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Unopened GSA - To open or not to open
jmcu12
Posts: 2,452 ✭✭✭
I am getting an itch to open an Unopened-GSA that GSAguy sold me. Should I 'itch' that 'scratch'?
Awarded latest "YOU SUCK!": June 11, 2014
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jmcu12
Posts: 2,452 ✭✭✭
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Keep it unopened. Someday you will appreciate it even more.
GSAGUY
Year Total
1878-CC 60,993
1879-CC 4,123
1880-CC 131,529
1881-CC 147,485
1882-CC 605,029
1883-CC 755,518
1884-CC 962,638
1885-CC 148,285
1889-CC 1
1890-CC 3,949
1891-CC 5,687
1892-CC 1
1893-CC 1
Based on the above info, I would be willing to bet that you have an 1882/3/4 coin, probably worth 1/3 of what you paid for that sealed box. Additionally, the fact that it was not opened by the original owner, tells me again that it's a common date. I suggest that you throw it on ebay ASAP and get rid of it. One more point, the original owner received an invoice from the mint telling him what was in the box, so don't think just because it's never been opened, that it's random as to what's inside.
Ultimately, up to you. I wouldn't crack it.
Dennis
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1890-CC 3,949
1891-CC 5,687
1892-CC 1
1893-CC 1
Have these all been found?
Look at it this way.. The odds are that if you open it you'll be disappointed to find out that it's probably an 1882-CC, 1883-CC or 1884-CC.
If you keep it unopened, then you can imagine that it's possibly one of the scarcer issues. And that may be worth keeping it unopened...
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
you can live by those words!
K S
I have the same dilema myself and the urge to opened passed after I put it in the saftey deposit box for about 6 months.
But then again...If you do rip it open, i'm sure we'd all like to see..
Tom
1) To have the thrill of opening it (if you so desire) and the (speculative) excitement of finding out which date it is
2) To flip the unopened pkg to someone else at a profit, or to hold it long-term for the same intent
3) To keep the unopened boxed coin just for the pride and thrill of ownership -- and the mystique of not knowing what's really inside the box.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
The guess needs to be correct on:
1 - Date
2 - Any VAM number
3 - Grade (we should have someone impartial and honest grade it - although where you gonna find that around here?
4 - White vs Obv toned only vs Rev toned only vs dual sided tone
This should give you enough spots to sell to recoup your outlay for the coin and the winner gets something cool.
Allen
Proud member of TCCS!
Indeed, I had opened 4 of the five I had bought (I seem to remember the purchase price as $30 each) and 2 of them were 1882-CC, another 1883-CC and the last one was an 1891-CC. By the way, these were the uncirculated ones I had purchased. The "non" uncirculated one, I seem to remember sold for $15 each.
Incidentally, I still have that last one, unopened. I wished I had saved the entire box of five, the box and all the literature.
There is nothing more numismatic than the topic of unopened GSA boxes of silver dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully someday I will be able to afford coins that I can't see
<< <i>Hopefully someday I will be able to afford coins that I can't see >>
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
I have the original invoice, which includes the date, the bid price, and the price paid, for the seven I have. Your memory is just faulty.
what if it's an ultra cameo dmpl?
someday someone will open it....may as well be you. don't wait till your deathbed though, if it is a udm give yourself some time to enjoy it.
However, I feel that it depends on the original reason why jmcu12 decided to purchase the unopened GSA Boxed Morgan.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
Steve27,
I agree with the fact that the chances are the coins are common-date and in butt-ugly condition and that's what I tell every buyer of these coins who ask my opinion.
But I do believe that Oreville is also correct when it comes to the $15.00 category or Mixed CC category. These coins, which included all dates in the hoard and the three dates represented by one example each, were all placed in 'silver dollar' hardpacks. They were then sold randomly, so once packaged, no one knew what dates were inside and the outer boxes were not date-stamped.
GSAGUY
Cheryl
Cher-Wood Forest Aviary
POTD - May 26, 2005
GSAGUY
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
Cheryl
Cher-Wood Forest Aviary
POTD - May 26, 2005
Hey, good answer GSAguy!
