Your most breathtaking numistmatic experience?

barbershopper · October 23, 2008 12:22PM

Mine is easy. I was around 13 or 14.
1950 or so, I went with my parents to Florida on the way to Key West and Cuba.
We checked into a motel in northern FL for the night.
I have no idea how the subject came up but the owner found out I collected coins.
He proceded to reach under the counter and came up with 3 albums.
He opened them and spread them out facing me.
Things after that are sort of blurry in my memory.
They were completely full and were 3 cent silver and nickel and half dimes.
Each and every coin looked like it was BU. They may have been polished but don't know.
I was dumbfounded to say the least.
I don't know if he had all the half dime series but that didn't matter to me.
I just remember thinking they were the most beautiful things I had ever seen!
They let me look at them for about a half hour and then told me we had to get up
early in the morning. I could've spent all night just looking at them.
I've thought about those coins many times wondering what they would be worth today.
I guess I'll never know.
Does anybody have anything similar to tell us?
JET

mgoodm3 · October 23, 2008 12:32PM

Photographing tahoedale's bust halves.

Goldbully · October 23, 2008 12:36PM

speety · October 23, 2008 12:36PM

My initial reaction to this question was to answer with the various coins that some of my dealer friends have handed me to look at, many in the hundereds of thousands of dollars. But then I remembered some of the coins i have been able to photograph and handle more closely. But neither of these are my answer.

Meeting and interacting withe forum members have to be my best and most breathtaking experience. I've had multiple forum members send me 4-digit coins to photograph with little more than a conversation between us. I also formed a relationship with Legend, who i know use for all my auction bidding that i cannot be present for. But the highlight was meeting Oreville, TooTawl, Stewart Blay and others at a show. It was great to finally put a face with a name.

My highlight will be when i am finally able to meet up with TDN at a show. As the 'God' of my focus series and a friend that I have made through here, it is a meeting I am looking foreward to no matter how far off it may be.

Barndog · October 23, 2008 12:52PM

I viewed the Law Collection of Capped Bust Half Dimes at the Legend table ANA 2008. He wins, those were the best CBHDs I have ever or will ever see

Goldbully · October 23, 2008 12:55PM

<< I viewed the Law Collection of Capped Bust Half Dimes at the Legend table ANA 2008. He wins, those were the best CBHDs I have ever or will ever see >>

I saw them also....INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to saintguru, who personally showed me that table!!!!

CoinJunkie · October 23, 2008 1:52PM

Probably the first time I ever attended a coin show (Long Beach) and saw all that
high end material in one place.

Also, seeing the Cardinal Collection of Bust dollars on display at the PCGS table at LB
several years ago made a huge impression.

Cladiator · October 23, 2008 1:59PM

Watching a beat up, holed coin I was selling go from just a few dollars to over $1800 in the last 1 minute of the auction and then finding out later it was actually worth 5 digits.

Halfsense · October 23, 2008 2:23PM

It was 12:30 a.m., July 30, 2003, in a security room of the Baltimore Convention Center just hours before the start of that year's ANA World's Fair of Money. After anxiously waiting outside the room for about 20 minutes with a niece and nephew of George Walton, I was summoned to go back inside.

As I entered the room I saw the exhausted but ecstatic looks on the faces of David Hall, Fred Weinberg, Jeff Garrett, John Dannreuther, Paul Montgomery, Mark Borkardt and Larry Lee. Garrett was giving me a grinning, thumbs up. The group had just concluded a secret, midnight-meeting examination of the five 1913 Liberty Head nickels -- together for the first time in over 60 years -- and everyone agreed that the Walton nickel was, indeed, the long "lost" fifth coin. It had been unaccounted for in the hobby since Walton's 1962 death in a car crash from which the coin was recovered unharmed, still in the holder Walton had custom made for it. The now mutli-million dollar nickel had been kept in a strong box on the floor of a closet at his sister's home in Virginia for over 40 years.

