Biggest WASTE of a rare coin--- tell me your HORROR stories

[lclugza]

Have you ever seen a coin that would have been valuable, except that some stupid insufficiently_thoughtful_person had accidentally or deliberated damaged the coin so badly it made you want to cry (or, at least, you thought about crying)?

 

[EVillageProwler]

I once saw an 1852 Original dollar, EF details, that was harshly cleaned. I guess the net grade was a VF20 or so. Anyway, I bought it for a little over $5K. If it hadn't been so badly cleaned, it'd be worth over $15K!!!

 

EVP

 

[bigd5]

I just saw a rarer S mint half dime that a dealer purchased, that some Einstein decided to inscribe their initials in. I can't remember the date, but the coin was very nice besides the grafitti.

[Guest]

A very nice 1891-CC spitting eagle Morgan dollar that I bought back when I was young and not so bright...beautiful details...but when I wanted to send it in, a couple honest dealers told me they'd save me money...the coin had a very nice cleaning job done on it....Anybody who cleaned a CC dollar ought to be shot.

[jtryka]

Since I collect mainly gold, I see horror stories in bezels almost every day! The worst I've probably seen is a 1911-D Eagle in a bezel, at least it wasn't soldered.

[Hoot]

Not that this one parallels the coins mentioned above, but I had for a while a 1911 2.5D Indian that was, emphasis was, MS - a very detailed example - that some person_too_unaware_of_social_graces had tried to clean some of those nasty copper spots off of! Grrrr.

 

Hoot

[gmarguli]

Lots of rare coins that were holed. I've seen rare date Morgans encased into a paperweight. I saw one rare date colorized.

[Oldtrader3]

An AU Bechtler dollar with a hole drilled in it for a necklace.

[TomB]

I had a choice VF 1877 Indian cent with gorgeous, chocolate surfaces offered to me at a show one time. The only problem with it was that the reverses had been ground off and made into a love token. D'OH!

[BillJones]

The worst I ever saw was an 1848 CAL quarter eagle that had been holed and the obverse had been turned into a love token. The coin still sold for more than $1,000.

[gmarguli]

How about this one. It's for sale byt The Coin Depot in SC in the latest Numismatic News.

 

1836 Gobrecht Silver Dollar

We also have a Gobrecht that's has the flying eagle on the reverse cut out and with solder where it was used as a stick pin. "The worlds cheapest Gobrecht."

[mrkelso]

Not rare but a 1OZ Gold eagle with a hole drilled in it on a key ring. Made my heart stop.

[Guest]

Someone once sent Collectors' Clearinghouse a 1943/2-P Jefferson 5-cent coin for examination. The coin appeared to have no wear, and the overdate was clear. However, someone had bent the coin to an approximately 90-degree angle. What a tragedy.

 

William T. Gibbs

News Editor

Coin World

[mrkelso]

Yes any of these darn painted coins and any Gold coins in Bezels around someones neck. Oh and someone said this but i agree a silver eagle with a hole drilled in it on a key ring? I have seen them selling at 7-11 at one time or another.

[michael]

saw a stella genuine

 

that was carried as a pocket piece and is a textbook low end vg grade

 

sincerely michael

 

 

[Coinosaurus]

How about the unique 1870-S $3? It has a small "x" on it. Would it be worth more if that mark wasn't there??

[BillJones]

I just saw a 1797, 15 star half dime that would have graded a nice F-VF except for the fact that some insufficiently_thoughtful_person had intentionally scratched the obverse with a pin with a squiggle of lines. It’s a shame because the 1796-7 half dimes are among the scarcest of all type coins.

[kranky]

I think that 1870-s $3 gold had a three-digit number scratched into it, not an X.

 

Being unique, it's hard to imagine that the mark would affect the value. I doubt that anyone interested in that 1933 Saint decided to drop out of the bidding because it wasn't a 67.

[BillJones]

The scratched in 3 digit date is not all that is wrong with the 1870-S three dollar gold piece. The coin was once mounted, and it has been polished. It's shame they didn't use an 1854 for the jewelry.

[Guest]

Two Day's ago , 1921 DDO High Relief Peace Dollar , MS65/66 On Rev and Cleaned on Obv ,

Must have been Toned on Obv and someone decided to make It look Nicer .

Is there nothing a brillo pad and a little stupidity cant do

 

 

[shirohniichan]

A Stella in VG would be a cool coin to own!

 

Did anyone read the article in the David Lawrence price list about the Gobreacht dollar found in the bottom of a piece of pottery?

 

Supposedly someone made a vase around it. When the owner broke it open he saw it had nice AU details! The problem was that the bottom of the vase was quite rough, so after spending years rolling around in it the coin had lots of scratches on one side.