BTW, NGC will slab these "in place" so that the original government packaging stays intact (great idea that PCGS did not adopt).
In my last job, the GSA would pay us some friendly (I say sarchastically) visits to audit or report on our Army program. They are also a watchdog for the government. So, I am intimately familiar with these guys.
Check out a Vanguard Roth IRA.
These would have been as follows:
Mixed CC: Originally sold at $15.00 each and represented by all dates. These coins were either heavily bagmarked or 'tarnished'. The GSA admitted that they were likely uncirculated but didn't meet their miniumum standards for that category.
Mixed Year: These were sold for a minimum bid of $5.00 each and represented mintmarks other than CC coins. Again, they were not sold by specific dates, were sold in the GSA hardpacks and were for the most part uncirculated. I have seen a few that were damaged and would not grade unc by today's standard.
Mixed Circulated: These coins were sold in the GSA softpacks for a minimum bid of $3.00 each. Most were circulated but many were not. They include examples from all mints of the time, including the CC mint.
All GSA coins were shipped in some type of protective outer container. Most were opened upon receipt. But, like mint sets of recent times, many were never opened by the recipient.
These are the coins we're discussing today.
GSAGUY
But I don't think I could stand not opening them.....it would drive me crazy!
Cheryl
Cher-Wood Forest Aviary
POTD - May 26, 2005
GSAGUY
<< <i>What the heck does GSA stand for? >>
The General Services Administration (GSA) was responsible for sorting and marketing the U.S. Treasury's hoard of silver dollars, after the Treasury ceased issuing dollar coins in 1964. In a series of sales lasting from 1973 to 1980, this hoard of several million silver dollars, mostly Morgan dollars minted at the Carson City Mint, was dispersed via auction and fixed prices. Sealed in rigid plastic holders and boxed with a message from then President Richard M. Nixon, these silver coins account for most of the Mint State Carson City Mint Morgan dollars known today.
Morgan Dollar Aficionado & Vammer
Current Set: Morgan Hit List 40 VAM Set
Sure my memory is faulty. But faulty in the strangest ways and oddly I seem to remember all this useless information.
Does anyone have any of the original sales literature?
it would be fun to pull them out.
Trooper just sent me copies of the original GSA order form and I was correct. Thanks Trooper!!!
I believe this was the second go-around on these GSA sales.
Strangely enough one of the packages was callled POTLUCK! I had not used or seen that word in over 30 years!!!!
The ordering period was June 1 to July 30, 1973.
The wording in quotes iis right from their sales brochure.
"THE POTLUCK!" for $5 allowed purchases of "Uncirculated Morgan and Peace Dollars-mixed coins from various mints excluding Carson City. Packaged in a durable plastic case."
"THE SILVER BONANZA! So little could buy so much history famous 90% silver cartwheels made from silver mined from the Comstock Lode. Each is packaged in an attractive presdentation case. SELECTION #3 Carson City Silver Dollars (mixed 1879-85, 1990 & 1891) never before circulated by U.S. Government, culled out of the Government's holdings of silver dollars since they did not meet the standards for "uncirculated " due to nicks and tarnish. Minimum bid $15 per coin."
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From what I have read, all key dates are printed on the cardboard. If no date on box it is 1882-1884 cc
I’m waiting to see that skeleton @Manifest_Destiny
Type collector, mainly into Seated. Young Numismatist. Good BST transactions with: mirabela, OKCC, MICHAELDIXON
I wonder if @jmcu12 had twenty-years worth of patience?
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I am sure the OP had his question answered 20 years ago.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
I see dead people.
20 years ago they Sweated open a small corner of the package, used a bore scope to do the reveal and were probably disappointed 😔
But wouldn't he have let us know what was inside if he opened it??? @jmcu12 DID YOU OPEN IT YET???
The dates were printed on the shipping label not the box itself for all dates. So if the label is gone or damaged, the dead guy you're talking to wouldn't know what was in the box.
How many here were still in diapers when this thread was started.
This comment is not intended to disparage anything or anybody. Sometimes I think that we are participating in a very, very strange hobby. That being said I sure do love it
It sounds as if the OP had a Schrödinger's CCat situation.
@jmcu12 was last active on Sep 7, 2023