What is your biggest blind luck score ??

Ed62 · May 16, 2014 4:42AM

When I was a kid (in Kansas) and collecting with my dad, he was working on highway projects for which he would drive around the eastern & central parts of the state. This was pre-interstate highways and pre-air-conditioning. He would look for places in the small towns where older men would get together to talk and waste time. He would introduce himself and ask if any of them had any 'old coins'. They often did or knew of others who did. He had the blue book with him so he was almost always able to buy and bring home many treasures for his son to get excited about. Over the two years he did this travelling he brought back hundreds of Indian Head cents, many dozen liberty head nickels, liberty seated silver, Morgan dollars and quite a few gold coins.

One day he brought home a little cloth bag of about 30 Canadian 5 cent silver pieces -- he had paid 10 cents each for the entire bag. One of them turned out to be a 1921 (probably a F-12) -- by far the rarest date of the series -- valued (at the time) at maybe $30.00 retail.

I should add he went back a week later, located the seller and gave him another $20.00.

Unknown · May 16, 2014 4:47AM

This content has been removed.

Browe · May 16, 2014 5:10AM

A year ago, a good friend of mine was being relocated to Seattle for work. We've been collecting for a few years at this point. I'm more into wheats, while he's more of a type set collector. He also likes buying and saving original bank wrapped rolls. So on one of the last nights he was here I took him and his wife out to dinner. On the way out of the restaurant as we were saying our goodbyes he hands me 3 rolls of wheat pennies (54-P, 56-D, 57-D). The next day I went through the rolls, and pulled out the nicest pieces from each. The 56-D and 57-D were okay for the year, but what blew me away was the quality of the coins in the 54-P. After a couple of days I decided to roll the dice and submit 4 of the 54-P's that were exceptional hoping that even one would come back 66. They took a month to grade, but after all was said andn done 3 came back 66RD and the other 65RD! I was flabbergasted. I ended up keeping one of them for my own registry, and sending the other two to my buddy which covered his moving costs.

coindeuce · May 16, 2014 5:30AM

Spotted a certified toned silver dollar from a distance in a dealer's case at the 1997 A.N.A. summer convention and had to have a closer look. Bought it for GS ask, and it became the highest graded of the die variety at the time. Easily forwarded today at 20X cost basis.

WTCG · May 16, 2014 5:51AM

Over a decade ago I cracked out a proof seated dollar to get re graded simply because I didn't have the minimum number of coins for a submission. It went from NGC PR63 to PCGS PR65.

MGLICKER · May 16, 2014 6:00AM

Joined PCGS a decade ago to try to cross an expensive Morgan from NGC to PCGS. No dice on two walk thru attempts.

Sent in 4 Eliasberg pedigreed commems for upgrade just to use up the freebies.

One popped from an MS65 to a 66. Price popped too from $350 to $1600.

TommyType · May 16, 2014 6:14AM

I thought, and thought....and can't come up with any "blind luck" scores. Either I'm just not lucky, or under the theory that you make your own luck, I'm not working hard enough.

But the one "score" I'm most proud of was a raw 1896-O Morgan, graded XF-40 by the seller, that I sent in to ANACS for grading just KNOWING it was really an AU. Came back AU-58. Quite a jump in price for the novice that I was.

(Of course, being in an ANACS holder, it may not sell for anything close to that anyway. LOL....damn my luck!)

Lakesammman · May 16, 2014 6:29AM

I 'd have to say buying a Cheerio's Sac for $4000 and selling it for $27,500 - blind luck timing. They can be had for $4000 again.

AMRC · May 16, 2014 6:40AM

Finding an 8 Escudo (Gold Coin) in a 117 pound batch of world coins I bought as part of a larger hoard.

DennisH · May 16, 2014 6:41AM

Bought a toned PCGS VF30 1903-S Morgan dollar with marginal photos on eBay two years ago for Greysheet Bid.
It turned out to be a micro-S that I hadn't noticed because of the toning.
I decided to do a regrading when I sent it in for attribution. Now it's in a VF35 holder.

AUandAG · May 16, 2014 7:50AM

I've told this before.....but back when silver was about $8 an ounce I bought a collection from the daughter
of the collector that had passed. He had left her instruction to call me with my business card.
Long story short he had a lot of material that was in 2x2s with prices and such. Nothing slabbed. Went through
the collection piece by piece over a weekend. Price was more that I had available at the time and so bought
half and went back the next weekend and bought the rest.
He had one back of circulated Morgans, 1,000 pieces, with a tag that said Casino dollars. Well, that is just what
they looked like when we pulled several hand fulls from the bag. Paid $8k for the bag and then they sat in my
closet for more than a month before I got a chance to even look at them. I was busy selling off the rest here
on the forum.
Low and behold I found several keepers in that bag....one 1893s that I sold for $5,005 and an AU58 1894 and
several others....She got another call and a nice follow up check. Tickled us both!
bob

