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Strangest packaging you have received
Boosibri
Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭✭
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?
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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As to the question, the worst I've received was simple white envelopes with a flip inside. "Oh, white envelopes don't ever tear!"
Recently a coin was shipped to me loose inside a padded mailer.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
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.
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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.
Coin Rarities Online
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
Latin American Collection
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.
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
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.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Check out my iPhone app SlabReader!
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
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.
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.
--Severian the Lame
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
+1 - gr8 thread/posts
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)
.
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!!!
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
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!
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!
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Couple of weeks later I get nice red BU Tsarist era bronze coinage.
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.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
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.
Lance.
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!
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"?
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.
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.
Tom
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.
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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!
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