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Naaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!! That really HAPPENED ???

DRUNNERDRUNNER Posts: 3,791 ✭✭✭✭✭

I don't go back to teaching until the 4th, so I have too much time on my hands. It dawned on me I had a couple of numismatic events happen in my collector-schmuck-dreck-lover career that would be found interesting to those stuck in a basement during a Covid pandemic, and if I had a couple, some of the luminaries here should be able to knock our sox off (well, let's leave out the $250k coins thrown in the trash). No real rules. Make them true. Entertain us.

My first . . .

An introverted collecting buddy of mine who also assisted me in coaching track (shot/discus) ventured into a local shop (which has since closed due to a nationally-known Ponzi-scheme of silver bullion) and purchased some simple AG-G Walkers and hole-fillers as he was just getting started in the collecting game. He dropped 20 or 30 bucks and headed out into the street to his car.

He was intercepted by a vagabond/homeless/down on his luck guy who said "Hey . . . do you buy coins?" My introvert screwed up the courage to answer, "Uh, yeah . . . sometimes." Vagabond produces 4 silver quarters and says, "They won't let me sell in the shop there. I just want to double my money . . they are yours for $2.00." Just wanting out of the situation, he buys.

2 semi-slick Standing Libs . . . 2 lower end Barbers. He does the transaction and nervously heads to his car. He gets home, and is punching his AG Walkers into a blue Whitman and dumps the quarters onto his desk. He looks at them, and evaluates with a Redbook (his only real resource of pricing). I get a call . . .

"Hey . . . I bought 4 quarters from a guy for $2.00 (silver was obviously higher at the time) . . . and two are Liberty Quarters."

"Wow, good for you. Melt is like 12x face!"

"Yeah . . . but the two Liberty Quarters have good dates on them. The better one is a 1912, with no mintmark. The one that isn't so good is a 1901, and the mintmark is an "S". The Redbook says it is a cool coin." Is it ???

Yup . . . it was. PCGS G-6. Bought for 50 cents.

He still has it . . . . . . .

Drunner

Comments

  • DRUNNERDRUNNER Posts: 3,791 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Matt . . . agreed fully.

    I tried to point out carefully that this guy is (still) an introvert, caught a bit off guard by being surprised in the street . . .and the seller was precluded from the shop (probably by his appearance) and . . . also not having any amount or series of coins that would initially attract a lot of attention, my friend did not suspect anything. Just 4 low-grade quarters . . not real evidence of a theft or anything untoward. The guy might have gotten them from the tray at a CoinStar.

    I agree though. I would have walked briskly, jumped in my truck, and gotten out of there.

    Drunner

  • braddickbraddick Posts: 22,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @matt_dac said:
    'They won't let me sell them in the store' would make me think they were stolen. Pass....

    That is pure speculation. Homelessness doesn't mean theft, it could simply be the dealer was in an abundance of caution not purchasing from individuals who don't possess some type of identification.

    peacockcoins

  • scubafuelscubafuel Posts: 1,723 ✭✭✭✭✭

    These are great stories! Thanks for sharing them.

  • ms70ms70 Posts: 13,946 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Did he go back and hand the homeless guy some money?

    Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.

  • 1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 13,772 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @matt_dac said:
    'They won't let me sell them in the store' would make me think they were stolen. Pass....

    Perhaps they judged him by his homelessness/appearance and wouldn't let him in the store?

    Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb

    Bad transactions with : nobody to date

  • U1chicagoU1chicago Posts: 5,552 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Keep the stories coming! They have certainly been interesting!
    Unfortunately I don't have any of my own to add.

  • rec78rec78 Posts: 5,675 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 29, 2020 9:01PM

    I once knew a guy many years ago, that bought a lot of large cents and half cents at local auctions. He cleaned them to where the bare copper made them look awful and pretty much worthless. I asked him why he cleaned them like that. Do you know what he said? "They're My Coins". This guy totally ruined some very good coins for future generations and cost his estate a lot of money when they sold them. Ruin your coins just because you own them?

    image
  • coinhackcoinhack Posts: 1,131 ✭✭✭✭

    I bought a partial set of Washington quarters in a new Dansco album for just a little over melt with the intention of flipping them. There were a lot of holes so I thought I would go through a bag of bullion quarters that I had to see if I might fill in a couple of holes in the 40's or 50's. To my surprise, I filled in all of the holes from the 40's to 64. And then I found all of the remaining holes in the 30's except for the 32 D & S. I was even able to upgrade some of the ones that were in the set when I bought it.

    I quickly sold the nearly complete set for a small but nice profit.

    I also found one other coin in the bullion bag. A 1932-D in a nice AU condition. A bullion coin that I paid about $3 for sold for over $200. I never would have searched the bag this coin and the other's that went into the set if I hadn't bought the partial set to begin with. It was just dumb luck on my part.

    It looks like someone sent a full or nearly full set of Washington quarters to the bullion dealer and they ended up in the bag that I bought.

