Panning For Gold posted by jayh749

[CSJournals-migration]

Searching for that coin that could be worth gold

 

So here I am. June 29, 2013. What a year so far. We have had some wicked flooding here in Calgary, Alberta. Rain, Wow!!! have we had rain! Anyway, thats another story. What I'm here for today, is to tell a really great storey about coin collecting. The story that all of us collectors live for.

O.K. here we go. I will start this story about five years ago. I was on ebay and was just passing time searching for coins. I typed in "Canada, 1953, PL." BAM!! Behold. a 10 cent piece. It looked really rough, but the pictures showed that it had a really heavy cameo, despite it's condition. I took a chance. I got it for about $5.50 plus shipping. When I recieved the coin, I sent it in for grading. Now, if you know anythging about this particular year and Canadian Pl coins, you will know that there are less than a thousand coins like this made that year, so its already quite rare. Then, out of that there are two varieties, one of which is extremeley rare. To top that off, then how many didn't get stolen, by kids, for candy. Now, wehen this coin came back I almost dropped. Yes, it was only a pl-63, but it came back as an "ultra cameo". To this day, it is the only ultra cameo. It's value, about $400-$600.00. An exciting find and investment. Now for the second part of this story. About a year or so after this. I found an ungraded Canadian PL penny, by doing the same thing. This time it was a 1954 PL penny with a nice cameo. It also looked in greaty shape. I think I got it for about $3.75 plus shipping. Totalling about $8.50. I sent this coin in and it came back as the highest graded, anf the only "cameo" graded. It still stands as that today. It's value, about $650.00. Now, as we all know. Prices are always based on demand. So, maybe they both could go for more or less. O.K. her we go. This is the most exciting part for me. Now, since the pcgs purge, I lost some extremely rare coins for all of my sets. So, in this case. Causing me to try to find the rarest of all the Canadian PL quarters. The Canadian 1953 PL, No shoulderfold, 25 cent coin. Now, I did have one in my set from pcgs, but for the same reasons NGC wont allow pcgs into this set, I also know that it would not cross over to NGC. Thus, making me start over looking for it. Well, I did. I found one, out of Houston, and when it got it in hand, it blew my mind.

I still was scared that It wouldn't grade as a pl, but I kept my hopes up. It has just been graded and guess what? It came back as not only a PL quarter, but a highest graded, and the only cameo, to boot. Value? $1500.00 plus solo highest graded, and the only cameo. Maybe two to three times more. I don't know, but it is like gold to me especially since I only paid $180.00. I now have completed this #1 competitive set. The hunt is on for my next piece of gold. Keep the dreaming alive.

 

See more journals by jayh749

[Jack Robinson]

Great treasures. By the way, what are your lottery numbers for tonight?

 

[jackson64]

great to hear from you Jay. Like you, I also got slammed on several of my world coin sets during the PCGS purge--in the end, if a set had > 33% PCGS coins in it then I just eliminated it from the registry. This cost me 3 #1 registry sets but at least I know I still have the #1 coins..

 

The $2 Polar Bear proofs were the one set that ticked me off. I had worked hard building the #1 set and many were purchased pre-slabbed in PCGS plastic. I am not going to pay extra to have a coin crossed over just to soothe my ego and have a single line on the vast internet claim "You're #1"

 

Amazing finds on those PL's..cameo designations are hard to get on those 1955 or before dates.

[Six Mile Rick]

It's great to hear some good grading scores. Keep up the panning!!!

[wdrob]

Some fine examples that there are still many "Gems in the wild". I have been told numerous times "don't you think that if there was a true gem it would be in a slab by now and not floating around in the wild".

 

Great examples and congrats on some great finds.