Classic SILVER Commeorativeas A MUST READ ATS....

[jgrinz]

Have you seen this post across the street ... OMG ... If you have the time to go through the pages of PICTURES of the collection this person inherited .. it is absolutely amazing.

 

I guess this person posted a few months back and got raked through the coals there and he bowed out and deleted the post .. but he had thick skin and returned this time with a pciture collection OF THE COLLECTION ... so he reposted to follow up ... great reading as he had a copy he links to the old thread too which he kept ofsite KNOWING he would return ... GOOD FOR HIM!!!

 

This man is VERY articulate in his responses and his story ..

 

Check it out

 

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=573989

 

Mike

[Bruceswar]

Mike I have been watching this and WOW!!

[MunkyMan95]

Yes, he's (they) a very lucky person! My grandfather has a small collection, but nothing near that grand!

[jgrinz]

I figure by grades and volume this collection is in the 100,s of thousands. He has 2 a three of some in 66/67 grade ... Some BUFFALO in MINT PROOF SETS to die for ... Gold .. Rolls ... Just go through the collection pics ...

 

I am amazed ...

[Bruceswar]

Mike me and you both. WOW is correct. That is like a collectors dream! WOW!

[MarkFeld]

I think it's an absolutely wonderful story, for many reasons. However, based upon the images, most of the silver commemoratives are other than amazing or spectacular and are not particularly rare in such condition.

 

Also, the original poster didn't really get "raked through the coals". There were 2 or 3 skeptical posters who questioned his veracity, but I believe the reason he bowed out temporarily was due to security concerns. He and his family sound like really nice folks and I wish them the very best.

[TomB]

I haven't posted to the thread across the street because, frankly, other than the original proof sets he really inherited a bunch of rather generic "stuff". The folks posting about the possibility of a pedigree, if I read the thread correctly, are way off base, in my opinion.

[CarlWohlforth]

<<Also, the original poster didn't really get "raked through the coals". There were 2 or 3 skeptical posters who questioned his veracity,>>

 

Aside from that the thread got off track with some nasty posts. I guessed the thread was pulled by the moderator.

 

I like the commems and feel they are well matched gems. The family wants to commemorate their patriarch. I believe it may be possible to do so with the commems if someone can convince a TPG to play along.

[gmarguli]

However, based upon the images, most of the silver commemoratives are other than amazing or spectacular and are not particularly rare in such condition.

 

I actually thought that several of the commems looked fairly high grade. However, many also looked average and a few with problems.

 

Overall, looks like a typical collection from someone collecting 50 years ago.

[MarkFeld]

However, based upon the images, most of the silver commemoratives are other than amazing or spectacular and are not particularly rare in such condition.

 

I actually thought that several of the commems looked fairly high grade. However, many also looked average and a few with problems.

 

Overall, looks like a typical collection from someone collecting 50 years ago.

Greg, I thought some of them looked "fairly high grade" too, but, in those cases, it didn't equate with "amazing" or "spectacular" or "particularly rare", in my book.

[CarlWohlforth]

Are you getting jaded Mark?

 

<<but, in those cases, it didn't equate with "amazing" or "spectacular" or "particularly rare", in my book.>>

 

I think some comments were from unsophisticated folks who hadn't seen much in the way of Commems. Others were impressed with the whole collection.

 

I see so many collections where "Gramps" spent so much dough over all those years only to find cleaned, low grade accumulations of junk that this collection is refreshing.

[Bruceswar]

I agree with you Carl. The whole body of the collection makes it WOW! It is not about 1 coin, moreso about all of them in one place. I wish it was mine...

[MarkFeld]

Are you getting jaded Mark?

 

<<but, in those cases, it didn't equate with "amazing" or "spectacular" or "particularly rare", in my book.>>

 

I think some comments were from unsophisticated folks who hadn't seen much in the way of Commems. Others were impressed with the whole collection.

 

I see so many collections where "Gramps" spent so much dough over all those years only to find cleaned, low grade accumulations of junk that this collection is refreshing.

