If you could go back to 1920 with 10,000 bucks, what would you buy?

TheLiberator · January 21, 2006 2:31AM

I am only talking in terms of coins here. No real estate etc.

Let's assume youcould then travel back into today witht he coins at today's market levels.

So....what will it be?!

Russ · January 21, 2006 2:34AM

Stocks, then I'd sell about eight years later. Then, starting in about 1930, I'd load up on rare date Saints. Keep doing that until about 1932 and then beam myself back to now.

Russ, NCNE

TheLiberator · January 21, 2006 2:40AM

<< Stocks, then I'd sell about eight years later. Then, starting in about 1930, I'd load up on rare date Saints. Keep doing that until about 1932 and then beam myself back to now.

Russ, NCNE >>

Ahhh. Avoiding the depression I see?! Very smart!

busco69 · January 21, 2006 2:43AM

I would buy proof coin and in 1936 I would buy 3000 proof sets.

DennisH · January 21, 2006 2:49AM

I'd get a boatload of 1916 Standing Liberty quarters and 1916-D dimes, try to locate some 1916/16 nickels, 1918/17 nickels, 1918/17 quarters, 1794 dollars, 1901-S quarters, an 1804 dollar or two, 1877 cents, rolls of 1909-SVDB and 1914-D cents, and some 1915 Pan-Pac $50 golds.

itsnotjustme · January 21, 2006 2:53AM

Uncirc Bank rolls of better date cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves & qtr/Half Eagles. Any proofs the mint was selling.

777 · January 21, 2006 2:54AM

I would be in San Francisco,Ca with it; purchasing all ten thousand bright Unc. freshly minted 1920s mint $20.Saints and $10 Indians

PerryHall · January 21, 2006 3:06AM

Key dates: 1916 SLQ's, 09SVDB & 1914-D cent's, 1916-D dimes, 1918/7 nickels, 1893-S morgans, etc

pursuitofliberty · January 21, 2006 3:11AM

Oh the list could go on so long ... to dream.

Without even thinking hard ... and although I'm not entirely sure I know the pricing ...

I'm pretty sure I could purchase Barbers (Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Half) in Very Choice/Gem at 10x face (or less) in 1920. That would make an entire set of each four series about $700. Five sets of each would be a nice round number and probably set me back all of $3000.

I'd also buy at least one roll of every Buffalo, Mercury, Standing Liberty and Walker minted until then ... more if I could find them ... say $1000. worth.

Five Pan-Pac sets ... probably another $1000.

With the rest I would buy every Draped Bust and Large-size Capped Bust Dimes and Quarters I could find in original AU or better.

When I got back to today, I could figure out what else I wanted because I'm sure I would be extemely wealthy wth those ;p

messydesk · January 21, 2006 3:19AM

A few unc. rolls of branch mint coins, then I'd make Col. Green an offer for his nickel collection, come back and taunt Laura.

roadrunner · January 21, 2006 3:22AM

Without giving this too much thought, go right to the banks/mint and pick up some PDS mint BU rolls - pennies, nickels, dimes.
1920-s cents and nickels would be a tough act to follow. If an area dealer had other BU- S mint cent rolls from 1916-1919 also available in roll quantity for just over face value, I'd take some of those too.

roadrunner

mnmcoin · January 21, 2006 3:30AM

To stretch the money I would buy all the low denomination key date coins possible, 1877-1909s indians...09svdb and 14d Lincolns...late date 2c and 3c pieces, 77-81 shield nicks, 85 and 86 Lib nicks, 13s type 2 buffs, Of course search high and low for the 94s Barb dime, maybe a 95 o dime or two, then some 16d mercs. Then whatever money left I would move to some 01s quarters and then some 96s and 13s quarters as well.

I would tend to shy away from any higher denoms as this will burn alot of the money...remember we need percentage increases here not $$$ increases.

morris <><

construct · January 21, 2006 3:32AM

Good responses about what would have been "modern junk" at the time. I immediately began thinking about major rarities, none of which were over 10,000 bucks at the time.

Saving more of those branch mint Saints from from the '20s from destruction by way of my own pocket sounds pretty tempting, though.

Now if I had to finish out my life starting in 1920, that would be a little different. I'd have to think harder.

Bikingnut · January 21, 2006 3:38AM

1916 SLQ's. 1909S VDB's

TAClough · January 21, 2006 3:40AM

<< Stocks, then I'd sell about eight years later. Then, starting in about 1930, I'd load up on rare date Saints. Keep doing that until about 1932 and then beam myself back to now. >>

....load up on rare date Saints. What else would you expect a Ferengi to hoard up on but gold (latinum bars or saints).

