My wife dragged me out Antique hunting last weekend.....

[bigd5]

We have an area here in N.H. called Antique Alley (I think there is even a website antiquealley.com?) in Northwood. A 20 or so mile stretch of state highway with 100's of antique dealers. Kind of neat. The two older kids were off with their aunt, so we headed out with the two younger ones. Started off great, the 2.5 year old screamed for 45 minutes because he kept dropping his "truck" in the back seat, and the baby couldn't get comfortable for some reason, and wouldn't sleep on the ride up. Typical family outing stuff (If you have kids, you're following me so far. If you don't, please read on, I'll get to the coins). In and out of a dozen or so shops, and I'm asking for coins at each shop we hit. Typical $17 xf Morgans. "I think I'll pass ". The kids are almost totally losing it at this point (lunchtimish), and the snacks aren't working. We stop at another shop and I tell my wife to go and poke around while I calm the troops, but please ask if they have any coins. My wife comes out and says "they have coins!" Hurray!!!! I am looking forward to checking out the overpriced, overgraded, common date Morgans. Hardly the case here. The woman who owns the shop tells me here mom is headed to assissted living, and would like to sell here "coin collection". She pulls out an old antique handbag and starts pulling items out one by one. A very interesting assortment of coins. A kraft banking envelope of Merc's, wheaties and Lib. nickels. All seperate. A little cloth baggie of 19 Morgans, all circulated, a couple of Washington quarter Whitman's all common dates, no keys, but cute nonetheless. A tiny gold piece in a cute "barrel type" holder with red felt inside to protect the coin. I liked the holder more than I liked the coin! Some silver Englehard bars and some darkside stuff. Finally, a little box with misc. type coins. Nothing outstanding, but again, a neat variety of material. I ask how much? The woman wants me to make an offer. They know the gold coin is worth $90-$120 from a "friend". They have assessed value of the rest of the coins with a 1987 Red Book, and have an "idea" as to the value of the collection. I explain the values in the Red Book, especially one from '87 aren't exactly accurate, and that the circulated SBA's aren't worth the $3 as stated in the book. The husband comes in and chops their estimate by 2/3's and says how does this sound? I figure his estimate is close, and that number + the gold piece figure should work. He says "great", and proceeds to pack everything up and to my surprise his figure included the gold piece, which I assumed he was pricing seperately! I figure I received a great price on this stuff now. Maybe not great, but decent anyway.

Brought everything home and sorted through the whole pile. My 7 yr. old (my oldest) spots the barrel holder for the gold piece, and is very inquisitive. I show him the coin..........he now, officially, has gold fever! He offers to trade me his whole circ. type set (in progress) for that coin. I think I'm in trouble! I'l have to let you all know how this part of the deal works out. He REALLY wants the gold!!!!!!!!!

That's it, had to end it a bit short, but thought some may find it interesting. I guess it's always a good idea to ask what's not being displayed, at a shop, show or even an antique store.

 

 

[EZ_E]

I certainly hope that you don't think that you're going to hold onto that gold coin when all is said and done! You just won't win.

 

Really and truly, when your little boy gets that coin, it will be an event that he will remember for the rest of his life.

 

Michael L. still recounts the story when he was c. 7 yrs old when he bought a gold coin for $45 and turned around and sold it for $50. These are milestone events!

 

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[CarlWohlforth]

Thanks for the story, I enjoyed it.

 

As I said to someone else I need to get out more

[MAULUMALL]

"Started off great, the 2.5 year old screamed for 45 minutes because he kept dropping his "truck" in the back seat, and the baby couldn't get comfortable for some reason, and wouldn't sleep on the ride up."

 

My daughter turned 2 on June 6 so I Know where you are coming from.

Wouldn't change a thing though.

 

I can't wait to get her into collecting.

On the other hand I want her to stay like this for a long time.

[Klectorkid]

Great now you got your 7yo in love with gold. This is going to cost you.

[Hoot]

Darin- What a great story! You are a braver man than I. Mine are all teens or near-teenagers. There's a whole other set of trouble traveling with them.

 

A tiny gold piece in a cute "barrel type" holder with red felt inside to protect the coin. I liked the holder more than I liked the coin!

 

What is the gold piece? I've not seen a holder like you describe - any pics?

 

Hoot

[Beijim]

Great now you got your 7yo in love with gold. This is going to cost you.

 

Exactly. Soon his daughter will be using the term "diamond" every time she's asked her opinion.

 

Beijim

 

[bigd5]

Yeah, it's kind of funny. Here I am trying to get my son to sort out wheaties by decade, and he jumps for the gold!!

I KNOW I'm in big trouble there.

It's a $1 gold piece from 1851, that grades vf. Nothing crazy, but for my seven year old......it's simply AMAZING. I've talked him into waiting for his eighth birthday, and letting me hold onto it once he receives it. If he still carries some interest until his birthday in the spring, it'll be his.

No pic's of the holder, although I'll give my wife's digital camera a whirl. Better yet, I'll have her snap the photos, and then I'll try to get them to load here. If they don't load up, I'll shoot you an email Hoot with the images. I probably won't get to that until the weekend, so bare with me........please.

*For the record, my 5 year old daughter LOVES Morgans. I've picked up a few "shiny" ones for her. Her favorite is one I bought from Outhaul from the PCGS board, in a red Capitol type holder. It sits in here window sill.

[Beijim]

*For the record, my 5 year old daughter LOVES Morgans. I've picked up a few "shiny" ones for her. Her favorite is one I bought from Outhaul from the PCGS board, in a red Capitol type holder. It sits in here window sill.

 

Whew! It seems you've lucked out and are out of the woods for the time being. To maintain this, however, you'll have to take her to many coin shows and keep her far away from Tiffany.

 

Beijim

 

[Klectorkid]

Ahhh morgans. I can hear it now "Daddy, I want a 1889-CC!"