Carl, in answer to your question, I don't think I am. I would have said the same thing many years ago about the silver commemoratives. Basically, it looked as if there were a number of MS64 to MS66 (and perhaps a few MS67) examples of primarily common issues which are quite available in such condition.

 

I do recall a Norfolk which looked like it might be a 67 (or perhaps even a 68) and a Spanish Trail that looked MS66 or maybe even MS67. Other than those two, I don't remember any unusually nice pieces that would be especially difficult to locate.

 

I agree with your comments regarding the posters AND the collection, though. The story, the collection (or, as some might put it, the accumulation) as a whole and the comments from the family are what make it special. I feel that many respondents let that color their perception of many of the individual coins, however.

[jgrinz]

 

You are probably correct - seeing all those HIGHer grade Commems in one collection stands a 'regular' collector in awe. Someone 'like yerself' who sees this stuff ALL THE TIME it may become a ho hum norm ..

 

Buy I also agree the Story the history - THE FAILURE OF A FAMILY SQUABBLE - Just make the post that much more 'different' then your normal post.

[WoodenJefferson]

I followed the story line from day one and was skeptical from the very start that someone with collector knowledge "ripped" a family of their inheritance and was ashamed to post under their own name so an alter ID or pseudonym was created in order to show off their rip.

 

About 3/4 of the way through the collection, someone hacked the guys photobucket account and posted pictures of the families home. This did not settle well with the OP so they asked Administration to take the post down. It vanished into thin air for about 2 months and now it's back again. I think the OP got the entire collection in this time from A to Z.

 

I was impressed with the original proof sets still in the stapled cellos and a few of the high grade commemoratives. There was also a vast array of proof sets in flat packs from 55' to 64' that would be neat to look through.

 

The family story is great and the circulated coins for that era are average...you just don't see accumulations surfacing like that much anymore. I hope they are not disappointed when it comes to someone stating that Grandpa's coins will fetch them 100's of thousands of dollars.

 

Everybody is yelling "slab it...slab it" you'd get a 67 min or even a 68...financial success is only a part of collecting coins, there is a history behind this collection that is probably just as important as the monetary value.

 

 

All in all, as for it being a "collectors dream" come true...it has potential, am I jealous, a bit. It would be of great importance to keep a collection together as such, for the time frame it was assembled and as to who collected the numismatics coins. I would consider some type of conservation and have discussions with a historical society about a possible display.

 

 

If anything, that alone would be a fitting reward for the remembrance of their Grandfather.

[MunkyMan95]

I'd have to agree with you there WJ.

[TomB]

Okay, I'll play the role of jerk even farther than I have in this thead thus far. Many folks have written about the historical or familial importance of this collection, but that importance is lost on me entirely. Please keep in mind that I have not read the entire thread simply because I had read the first thread, and when that was removed I was no longer willing to invest my time into this person. However, if I recall correctly, the collection appears to be an accumulation of US Mint issues from a period of primarily 15-20 years from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. The older pieces are generally the kind of coin that was readily available for little expense during this period of time, too.

 

While this is cool and is certainly worth some money, the idea of it being of importance to others is staggering, in my opinion. To put it bluntly, the family apparently had little knowledge of what was in the collection in terms of depth, history or value. Therefore, if the collector's own family was not educated about the collection during his lifetime then the collection, or at least the education or historical aspect of the collection, could not have been that important to the collector. So, why should someone else care about what is truly a boatload of rather common coins if the owner of those coins could not have educated his family about them? Perhaps it is a subtle distinction and perhaps I have not read the thread carefully enough, but aside from the original 1930s and 1940s era proof sets this is just a box of easy to find stuff.

[MunkyMan95]

Okay, I'll play the role of jerk even farther than I have in this thead thus far. Many folks have written about the historical or familial importance of this collection, but that importance is lost on me entirely. Please keep in mind that I have not read the entire thread simply because I had read the first thread, and when that was removed I was no longer willing to invest my time into this person. However, if I recall correctly, the collection appears to be an accumulation of US Mint issues from a period of primarily 15-20 years from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. The older pieces are generally the kind of coin that was readily available for little expense during this period of time, too.