SanctionII · January 21, 2006 3:54AM

I would hold on to the cash purchase the following, beam back to the present and sell of enough of the loot to raise another $10,000.00 in cash, go back in time to pick up the next batch and repeat the process until I had all the the loot with me in 2006:

a. 250 MS rolls of the 1921S half and 250 MS rolls of the 1921D half;

b. 500 MS rolls of the 1921S dime and 500 MS rolls of the 1921D dime;

c. 20,000 MS rolls of the 1926S cent;

d. 1000 MS rolls of the 1923S quarter;

e. 500 MS 1927D Saints;

f. 1000 1933 $10.00 gold pieces acquired from the Philly Mint on the day of release;

g. 500 1933 Saints acquired from the Philly mint on the day of release;

h. 5,291 1936 Proof sets ($10,000.00/$1.89 = 5291.0052 sets) and then each following year through 1942 obtain the same amount of year's proof sets;

i. 4761 1950 proof sets ($10,000.00/$2.10 = 4761.9047 sets);

j. 10,000.00 1964D Peace dollars purchased directly from the Denver mint; and

k. 20,000 1964 Proof sets acquired in January, 1964 to maximize my chances of obtaining DCAM AH Kennedies.

Not greedy I am, huh?

roadrunner · January 21, 2006 4:05AM

I thought we were going back to 1920? 27d & 33 saints as well as 21s walkers were not born yet. The leverage in the bu penny rolls such as 20s would probably be better than say 09s vdb's and 1916 quarters. Besides the quarter starting off 25x in the hole, it probably sold for 50c or more in 1920. That would be a factor of 50X to make up. What did a 09s VDB cost in 1920? 10c? I think the 20s penny has them all beat, esp if those come out MS64RD or better.

roadrunner

clw54 · January 21, 2006 4:07AM

<< I am only talking in terms of coins here. No real estate etc.

Let's assume youcould then travel back into today witht he coins at today's market levels.

So....what will it be?! >>

I'd just get a variety of rolls, bags, any spare change I could get my hands on. That would be enough to retire on.

Numismanic · January 21, 2006 4:16AM

I'd buy rolls of 1919D & S Buffalo nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars. Buy some
rolls of better date Saints and Eagles, search for some key date coins out of circulation,
and then hit a few good coin shops and make a real killing.

pursuitofliberty · January 21, 2006 4:26AM

The interesting thing about this is, if we went back in time and just loaded up on keys, they might not be the keys now. As per my post, I'd want a good variety, not too much of any one thing ... but certainly if quality was selected, I think 10.k would be worth several million today without trying too hard.

Shamika · January 21, 2006 4:29AM

Every single 1793 chain cent I can get my hands on.

100proof1957 · January 21, 2006 4:29AM

All the high relief saints i could find !

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 5:06AM

Since the price of gold in 1920 was $21 an oz, I would be loading up on $20 gold pieces.

$10,000 / 21 = 476

476 x $555 = 264,180. (roughly) with out premiums.

Now that is only for common dates and assuming I knew nothing about the coin market today.

I once wrote a SciFi story about a time traveler who did exactly this. He could only invest money he earned then and hide his purchases to be found today. It was never published .

construct · January 21, 2006 5:15AM

<< I thought we were going back to 1920? 27d & 33 saints as well as 21s walkers were not born yet.

roadrunner >>

He didn't say how long we could stay. I figure I could stay eight years easy enough. Then when I got back, I could join AARP, and I'd have my branch mint Saints.

F117ASR · January 21, 2006 5:15AM

1884 and 1885 trade dollars. Maybe a few patterns, and if I could mangage it the 1913 V-nickle. Stellas, Gobretch Dollars, and that 1894 barber dime.

Russ · January 21, 2006 5:45AM

<< Since the price of gold in 1920 was $21 an oz, I would be loading up on $20 gold pieces.

$10,000 / 21 = 476

476 x $555 = 264,180. (roughly) with out premiums. >>

That would be a terrible return for an 85 year period. You could have realized many, many times that amount just buying the S&P.

Russ, NCNE

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 5:48AM

Yeah, Russ, but you know me. I am an ultra Conservative.

Russ · January 21, 2006 5:50AM

<< Yeah, Russ, but you know me. I am an ultra Conservative. >>

As am I, but I still wouldn't want to get slaughtered by inflation - which is what happens in your scenario.

Russ, NCNE

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 5:53AM

Heh, long time since we spared.

