"Big Sky" Ikes for sale by Littleton

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by Wally in Cincy, Jan 10, 2012.

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  2. Fall Guy

    Fall Guy Active Member

    Agreed, I wouldn't pay that much for an Ike dollar regardless of what type or slab it's in.
     
  3. kookoox10

    kookoox10 ANA #3168546

    I loved how they dubbed the hoard as "famous and exciting". I don't see what's famous or exciting about finding a hoard of clad. I have a hoard in my closet in the form of a water cooler bottle.
     
  4. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    I can buy them when I can find them in my banks, and they only charge me a dollar eaches.
     
  5. These are way overpriced. Who care about the label? TC
     
  6. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Sadly sir, many do. Its a natural extension of putting our coins in plastic slabs that eventually the plastic will be the object of desire to some, right?

    I went to a show a month ago and a dealer was selling "slab protectors" to protect your slabs and keep them pretty. :( I think some people are about 3 degrees removed from colelcting actual coins, but that is there right.
     
  7. cladking

    cladking Coin Collector


    These coins are all uncirculated.

    Try finding an original hoard of clad quarters from the same era. Go ahead and try.

    In fact just try to find an original roll of eagle reverse clad quarters.

    Every year another hoard of old coins is found somewhere from a bank vault to a shipwreck but this is the first and only find of clads. It will likely be the last and it's not surprising it's Ikes because these were about the only clads people ever thought of saving.
     
  8. kookoox10

    kookoox10 ANA #3168546

    Okay okay, point taken. Yeesh.
     
  9. gbroke

    gbroke Naturally Toned

    I like ikes, and I think it's exciting about the hoard. However, I agree they are a little pricey. They aren't waaaay over priced though, especially for Littleton.
     
  10. TheCoinGeezer

    TheCoinGeezer Senex Bombulum

    Littleton got 220,000 coins from that hoard.
    IIRC they paid around a million bucks for it, or less than $5 coin.
    I'm sure they made a deal with NGC and got a low price for the grading.
    MS65 Ikes are common as rain and certified examples of such routinely sell for $15 or less on eBay.
    Granted many of Littleton hoard my not grade as high as MS65 but I'm sure they got many that graded higher too.
    $69 for an MS65 example is simply ludicrous.
     
  11. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Two words: Mint sets. Okay, a third word: fugly.

    I think there is more than enough uncirculated coins around at least for the years in which mint sets were made to satisfy the tiny demand. Sorry, just how I feel about these coins. I do not think they are attractive, and even when I collected US coins I refused to collect them.

    Just my feelings sir, I know you disagree.

    Chris
     
  12. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    In 2004 my mother and I found 107 Eisenhower dollars that my grandmother had saved.

    They were very worn and circulated, and no doubt had performed honorable service in the slot machines of Reno.

    I sold them on Ebay for US $117 plus shipping ($12 then).

    :)
     
  13. 19Lyds

    19Lyds Member of the United States of Confusion

    I fully agree with your assessment and personally would be tickled pink to be able to "browse" through bag after bag of uncirculated IKE's.

    The series itself is totally "undiscovered" with new and exciting varieties showing up on a regular basis. Varieties of the type that would cause major ripples of giddy excitement in the Morgan or Peace World yet, because they are copper-nickel clad, folks just do not seem to care.

    While Littleton's asking prices are fairly steep, it doesn't detract from the excitement of the find. I'm curious as to how the Eisenhower Error coin populations will be affected since clips and off center strikes are fully possible not to mention rotated reverses, weak strikes and possibly RPM's?
    PegLegs ? Die Cracks? BERTY Coins?

    And really, whose to say that a significant DDO or DDR isn't within that hoard?

    I think it's fair to talk smack regarding the Littleton asking prices but I also think its fairly short sighted to diss the discovery based soley upon the fact that they are "clad" coins. Clad coins have as much a role to play in numismatics as do silver or copper coins.
     
  14. Fall Guy

    Fall Guy Active Member

    Collecting Ike's is serious business
     
  15. kookoox10

    kookoox10 ANA #3168546

    You're absolutely right, when a thread like this becomes created, the ike fans come out of the woodwork. My bad, I guess once the bullets are out of that gun, there's no sucking them back in. The only thing I will dispute is Littleton's pricing structure. So many collectors get taken to the cleaners on a weekly basis, my dad was one of them. Just a little bitter...
     
  16. 19Lyds

    19Lyds Member of the United States of Confusion

    I fully agree. The pricing is, IMO, out of line with reality.

    BUT, pricing is directly related to supply and demand and Littlelton is doing their best to "promote" this hoard. Promotion creates interest and interest creates demand.

    As was stated earlier, the series is still wide open for discovery. It simply needs folks to start discovering.

    Ever buy an original uncirculated roll of coins with the hopes of finding that high grade coin which would make the purchase worth while? I have.

    And Ive been disappointed countless times.

    I've also been rewarded on numerous occasions!

    Thats what coin collecting is all about.
     
  17. fretboard

    fretboard Defender of Old Coinage!

    Littleton coin lives on suckers! Lucky none of us are gonna buy their lollipops! :D
     
  18. TheCoinGeezer

    TheCoinGeezer Senex Bombulum

    I have a set of certified Ikes I put together to not-too-much money.
    Beauty is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder and I have always thought the Ike dollar an attractive coin, especially the reverse (I like the bicentennial reverse too).
     
  19. cladking

    cladking Coin Collector


    I'm not sure I believe they really paid that much. It's not impossible but it's far above wholesale and Littleton usually pays only about 25 to 50% above wholesale.

    True gem Ikes are actually quite scarce. What any given grader is calling "MS-65" at this time I don't know but if you're looking for a nice attractive wellmade coin with a minimum of marking, a gem, then you'll be looking for a while. I was watching the mint sets and never saw my first gem Ike until late in 1978; it was a '77. 1977-P is the most common or second most common ('78-D is about tied) of all the Ikes in gem but only about 1.5% of mint set coins are Gems. Of the '76 type I's fewer than .2% are Gem. One can argu4e this makes them "common" due to huge mintage of mint sets but the fact is that these coins have suffered tremendous abuse and attrition over the decades because they are considered common. Many mint sets are just cut up and put in coin dealers' cash registers. Mint set packaging is not stable and every year more of the survivors are corroded or damaged.

    These percentages will seem exceedingly low when the mint sets are tough to locate and collectors start wanting these coins. I wouldn't pay $69 for a common date gem Ike but there are only three common dates. Some MS-65's are special because they'll be PL or have booming luster or razor sharp strikes. As always collectors should buy the coin and not the story or the label.
     
  20. cladking

    cladking Coin Collector

    Unfornutately I agree with all your points (except that I like Ike).

    The supply of uncirculated Ikes is substantial for every date. Even the '73 probably still has close to 1.1 million so they aren't going to run short at any point in the near future. But if you want a nice attractive specimen of almost every date it will require patience or money. Right now a nice near gem set can be put together from mint sets for under $1000 pretty easily if you have the sets to check. But this only exists because so few people are doing it and many of those doing it aren't highly motivated to complete their sets. Once just a little competition developes there simply won't be any supply available and you'll have to compete against other collectors for what does survive.

    I do not believe this demand will be insignificant forever. We are seeing this process in other countries where the tiny demand of a growing middle class has just wiped out the supply of moderns. In Russia there are more and more coins fromthe '70's selling for 500 to $1000 for typical coins. Even circs are bringing high prices because the Soviet era coins were melted in 1991/ 2. It's hard for me to believe an economy the size of the US can't generate a demand for the few Ikes that exist in nice condition.
     
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