Ever Buy A Coin Or Set To Flip And Then Couldn't Part With It?

[TomB]

Most coins that end up in my collection are bought because I intend to keep them for some length of time. There are only a few instances of my buying something specifically to flip for a profit.

 

One of those times was when I was at the table of a good friend of mine and, as we were talking, he casually asked me if I had ever seen an original roll of 1932 Washington quarters. Most of you are aware that this was the first year of issue for Washington quarters, but many of you might not realize that this coin was originally scheduled to be a cirulating, one-year commemorative half dollar and not a regular issue quarter. There aren't many rolls of this date around, possibly because of the high value of the roll at time of issue in the Great Depression and also because so many rolls had been broken apart over the years in order to obtain the relatively few gems of this date that are around. For those who do not collect this series, the 1932 quarter is the key Philadelphia quarter in the series in high grades (MS65+). This has always been a tough coin in the gem range, partly due to the low relief hub that only the 1932 and 1934 Light Motto coins share.

 

I have been collecting Washington quarters since well before the State Quarter series, yet I had never seen an original roll of 1932 Washingtons. As I looked them over I asked how much it would be to buy the roll and then calculated, in my mind, what the coins had to grade in order to make money on them. My calculations told me that I would make a small amount of money on the roll after it was graded. Certainly, the percentage would not be high since I was paying over MS64 money per coin and would then have to pay grading fees. However, this was such a cool roll that I thought I could not pass on it.

 

The roll sat in my house for about a month while I was getting ready to drop them off for submission and then, at the time that I had to drop them off, I just couldn't part with them. After all, this was an intact roll of coins that had been together for over 70 years. A roll that I had never seen another of previously and likely would not encounter often, if ever, again. These were coins with matching, original, light phlegmy toning with burnt auburn edges. Many of them were MS64, some were MS65 and two were MS66. They just had to be together. I couldn't sell them and didn't submit them for grading.

 

They are still together, still in my collection and still raw. Should I ever decide to sell them I can only imagine selling them as a raw group, in one shot. I think coin karma smiles on me because of this decision.

 

Has something similar ever happened to you?

[kryptonitecomics]

Cool story!!! I typically don't buy anything to flip either, so I haven't had an experience like that with coins, but it's happened plenty of times in my other hobbies

[airplanenut]

I've done that more than a few times... here are some:

 

I bought this coin at the Baltimore ANA last summer when it was raw. I walked it around for a little bit trying to make a few bucks quick--no one was interested. So then I decided to drop it off at ANACS--didn't come back as high as I expected, or as ANACS had said (AU55), but hey, it's still a darn nice coin. I had it for such a short amount of time, I forgot what it looked like even while it was at ANACS for a few days. When I got it back, I fell in love with the coin. Subsequently, although people have offered me very stupid money for it, I've still not sold it.

 

I got this at the ANA show, as well. I offered one person the coin for a very small markup and he said no. Ok, so I took it home, too. At one point, I put it on eBay at more than double my money, but within a day, I was wondering why I was selling the coin, since I didn't need the money, and it was gorgeous. I upped the price to $900 (yeah, REALLY stupid money) while I mulled it over (Tom should remember emailing me and saying that I was asking too much money for the coin , as if I didn't know ). Anyway, within another day, I decided to take the coin down--and I promptly got 3 emails of why did you take it down... are you still selling it? To this day, I couldn't be happier that I didn't sell that coin--it's one of my collection's highlights.

 

 

Last fall, I purchased an original Mehrig album of BU Jeffersons--1938-1961 (where the album stops). All of the coins are target-toned, with the above being the best (and ironically, the weakest). I bought the album with the intention of taking out every coin and slabbing most, if not all of them to sell. Then, I realized I didn't have the heart to do it--the set has been together for decades and is just oh so original. So that left me with a gorgeous set of nickels that I still love--and so do other people, as many have asked about buying it (which is always good ) For now, I think it'll stick with me. If it ever moves on, I want to make sure that it finds a home with a collector, not someone who will break it up and slab it... I just can't let that happen.

 

Jeremy

 

PS- Tom has seen all of these coins, so he can say first-hand how beautiful they are, and that I definitely have reason to be in love with them