You are right, of course as you usually are. I just tried to respond to the original question with my caveat..
.

tsacch · January 21, 2006 5:59AM

All the 09SVDB's , 09S's I could find in roll or otherwise.....any early proof singles/sets in any denomination in high grade cameos and such....a 1913 nickle from the dude for like $1000 would be a dream......

JDelage · January 21, 2006 6:02AM

Suppose you can't take back the coins with you. You need to leave them somewhere and pick them up when you're back in 2006. What would you do? Where would you hide your hoard, and how would you pack the coins to protect them?

I would think that putting them in some kind of mineral oil, solid at normal temperature, like a hard vaseline, would work well: you would take a big metal box, melt enough vaseline to be 1 inch deep, let it congeal, carefully place as many coins as can fit without touching, then another 1" of melted vaseline, let congeal, etc, etc, etc. This would be impervious to water and other contaminants, I assume.

Then you need to burrow that somewhere where no one is going to dig or build, where there will be no mud or rock slide, preferably no big trees.... It's something of a brain tease...

DHeath · January 21, 2006 6:07AM

Modern crap......

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 6:12AM

<< once wrote a SciFi story about a time traveler who did exactly this. He could only invest money he earned then and hide his purchases to be found today. It was never published . . >>

Heh, J, did you read this?

How would you have solved that problem?

Russ · January 21, 2006 6:12AM

Or, maybe I'd see if I could find the guy who owned the sheet of these:

Russ, NCNE

carl · January 21, 2006 6:13AM

As already noted if to many rare coins were hoarded back in 1920 they would be like the 1931S Lincoln that everyone has in Unc condition and of not much value. The best thing to do would be grab a large amount of everything and put it away somewhere to be found today.
Of course there are some real problems here. WHERE could you possibly store coins, untouched for almost a hundred years and kept in undamaged condition. A bank safe deposit box might do with a hundred year pre payment account. However, not sure if there was safe deposit boxes back then. If you tried to just bring them back with you, you'ld be disrupting the time line by bringing material from the past back to the future.
Then there is the really big problem. If you go back in time with modern money, you'ld probably end up in jail for trying to pass counterfeit money. If you just took back Gold or Silver you would be acquiring it at todays prices and trying to get rid of it for 1920 prices. If you tried to buy paper money with dates prior to 1920 on them, you'ld be paying a fortune for them and again, getting very little in exchange back then. You couldn't take back modern coins either for the same reason, the dates would make them appear as fakes. Sort of like a coin with BC after the date.
So, where do we get this $10,000?

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 6:15AM

<< So, where do we get this $10,000? . >>

Like I said in my Novel.

Russ · January 21, 2006 6:31AM

Max,

You're going to need to enable your PMs so I can respond.

Russ, NCNE

thebestMAX · January 21, 2006 6:34AM

Oooops, sorry Russ.

There you go.

JDelage · January 21, 2006 6:36AM

<< As already noted if to many rare coins were hoarded back in 1920 they would be like the 1931S Lincoln that everyone has in Unc condition and of not much value. The best thing to do would be grab a large amount of everything and put it away somewhere to be found today. >>

That seems to make a lot of sense.

<< Of course there are some real problems here. WHERE could you possibly store coins, untouched for almost a hundred years and kept in undamaged condition. A bank safe deposit box might do with a hundred year pre payment account. However, not sure if there was safe deposit boxes back then. >>

I agree - it's a problem. See my post above on the subject. I think a bank safe deposit box would get cleared during the 30's - so many banks went under or were acquired by others. Who knows what would happen with your stuff.

<< If you just took back Gold or Silver you would be acquiring it at todays prices and trying to get rid of it for 1920 prices. >>

An ounce of gold is worth an ounce of gold - I'm not sure what you're concerned about here. If by 'prices', you refer to the $553 you'd pay now vs. the $21 then, they're not the same dollars.

Russ · January 21, 2006 6:40AM

<< An ounce of gold is worth an ounce of gold - I'm not sure what you're concerned about here. If by 'prices', you refer to the $553 you'd pay now vs. the $21 then, they're not the same dollars. >>

But, if you buy $10,000 worth of gold today and take it with you to 1920 you have less than $400 to spend accumulating your rare coins.

Russ, NCNE

JDelage · January 21, 2006 6:51AM

<< But, if you buy $10,000 worth of gold today and take it with you to 1920 you have less than $400 to spend accumulating your rare coins. >>

Yeah, that's the whole point about inflation... $400 was a lot of money back then. it's possible that gold is more plentiful these days, with the better mining technology & access to the South African gold, but since demand is higher too, it must be a wash.

