCGS slab loose in a padded envelope to just float around with nothing else in it. Also, I see a lot of recycled padded envelopes.
    I love the 3 P's: PB&J, PBR and PCGS.
  • illini420illini420 Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I recently received an order of 42 PCGS slabbed coins that were shipped in a padded flat rate priority envelope!!!

    Was surprised they all fit in that envelope for one, but I was NOT surprised that the bottom of the envelope had about 30-40 small shards of plastic from all of the pieces of PCGS holders that broke off during shipment!!! No major damage to any of the slabs luckily, but nearly all of them had at least some small cracks or stacking tabs broken off.

    Had I known they would be shipped this way I would have gladly paid a couple of extra dollars to have them sent in a box!!!

  • illini420illini420 Posts: 11,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Also had one customer send me a PCGS graded coin worth around $25k in a standard #10 4.125" x 9.5" business envelope. It was at least sent registered insured (w/ the brown paper tape on the back of the envelope) and I was shocked there was no damage to the slab at all... very lucky I thought.
  • CameonutCameonut Posts: 7,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: jdimmick

    Brian,



    The sock coin wasn't me was it? (the 1863 $5.00)





    I do use socks on occasions, but mainly to ship rolls of coins . And they are not dirty, they are actually washed kid socks from when my kids were younger. My wife means to take them and drop them off and the needy drop off , but most of the time they just sit and get used by me at times for shipping.




    Jim,

    Now that's funny!!





    “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson

    My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!

  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 4,090 ✭✭✭✭
    15 or 20 years ago, I bought a Mauser Model 1934 pistol and had it shipped to me. It was wrapped in a t-shirt inside the box. The t-shirt was my exact size and had a huge logo of a gorilla lifting weights on it. I wore that shirt for years until it finally fell apart. I think I kept the pistol for less than a year.
  • BStrauss3BStrauss3 Posts: 3,645 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well, my peeve is people who wrap coins in newspaper.




    IF you are going to send me the front page, for ghu's sake include the page with the rest of the dang articles too!
    -----Burton
    ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I occasionally trade coins with collectors in Russia. Having lived in Soviet Russia I can empathize with how carefully thought out packaging of coins being shipped to the enemy should be. Coins were wrapped in aluminium foil, then placed in cutouts in cardboard ie cutout to the diameter of the coin so that the inspektorat at the pochta kabinet will not detect anything of value.



    Couple of weeks later I get nice red BU Tsarist era bronze coinage.
    Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
  • ctf_error_coinsctf_error_coins Posts: 15,433 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have had two different sellers tape the coin (with no flip) directly to cardboard.


  • stealerstealer Posts: 4,026 ✭✭✭✭
    A raw gem gold dollar that was mailed loosely wrapped in parchment paper stuffed into a bubble wrapper. It ended up going PC 66, so I wasn't too upset image
  • Bob1951Bob1951 Posts: 268 ✭✭
    I ordered an inexpensive Russian coin(maybe $2.00-I cant remember exactly but it was not much) anyways the seller just put it raw in a plain white envelope and sent it without any protection at all. Just a raw coin in an envelope. i felt lucky to get it.

    I got a liberty seated dime inside a cookbook once. The seller did not fell safe just sending it as a coin so he hid it in the middle of a cookbook. He did let me know ahead of time what was going on so it was no surprise when it arrived.
  • coindeucecoindeuce Posts: 13,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Received several rolls of 90% dimes in a Pyrex test tube. image

    "Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
    http://www.american-legacy-coins.com

  • Jinx86Jinx86 Posts: 3,710 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just had a stunner come in today. Someone shipped us product over $20K worth. The padding inside.....7 pairs of UNDERWEAR. Old School tighty whities.

    Really made our day. We end up playing pranks on each other all day long and I have a feeling the pranks have only begun.
  • jonathanbjonathanb Posts: 3,728 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've received items from several sellers who thought that glass was a good packing material. I'll never understand that.
  • lkeigwinlkeigwin Posts: 16,893 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My substitute mailman doesn't bother with signature confirmation. He writes on the package "signed for you" and leaves it in my mailbox.

    Lance.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,785 ✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: messydesk
    Originally posted by: CaptHenway
    From my ANACS days.

    We got in what felt like a section of 2x12 about 16 inches long, heavily covered in brown wrapping tape. No gap anywhere you could slip a knife into, as with most boxes covered with tape. Finally managed to scrape off enough tape near one corner to see that it was three sheets of half-inch plywood nailed together around the edge, with one nail about every half inch, coming in from both sides!

    Took the thing to the shipping/maintenance room where our handyman got out a cold chisel and a sledge. Chopped in between two of the layers all the way around. Finally managed to pry one layer off. Saw that the sender had routed out a 4x6 inch hole in the center of the center sheet to protect the coin and paperwork.