Here's the submission:
1 1 08573134 7286 1903-O $1 USA MS64
2 1 08573135 7226 1893-S $1 USA VF20
3 1 08573136 7228 1894 $1 USA AU58
4 1 08573137 7232 1894-S $1 USA AU58
5 1 08573138 7156 1884-S $1 USA XF45
6 1 08573139 7148 1883-S $1 USA AU55
7 1 08573140 7131 1881-S $1 USA MS63PL
8 1 08573141 7270 1900-S $1 USA MS62
9 1 08573142 7186 1888-S $1 USA AU55
10 1 08573143 7356 1921 $1 Peace USA MS64

Broadstruck · May 16, 2014 8:08AM

Last month I stumbled across a rare medal by accident listed under the wrong category with 17 minutes to go and no one else bid. This might be more classified as a rip but the seller had no idea what he had and with free shipping I got it for around $3 more then it sold for when issued in the 1870's. Should grade a minimum of MS64 with a wholesale price of 50+ times what I paid. The blind luck part was had I not flipped through one of David Bowers books a few days earlier I might not have recognized it either.

19Lyds · May 16, 2014 8:26AM

Biggest bind luck score was perhaps a 1973-S Eisenhower struck on a CnClad Planchet that I got at the bank for a buck. 1 or only 3 known.

2nd biggest was the acquisition of several rolls of circulated 1960's Washingtons for $12 each which yielded a 1970-D DDO FS-101 which graded at AU55 as a top pop. Only 1 other is graded by PCGS and its an AU50 which sold at Heritage a year or so back for $1250.00.

Next up was in finding a 1971-S IKE Prototype at a Dealers Table in Feb 2008 at Long Beach for $10. It was unknown at the time but after examination by some big names in Numismatics, it was determined to be a prototype.

Next up was in blindly happening across a 1971-S Proof IKE DDR which has the most dramatic doubling in the entire series at a dealers shop. 1 of about only 3 known examples.

Granted, all are modern coins but then modern coins DO have a future.

ms70 · May 16, 2014 8:43AM

Years back I had a really beautiful bullseye rainbow toned 1878-cc Seated Lib Quarter in a PCGS-58 holder. It's the only coin I ever cracked out of a holder, not to mention 2 times, and the only coin I ever submitted for grading 3 times.

I sent it to NGC for crossover & it came back still as AU58. I cracked it out the day it came back & sent it raw to PCGS & it came back AU58 again. About a year later I was so
convinced it was not AU that I cracked it out a second time for yet a another submission to PCGS.

It came back MS62.

Ronyahski · May 16, 2014 2:28PM

In the 70's and 80's I collected double mint sets 1948 - 1963 for gorgeous toned sets and high grade Franklins. I amassed almost 200 sets. During that time I also collected Full Step nickels (yes, a few folks did collect them way back when even before slabs existed).

In 1978 at a coin show at the Albany Polish Community Center I met a fellow P.A.K. (FS Jeff club) member who offered me a 1954-S Full Step Jeff for $1,200. At the time the 54-S was the Holy Grail of FS nickels. This coin was the second one known for the date. Being on a college budget, I just couldn't pull the trigger. Over the years my collecting interest in FS Jeffs waned and I resigned myself to never owing a 54-S Full Step Nickel.

Fast forward to about 8 years ago: I pulled out my double mint sets and went through them in detail, looking for nicely toned and high grade silver coins to send in for grading. (Sidenote: I slabbed some coins primarily for preservation and kept them with the mint sets. Don't have the heart to break up original toned sets.)

I went through the 1954 sets. I'll bet you can guess the rest of the story. I found a 54-S Jeff that came back PCGS 65 FS. That was dumb luck. I think the gem population is still only about 7 coins. That coin back in 1978, The pop 1 PCGS 67FS, and my coin are the only ones that I have ever seen that I thought were true FS coins.

ricko · May 17, 2014 1:34AM

I picked up 1964 mint sets w/AH for less than the typical '64 mint set prices - three of them. Cheers, RickO

JustMe2 · May 17, 2014 2:49AM

Being born in the United States into a stable middle class family...

pcunix · May 17, 2014 3:14AM

My biggest score was buying a tube of 1/10 oz gold Eagles in 1988 plus a half tube of 1 ounce. Gold was relatively low and the 88 1/10's turned out to be a lower mintage year. I sold them in 2005 or 2006, don't remember.

I kept one of the tenth ounce in my wallet for years. I recently sent it in to PCGS; came back as a 67.

derryb · May 17, 2014 3:18AM

a few 1000 coin bricks of Washington dollars when they first came out. Bought them to look for errors but the only errors I found were on the edges - no lettering.

scotty1419 · May 17, 2014 3:42AM

Getting a 1928 Peace (xf~) in a silver dollar lot.