I suppose one could find modern made products that were unavailable in 1920 and would fetch much more than $400. Say, $10,000 of Penicilin would take you very, very, very far. Or $10,000 of titanium, aluminum, or even highly refined tool steel. What about some modern, highly resistant seeds - who knows where $10,000 worth of transgenic corn might take you.

In fact, if you're planning on living there a few years, the best thing to bring might be a few carefully chosen industrial processes (e.g., drug fabrication techniques, synthetic rubber, location of major oil fields, aluminum extraction & refining, etc).

Of course, that would play major havoc with history.

Russ · January 21, 2006 7:05AM

<< I suppose one could find modern made products that were unavailable in 1920 and would fetch much more than $400. >>

That's what I was thinking, but then you have all kinds of worries about upsetting timelines, paradox's, etc. This time travel is tricky stuff.

Russ, NCNE

JDelage · January 21, 2006 7:10AM

<< This time travel is tricky stuff. >>

The understatement of the centuries...

Bailey1977 · January 21, 2006 7:13AM

Everyone has good ideas. Me I would buy every coin in the barber design.

SanctionII · January 21, 2006 7:13AM

As far as how to come up with $10,000.00 today that would be acceptable to the folks back in 1920, my suggestion is to go to current day suppliers of old low grade coins. You could acquire 20,000 common AG barber halves and pay bullion price for them (i.e. 6 times face). That would mean $60K today to buy $10K face of old money.

Since this hypothetical assumes that you can transport your money to 1920 with no problem, then I would not even use old silver. I would acquire $10K in face value of low grade common Liberty and Buffalo nickels (at 7 cents each? or maybe even at face value); go back in time, spend some time turning in your old AG nickels for new pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, dollars and gold coins. Nip on back to 2006 and become a "Big Time Playa" in today's market.

D · January 21, 2006 8:01AM

1913 Liberty V Nickels, 1804 Dollars, 1884/1885 Trade Dollars, Chain Cents. Just one of each of these in BU condition today(Except the chain cent) would bring a much better return than investing in 20$ gold coins at the time. Not only would you not possibly damage the market on key date coins, but you'd have a much smaller collection of super rarities.

Any leftover money could go to "Modern Poop" of the era, IE: 1916 Standing Lib Quarters, 1916-D Mercs, 09S 09S-VDB pennies...etc.

-Daniel

Outhaul · January 21, 2006 8:06AM

In this order:

The 1913 Lib nickels
Dahlonega gold
Territorial gold
all the Saints I could after that

Conder101 · January 21, 2006 4:25PM

For $10,000 in 1920 you could probably buy most of the 1804 dollars that weren't already permanantly locked up in museums, incuding the King of Siam set. Although for that one you'd have to track down Anna's family since it wasn't known yet at that time.

Oh and Russ, that sheet of stamps you want was owned by Col Green.

And in 1920 Samuel Brown still had all five 1913 V nickels which when he sold them he got $600 for them. You could buy the full set and still have $9,300 left (Although you must consider that if you did that you would lose over 80 years of hype and stories that have created all the "mystique" that has given them all their value today. Would a 1913 V nickel really be worth that much today without all the history? Sure they would still be rare, but there are many US coins that are as rare or rarer than the 1913, and they don't bring anywhere near as much money of interest today because they don't have the stories. No Col Green, no Eliasberg, no King Farouk, no Max Mehl ads, no yars of setting one new record price after another, no missing coin and 40 years of speculating about where it is = no great interest. Instead of being worth millions, maybe tens of thousands, maybe a few hundred thousand. (Think 1870-S half dime)

TheLiberator · January 21, 2006 10:49PM

VERY interesting answers! I especially like all of the the wondering about the space time continuim. We are visionaries around here!

jayboxx · January 22, 2006 12:56AM

Heck, take $10,000 worth of modern scientific books back, or just download a ton of information from the internet and print it out. Think how much modern medical information alone would be worth to the right people, throw in information on modern tooling, transportation, weapons, etc...

BaronVonBaugh · January 22, 2006 1:03AM

If I could do time travel. I would want to go back and get to know the first mint director. Arrange with him to get the first fifty coins struck everytime the dies are changed from every mint. Just keep doing it with every mint director. Go back once a year with gold bricks to pay for all the coins plus an extra for the mint director for the help. Just make the first stop a few years ago to pick up the bricks when they were cheaper.

By the way if you have a way to do time travel the polite thing to do is to give me two of those fifty coins for the suggestion!!! LOL

Robert

If you could go back to 1920 with 10,000 bucks, what would you buy?

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