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Numismatic Myths
BryceM
Posts: 11,735 ✭✭✭✭✭
My apologies if this has been done before, but I can't find anything like it.
It sure seems like there are a lot of crazy, incorrect, and unsubstantiated stories out there. Without much effort these come to mind:
The $3 gold coin was produced to facilitate buying 100 3-cent stamps.
The type I SLQ was modified to improve Liberty's modesty
Martha Washington's silverware was used to create the 1792 half dismes.
X number of 1964-D Peace dollars were spirited out of the Denver mint.
A ruptured can of peaches toned hundreds of bags of Morgan dollars.
Please add your own:
It sure seems like there are a lot of crazy, incorrect, and unsubstantiated stories out there. Without much effort these come to mind:
The $3 gold coin was produced to facilitate buying 100 3-cent stamps.
The type I SLQ was modified to improve Liberty's modesty
Martha Washington's silverware was used to create the 1792 half dismes.
X number of 1964-D Peace dollars were spirited out of the Denver mint.
A ruptured can of peaches toned hundreds of bags of Morgan dollars.
Please add your own:
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http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
The "I'm only joshing you" story of deaf-mute Josh Tatum creating the first "racketeer" nickels is a good example of a myth.
Was the story of Hallie Dagger's 1894-S "ice cream dime" also a myth? I always accepted it as a true (if rather embellished) story.
George and Martha Washington's silverware not melted for the striking of 1792 half dismes? Aw, say it ain't so . I love that story.
English might be my first language, but you'd never know it.
My greatest claim to fame is an understanding of its/it's and there/their/they're. Too bad I still sometimes catch errors in my grammar. Who knows how many slip by.....
Unlike some fables and all myths, it happens to be a true story. The "fable" part is in the moral of the story.
The dealer, being busy, just peeked into the ends of the rolls but did not open them.
He paid the customer for 160 average circulated Buffalo nickels.
However, there were no Buffalo nickels in the rolls except for the end coins.
So the dealer paid for 160 Buffalo nickels but only got eight. The other coins were junky modern circ Jeffersons.
The unknown seller, a total stranger, had long since skipped out of the shop, never to be seen again.
The shop owner got the last laugh, though. One of the eight Buffalo nickels he did get was a VF-ish 1937-D 3-leg.
The moral of the story? Don't try to scam people, or you may end up scamming yourself.
(In other words, "what comes around goes around".)
Saw it with my own two eyes, when I worked as a helper to that dealer.
Note I did not say "your way ahead of many American's".
There is no Santa Claus in numismatics.
...only him!
It sure seems like there are a lot of crazy, incorrect, and unsubstantiated stories out there. Without much effort these come to mind:
The $3 gold coin was produced to facilitate buying 100 3-cent stamps.
Perhaps your opinion varies with others...
According to numismatic historian Walter Breen, Congress believed the new $3 gold coin "would be convenient for exchange for rolls or small bags of silver 3¢ pieces, and for buying sheets of 3¢ stamps—always bypassing use of copper cents".
In 1889, then-Mint Director James P. Kimball wrote that "it is supposed that the three-dollar piece was designed to be a multiple of the three-cent piece, for the convenience of postal transactions".
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
to correct the "correct=er" I would only say that a fable isn't typically based in fact. there's a word to describe the 1937-D story, I just can't think of it right now.
to get back to the OP's question, it always strikes me as odd when the highest graded whatever is described as the finest known. oh, really??
37 Business Day turn-around for PCGS Economy grades.
Whoa!
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GS bid can be garnered on most classic US coins that are properly graded, even commemoratives...
The coin market is red hot especially in certain parts of the US like Nevada....
As long a coin is in the right holder and CAC sticker it should sell for retail...like hot cakes....
Coin doctoring can be stopped.
There are no 1964 Peace Dollars extant.
All 1933 Saints are accounted for.
Cheers, RickO
Here is a numismatic fable.
Unlike some fables and all myths, it happens to be a true story. The "fable" part is in the moral of the story.
The dealer, being busy, just peeked into the ends of the rolls but did not open them.
He paid the customer for 160 average circulated Buffalo nickels.
However, there were no Buffalo nickels in the rolls except for the end coins.
So the dealer paid for 160 Buffalo nickels but only got eight. The other coins were junky modern circ Jeffersons.
The unknown seller, a total stranger, had long since skipped out of the shop, never to be seen again.
The shop owner got the last laugh, though. One of the eight Buffalo nickels he did get was a VF-ish 1937-D 3-leg.
The moral of the story? Don't try to scam people, or you may end up scamming yourself.
(In other words, "what comes around goes around".)
Saw it with my own two eyes, when I worked as a helper to that dealer.
I love that story!
My YouTube Channel
37 Business Day turn-around for PCGS Economy grades.
That Dealers operate on a 10% profit margin................ and in the next breath offer you 30% back of retail for your coins.
Which one is the Myth?
"It is illegal to deface US coins or currency".