 

While this is cool and is certainly worth some money, the idea of it being of importance to others is staggering, in my opinion. To put it bluntly, the family apparently had little knowledge of what was in the collection in terms of depth, history or value. Therefore, if the collector's own family was not educated about the collection during his lifetime then the collection, or at least the education or historical aspect of the collection, could not have been that important to the collector. So, why should someone else care about what is truly a boatload of rather common coins if the owner of those coins could not have educated his family about them? Perhaps it is a subtle distinction and perhaps I have not read the thread carefully enough, but aside from the original 1930s and 1940s era proof sets this is just a box of easy to find stuff.

 

Ok Tom, usually I agree with you, but...

 

Sure this stuff is 'common' in retrospect, but it would cost a boatload of money to get in today's market. Correct? If you look at it the way you did, anything could be easy to obtain, if you had the money for it. For me, this is a treasure trove of coins that I have not seen before. Maybe I'm just too new to discard this as a common occurence, and a box of common stuff. I could likely afford some of the coins, but there's no chance I could obtain all of them.

 

Many collectors in the 1930's-40's may have had this stuff in their collection, and back then it was easy to come by, and relatively inexpensive. Now, however, this has some tremendous value, and I guarantee you that all of us would be VERY pleased to own such a nice collection. You may see it as common, as unworthy of ooh's and aah's from others. I do not think it's such a collection as to deserve a pedigree, but it's a nice collection put together by a collector with a deep focus on what he was doing. This set has a ton of history, every coin has a story. I assume that the collector was not a rich man, so the assembly of this collection likely took most of his lifetime. I could see how some would say that this collection is important historically.

 

JMHO

[rrantique]

True, sad to think the love of coin collecting ,evidently, was not shared,or enjoyed by other members of this family thru the years. Though, now it is viewed and shared by all in the numismatic community

[TomB]

Okay, I'll play the role of jerk even farther than I have in this thead thus far. Many folks have written about the historical or familial importance of this collection, but that importance is lost on me entirely. Please keep in mind that I have not read the entire thread simply because I had read the first thread, and when that was removed I was no longer willing to invest my time into this person. However, if I recall correctly, the collection appears to be an accumulation of US Mint issues from a period of primarily 15-20 years from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. The older pieces are generally the kind of coin that was readily available for little expense during this period of time, too.

 

While this is cool and is certainly worth some money, the idea of it being of importance to others is staggering, in my opinion. To put it bluntly, the family apparently had little knowledge of what was in the collection in terms of depth, history or value. Therefore, if the collector's own family was not educated about the collection during his lifetime then the collection, or at least the education or historical aspect of the collection, could not have been that important to the collector. So, why should someone else care about what is truly a boatload of rather common coins if the owner of those coins could not have educated his family about them? Perhaps it is a subtle distinction and perhaps I have not read the thread carefully enough, but aside from the original 1930s and 1940s era proof sets this is just a box of easy to find stuff.

 

Ok Tom, usually I agree with you, but...

 

Sure this stuff is 'common' in retrospect, but it would cost a boatload of money to get in today's market. Correct? If you look at it the way you did, anything could be easy to obtain, if you had the money for it. For me, this is a treasure trove of coins that I have not seen before. Maybe I'm just too new to discard this as a common occurence, and a box of common stuff. I could likely afford some of the coins, but there's no chance I could obtain all of them.

 

Many collectors in the 1930's-40's may have had this stuff in their collection, and back then it was easy to come by, and relatively inexpensive. Now, however, this has some tremendous value, and I guarantee you that all of us would be VERY pleased to own such a nice collection. You may see it as common, as unworthy of ooh's and aah's from others. I do not think it's such a collection as to deserve a pedigree, but it's a nice collection put together by a collector with a deep focus on what he was doing. This set has a ton of history, every coin has a story. I assume that the collector was not a rich man, so the assembly of this collection likely took most of his lifetime. I could see how some would say that this collection is important historically.