-donn-

SmallEagle · October 23, 2008 2:42PM

Seeing the Husak collection of large cents at the 2007 ANA and actually bidding for three of them by phone. And yes, winning one.

Tootawl · October 23, 2008 2:49PM

Easy... ANA 2008 Baltimore at the PCGS Lunch. I was awarded the Best Austrailian Coin Registry Set, Best British Coin Registry Set, and Best Low Ball Currency Set.

That was cool.

Baley · October 23, 2008 2:53PM

Seeing this image confirmed the discovery of a new die (not just an new pairing, but a previously undescribed obverse die which had previously gone undetected for 196 years. It's a moment I'll never forget.

The two coins overlaid (with two opposing stars and the portrait aligned) are Nysoto's O-104 and my O-115

This was at the June 2004 Long Beach show, Sheridan Downey's table with Steve Hermann, Bill Nyberg, and many other luminaries

and lil ole me, wide eyed and grinning, heart thudding in my chest.
David Lange had it put in this holder

Coin World wrote it up

and now it's listed in the new PCGS registry as a 6.00, whatever that means

mkman123 · October 23, 2008 3:23PM

guys what is the deal with the 1855 cent that the person posted above????

BillyKingsley · October 23, 2008 5:42PM

Carrying the family spending change jar up the stairs to my room on four seperate occasions

It weighs about 20 pounds.

Seriously, though, I don't think I've had my most breathtaking experience yet. I imagine it will come at Coinfest-I've never seen more then about 1000 coins total at one time in my life.

ccmorgan · October 23, 2008 7:54PM

When I was a teen back in the 70's. Our family went on vacation back to NY to visit relatives that we moved away from in '68. It wasn't the first time visiting back to the Island since then.
But this time was special because while sitting around with the grand parents coin collecting came up. Yes I was into coin collecting and my grand father said I have some coins I've been saving since the early 1900's. He went and got them. 2 small bank bags that zipped closed full of morgan and peace silver dollars. I was in complete awe!!
Never saw so many silver dollars at once. Now I would guess maybe 100-150 of them. I looked at them for a while just wishing I could have one. But knew better then to ask.
20 or so years later when my grandfather passed I asked my aunt and grandmother if the silver dollars were still around. No they were not. It turns out my grandfather cashed them in, in early 1980? when the Hunt brothers cornered the market.

Needless to say I've been possessed with morgans ever since.

To this day I wish I had at least 1 of them for sentimental value if nothing else. My grandfather was a famous man back in the first half of the century. But that's another story.

ColonialCoinUnion · October 23, 2008 9:25PM

Probably holding 7 Higleys at one time during Stack's Ford II Auction lot viewing, with holding 4 New England Shillings at one time during the Ford XII lot viewing a close second.

kryptonitecomics · October 23, 2008 10:00PM

Viewing Heritage auction coin lots at the Fun show a few years back and having David Poole have a stack of really expensive coins squirt out of his hands and fly everywhere......then having security bum rush us

I thought a tassing would insue or something so I just kept my hands up as david bent over the pick all the coins from the floor. I believe these were all high grade drapped bust halves so we are talking a lot of money........it sure did provide some laughs for us after the fact

Breath taking.....heck no I almost soiled myself

LeeG · October 23, 2008 10:17PM

Every time I send in a submission it's always a breathtaking numismatic experience for me.

TwoSides2aCoin · October 23, 2008 10:41PM

Setting up the last Token show for the Omaha Coin Club didn't really take my breath away, but they tried.

Veep · October 23, 2008 10:54PM

Early in my career as a dealer, as I was sitting down in a couple's family room and flipping through albums of BU commems, proof three cent nickels, proof shield nickels, proof liberty nickels, proof two cent pieces, and more it was indeed breathtaking. They had inherited the coins from her father. There were bags of Buffalo Nickels (one which produced a 3-Leg in XF), Liberty Nickels (one which produced an 1885), multiple 1877 and other key date Indians, and on and on. There was a set of SLQs which was missing the 1916. As I was telling them about the rarity of the missing coin, I picked up a second SLQ album and there, like a flashlight, was the prettiest 1916 I had ever seen beaming up at me. PCGS later slabbed it as MS66 and Heritage sold it for them at FUN for $29,900.
That album also had an MS65 1927-S and many, many more high grade and toned beauties.