    Of course it was a replica!

    TD

    In an earlier life, he smuggled people out of East Berlin in the hollowed-out seat cushions of a Trabant.





    messydesk - You made me laugh! image




    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,785 ✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: Jinx86
    Just had a stunner come in today. Someone shipped us product over $20K worth. The padding inside.....7 pairs of UNDERWEAR. Old School tighty whities.



    The first question that came to mind was "Did they fit"?




    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • I won a very nice certified early Canadian small cent on eBay.
    It arrived in a small, unpadded letter envelope with absolutely no protection.
    Needless to say, the slab was broken into several pieces.
    I emailed the seller and told him if he didn't pay for it to be re-slabbed, I'd have to file a PayPal claim.
    He finally forked it over after several back-and-forth emails.
    The kicker is that the re-slabbing costs were more than I paid for the coin, so the guy actually lost money on this deal all in order to save the 25¢ it costs for a padded mailer.
  • TigersFan2TigersFan2 Posts: 1,442 ✭✭
    Not strange packaging, but it was packaging that pleasantly surprised me... A few months ago I bought 9 PCGS Jefferson Nickels from a buyer. Of course I was nervous of how he'd package them and I had visions of 9 PCGS slabs loose in a large padded envelope. When the package came, it was a medium flat rate box with a blue PCGS plastic box holding the 9 PCGS slabs. So I got a bonus PCGS box out of the purchase!
    I love the 3 P's: PB&J, PBR and PCGS.
  • ebaybuyerebaybuyer Posts: 2,984 ✭✭✭
    I had a buyer complain once that I used too much tape on the bubble mailer I sent his coin in, haven't had anyone complain about the color of the mailer ...yet
    regardless of how many posts I have, I don't consider myself an "expert" at anything
  • mustangmanbobmustangmanbob Posts: 1,890 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In an earlier life, he smuggled people out of East Berlin in the hollowed-out seat cushions of a Trabant.



    Brings back memories. I have been through CP Charlie a few times.

    I was not there when a friend on mine was on duty (not CP Charlie) but a West German whose family was stuck in the East, figured out the height of the gate. He traveled to the East regularly. He determined 1 (British ?) sports car was just taller than the last gate. He drove this car several times to the East. His last trip, he reinforced the trunk and packed in the family. He softened the front tires and overinflated the rears, so the car appeared level. He was waved through the first couple check points, and he floored in coming to the last one. Bullets flew, and when he hit the barricade, it ripped the top of the cowl, windshield, roof and whatnot off the car, but everyone was good, and in the West.

    Next day, the barrier was much thicker and lower. The car was displayed for some time.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I received four gold coins taped to the inside of a priority mail box - the small one... with no packing material. There was plastic cling wrap around the coins, but they were secured to the inside of the box. The box was slightly squashed...but no movement of the coins. Cheers, RickO
  • TPRCTPRC Posts: 3,814 ✭✭✭✭✭
    These are hysterical! I'm having a hard time believe some of them....but I do believe them. Coin collectors are just an odd group.

    Tom

  • Jinx86Jinx86 Posts: 3,710 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: Shamika
    Originally posted by: Jinx86
    Just had a stunner come in today. Someone shipped us product over $20K worth. The padding inside.....7 pairs of UNDERWEAR. Old School tighty whities.



    The first question that came to mind was "Did they fit"?






    Haha, no one had tried them on yet, but you never know. One went into the bottom of a co worker's purse, she ended up finding it when pulling out her wallet to pay for supper at a resturaunt.

    What a fun, short week in the shop.
  • oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 12,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I keep and reuse the padded envelopes for future shipping.
    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Socks! I love it! image
  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: NickDanger
    I won a very nice certified early Canadian small cent on eBay.
    It arrived in a small, unpadded letter envelope with absolutely no protection.
    Needless to say, the slab was broken into several pieces.
    I emailed the seller and told him if he didn't pay for it to be re-slabbed, I'd have to file a PayPal claim.
    He finally forked it over after several back-and-forth emails.
    The kicker is that the re-slabbing costs were more than I paid for the coin, so the guy actually lost money on this deal all in order to save the 25¢ it costs for a padded mailer.


    Serves him right for being cheap! image
  • GreeniejrGreeniejr Posts: 1,321 ✭✭✭
    Never did crazy packaging with coins but when I was in college I sold a Magic the Gathering Card and did not have good packaging to ship with. I put the card in a soft sleeve then into a harder holder. I then wrapped the holder in a few layers of toilet paper and then secured it all with duct tape. Hey what can I say, I was improvising. I then put that in a padded mailer. When the person left me feedback it was positive with the comment, "only the hardest of gangstas would ship a card using duct tape."

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