You know that dream when you discover a collection?
Weiss
Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
Our local county history museum was on the verge of collapse recently. The board had grown old, a little out of touch, causing membership to decline, which led to a downward spiral over the last decade. I and several other "younger" people were asked to join and shake things up. That included removing virtually everything currently on display, which I and the other new members have been doing ever since.
A couple of nights ago the new president of the board emailed to ask if I'd take a look at a coin collection. Shocked me, because I've seen almost everything in the museum over the last several months. Turns out this collection was given to us about 16 years ago, promptly locked in a safe, and forgotten.
I showed up last night before our scheduled board meeting with my Red book, loupe, and a pack of non-PVC flips expecting as I'm sure most of us would a collection of worn steel cents, some parade tokens and medals from the 1970s, etc.
The president opened the safe and began taking out binders. Great, I thought. They looked like the kind of "US Postal Society" first day cover collections you see on late night TV and home shopping channels. Brown cover, matching set of maybe 8 or 10 binders.
I opened the first one and...
And then
And then
And then
Page after page, binder after binder of some of the most interesting coins and coin-related items I'd ever seen in person.
Turns out the donor had been a world traveler, and his focus had been the most interesting things people around the world and throughout history had used as money. Corwry shells, trade beads, bullet money. Katanga crosses, siege money, knife money, wire money, arrowheads. Tok, sycee, cash, porcelain gambling tokens, encased postage, money trees. Everything documented, carefully copper-wired into the pages of these binders.
And a few pieces, like "sword money" and pieces like this:
Simply too large to be included in the binders.
A partial inventory:
My immediate gut reaction was that it couldn't all be real. Way too much of the stuff we read about as kids to be authentic. But the US die, the US silver bars certainly are. The few other pieces I'm familiar with looked real. They don't have that "made for collector" look at all.
So...
Thoughts? Real? Fake?
Ever seen pre-manufactured binders like these of reproductions that would dispell the entire collection? If not, thoughts to value based on the partial inventory above? Anything jump out as incredibly rare that warrants larger/better images (noting that I only snapped a few photos of the ~ 100 total pieces).
Any info, advice, suggestions, comments greatly welcomed.
A couple of nights ago the new president of the board emailed to ask if I'd take a look at a coin collection. Shocked me, because I've seen almost everything in the museum over the last several months. Turns out this collection was given to us about 16 years ago, promptly locked in a safe, and forgotten.
I showed up last night before our scheduled board meeting with my Red book, loupe, and a pack of non-PVC flips expecting as I'm sure most of us would a collection of worn steel cents, some parade tokens and medals from the 1970s, etc.
The president opened the safe and began taking out binders. Great, I thought. They looked like the kind of "US Postal Society" first day cover collections you see on late night TV and home shopping channels. Brown cover, matching set of maybe 8 or 10 binders.
I opened the first one and...
And then
And then
And then
Page after page, binder after binder of some of the most interesting coins and coin-related items I'd ever seen in person.
Turns out the donor had been a world traveler, and his focus had been the most interesting things people around the world and throughout history had used as money. Corwry shells, trade beads, bullet money. Katanga crosses, siege money, knife money, wire money, arrowheads. Tok, sycee, cash, porcelain gambling tokens, encased postage, money trees. Everything documented, carefully copper-wired into the pages of these binders.
And a few pieces, like "sword money" and pieces like this:
Simply too large to be included in the binders.
A partial inventory:
My immediate gut reaction was that it couldn't all be real. Way too much of the stuff we read about as kids to be authentic. But the US die, the US silver bars certainly are. The few other pieces I'm familiar with looked real. They don't have that "made for collector" look at all.
So...
Thoughts? Real? Fake?
Ever seen pre-manufactured binders like these of reproductions that would dispell the entire collection? If not, thoughts to value based on the partial inventory above? Anything jump out as incredibly rare that warrants larger/better images (noting that I only snapped a few photos of the ~ 100 total pieces).
Any info, advice, suggestions, comments greatly welcomed.
We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame
--Severian the Lame
0
Comments
I can see where the Redbook, Greysheet, grading guides, and even Krause catalogs would be of little help.
Good luck with it.
--Severian the Lame
There's a good possibility of a mix of authentic and tourist materials.
That's an interesting group to find, that's for sure.
Must be exiting.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Real Genius - Why am I the only person who has that dream?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgNgAiGQ_IM
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I hope this helps you.
I knew it would happen.
The 4.16 oz silver bar was valued at $5.36, which works out to $1.29/oz. - this was the price of silver up until 1964 if I'm not mistaken.
Identical bar sold at HA in 2008 for $862.
--Severian the Lame
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So what will your county museum do with the collection?