  • emeraldATVemeraldATV Posts: 3,959 ✭✭✭✭✭

    When I was just a kid, buying Baseball Cards, on my way home and opening the packs, I was not thrilled of the booty.
    Snow was on the ground as I was waiting for the light to change. Something caught my eye under the icy water.
    A whole hand full of coins, submerged under the icy water. Yup, Turned my frown upside down, as I turned around for another go at it.
    Happy thoughts every time I pass that light.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have no stories of great discoveries..... I guess my best have been mint sets at gun shows with AH Kennedy halves... found three of those....and got the full set, each time, for a bargain price... $12-$15.... Cheers, RickO

  • emeraldATVemeraldATV Posts: 3,959 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Found this in a bank coin counter attached to one of the magnets.
    Yes, one of them as I was helping a friend take many of these machines apart.
    Long story..
    But look at this 10 cent Canadian 2001.
    Only the letters are showing a strange marking and only on the obverse.

  • CalifornianKingCalifornianKing Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭✭

    Very cool stories, the only story I can say is I bought a Flying Eagle cent from a dealer for $20 and later found out that it was in fact XF (not f as the label said) and it was a DDO. Sold it for 65.

  • DBSTrader2DBSTrader2 Posts: 3,444 ✭✭✭✭

    JeffersonFrog: Cool story about James Earl Jones! Did that meeting take place before "Field of Dreams"? Maybe he intended to use that pic of Ty Cobb in the movie - -maybe he even DID! I'll have to watch closer next time.

    In the meantime, it might be fun to write him & reminisce about that meeting & his pic with your daughter. You might even be able to convince him to come back again for a reunion.

    ould be he's also a currency collector (even though he had no cash on him the last time). Remember..........._ "If you BILL it, He will come!" _ ;)

  • JeffersonFrogJeffersonFrog Posts: 824 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @DBSTrader2
    FOD was 1989, my story is from the 1997-98 time frame. Might of been the other way around - maybe FOD and The Sandlot inspired James Earl Jones to become the Buddy Ebsen of baseball collectors. :smile:

    If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.

    Tommy

  • oldabeintxoldabeintx Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Back in the raw coin days, Steve Ivy (pre-Heritage) was holding an auction in Dallas. During the preview I noticed a very nice VDB cent being auctioned as MS. I put the loupe on it and WOW, saw that it was actually a PR. There I sat at the auction nervous as hell. Up comes the lot and I wait, not wanting to tip my hand. Sadly, up go the bids. When it got over $500 the auctioneer stops wide eyed: " ...aha this is a proof?" Everyone laughs, I go home with my moment of glory dashed, but still felt the clever fellow.

  • yspsalesyspsales Posts: 2,086 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 30, 2021 8:34PM

    Sat in library reading Coin World, and the 1995 Lincoln cent DDO was discovered. Prices climbed up over $200.

    Walked across street to a coin shop, and asked if he had any for sale.

    "Nah... but it is too soon. They will fall in price. How about a Morgan Dollar?"

    "No thanks..."

    Walk back to the library and buy not one... but three examples from a print ad.

    My first ever coin purchase.

    Somewhere around $700 and a week later I have my coins.

    Sold them 20 years later for $15 each...

    BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out

  • yspsalesyspsales Posts: 2,086 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A second story... my wife is an esthetician. One of her clients gave her a 1999s proof set as a tip.

    "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked me.

    It gets tossed into a drawer for about a decade.

    Circa 2009, I am cleaning out the drawer and find the set. Double check my CPG... hmmm

    A quick glance at the Lincoln cent and I have a 1999s Close AM... flipped the set on here for a nice profit. Put the 1995 DDO debacle in the rear view mirror a bit.

    BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out

  • yspsalesyspsales Posts: 2,086 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2, 2021 8:44AM

    Okay... my last story.

    Was bored one night and pulled out the CPG to look for a pick.

    Chose the 1886 Vam 20 to seek out. About as rare as a major 8TF 14 something monster.

    On about the 5th coin observed, fuzzy pic, and about a hour or two of hemming and hawing... buy the coin for about $60.

    Slabbed PCGS MS63 or MS64, unattributed, it arrives and is what I thought it was. Sent into our host for correct labeling...

    Went on a six month obsession looking at every raw and slabbed 1886 Ebay auction. Somewhere around 250,000 auctions viewed day and night.

    Found two more unattributed and three raw. They would hit about once a month.

    No competition except for one. A raw AU example that blew up over $100. Dealer wised up and sent me a different coin and kept the cleaned AU example.

    Oh well... the five coins I would flip cost less than $400 and with about $500 in attribution/grading fees turned into +/- $2000, $1250, $800 (bad toning, touch of verdigris), and for the unattributed and $500, and $400 respectively for the AU Details examples.

    Before our host changed the TV's, at one point had all but one of the images. Found a decent portion of the MS state coins.

    Counting the one I never got, and starting with the original coin (5th coin viewed) and adding 250K additional auctions and the hours spent looking. Best guestimate 1 in 40,000 to find any example... or 1 in 80,000 for the money coins.

    Figured my net $4k came out to about $4 per hour... lol

    BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out

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