My Coin Galleries purchase from 45 years ago arrived 45 years ago next week.....
tommy44
Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭✭✭
Who remembers these little boxes being delivered by the Post Office?
Probably contained several hundred dollars worth of coins, sent from NY Radio City Station to my front door in upstate NY in two days, $1.75 Registered Mail.
I sure miss Staying at the Salisbury and attending the Stack's auctions and checking out inventory at 123 West 57th Street. Those were the good old days.
The building will be replaced with another high-rise. https://newyorkyimby.com/2019/11/demo-permits-filed-for-123-west-57th-street-in-midtown-manhattan.html
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
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Interesting that your package is dated April 1975. My very first visit to Stacks was in March 1975. 1975 was a down year for coins after gold blew out in December 1974. That was a good time to be loading up on nice coins going for a "song."
You are right. Those were the days (1975-1990). The diner next to Stacks was always a treat. I pretty much only went to Stacks in those years to view auction and mail bid sale lots....never to buy out of inventory. Maybe I just figured the odds of finding something in the store at a bargain price was about nil since so many regional and national dealers vacuumed through their inventory. Though there was one major auction I recall in 1988-89....it was heavily attended and getting a seat downstairs for lot viewing required a long wait.
While waiting between auction coin boxes I sort of looked at the coins in the glass cases below. Spotted a very colorful and lustrous looking raw 1870 seated dollar graded as "unc." Also noted a nice original 1839 no drapery dime also "unc." Once in hand, it only took a few seconds to realize they were no less than 63's and probably 64's. I bought the pair for the full $1000 asking price which was 62/63 money at the time. I showed them to a dealer right then and there and he asked me "how much" of a profit did I want? I think he offered $1250. Passed. I sent them both in to NGC and they came back as 64's. Sold them for $2000. Paid for my trip several times over. Funny, that I remember that transaction yet nothing about what I bought out of that auction. I did find it interesting that those 2 coins were sitting under everyone's noses until I asked about them. And nothing like it has ever happened to me since.
The only time that I was at Stack's was in March of 1990. I flew to New York to bid on one National Bank Note. It had been buried in a collection for almost 45 years. I won it but it went for a little more than I was expecting. When I got back to the hotel I was very excited. All of a sudden I realized that I had forgot about the juice which was 10% at the time. I was going to have the note shipped to me because of the sales tax. I had to stall for two weeks until I got paid again. I still have the note.
It's strange that the box has the word "COIN" on it. Sounds like poor security to me.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I seem to recall that back in the 1960s an advertiser in the classified section of COIN WORLD used to use the name Stow Nut & Bolt Company to avoid any numismatic reference.
Now that you mention it that is a little weird, but.....
That's when the only people interested in coins were nerds and postal employees who signed for registered packages were fired if there was any hanky panky.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
A guy I know in Scotland sent coin packages out with "stamped metal disks" and a wee bottle of 18 year old Scotch as "Aqua Vitae"
Now registered mail costs around 10 times as much if that package didn't have insurance. If it had insurance the multiplier comes into paly.
Maybe not. In those wild wild west days a lot of "iffy" coins got dumped into fixed price lists, Coin World ads, and mail bid sales. If they got "lost" on route, that might be a better overall outcome vs. getting a nasty gram from a disgruntled customer. Mailed out hundreds of REG packages over the years....never lost a single one.
Are those old pictures of the packaging? Or have you saved the box all these years?? Cheers, RickO
@ricko, took the pictures yesterday while rummaging through stuff in toms-world (the basement). I've been listing postcards, playing cards, milkcaps, POGs, toys, games, puzzles etc. on eBay since they have given me a few hundred listings with no listing fee. I'm surprised I only found one of those boxes, it probably had some small stuff stored in it until recently. I save most of my small boxes and reuse them when I sell something small on eBay. Don't tell my wife you saw the pictures, she thinks I'm listing all the "crap" I have in the basement when I'm sitting at my computer.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Back then you could put COIN on the outside of the box and there was less of a chance someone at the USPS would steal it.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
@tommy44...Old playing cards? As in 150 years old? I do collect those old decks....Cheers, RickO
I wish. Mostly Sports, Advertising and Tourism 20 to 70 years old. Very little of any real value unless two or more folks might be interested.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Congratulations! I'm still waiting for the Americana Libertas that I ordered and paid for over a month ago from Modern Coin Mart. The excuses are endless. If it ever arrives I hope it's in a nice box like yours. Maybe in 45 years. You never know.........hope springs eternal..............