A neat lunch time find!

The other day I left my office to run some errands during lunch. In the process, I grabbed lunch at a local Buffalo Wild Wings. I was craving some spicy garlic bone-in wings and figured I would grab a bite to eat in route to the various stores I needed to visit. Upon asking for the bill, I decided to pay cash and gave the waiter a $20. He brought back my change and I noticed a very large penny in the bunch or what appeared to be a penny. My initial thought prior to picking it up was that it was some type of foreign modern coinage such as a coin from Canada that we get in our change from time-to-time. I then conjectured it was a Euro of some denomination. As I pulled the coin out of the pile of change on the tray I then thought "Is this a large US cent??? No way!"

After further investigation, I could tell it was from Switzerland but what knocked me out of my seat was the date on it! I did a double take to ensure I was reading it correct and sure enough my find was minted in 1883 with a mint mark of "B" on the reverse. After arriving back at the office I did some research using the coin explorer and discovered that this was a bronze coin with the denomination of 2 Rappen. The strike was rather nice and I figured it was in the 40 to 50 range. Given the find, I knew I was about to lose money getting it graded but it was worth it!

At first I was going to send the coin into NCS but my general observation suggested I should go the NGC route. I was wrong. I got an email saying there was PVC residue on the coin and they recommended going the NCS route first to attempt to conserve the coin. I was extremely pleased with their customer service and communication on this job. I now own the only 1883B Switzerland 2 RP graded in XF 45 BN. Population 1!

The reason I share this story is not to promote the value of the coin which is well below my cost to conserve and grade but the intangible value of the experience. As a collector I am solely focused on US coins however this coin ranks out as one of the neat finds I never anticipated. I still often contemplate the probability of such a find. 1883....that is a 131 year old piece of history found in the change tray of a chicken wing restaurant!

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