It's my turn for a giveaway too. . . Congrats RGL!

Agflyer · April 25, 2005 4:59PM

I've learned much on these boards and I can't thank everyone enough for sharing their knowledge, experiences, and of course their giveaways

. The least I could do is to have a giveaway myself! One of my favorite things on these boards is to read about the incredible "deals" people run across. One of mine was when I found an 1888-o VAM 1b, "Scarface" Morgan in a dealer's inventory. I paid $400 for it. I've been hooked on VAMs ever since! To enter, post an anecdote of one of your particularly memorable finds. I'll end the contest on Friday the 29th at 8:00 PM Pacific and draw a name. Only one chance per person, but feel free to list as many stories as you want. The lucky winner will get $25 to help them with their next great deal. . . Thanks to everyone and

RobJoyce1921dVAMguy · April 25, 2005 5:38PM

Ok Rick, here's my story... Its a VAM topic as well even though I know your question is much more broad. Several years ago I was a casual VAM collector, usually buying VAMs, rarely searching for them on unattributed coins. I had enough of a foundation from this to be interested in a particular 1921-D Morgan that had extensive die breaks on the reverse. I couldn't find it listed in the Top 100 book or subsequently the "big VAM book" by VanAllen and Mallis. I took it to the knowledgeable coin folks I knew at the time but nobody could help. This led me to looking at more and more 21-Ds as I came across them. I soon noticed a wide array of interesting and peculiur die varieties. Eventually I discovered that there were more VAMs discovered after the VAM book and that there were many undiscovered die varieties still out there. I was hooked. I put my notes on the web as I learned more and more about the 21-D VAMs and eventually folks encouraged me to turn my notes into a book. Now I'm the "21-D guy" Its been great fun and I've learned that rare in interesting VAMs are readily available out there, you just need to look. And that 21-D that got me started, it was a VAM-1D. You can see some pictures here:

http://www.rjrc.com/vams/1921d_vam1d.htm

jdsinva · April 25, 2005 9:46PM

I was just starting to learn about VAMs and I did have my Top 100 guide for a short time. I hadn't been down to my local coin shop in quite some time so I paid a visit to browse some coins and talk with the owner. I asked to look at his Morgans and he pulled out his tray. I came to an 1888-O and couldn't believe my eyes. . .the mother of all Morgan double dies. . .a Hot Lips! It was a pleasing XF with no problems that I picked up for a tidy $14. That's the beauty of local, small shops.

RYK · April 25, 2005 9:50PM

One of my best finds occurred on these very boards. Dukie101 offered an amazing, original 1864 $3 PCGS AU-58 on the BST boards. It was a Saturday, I had just returned from work, and I saw it there. I immediately PM'd and made arrangements for the purchase. This was the most important coin that I had ever purchased on these boards.

Here is a link to a very large photograph of the coin, which inspired me to go for the 1861-65 Civil War subset of $3's, a scarce and interesting subset of one of my favorite series.

arlea1957 · April 25, 2005 9:58PM

Ok here goes, this is not a profitable story but a nice beginning that I won't forget and may live to regret...lol. About 6 months ago I was cleaning out an estate in PA. In the basement I found an 1884 s morgan in a sterling silver money clip. Of course I pulled it out and being originally from Canada it was a coin I had never seen before. Hence I started searching Morgans, the more I searched the more I began to like these wonderful coins. One night I had one to many and put the coin away, after a 4 month search I finally found it again yesterday, except for the clip discoloration it is still a very nice coin and although I have since collected some 30 of them this was the one that got me started. Hopefully over the next few years I can, with lots of help from this board put together a nice collection. Thank you for opening this up to everyone.

DNADave · April 25, 2005 10:05PM

Bought on ebay raw, with this pic, for $73.00

Came back from ANACS as a 64.

MadMonk · April 25, 2005 10:08PM

Years ago, I went to a show and found a 1948-D Franklin in a first generation NGC holder.
It was graded Plain Jane MS-65.
It was an o.k. coin as far a color went, but a lock 66 FBL.
I sort of knew the gruff old dealer and mentioned to him that the
coin was undergraded. He got noticeably perturbed, told me it was perfect,
and that he had been grading coins for 40 yrs..blah, blah, blah.
Well, I bought the coin for something like $80.00.
I sent it to PCGS, got a 66 FBL, and sold it for $3,500.00. Pops were around 6 or7 at that time.

LeeG · April 25, 2005 11:23PM

Agflyer thanks for the chance! Last year when I first got into collecting I purchased some coins from one of those "Lot Sales". You know the ones where a coin is in a sealed envelope. Yeah I know don't do this. I hadn't found this great website back then. I made quite a few mistakes like this. But fortunately, this one worked out. In one of the envelopes was a 1921 Morgan $1. It looked pretty good to me so I submitted it on a "Quarterly Freebie". It came back from PCGS as MS64

So I got an MS64 Morgan $1 for a buck! Heres a link to my initial post about the coin:

1921 Morgan $1 For A Buck

busco69 · April 25, 2005 11:46PM

I found a 1872 2cent piece in an old safe that was given to me with out a key, boy was I glad I paid a lock smith 20.00 to make a key and I still have the safe to.

