An amazing collection

[stev32k]

I was shown an absolutely amazing coin collection. An employee of a client I work for saw my walking half pocket piece and asked if I was a coin collector. We talked about coins for awhile and he told me his father had a large collection that he was thinking about selling. I said I would be interested in seeing it.

 

To make a long story short the father had complete date sets of Indian head cents (including an 1877), seated dimes, seated quarters, buffalo nickels, Standing liberty quarters (no 1916). He also had sets of seated and barber halves, but I'm not sure they were complete - didn't have enough time to look at everything. I was also shown a $1,000 dollar bill that looked brand new. I was told there were more coins in the bank box in bags and rolls, but they didn't know what they were.

 

The most unusual part was that all the coins had been placed on oak boards and were held in place by coating them with clear lacquer. The coating was so think in places it was hard to see the coin. It was also hard to tell what condition the coins were in, although most looked uncirculated. It didn't look like the coins were collected by mint mark because there was only one coin for each date.

 

I would guess the father was in his late eighties or early nineties and had inherited the coins from his father. The son asked me what I thought the collection was worth and all I could tell him was "a lot - maybe low to mid six figures", I told him if he was serious about selling he should contact one of the major auction houses. I'm sure they would help get the coins off the boards and into plastic.

[Dwaine]

I wonder what the coating does to the coins and what the reverse looks like after sitting on the oak boards for so long. Interesting story.

[TomB]

Depending on the extent of damage to the coins, the collection might be worth substantially less than the quoted estimate. However, it is still quite cool.

[bsshog40]

It would be interesting to see what these look like after removal from the boards.

[dooly]

Sounds like a large bill from NCS to me

[Dwaine]

I would agree, if NCS can do anything for them.

[lkenefic]

I have an 1827 Large Cent that was lacquered. I tried removing it with Xylol and it did work to some extent although the coin does have a "wet" appearance. I think the NCS route is probably the way to go...good luck...sounds like a pretty cool collection nonetheless

[stev32k]

One thing I didn't mention was that the boards themselves were works of art. They measured about 18" X 24" with a border that was about 4" on the top and 2" on the other sides. The borders were hand carved with the coin devices ie Indian head obverse and reverse of the IHC for the board holding the Indian head cents, Buffalo and Indian heads for the nickels, etc. On the back of each board were the makers initials and the date. Overall the boards were almost as impressive as the coins.

[rrantique]

Sounds like a great looking collection Steve. Hope you get some photos for us. (thumbs u

[Dwaine]

I agree, photos would be great.

[Keleum]

pics, please, PLEASE...pretty please. This sounds really cool.