When comics and coins meet.

[Joanna]

I thought you guys might get a kick out of this ad I found in the back of a comic book dated January of 1962 (which means it came out a couple of months prior in 1961):

 

[MAULEMALL]

I thought you guys might get a kick out of this ad I found in the back of a comic book dated January of 1962 (which means it came out a couple of months prior in 1961):

 

Hi Joanna..

[Joanna]

Hi there, Maul! Been awhile.

[MAULEMALL]

Hi there, Maul! Been awhile.

Yes it has...Everytime I see you post in the WC you seem to be pretty busy... Has the writers strike hurt you.

 

Before you get too far check out this sight.. What a couple thousand then,would possably get you today.

[Conder101]

Yes I remember those type of ads from back when I was a kid. It was nothing new even then. Same kind of ad that Max Mehl used to run back in the 1920's and 30's "Will pay $50 for a 1913 V Nickel" and a short list of other coins h would pay a premium for, and you could get his Star Rare Coin Guide that would give you the full listings of what he would pay for just $1.

 

Mehl bought a lot of coins because of those ads, but what he really did was clean up selling a LOT of his buying price guides! He must have sold hundreds of thousands of those things, and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process before buying a single coin!

 

What I find interesting is that todays collectors still don't seem to understand what Mehl was doing with his Star Coin Guide. Someone finds one today and posts on forums and posts about how don't you wish you could go back in time and buy coins back then. "You could buy 1895 dollars for $5, 1885 Trade dollars for $25" etc. No, you couldn't. This was a dealers list of BUYING prices being sent out to NON-collectors who had no idea what their coins were really worth. You could not have purchased those coins FROM Mehl even at several multiples of what the guide said they were worth. Mehl's Guide was the same thing as what todays full page ad in newspapers by dealers who come to town and set up in a hotel to buy coins from the public for a fraction of what they are worth. The only difference is that Mehl got the public to PAY HIM for the privilege of buying their coins for a fraction of their value.

[Joanna]

So how much is one of those silver dollars worth today (interesting story behind them, btw. thanks for the link, Maul)?

 

I am busy and yes I belong to the WGA but I'm not currently on a series so it doesn't directly affect my wallet. My heart, of course, is strongly with my guild's fight. Had a bit of a dust-up in the comics forum over this so I'll leave it at that.

 

I collected coins as a kid, but never responded to an ad in the comics. I still have my old coin collection, which is pretty much worth squat. I still like it, though. I got many of the coins from my uncle, my grandfather (including some Norwegian coins he had in his pocket when he came to America) and my dad. That gives them real value to me, as all of those wonderful men are gone.

 

-- Joanna

[Conder101]

So how much is one of those silver dollars worth today

Several million dollars depending on whether or not it is one of the eight originals or one of the six restrikes. The originals tend to bring a couple million more than the restrikes.