All in all the collection brought them about $150,000. I bought some of it outright and put close to a hundred coins through PCGS and Heritage for which I charged them a 5% commission. I got Heritage to pay them hammer plus 3%. They were amazed and delighted and thanked me for helping them through it. I don't think I'll ever have an experience like that again.

CoinJunkie · October 23, 2008 11:13PM

<< and now it's listed in the new PCGS registry as a 6.00, whatever that means >>

Not sure, but it's gotta be better than being listed that way in the Price Guide...

Broadstruck · October 23, 2008 11:50PM

<<

>>

Thanx Goldbully!

AnkurJ · October 24, 2008 12:11AM

Holding these two ladies in my hands.

Ankur

coindeuce · October 24, 2008 12:14AM

Submitting an 1844-O WB-102 Seated Half to PCGS that became the first of that date to be graded MS-64, with none higher at the time.

Stew · October 24, 2008 12:31AM

Mine was just recently. A friend of mine who is just starting collecting and I were at a local coin shop, and we were looking through some Peace dollars that he was interested in. He was having me look them over for him to help him pick the finest ones for his collection. when a fairly hard bag hit but still beautiful 1927 came up I was looking over it and noticed some doubling in the LIBERTY and in TRUST also a small amount through IN GOD WE. I pointed out to him that this is one of them that you want to purchase. he looked at it under my glass and said "I don't like it" then I pointed out the doubling and he still did not want it, I set it to the side and went through ten more coins for him, and picked out two for his set that he was satisfied with. I then readdressed the 1927 with him and he still refused it even through the price I thought was very reasonable under $35.00. we spent the next half an hour having go through some morgans for him and picked out a few and we were good to go. I pointed out the attributes of the 1927 Peace again to him and yet again he still refused to purchase it. I looked at the shop owner and asked him what was his lowest price he would take for that coin, Amazingly he came down ten dollars on it. I looked and my friend pointed out the good points of the coin once again and he still was not interested. So I said to the shop owner I'll take that one myself. I felt like he had me there for advice so I should not purchase coins that we were looking at for him. But at that price the coin was not going to be in the shop for long.

Julian · October 24, 2008 12:49AM

August, 1973, Springfield, TN, when I first viewed the Wilkison collection of US gold patterns. My colleague, Mike Brownlee and myself were given permission to sell the collection, which ultimately was sold to Paramount International of OH, within a few weeks.

We offered the collection to at least three individuals including Harry W. Bass, Jr., Rogers M. Fred, Jr., and Rudy Sieck. None of those three wanted to pull the trigger for $825,000. for the entire collection. Paramount did and the rest is history.

joecopper · October 24, 2008 2:37AM

Buying my first rarity (1916 SLQ) and meeting Eric Newman at St. Louis EAC

SethChandler · October 24, 2008 3:14AM

No doubt, its the people, the coins are secondary.

MidLifeCrisis · October 24, 2008 3:17AM

Selling most of my collection of popular key date coins for a true rarity - a copper Myddelton Token.

It marked a major shift in my collecting focus and was a little like the first time I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane...scary as hell, but a LOT of fun and worth it in the end.

RyGuy · October 24, 2008 3:23AM

<< Buying my first rarity (1916 SLQ) and meeting Eric Newman at St. Louis EAC >>

I've yet to purchase a rarity, key date, what have you. Granted, the 1916 SLQ is a true rarity, my question is, what qualifies a coin as a rarity? Obviously, a Stella, 1856 Flying Eagle, etc. are known as rarities, but would any of you consider say, a 1921 Mercury Dime as a rarity or just strike it up as a key date and nothing more?

joecopper · October 24, 2008 7:37AM

If the hole was plugged in a Whitman folder when I was a kid.

