Chicken Wings & Very Old Coin!

[Durham Collection]

A neat lunch time find!

 

The other day I left my office to run some errands during lunch. In the process, I grabbed lunch at a local Buffalo Wild Wings. I was craving some spicy garlic bone-in wings and figured I would grab a bite to eat in route to the various stores I needed to visit. Upon asking for the bill, I decided to pay cash and gave the waiter a $20. He brought back my change and I noticed a very large penny in the bunch or what appeared to be a penny. My initial thought prior to picking it up was that it was some type of foreign modern coinage such as a coin from Canada that we get in our change from time-to-time. I then conjectured it was a Euro of some denomination. As I pulled the coin out of the pile of change on the tray I then thought "Is this a large US cent??? No way!"

 

After further investigation, I could tell it was from Switzerland but what knocked me out of my seat was the date on it! I did a double take to ensure I was reading it correct and sure enough my find was minted in 1883 with a mint mark of "B" on the reverse. After arriving back at the office I did some research using the coin explorer and discovered that this was a bronze coin with the denomination of 2 Rappen. The strike was rather nice and I figured it was in the 40 to 50 range. Given the find, I knew I was about to lose money getting it graded but it was worth it!

 

At first I was going to send the coin into NCS but my general observation suggested I should go the NGC route. I was wrong. I got an email saying there was PVC residue on the coin and they recommended going the NCS route first to attempt to conserve the coin. I was extremely pleased with their customer service and communication on this job. I now own the only 1883B Switzerland 2 RP graded in XF 45 BN. Population 1!

 

The reason I share this story is not to promote the value of the coin which is well below my cost to conserve and grade but the intangible value of the experience. As a collector I am solely focused on US coins however this coin ranks out as one of the neat finds I never anticipated. I still often contemplate the probability of such a find. 1883....that is a 131 year old piece of history found in the change tray of a chicken wing restaurant!

 

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[Walkerfan]

That's pretty COOL! Nice story!

[jgenn]

That is an amazing find! How did it get out of someone's PVC flip and into general circulation? Did you buy a lottery ticket, too?

~jack

[Six Mile Rick]

Great Story and a great place to get GOOD WINGS!!

[vumc409]

Very nice find and a great lunch as well.

 

Maybe I should visit our local establishment more often! You reckon?

 

Have a great one...

 

Michael

[Durham Collection]

Thanks all! Yeah I am still scratching my head as to how it got back into general circulation?!? Very odd! Also, I concur that Buffalo Wild Wings has some good wings!

[johnny9434]

way cool and that was a good day for sure

[jackson64]

I love when these things happen...by the way, our hockey team-the Washington Capitals always give away a free order of buffalo wild wings if the Caps score 5 goals an win the game. After the 4th goal the chanting starts, "We Want Wings" We Want Wings" !!

 

PS: We often get 5 goals since the caps are annually one of the highest scoring teams in the league--unfortunately, lately, we might be giving up 6 goals---sorry for the slightly off topic reply.