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What are the best thing you found in your coin shop foriegn coin bin?
Mdcoincollector2003
Posts: 665 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have found six notable finds 3 King George the third pennies, 1657 B French coin ( only 1.5 mil made), 1806 American half cent, and my only silver coin a 10 centavos from the Philippines.
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Not quite from a "coin bin", but certainly a "bargain box" - and much more than anyone bargained for. Poland, Austro-German Regency, 1 fenig 1917. Bought for AU$2 from a local dealer in 1999. Posted about it on this forum way back in 2006 because it wasn't listed in the Krause catalogues,only to be told by the forum vets that it was actually a rare coin worth more like AU$1000. Reproducing the pic in this thread, for those who don't feel like clicking on links:
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Counterfeit Spanish 8 reales 1796(I think), counterstamped "falsa" by the Philippines assay office with mint master marks. I have yet to image it. Still doing a bit of research.
Pulled loads of silver out of this on antique stores foreign coin bin including a Guatemalan 1949 Quetzal in AU worth maybe $50
Latin American Collection
Some Switzerland 5 francs at $0.25 each. I ate real cheap when I eventully went over there.
Found an 1892 Canada 10 cent-Large 9- OBV 5 2/1 in a Victoria dealers junk bin for $1.Valued $150+.
Elmhurst.
some of these 5s were probably silver to boot.
but eating cheap in Switzerland??? i actually did live there for a while... but cheap food, only lunch in Migros was reasonable ( Migros was then a store)
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I haven't hit any big jackpots value-wise, but am most proud of, on two separate occasions, picking scarcer issues of Roman Emperor Constantius I from ancient coin dealer bargain bins (back when I would see them more often at shows). The first was a small fractional follis from Constanitius' brief reign as emperor (305-306 AD), probably mistaken for a common later 4th century bronze.
The other was an issue during his much longer career as Caesar (junior emperor, 293-305). Issues from this period are usually much more common than those from his short reign as emperor. An exception, however, is the pre-reform antoninianus denomination. This denomination was discontinued in the great coinage reform of 294. Since Constantius had only been given the title of Caesar in 293, these pre-reform coins were only issued for about a year, and are scarcer than the pre-reform issues of the senior emperors. It was either mistaken for a similar looking post-reform radiate denomination, or possibly for a more common pre-reform antoninianus of c. 274 - 294.
I just enjoy finding something a little different/special to add to the collection from these bins, regardless of value.
I have a vest pocket dealer friend that found a 1793 large cent. Wasn't in great shape, but it was what it was. He said he got about $1700 for it.
I pulled what I thought was a worn Connecticut Copper from a 25 cent box in 1982. Ic ould never ID it as a Conn, but over time began thinking it might be a Canadian blacksmith Token (Remember, these were the days before the internet when info was hard to find) In 2007, at a NENA show Bob Vlack verified it was a blacksmith token (I no longer remember the attribution). He suggested I show it to another dealer on the floor and I eventually sold it for $100.
VF 1941 Hong Kong cent.
This isn't really a junk box find but sortta is. Back when I collected all countries by date I purchased a lot of world coins by the pound. Many dealers would bring the stuff to me at shows and sell to me. They would accumulate for months- a year until I had time to sort through them. I would have a pile for tokens,better coins, and coins I may need for my collection. I tossed a small brassy looking coin in the token pile. A few seconds later a light bulb lit up in my head. I grabbed that little brassy looking coin back out of the token pile and it turned out to be a gold Bechtler dollar in AU!
It's easy to see how a person could miss it because they do look a lot like brass. I have no idea where it came from either.
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Those are all some great finds!
Thank you all for sharing your finds. Great post !!!
Wow those are wonderful finds!
I've been searching dealer world coin bargain bins for 10-15 years and have filled a bank bag full of such coins mostly costing 25 to 50 cents. Use to find silver all the time until silver ran up in price and it disappeared over night. Lots of older coppers from Britain, some cool world errors too. I remember finding a really nice 1925 Australian Penny once in VF/XF grade. Never found the 1930!
Australian halfpenny for 10 cents (about 7 US cents). A nice grade brockage and worth over $100.
I don't know if this qualifies as a "great" find, but I like it.