Seriously - if it has low mintage, is extremely difficult to obtain, and likely is a stretch to buy it. It the major stumbling block to completing a collection.

A 1796 Half Cent is a rarity. It was actually tougher finding a nice O/D SLQ than the 16.

I do not consider S-VDB a rarity. 1921 Merc is scarce. 13-S Buffalo is scarce.

I am sure that there other opinions.

derryb · October 24, 2008 7:39AM

GBully, takes my breath away too. thanks for sharing. Now that's what I call slabability.
I do see one flaw with it however; it seems to be a bit undergraded!

derryb · October 24, 2008 7:51AM

"what qualifies a coin as a rarity?"

Loving it, but not being able to afford it. Coins and women, somewhat more alike than you think!

ernie11 · October 24, 2008 9:37PM

Over 30 years ago when I went to the Smithsonian and first saw their numismatic collection. Totally amazing to me.

Cameonut · October 24, 2008 11:42PM

Four years ago I found multiple 1961 Doubled Die Reverse Franklins in some unopened proof sets! I had been looking for one for years. Needless to say when I saw the first one, my heart started pounding. To find more was a real treat. The adrenaline rush lasted for weeks.

Here are some pics of two:

barbershopper · October 25, 2008 12:34AM

<< Over 30 years ago when I went to the Smithsonian and first saw their numismatic collection. Totally amazing to me. >>

Absolutely. I've been to D. C. 4 times and always went there first.

Was that when they had them in vertically revolving trays that you controlled with a button?
They don't display them like that way any more. They're behind glass with only
a few of the rarest ones.

Plus there was a room with one wall containing a collection of gold behind glass.
All series and mostly complete. It was there on loan so don't know if it's still available.

I've enjoyed reading all the stories submitted so far and would like to see more.

JET

2manycoins2fewfunds · October 25, 2008 12:36AM

For me it was 1963 and I was 15 Y.O. and at summer camp.
The the cabin head had a small can of change and in it I found a 1914-D.
Highly worn.
For a YN with a album to fill it was a memorable moment.
More memorable when the guy who knew nothing about coins wouldn't let me keep it.

TwoSides2aCoin · October 25, 2008 1:04AM

Laura on the boards had me gasping for air a few times.

DoUPlayOnePocket · October 25, 2008 1:23AM

Once a year, I'd go to Las Vegas for 10-12 days to play in the pool tournaments at the Riviera. The Riv had one particular $1 slot machine with a very, very large glass case mounted on top of it. The jackpot for that slot was $100,000, and the glass case held 100,000 silver dollars. They were all Morgan and Peace dollars. There were no Ikes or Eagles in it because I made it a point to ask about it. Most of the dollars that I could see from the four-sided view looked to be in AU condition, and there was even an 1893 and 1894 that were visible. I made it a point to set aside $200 every year just to play this machine, and whenever I had good luck on some other machine or at the craps table, part of it would go into this machine. I came close on only one occasion when two of the jackpot symbols stopped on the payline and the third was just barely visible at the top of the third reel. I always fantasized about winning that jackpot just for the opportunity of searching those dollars. One year when I arrived, I found that the machine was gone and I never boihered to ask if the jackpot had been hit or if they just removed it.

Chris

RWB · October 25, 2008 1:38AM

Discovering two completely unsuspected gold patterns and the documentation to support them, plus documents verifying a third suspected gold pattern.

19Lyds · October 25, 2008 1:53AM

<< Watching a beat up, holed coin I was selling go from just a few dollars to over $1800 in the last 1 minute of the auction and then finding out later it was actually worth 5 digits. >>

I'm thinking that the HoleyOne (LordMarcovan) lost a few more breaths than you on that particular turn of events!

… · October 25, 2008 7:44AM

my first vam discovery. Shattered the record for youngest person to discover a new one by two years, at the age of 16 (which i still am).