LanceNewmanOCC · May 17, 2014 4:18AM

.
probably not the biggest but one of the most exciting was finding 5 or 6 1960 D/D Small/Large date nice red/pink lincoln cents in a roll. they graded 63,64,65. i think my cost for the roll was under $2

found 3 nice colonial coins in a group of foreign bulk. that may have been the same group that yielded a high au maybe low unc (shoulda got it graded) mexico 1905 5 centavos. sold to someone in mexico for a few hundred usa dollars. my cost for the 4 coins was probably less than .05 each. the colonials sold for a few hundred. i don't recall.

1878 8tf 14.15 for around $22 from the melt bucket. xf - didn't know what it was til it came back from messydesk/vss - it has an r7 rating which most true vammers know doesn't mean squat half the time so i was sitting on it for a while before figuring out what it was. blew my mind. sold for a few hundred and it sold cheap. oops ><

1921-s $1 1b5 high au from the melt bucket, blast white for $22 or so, sold for nearly 10x. didn't even have to grade it.

1838 1c probably had $20 as a cost. finally attributed it (months?) after owning it to find out it was an n15. graded at pcgs vf25 sold for several hundred.

plenty of others but i've taken up enough space here not following the OPs request by posting more than one ><

edited to add: i think my favorite still may be the jefferson nickel discovery rpm i pulled out of my pocket one day that graded ms63.

good thing for the MANY blind scores or i doubt i'd be here posting today.
.

TwoSides2aCoin · May 17, 2014 4:52AM

harveypb · May 17, 2014 11:12AM

A few weeks ago I found a dealer with a group of 1964 proof sets at a flea market. There were some opened and some unopened. I looked through the opened ones and found 1 set with an AH half. I asked if I could gently open the unopened sets and he handed me his small pocket knife and said yes.... I looked through the rest and found another with an AH half and I found a set with a nice cameo half, unfortunately not an AH variety. I bought all 3 sets for $75. Sent in the halves to be graded to PCGS. The 2 AH halves came back PF66 and the cameo half came back PF67DCAM...

Ethan · May 17, 2014 11:21AM

$80 in face Kennedy's of which $20 were 64's. 1982 or thereabouts.. rest of them 40% ers

cmerlo1 · May 17, 2014 11:23AM

I've made a lot of great and profitable cherrypicks over the years. I can think of one that was blind luck, because I didn't even know the variety existed.

The B&M picked up a group of 1939-D Jefferson nickels. They graded them all AU, and were selling them at $10 apiece. I bought one I know was actually uncirculated, and picked out the nicest of the AU's.

I submitted both to ICG for grading. The unc. came back MS65. The AU, even though I didn't submit it as a variety, came back AU-58, doubled die obverse. At the time, I had no idea there was a DDO on 1939-D nickels. It was a decent one too, and I can't believe I missed it.

Ethan · May 17, 2014 11:32AM

<< <i>I should add he went back a week later, located the seller and gave him another $20.00. >>

Best part of the whole thread!

lordmarcovan · May 17, 2014 11:41AM

From a bulk lot of Wheaties. (The cents, that is, not the cereal.)

lordmarcovan · May 17, 2014 11:44AM

<< <i>Finding an 8 Escudo (Gold Coin) in a 117 pound batch of world coins I bought as part of a larger hoard. >>

That's amazing.

2ltdjorn · May 17, 2014 11:47AM

<< <i>Being born in the United States into a stable middle class family... >>

this is true. my biggest blind score would be my parents!

jessewvu · May 17, 2014 12:19PM

I turned a 1946 dime I found in junk silver into a 1967 14' Jon boat, trailer, 1967 6 hp motor, and trolling motor. I found the coin a few years ago and sold it about a month ago. I figured I would rather fish with my 6yr old son than keep the coin. I think I got a great deal on everything g because it was less than $1,000 for everything including taxes, title, and registration for everything.

Me and my son have already had it out on a small electric motor only lake and caught plenty of nice fish. Best trade I'll ever make in my life. To see him having so much fun is priceless.

Walkerguy21D · May 17, 2014 1:29PM

Can't really think of any truly blind luck scores.....most of my best results have come through research and perhaps knowing a little bit more
than the seller. Just about any coin I've 'speculated' on, or purchased because it 'seemed neat', I've lost money on.

WaterSport · May 17, 2014 1:45PM

I had a 1911 D lincoln in my registry set for years.About 2006 I expanded and started collecting varieties. last year I looked at that 1911 D and it was RPM #2 very late die state.

WS

renman95 · May 17, 2014 2:04PM

Finding five 2008/7 $1 ASE's for about $30 each at my local B&M. The owner says "are those the error coins...I just haven't had time to look at 'em." "Yup" I said. Sold two graded PCGS MS70's for around $1k each. Holding onto three '69's for my keiki's.

What is your biggest blind luck score ??

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