 

JMHO

I don't know that we are actually disagreeing by very much here, Chad. A collection of common classic commems is certainly worth a boatload of money, but it doesn't make it historically important or wothy of a pedigree. Heck, a boatload of 2006 Lincoln cents is also worth a boatload of money, but I don't think anyone would call for a pedigree of the boat or its display fifty years from now. Classic commems survive in enormous numbers and staggeringly high conditions such that multiples of most any of them may be obtained at nearly any mid-sized regional show. This doesn't mean they aren't nice to own or that they aren't expensive, especially in the aggregate, but it also doesn't give them a deeper meaning than being relatively common pieces.

 

I would also be very pleased to have this fall into my possession, but if it were to fall into my possession blindly through inheritance, without the passion, knowledge and history having ever been shared with the family, it would still just be stuff. Definitely expensive stuff, but still stuff. Did the collector have a deep focus? I don't know that I see evidence either way for that statement. I am guessing that this collector acquired the majority of pieces during the time of issue, which means that the outlay for them would not have been great individually. However, having the money at that point in history was not within everyone's ability.

 

I'm not saying it isn't cool; I'm saying that it seems to me that it was a bunch of stuff that was put away without being shared and that the subsequent reaction of some members seems out of proportion to what is actually there and how it was treated by the collector.

[MunkyMan95]

Tom, now we see eye to eye. I agree!

[bsshog40]

I'm sure there are alot of collectors out there that it is thier own sole hobby that alot of family members may not have gotten involved in, had no interest in it, or maybe because of so many variations of coins, just never had the motivation to learn of the hobby. Also, in the days of old, the Man of the houses stuff was his stuff and nobody messed with it. This could be a good reason for lack of knowledge by the family to even know of any history of the collection. From what I've seen of the collection, I like it all. It's not something I would sit and dwell over about having, but yea, would be a very nice set to own. I can't knock anyone's collection when I have a poor man's collection of mostly easy obtainable coins myself. At least I have what I call a collection and I'm very proud of it everyday that I'm able to add to it. I'm sure that the original person that started that collection was proud of it then too.

[WoodenJefferson]

I am to assume that this collector lived in Carlsbad, New Mexico from the 30's onward. This area was akin to the "Wild West" in those days, people from out laying areas still walked the downtown sidewalks with side arms and thought nothing of it. History is deep seated in areas as such, historical societies abound to preserve the romance and hardships of living in such a desolate area.

 

Something of this nature (the collection at hand) is uncommonly rare for an area as remote as this place was in 1936 and if the Grandfather was as well known as the OP claims, then this accumulation of coins is worthy for local historical value.

[MarkFeld]

...and if the Grandfather was as well known as the OP claims, then this accumulation of coins is worthy for local historical value

Regardless of how well known the owner was, why would the coins he collected (or amassed) have local historical value?

[WoodenJefferson]

...and if the Grandfather was as well known as the OP claims, then this accumulation of coins is worthy for local historical value

Regardless of how well known the owner was, why would the coins he collected (or amassed) have local historical value?

Richard King & Mifflin Kenedy were nobodies until the formation of the King Ranch, a successful enterprise that soon became one of the largest cattle ranches in the state of Texas. There is an entire wing of a museum dedicated to their struggle...I looked at dress of the day, implements, food services, and personal stuff that does not interest me what-so-ever, but had it not been for the heirs donating or sharing these personal items, one can only speculate what their possessions were or how they lived and accumulated these items. It's history that is shared and view by others and what the viewers take away from it varies.

 

It's the same with these coins that were amassed by an individual of that area...it could be spools of thread, no difference...a local person who collected coins...displayed in a local historical society museum, that's a local interest. I'm not talking Smithsonian here...every little Podunk Center has a society that is interested in the towns history and people who donate or allow a collection of what-ever to be properly conservered and displayed, is grateful.

[MarkFeld]

Thanks for the explanation.