Unknown · October 25, 2008 7:50AM

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Coxe · October 25, 2008 7:58AM

Receiving both my 1892-O and 1901 DMPL in the mail at the same time. The 1892-O remains my absolute favorite coin. The 1901 is singular in its rarity as the unique certifed DMPL of the date. I sold both of them this year. More collectors need to own and appreciate them. I sure did. I'll say though that receiving them was even more (though perhaps only slightly) more euphoric than the moment I won the second of the two (the 1901) in auction.

CoinRaritiesOnline · October 25, 2008 8:17AM

Early in my career as a dealer, I bought a collection that had a nearly complete set of (classic) silver commems. For many issues, there were multiple examples.

What made it special is that most of the collection was in the original, UNOPENED packages from the mint. All were addressed to the same person. He just never bothered to open them. I paid a hefty premium for the collection, but I felt it was very justified.

Well, it was quite a thrill to carefully open each package, slide out the original folder that each coin had resided in for several decades, and be the first person to view those coins since the day they were shipped from the mint. It brings a smile to my face even now to be reminded of that feeling.

A few of the coins were toned in a so-so manner. Most of the coins, however, were toned in absolutely fabulous colors. It was fairly early in the advent of the grading services, but I sent the best 100-200 (I can't remember how many were worthy of slabbing) in to PCGS.

The funny thing was -- about 1/3 of those coins came back in body bags for "artificial toning"! Oh well -- nobody's perfect.

golfer72 · October 25, 2008 9:42AM

Great thread. Really enjoyed the grandfather with the Morgan bag and the Commen hoard stories.

abitofthisabitofthat · October 25, 2008 10:18AM

Mine was on Saturday, 8/25/08 at about 8:15pm. Reading Saintguru's description of a personal tour of the Smithsonian coin vault.

I can't imagine what it was actually like to be there.

barbershopper · October 25, 2008 1:54PM

<< Mine was on Saturday, 8/25/08 at about 8:15pm. Reading Saintguru's description of a personal tour of the Smithsonian coin vault.

I can't imagine what it was actually like to be there. >>

I have to agree with you on that one!!! I've been to D.C. 4 times in my life and always headed for the coin display first.
Only saw the 1849 double eagle once. Behind plate glass.
Just can't imagine holding any of those coins in my hand!!
That has to have been the mother of all dreams!
JET

ernie11 · October 25, 2008 5:53PM

<< 

<< Over 30 years ago when I went to the Smithsonian and first saw their numismatic collection. Totally amazing to me. >>

Absolutely. I've been to D. C. 4 times and always went there first.

Was that when they had them in vertically revolving trays that you controlled with a button? They don't display them like that way any more. They're behind glass with only a few of the rarest ones.

Plus there was a room with one wall containing a collection of gold behind glass.
All series and mostly complete. It was there on loan so don't know if it's still available.

I've enjoyed reading all the stories submitted so far and would like to see more.

JET >>

I can't recall if there were rotating trays, remember cases and a wall display. Seeing all those gold coins was overwhelming. Also the 1913 Liberty nickel and the 1804 silver dollar. Refresh my memory - do they own an 1822 half eagle? I can't remember if I saw it there.

barbershopper · October 25, 2008 11:49PM

<< 

<< 

<< Over 30 years ago when I went to the Smithsonian and first saw their numismatic collection. Totally amazing to me. >>

Absolutely. I've been to D. C. 4 times and always went there first.

Was that when they had them in vertically revolving trays that you controlled with a button? They don't display them like that way any more. They're behind glass with only a few of the rarest ones.

Plus there was a room with one wall containing a collection of gold behind glass.
All series and mostly complete. It was there on loan so don't know if it's still available.

I've enjoyed reading all the stories submitted so far and would like to see more.

JET

I can't recall if there were rotating trays, remember cases and a wall display. Seeing all those gold coins was overwhelming. Also the 1913 Liberty nickel and the 1804 silver dollar. Refresh my memory - do they own an 1822 half eagle? I can't remember if I saw it there.

I'm sorry Ernie but I've never collected gold except for my Stella and 1907 high relief twenty.
Therefore, I don't know much about individual dates and can't answer your question.
JET

Your most breathtaking numistmatic experience?

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