Grandma's Attic...

Danegeld · August 19, 2005 4:25AM

Has anyone ever actually found valuable coins in your Grandma's attic or basement and offered them for sale as such "Fantastic Find In Granny's Attic...) or something like that?

Take Care
Ben

poorguy · August 19, 2005 4:39AM

There is a jar of gold coins buried underneath my late grandfather's driveway.

SmallSizedGuy · August 19, 2005 5:16AM

The timing of your post could not be better...

A few months ago I received about $200 face in change from my aunt that was thrown in shoe boxes during the 1960s. This morning, I decided to go through it. Found $92+ in silver - nothing rare. Best coin was a 1907 Barber half in good, the only Barber in the group. Lots of well worn SL quarters with no dates, AG-VG SL halves. All the Mercury dimes were common dates.

Going through the nickels, the best coin was a 1938-S nickel. A lot of partial date and no date Buffalo nickels. Found about one roll of war nickels.

Best wheat cent was a 1924-S in VF.

So, to sum it all up, if it wasn't for the silver, there was not much in the group.

Danegeld · August 19, 2005 5:21AM

<< The timing of your post could not be better...

A few months ago I received about $200 face in change from my aunt that was thrown in shoe boxes during the 1960s. This morning, I decided to go through it. Found $92+ in silver - nothing rare. Best coin was a 1907 Barber half in good, the only Barber in the group. Lots of well worn SL quarters with no dates, AG-VG SL halves. All the Mercury dimes were common dates.

Going through the nickels, the best coin was a 1938-S nickel. A lot of partial date and no date Buffalo nickels. Found about one roll of war nickels.

Best wheat cent was a 1924-S in VF.

So, to sum it all up, if it wasn't for the silver, there was not much in the group. >>

That's pretty neat. Very Cool

Cladiator · August 19, 2005 5:23AM

<< There is a jar of gold coins buried underneath my late grandfather's driveway. >>

So why aren't you on top of his driveway with a jackhammer?

TorinoCobra71 · August 19, 2005 5:24AM

Negative - Wish I had though.......

TorinoCobra71

Mitchell · August 19, 2005 5:27AM

Several years ago, I received a VF/XF 1912-S Barber nickel out of a random pile of change from the estate of a friend of my grandparents.

I still have it.

AlixTCat · August 19, 2005 5:30AM

My grandfather was an avid coin collector all through the 20's on until he died in 1968. He had a 2 ton safe dropped into his basement before the house was built. It was FULL of fantastic coins. When my grandmother died, my father, who had been taking care of her, sold the lot to some local coin dealer for a pawltry sum. None of the grandkids were in her will. I am the only coin collector in the family. My dad knew that. But instead of giving or selling the collection to me, he went the other way. So, grandma's basement truly held some gems. Unfortunately, my dad's a dick and didn't give them or sell them to me. (yes, I brought it up before she died and after she died. he probably thought all I cared about was the coins)

Jonathan

DRUNNER · August 19, 2005 5:33AM

By the nature of mintages . . and what is "common" v. rare, you would expect to see a majority of relatively common stuff in most 'accumulations'.

I know . . . as an ANA Sectional Rep I get a lot of requests to preview these piles of 'stuff' prior to the obligatory trip to the local coin shops. EVERYONE thinks they have a half roll of 1901-S quarters and a few S-VDB's . . .and is shocked when they just have pounds and pounds of Ag-G Mercs from 1934 on.

I did find a nice S-VDB for a fellow teacher once . . . XF40 . . punched into a Whitman in the wrong hole. Same guy had a BU original ROLL of 1949-S Frankies. But most of the rest was typical . .

DRUNNER

partagas · August 19, 2005 5:44AM

About to open a time capsule, from my Grandfather. When he was a small child he and his brother and sister placed some coins in a jar. This jar was poured into the foundation of the farm house addition. Time frame was arond 1910. Grandpa bought the farm from his family and had lived there all his life. He died in 2000 he was 95 and Grandma passed in 2002 she was 89.

My aunt and uncle bought the place, after my Grandma died. They farm the land and use the barns. They are going to build a new home and decided the old one had to go. Currently the fire department is using the home for practice as we speek. On the August 27th The whole thing will come down. My mothers side of the family (she is one of six kids) will all be there. About 65 of us to watch it go.

Needless to say we will be breaking into the corner where the capsule is laden. Supposedly he told me they put 3 Indian Cents in the corner. Along with what else, I don't know. But I will certainly post pics, if we find what we are looking for.

Hopefully, they left a note of some sort. I wish that more then a rare coin. It will be neat to see what a 5 year old boy did in 1910.

boyhowdy · August 19, 2005 10:24AM

We went through my grandfathers stuff after he passed away and found a handful
of old US coins. Oldest was a beatup 1869 IHC. My dad told me that was the year his dad's father was born.
That's what got me started on giving out birth year sets to my family.

Steve

Artist · August 19, 2005 10:42AM

My Dad gave me a cache of coins when I was kid, that he had put away when he was a kid. Circulated pieces included Frankies, WLHs, Buffalos & Mercs, as well as two well worn Barbers. There were about a dozen Morgans that his Dad had won in Vegas in the 50s - the oldest being an 83-S in EF. The most unusual piece was a circulated Long Island half. Total value of coins = $100 to $200 (before we polished them that is!) But those coins did start me in numismatics.

