A Post About Coins; Raw Coins & Nothing But Coins! Regulars & Lurkers Welcome!

[TomB]

Isn't it nice to have a coin thread on a coin board?

 

About three years ago I gave a friend a business card of mine when the friend told me she knew someone who had coins but did not want them. Since then I have of course thought the coins were disposed of through someone else. Then last Friday I received a phone call from the woman with the coins and she asked me if I would like to appraise and/or buy them. I was delighted as I always view this as a fun experience and I like to protect folks from getting ripped. It turns out that the coins were from her deceased mother-in-law and that neither she nor her husband had any interest in them.

 

I arrived at their house at 7:00 PM last night and was brought into the kitchen where there were several large jars and bags of coins. Thankfully, the wife had gone through all the coins and had done a tremendous job of seperating them by type. I settled in, made small talk and began the job of going through these several thousand coins.

 

The collection was mostly the typical silver coinage pulled from circulation in the '60s, with 800 or so silver Washington quarters, about as many silver Roosevelt dimes and quite a few JFK and Franklin halves. There were lesser numbers of WLHs, SLQs and Barbers and there were a few Buffalo and Liberty nickels. The coins were relatively low grade and of near uniformly common date.

 

I told them how I would value the collection in terms of silver bullion price vs bulk silver, told them I would pick out any better dates and value them individually and generally gave them a hopefully entertaining evening of numismatic education. I made a careful inventory list of what they owned and how much each segment of their collection was worth. Included was the dollar range that I believe the collection could be easily sold for and I let them know I was being somewhat conservative. They seemed somewhat tentative about letting the coins go, although they definitely wanted to sell them. This was likely due to their fear of being taken in an arena where they are not expert.

 

To calm their fears, I brought with me the current Greysheet for them to look through, an extra loupe and an ANA Grading Guide so that they could grade any better date coins themselves and then price them in case they thought I was misleading them. The small talk moved from coins to life to career and they made tea and offered me some delicious looking baked eggplant for dinner. Some of you may be familiar with The Station fire of over two years ago, where approximately 100 people perished in Rhode Island during a Great White concert. Well, they live only two blocks from where this tragedy took place and I was working that night at Rhode Island Hospital, where the survivors were largely brought, so we had something else to talk about, too.

 

As for the collection, over 99% of the coins are only worth silver bullion. However, as I as going through a small sack of around 100 Morgan dollars I came across a nice looking 1884. I was hoping to find an S when I flipped it over, and there it was! A very nice, ChAU 1884-S Morgan in this collection of bulk silver. A little later another 1884 was staring at me and when I flipped it over it too was an 1884-S in ChAU. I was happier than they were, I believe, as I didn't expect two ChAU 1884-S Morgans in this collection. Following this was an AU 1883-S and a pair of mid-grade 1890-CCs. The best part of this collection was that nothing had been cleaned. As I finished up the Morgan dollars I came across another 1884 but did not think it would be an S since it appeared to be MS. But, Holy Smokes, it was an 1884-S in either AU58 or low-end MS!

 

I strongly urged them to let me submit the three 1884-S Morgans to either PCGS or NGC so that they might maximize their return on these pieces and I think they liked the idea.

 

I finished at 11:00 PM, gave them their detailed inventory report containing the price ranges of each niche, told them exactly how I would sell the coins and how they would get a check made out to them from each person who bought pieces and that an accounting slip would be provided and then left. I also suggested that they have someone else come in to do an independent appraisal should they not be satisfied with my intent, competance or honesty, but that such an appraisal would likely cost more than I charged. They let me know that there are several thousand Wheat and IHCs that they also want to sell and that they would call me about these in the near future.

 

At this point they are thinking about what to do with the coins. Oh yes, what did I charge for four hours of expertise? Nothing.

[spy88]

 

Well done Tom and very professionally handled! Most of the folks I work with know I collect and some have approached for appraisal/sale info, but very few have followed thru on their interest. Like you, I assume they "disposed" of them in some other manner and hopefully, didn't lose too much in the exchange.