Shamika · April 26, 2005 12:24AM

In 1999, a bank note dealer at a coin show in Boston had a 1925-S Lincoln cent, the only coin in his case, that he had graded VF. I don't know why I was looking in his case, but when I saw the cent, I immediately noticed some mint red on the coin. Upon closer inspection, the coin turned out to be mint state with RB color. The weak strike gave the coin the appearance of a circulated cent. He wanted $8 for it and I shortly flipped it for $250.

In 2001 (I think), I was looking over some eBay auctions when I noticed an auction with the simple title "NCG Lincoln cent". Note that it DID NOT say "NGC Licoln cent" so I figured it was a typo and thus would escape any searches for "NGC". When I opened the auction, the guy was selling an NGC MS67RD 1956-P Lincoln cent which, at the time, had a population of ONE! Even better was the fact that the auction ended at around 4:00 A.M. on a weekday. Certain that virtually nobody would snipe this auction, I set my alarm clock for 3:45 A.M. and sniped the auction it for $24.

Shamika · April 26, 2005 12:32AM

MadMonk,

YOU SUCK!

Hedger · April 26, 2005 12:49AM

My most exciting memorable find came out of a Coke vending machine back in 1990 when I was not collecting. I put in a dollar bill and expected fifty cents in change. Well, I got the fifty cents but the change sounded weird so I looked at what was in my palm and to my surprise appeared a 1932 quarter in at least VF. Now, I didn't think much of it but when I got home I took a closer look. Now for the best part. It was not just a 1932 quarter but a 1932 "S" quarter! Money well spent! I got a $75 dollar coin (back then) for fifty cents and a Coke. I still have that quarter.

Agflyer · April 26, 2005 5:33AM

These sound like some great finds. For me it's stories like yours that help make coin collecting fun. Keep 'em coming. . .

Baley · April 26, 2005 5:40AM

My Big Find:

(bought as a generic 1807 in an ANACS F12 holder, couldn't really find a match in Overton...

The Story

Tootawl · April 26, 2005 5:47AM

I was looking for one of those 2004 PCGS Membership SAE slabs that had a 2001 SAE.. Most of them at the time were going for $60 to $100. I found an auction that had the slab on Ebay. It was not advertised as being the error slab but the photo sure did show it as being one. Another thing that I think helped me to get it was that it ended at 2am (east coast time). A $21 bid got me the slab that I thought would cost me three times that amount.

It pays to clean your glasses and look real close to the auction photos.

markglicker · April 26, 2005 5:50AM

My most profitable find, was a 93 Morgan Proof 66 Cam PCGS. I picked it up at the Heritage 2005 FUN auction for under $7000. Turned it a few weeks later on Ebay, for over $9k

airplanenut · April 26, 2005 6:09AM

I'll give two stories of Russ' favorite word... profit.

In May of 2003, I picked up a 1938-D buffalo, raw, with some great neon colors for $20. At the ANA show in the summer, I was literally walking it to the PCGS table to go in as a freebie when I was stopped by a dealer who knew I had the coin. Long story short, he peeled off 2 $100's, the first two I'd ever held, and he got the coin.

More recently, I picked up a half from eBay for $47... I took gamble that it would look a lot better than the picture... and did it! I told myself it wasn't for sale unless I was offered an obscene amount of money. The $400 I got for it bought me quite a lot

Jeremy

xbob · April 26, 2005 6:27AM

I bought an incomplete silver washington quarter set on eBay. I got 72 quarters for under $90. No big deal, some nice stuff and a few uncirculated, but on closer inspection the 1943S was a DDO and listed in Cherrypickers.

And another story. I bought this Maryland quarter variety set on eBay for $4. Was over-hyped by seller and supposed to include 3 different colorized/plated versions, one BU clad, and one silver proof. Everything was as described but no Silver, just a P & D clad. When I contacted the seller, he just rudely replied "Send them back". Shipping was more than I paid so I kept them. I was carding them and noticed the D was a rotated dies error, 65 degrees. It's PCGS slabbed now as MS64 Mint Error. No idea on worth but a great find for my collection.

