EagleRJO

I'm not looking into scrap metal as a hobby or copper bullion, but was more interested if there was an inexpensive collecting potential I wasn't seeing. Like in addition to roll hunting modern quarters I collect modern dollar coins (all years and marks) in BU and PR grades starting with Presidential dollars (only missing one) and continuing with Innovation dollars (I'm up to date), which are not very expensive at all for almost all of them but where I enjoyed collecting them. Another option would be to continue working back with modern dollars, but figured I would ask about the copper rounds. Maybe @Hoghead515might know as he also enjoys some of the less expensive coins I collect.

Not looking to play copper as I have my hands full with gold and silver bullion in addition to the coin collection and other investments. For physical bullion a kilo bar goes for under $80, which I agree just doesn't work. I was mostly just curious about the number of different rounds available and seeing a lot of them recently considering how inexpensive they are. For people that may collect some of these, are there others that are more unique than what I may find on say the Apmex site? https://www.apmex.com/category/34250/copper-rounds

I have been seeing a lot of copper rounds like the attached for sale lately. They are mostly 1-ounce and 39mm diameter "coins" or bullion rounds. I see gold and silver rounds as an alternative to bullion bars that just look a little nicer, and I do have some of those, But the copper rounds are dirt cheap, so not a good metals investment, and don't seem to be something collectible as they are mostly just copies of certain elements of more popular coins or have elements similar to commemorative coins. When I looked on Apmex's site I was pretty surprised to see that they have over 90 different ones for sale. I cant see why people would buy these, except as inexpensive novelty items. And is this some type of recent craze, due to the sheer number available, or have I just noticed them more recently.

They can't make up their mind if the coins are silver or copper, and the slabbed coins shown in a box are sure not NGC or PCSG holders. You do find some real "winners" Bill.

Introducing competitive registry sets seems like quite a marketing play by the TPG big boys. On the flip side a great way to share and compare collections, and possibly sell entire sets. I would jump in on that if the custom sets were more user friendly, and I could share my raw coins.

I think @Sandonhit the nail right on the head with his comments! And I couldn't agree with him more about collecting coins and not paper tags.

I know some of them go for big dollars, which I stay away from also. The tokens I have are generally not very valuable, like the attached for a NY company related to a beard beer mug which I bought for $35. For some reason @Hoghead515comes to mind when I see the guy with the big beard.

One issue is at what valuation for Morgans. I think PCG$ has over-valued them since early in 2022 when they jacked up the values from the spike and never looked back. On the flip side, NGC hasn't really raised their values by much the past several years. So maybe somewhere in between might be reasonable as an FMV. I have been using the NGC values as a target, even though that may be a little low now, and have been able to find many of the ones I was missing for around or a little below that if I am patient. But getting them at 70% to 75% of the NGC values is going to be a very tall order, which may not be realistic except as a rare find. [A representative example of one I am looking for to fill a gap is an 1892-CC in XF-40 grade. NGC value is $550 and PCG$ value is $700. Recent sold prices at GC for Nov 2022 thru Dec 2022 were $602, $619 and $655, and a little more at HA. The average of the sold prices is about $625, or halfway between the NGC and PCG$ values. If I'm patient I think scooping one for around or a little below the NGC value of $550 is possible.]

What would it have been worth without the marks?

Anna doesn't look that happy so you might be right that someone added a scrape mark to look like tears. Talking about that, I don't think it really fits to have a sad face on our currency. Has the mint become so woke that they really think it fits.

That's a good price for that coin. Just curious if you still have the hook to get coins around 2/3 to 3/4 retail, or better in some cases. I seem to recall you mentioning something about the wife of the dealer taking over.

That's what struck me as being off initially. I hadn't gotten to the point of doing a detailed comparison as the appearance was off, but I see what you guys are talking about. I did notice some lack of detail from an initial look, but wasn't sure if it was just the photos. I do know that the Gold Indian Head Half Eagles are one of the most commonly counterfeited coins, even the "common date" ones, where you have to be really careful with raw coins.

I came across the attached raw 1911 Gold Indian Head Half Eagle that is listed as BU grade. I know it's difficult to evaluate gold coins from photos, and getting the coin in-hand is really needed, but to me it seems a little dark in color with somewhat of a rough surface. Are there some who collect these coins who may be able to give me some feedback on that.

The 1921-D in a nice BU grade typically retails for about $60 to $70

Troll

Very cool find if you dug it up!

Doesn't look like a wheel mark which would be more linear

I think its dipped with that dull grey color from being dipped too long. Pass ... the 1921's are readily available, and the better ones like the attached are not very expensive.

Could be grime or schmutz

It could be older 22 carat gold through more modern thinly plated brass core. Would need SG tests.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1853-california-gold-4-octagon-indian-1973968894

It might be road rash. Not likely from a coin wrapper machine as the wheels would bear on the edges of the coins and rotate them up against a metal tang to close the ends. The metal tang would create more of a narrow circular scrape mark near the rim. https://www.coincommunity.com/errors/wrapping-machine-damage.asp

Because of overlapping acceptable weights with the mint tolerances you would likely need to do accurate specific gravity tests to see if it may be struck on a different planchet. That would be ridiculous to do on any number of coins, so you would look for other indicators besides weight at first. There were a few topics about this not long ago if you do some forum surfing.

I was just picking up an occasional token I found interesting if not to much money while I work on various collections. But it seems like tokens is a distinct collection area for some. There are over 12,000 tokens listed with TokenCatelog.com just for New York. For the attached token which I also found interesting, it's not only a coin within a token with the lucky horseshoe (banner) and 4-leaf clover, but the "never go broke" could apply to the penny you have, or a car from the dealership [implying it won't break down]. I have to step away from the catalog, slowly, because I keep seeing ones I think are interesting.

So would you possibly receive that token as change at that store, and would they be for a certain amount to use the next time you were there? Too bad it appears to be in such rough shape after looking a little more closely as I thought it was an interesting one with the Rooster, which I haven't seen on many, and of course a NY store.