 

One of my supervisors was working the cashier station when someone came in with four $20 1924 FRNs with consecutive serial numbers. Quite crisp and clean. He knew I sold on eBay, asked if I would look into their value and put them up. Found out they were mules (different reverse then other FRNs) worth about $25 each. Put them on the bay and sold them for $120 splitting the profit. Not bad!

 

Like you, I'm thinking that most of the people who know I collect, may be thinking I wouldn't be fair with the value. There's nothing one can say to change their minds either and best to not even try. Just let them come to you in their own good time.

 

Hope they call you back for the wheats and IHCs. Always fun going thru a collection that you are fairly sure hasn't been cherrypicked or the owners haven't a clue about what they have. It's been my limited experience that they usually over-value what they have.

 

Again, very professionally handled! And you did get paid!! You just ate your profits!!!

[cpm9ball]

TOM

 

Chris

[DonHeath]

Tom, thats a great story. It is amazing the S and CC Morgans were part of the collection. They would almost seem deliberate. Maybe they were part of an older collection. When I was young, my father owned a coin operated laundry (circa 1960), and I used to help him roll and bag coins. Most of the stuff in circulation at the time was common date and low grade. Your story took me back.

 

 

BTW - How was the eggplant?

[Bruceswar]

That is a truly great story... Sounds like you also has a great bit of fun... And you did not charge.... This is why coin collecting is so fun....

[chinook]

I just love stories like this. The thrill of the hunt is what I think keeps us all going.

[michael]

[AlixTCat]

It was so great of you to do this no charge. My boss recently inherrited a small coin collection from her aunt. She asked if I might go through it and see what the coins might be worth. She wanted to PAY ME! Can you believe that? I love coins so much that I could not take any money from her. I lovingly looked up each coin and assigned an approximate value and put them into 2x2's and then into an album. After she was able to look at them, she didn't want to sell them anymore. She has actually gotten in to them in a good way. She was going to sell them on eBay, but now she thinks it will be a nice collection to keep.

 

It's good to help out good people. You really did a nice thing for this couple. Thanks for keeping the collecting spirit alive.

[EZ_E]

TomB,

 

You are certainly a stand-up guy. Your behavior reflects honesty and integrity which is sometimes lacking in today's society. This was truly a wonderful story and I had no idea that the 1884 S was so scarce in AU and above grades. If that one 1884 S grades mintstate then price guides lists it at over $6,000! Now, that would be a cool find.

 

My best find in going through other's accumulations was an XF 1928 S Peace Dollar. All of the other collections which I have gone through as a courtesy were all common date items. It is still always a blast to review such collections which is the true reward for a numismatist.

 

P.S. Tom, are you an ER doc?

[nwcs]

Great story. I've done similarly for some people though they never had anything of value really. But just being able to share the hobby and look at coins is payment enough.

[EVillageProwler]

Great story, Tom.

 

I once did something very similar, for a former CTO of a major Wall St firm. I also charged nothing -- the biz contact alone was priceless -- but his wife sent me a holed early date G$1 and a few well-worn draped bust large cents.

 

It was a lot of fun to go through the material...

 

EVP

 

PS Am I a regular or a lurker nowadays???

[Tradedollarnut]

Oh, you are anything but regular!

[EZ_E]

 

PS Am I a regular or a lurker nowadays???

 

 

Oh, just a Lurch.

 

 

The Lurch Files

[cpm9ball]

EVP

 

PS Am I a regular or a lurker nowadays???

 

In my opinion, with 4120 posts, you transcend the paranormal and give counsel to Greg!

 

Chris

[EZ_E]

 

PS Am I a regular or a lurker nowadays???

 

 

Oh, just a Lurch.

 

 

The Lurch Files

 

 

OH! You said lurker ....

 

 

 

 

 

..........................................NEVERMIND!

[Oldtrader3]

I have looked at several collections for some of the older people here at the Retirement Home, but none of the coins were anything other than circulated Merc's, Franklins and Walkers from the 1940's. I have not had the excitement of finding something relatively rare for someone else as you have Tom. Good show!