My 91 year old grandmother on the other hand is still bitter that FDR made her turn in all her gold coins.

Danegeld · August 19, 2005 10:50AM

<< My 91 year old grandmother on the other hand is still bitter that FDR made her turn in all her gold coins. >>

Funny, you should mention that. My Grandfather saved two $20 double eagles. He sold 10 acres of land in Nacogdoches County, Texas and the buyer paid cash. I got em' both! Oh what a dollar could buy in the 20's...

Ben

Bikingnut · August 19, 2005 11:38AM

Found this recently in a sandwhich bag of Indian head pennies that belonged to my fathers uncle. I dumped them in a bowl of water to try and remove some of the crud. It was the first one I pulled out of the bowl.

poorguy · August 19, 2005 11:41AM

<< 

<< There is a jar of gold coins buried underneath my late grandfather's driveway. >>

So why aren't you on top of his driveway with a jackhammer? >>

Because it's not my driveway.

Danegeld · August 19, 2005 11:46AM

<< Found this recently in a sandwhich bag of Indian head pennies that belonged to my fathers uncle. I dumped them in a bowl of water to try and remove some of the crud. It was the first one I pulled out of the bowl.

>>

SON-OF-A-%#@*&!!!!!!

Shamika · August 19, 2005 11:54AM

<< About to open a time capsule, from my Grandfather. When he was a small child he and his brother and sister placed some coins in a jar. This jar was poured into the foundation of the farm house addition. Time frame was arond 1910. Grandpa bought the farm from his family and had lived there all his life. He died in 2000 he was 95 and Grandma passed in 2002 she was 89.

My aunt and uncle bought the place, after my Grandma died. They farm the land and use the barns. They are going to build a new home and decided the old one had to go. Currently the fire department is using the home for practice as we speek. On the August 27th The whole thing will come down. My mothers side of the family (she is one of six kids) will all be there. About 65 of us to watch it go.

Needless to say we will be breaking into the corner where the capsule is laden. Supposedly he told me they put 3 Indian Cents in the corner. Along with what else, I don't know. But I will certainly post pics, if we find what we are looking for.

Hopefully, they left a note of some sort. I wish that more then a rare coin. It will be neat to see what a 5 year old boy did in 1910. >>

Partagas,

We can't wait to hear what you find. Keep us posted!

coinandcurrency242 · August 19, 2005 12:27PM

When I was little my Grandpa gave me a treasure chest with some coins in it! Also, it had a treasure map

ritepath · August 19, 2005 12:34PM

My grand parents were sooooo poor if they had an extra penny they knew where it was and spent it. Last year a guy was using a metal detector on the "old home place" where their home was. I went over and told him he was wasting his time, if they lost a nickel the looked until it was found. needless to say he found nothing but junk.

ccex · August 19, 2005 12:52PM

My interest in coins began in 1967 at age 8 when I helped my parents clean out the house where my Mom was born 40 years earlier. That old house (built in 1887) had been inhabited solely by my eccentric great aunt since 1953, when my great grandmother died. My grandmother had lived in the converted barn next door since 1932, conveniently marrying a mailman named Barnes.

My parents convinced great aunt Anita to take a nice vacation in Italy so we could do housecleaning postponed for 15 years, so that she could sell the family mansion and retire from her 50 cent/hr. babysitting career. Aunt 'Nita saved used Kleenex, 1936 roadmaps, and lots of matchbooks from local businesses, but not many coins. She had boldly painted the staircase going up to the attic in yellow letters, screaming "Hello, Every Buddy", and enjoyed entertaining Trick-orTreaters in the basement, where she kept her appendix -removed in 1927 - pickled in a Mason Jar. There weren't very many valuables left in the attic after 30 years of my eccentric and turusting aunt inviting every kid in town there to see the view from the highest window downtown. Downstairs, we found lots of vinegar, carabolic acid, and some good documentary postage stamps from before WWI (great Grandpa was the local Probate Jude until 1932), but precious few coins. The family's keepsake Liberty head half eagle probably left with an unscrupulous antique dealer who pocketed it when Aunt 'Nita had trusted him for an appraisal of the accumulated debris in the early '60s. Still, my Mom found a leather pouch with 60 to 70 circulated Indian Head Cents in the dining room the day when we had finally cleared a path to walk though that room's mountain of Life and Look magaizines, used Kleenex, and matchbooks. Most of the IHCs were VG-F, with 80% after 1900, and nothing before 1995. I still have a 1901 AU IHC in an aluminum ring engraved with a lucky horseshoe bearing the name of a local drugstore, who said "keep this and you'll never go broke".

In the '60s aunt "Nita began hoarding Kennedy halves. I still have her pouch of about 60 from 1964-1967. They were worth more when we found them, and it would have made fiscal sense to have sold the pouch in early 1980, but Aunt Nita's Kennedy hoard still remains with me today. Maybe some day my wife and I will have an attic in which our 2.5-year-old grandson can play and dig through.

Grandma's Attic...

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