Family heirloom coins: the good and the bad

[shirohniichan]

What coins have been passed down to you through your family? What are the good ones and bad ones you've received, and what made them so?

 

I went to a family reunion up in the middle of British Columbia last month and received a few coins from my grandmother's estate (yes, grandmother's estates exist outside of eBay). One of them came with a note that my grandmother received it from her father as his birthyear coin.

 

The good news:

 

1. It was an 1876 half dollar in AU condition.

2. It fits into my circulated 1876 year set.

3. It has beautiful, even, cobalt blue toning.

4. It has a pedigree.

 

The bad news:

 

1. It has a small rim ding.

2. Someone (possibly my grandfather) decided to make it into a jewelry piece and left a big hunk of solder on the back.

 

I guess I'll leave it as is instead of having the solder removed and display it face-up in an Airtite wood display case with the rest of the coins.

[WinstonWare]

It's not very old but I received this after my grandmother passed. It was slabbed by the First National Bank of Ponca City Oklahoma where my family is from.

 

[construct]

My family heirloom coin is an 1829 half dime in EF-40 that was given to my grandfather before he was married. The bad new is that it was stored wrapped in tissue paper for at least fifty years and is toned charcoal black.

[BillJones]

My aunt left me a group of the gold coins in her estate. The good news was that the following coins were genuine.

 

1882 $5 gold in EF

1856 $1 gold in EF-AU

1849 $1 gold in VF-EF

 

The bad news was

 

1849 $1 gold counterfeit.

1853 $1 gold counterfeit

 

Both of the counterfeits were the 19th century variety - not of recent vintage.

 

Both of the genuine gold dollars had been gluded in diary, but I was able to remove the glue and the coins were not damaged.

 

The way I look at it there is nothting wrong with free coins.

 

[shirohniichan]

My aunt left me a group of the gold coins in her estate. The good news was that the following coins were genuine.

 

1882 $5 gold in EF

1856 $1 gold in EF-AU

1849 $1 gold in VF-EF

 

The bad news was

 

1849 $1 gold counterfeit.

1853 $1 gold counterfeit

 

Both of the counterfeits were the 19th century variety - not of recent vintage.

 

Both of the genuine gold dollars had been gluded in diary, but I was able to remove the glue and the coins were not damaged.

 

The way I look at it there is nothting wrong with free coins.

 

How good did the contemporary counterfeits look?

 

Contemporary counterfeit coins are a fascinating anachronism. I can't imagine anyone casting or striking current US coins to spend, but it wasn't uncommon back when 50 cents was worth something.

[Revenant]

I'm actually too young to have inherited anything, no one in my family has died in over 20 years, thank God.

 

Well, when my grandmother passes I might receive some old silver. Nothing special, just old circulated Franklins and Mercs. Some of it will be old very circulated English coins from the 1900-1920 era. Nothing special but they'll still be from my Grandparents.

 

My parents may be a slightly different story. I'm helping my step-father build a set of Mint Sets of the family birth years. One of these is a 1932 set for his my father's parents that has 2 coins in it so far but will eventually be complete. We may also eventually build a 1920 and 1924 set for my maternal grand parents. It's hard to say which of the 5 children will get these sets when he passes but since I'm the only one with a strong interest in coin collecting I hope I'll receive them, but only in a few decades, I want my parents around for a while first.

[BillJones]

How good did the contemporary counterfeits look?

 

They were both pretty bad. The 1853 gold dollar was almost flat with very little detail although it did have a deceptive color. The 1849 gold had too many lumps and was a less than great cast copy. But it too had a decent gold finish.

 

Back in the day if a store clerk took these coins and did not look at them closely, he could have been fooled. If you eye sight was not so hot, the 1849 would have definitely gotten you.

[DirtyGoldMan]

When I was about seven, my father gave me his boyhood "collection", which was passed to him from his grandfather.

 

It included two coins that are currently in my Dansco 7070:

 

-1859 IHC problem-free fine

-1853 AR quarter, problem-free choice VF with cud

 

There were other coins including:

 

-1857 dirty fine FE cent (which i have given to a collecting friend as a gift)

-A holed 1895-O Morgan dollar with VG details, which I sold for silver value ($3.50) when I was a teenager

-A deeply toned 1926-S Peace dollar which I used an eraser and baking soda to try to conserve

-1887 seated dime in VF, which i have sold in the last few years

-Some misc circulated merc dimes, buffalo nickels, and walker halves of no particular numismatic value, which I have sold or combined with my hoard along the way.

 

 

 

[JKK]

Mine are four Morgans, two 1884 and two 1884-O, given me by my great-grandmother when I was just showing a serious interest in coins at the tender age of eight. That was her birth year. She passed in 1978, thirty years ago. Every time I look at them I remember her well, including the tintypes of her dad in his cavalry uniform and the photos of her riding side-saddle. I have the Morgs marked 'heirloom' in my collection to indicate that if my executor is liquidating my estate, those aren't to be sold, but to be passed down.

 

And I am also on the lookout to follow her example. One of my nieces or nephews, or future great-nieces and nephews, may well develop a strong interest in coins. If they sustain that interest, I have a surprise for them one day, because I refuse to have my collection divvied into little pieces among people who don't appreciate it (which is what happened with 3/4 of my father-in-law's; the only fourth that is properly valued is the portion we received).

[shirohniichan]

I need to work out a better setup for photographing coins, but I laid this one on the hood of my car and snapped it in the shade:

 

The blue toning didn't come through, but the details show up OK.

[lkenefic]

Mine is an 1851 five dollar gold piece that was turned into a token/jewlery piece for my grand-fathers' first communion. The obverse looks a nice AU but (of course) the reverse was filed down and engraved...

 

..c'est la vie... L