Coinhusker1 · April 26, 2005 7:09AM

Click Here

RGL · April 26, 2005 9:48AM

I was a beginning coin collector who first decided he liked Buffalo nickels. Picking through a dealer's junk box of Buffs, nine for $2 as I recall, I came across a Fine 1914-D ... man, what a pick for a beginner. One of the keys for 25 cents! I was on Cloud Nine for months to follow... If I win, I will designate a YN as recipient...

eddieal · April 26, 2005 11:01AM

Best coin I ever owned, sold it for $1.00. Sad story. My cousin worked at local grocery store and was saving older coins for me. One day she called and had a Barber quarter. The quarter was a 1901-S Barber in probably G04 condition. I sold it to another collector that only needed this coin to fill his collection for one lousy dollar. The collector later was showing the filled folder with S showing and someone switched coins on him. Evertime I see a1901-S quarter I wonder if that is the one I once owned.

Agflyer · April 28, 2005 4:27PM

Thanks for the stories. The winner will be chosen after 8:00 pm tomorrow night. Good luck!

razorface1027 · April 28, 2005 4:42PM

Buying a four raw, supposedly slider AU, Walkers for $80.00; only to find a 46-P DDR among the four graded later by ANACS as MS-62.

Tom

p8nt · April 28, 2005 5:35PM

My best so far was being offered a state quarter here on the boards for 70 and I declined, I picked it up off eBay from the same person for 45 including shipping..

Geoman · April 28, 2005 10:35PM

Nothing big here, but my best buy was a 1932-D Washington Quarter from my local coin dealer. This was back in 2002, and the coin was a G-4. I asked him how much he wanted for the coin, and he told me $25. Said that he hasn't really been following the 32-D and 32-S, as they have been moving up in price due to the statehood quarter program. So he thought $25 might be too low, but would give it to me anyways. At the time, it was worth probably $75. So about triple what I paid.

YC · April 29, 2005 5:57AM

A about few months ago, I bought a Canadian coin for $1.50 from a local dealer's junk box. The coin is actually worth about $40 because of its variety. Somehow the dealer missed to check it. So that is the best deal for me so far.

BTW, thanks for the chance. It is interesting to share these stories.

PhillyJoe · April 29, 2005 6:49AM

Ran across a dealer selling a 1964 Proof 68 UltraCameo Accented Hair Kennedy. Pop 7 coin. Something I always wanted but they don't show up very often. Made an offer that worked for him and me. Laughingly asked to let me know when he got any more in. Said he actually had two more of the same.
HE HAD JUST RECEIVED THREE BACK FROM NGC THAT WEEK. Made a deal for those two. I will never be able to top that one.

Joe

macjeff · April 29, 2005 7:07AM

I was in junior high school when I became interested in coins. We had a coin club that met once a week, and we would have auctions once a month or so. I'd usually end up with a mid-30s to mid-50s lincoln for a quarter or less, and I think I paid 35 cents for a corroded 1943 steel cent, but my favorite was seeing a 1909 somewhere between VF & XF that some kid wanted to sell, and I noticed it had some initials on the reverse at the bottom. I knew what that meant, as I was reading everything I could in the library on numismatics, but only a couple other kids and the teacher knew what it was. I think I ran the bidding up to a dollar, maybe even a buck and a quarter before it was mine! Pretty heady experience for a 12-year-old! Plus, I still have it! It's probably worth 3 or 4 bucks by now...what a return on my investment!

carl · April 29, 2005 11:27AM

It's after 8 but I'll just say this anyway. I started collecting coins when I was a kid and put the coins in a Whitman folder without really knowing to much of what I was doing. Many, many years later I suddenly reallized I've got a Lincoln 09S VDB and a 22 plain Lincoln sitting in this book that I had no idea where or when they got there.
Also, there was a 31S, 14D and many others from when I was a kid. Just dumb luck.

Agflyer · April 29, 2005 12:33PM

Lucky for you East coasters there is still 30 minutes left. That's right, my giveaway ends at 8:00 pacific. Thanks for all the stories and good luck!!!

Darkmane · April 29, 2005 12:46PM

i have assembled a set of wheat cents (minus about 11 pieces) for 5c apiece. i have my expensive coins..... and then i have my wheat cents. that's about all i can brag about..... paying 23 bucks for a common date ms 63 morgan is not even worth mentioning for this contest with these other entries. forming about 93% of a wheat cent collection for 5 dollars was fun and challenging!

*shrugs* thanks for the chance!

gemini12398 · April 29, 2005 12:59PM

I went to the 2003 FUN show and found an 1854-s 10 dollar lib, raw for xf money (350 dollars). Sent it to ngc and it came back an au-53. Sold it for 1200 dollars and it paid for the trip and all to Florida.

Agflyer · April 29, 2005 1:36PM

Congratulations RGL!!! I put everyone's name in a hat and let my dad pick the winner. I can say that many of you truly suck

. Thanks again for the stories.

RGL · April 30, 2005 5:05AM

Thank you so much for your generosity and your kind giveaway. I'm arranging to have it benefit a YN, so please stand by for the instructions. I just won a very nice giveaway from John, so with your help, I am pleased we can help benefit a YN.

It's my turn for a giveaway too. . . Congrats RGL!

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