Best deal you've ever been offered....

Color me jealous!

 

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Luckily I didn't have to acid-date this one although I did 95% of the rest of the bag (sixty-somethin of em i think)

 

Best deal I got was $10 gold piece that was given to me by an uncle that felt he would sell it for way less than it was worth, and knew I collected coins as a kid so he just gave it to me for free. Also a trade dollar that was supposed to go to the first grand daughter on my mom's side of the family, but my mom knew it wouldn't stay in the family if my sister got it so it is really not a part of my collection just in my possession.

When I experiment with photoing coins I will post and the trade dollar will probably be my avatar.

 

The best deal I was ever offered was time served and....Just Kidding!

Since I haven't been collecting coins for very long at all, (less than a year), I'd have to say the best deal I've been offered (and taken), was approximately 40 pounds of Lincoln Cents a couple of weeks ago.

The guy I got them from had them in an old bucket in his garage, covered with a tarp...he also had quite a few in an old curio cabinet type thing with fold-out drawers.

Since I couldn't lift the bucket (broken back, with 6 major surgeries and 61 spinal injections) I carefully transferred everything into a large soft-sided Shimano Tackle Bag on wheels thats aout 2-1/2 feet tall...much more manageable.

Since the top coins came out first, they then became the bottom coins, and the coins on the bottom etc. etc.
The first thing that caught my eye was a 1724 Swedish 1 ORE....I definately did NOT know what it was at the time and made a post in the forums here and, true to form, you guys came through in no time at all with the answers to my questions.

I am not even 1/5 of the way down the 'pile', and I'm already seeing some really nice cents that look like they only spent about 20 minutes in some guys pocket after coming from the mint.

Case in point...i have 4 really beautiful 1959/1959d cents that look for all practical purposes to have just come from the mint...really nice. And it looks like I have coins in that condition (from this trade) from at least 1958 to the most current I've found so far...1999.

The oldest cent I've found so far is a 1918S cent....(and 3 of the 1920 cents so far, too).
(Like I said..I'm still at the beginning).
As I get further and further into seeing what it's gonna take to go through all of them, I see the need to buckle down and start a serious learning curve in regards to.... varieties, transitional varieties, errors, over mint marks, repunched mint marks, small dates, large dates, die doubling, and on and on...
This evening I came across a really nice 1970S that has a repunched mint mark, and a 1960D also with an rpm.
(I now know that only the 1960 small date is the one of value, and that the 1960D is a common coin).
Oddly enough, I've already found 22 of the 1970S, and 13 of the 1960/1960D...
I've found some REALLY nice toned cents, and even some cents with what appears to be a woodgrain finish...


I've found some really interesting coins so far, and I'll definately dedicate a separate post when I finally complete this challenge.


I will also post how I 'test-cleaned' a couple of coins without even touching them....this was actually a very cool mental excercise when I put my mind to it... (telekinesis/psychokinesis puns/jokes deleted by popular demand).


I'm really enjoying this...it's fun, doesn't require heavy lifting, keeps the brain occupied, and I'm Learning....... and learning the correct aspects of the subject matter is very important to me.



Oh...what did I give in the trade?





an (original model) Avet S/X fishing reel spooled up with 50# spectra with a 30# fluorcarbon top-shot......about a $150 value in the condition it was in.

I also taught the guy how to tie a few fishing knots ....... tying knots may sound banal, but I can tie a Bimini Twist in less than 30 seconds, (it will take the average angler about 3-5 minutes), and I've never had that knot fail....yet.

 

Last year at a flea market I bought a graded American silver Eagle and a graded commemorative LA Olympics silver dollar. They were in a box of McDonald's Happy Meal toys and Hot Wheels. The box was marked five for a dollar, so I got them for twenty cents each. Also in the box was a baggie full of play money, and mixed in with the plastic coins was a barber dime.

 

I stopped for coffee at a stand and got Mercury dimes in change. I asked the counter girl if she had any more in the register. The tray was full. She told me she bought $5 worth herself but ran out of cash. I bought all the rest for face. I had to trade her some dimes, so I bought some from across the street. 132 total for face.

 

First I must say hello. I am mostly a lurker here but this thread encouraged me to chime in with a few of my deals. I am a bit of a scrounger and it has served me well with my coin hobby.

My best deal was a collection of Indian cents found at our local recycling center for free! They were in a box of books thrown in the free pile. Didn't have the 1877 but many of the others. The coins are all in various circulated conditions. This find or deal, got me interested in coins again.

I frequently search the banks as a CRH. This has led to some great finds at face value including silver Morgan, Peace and Ike dollars plus quite a few commemoratives including a Stone Mountain and Maine halves and a lot of junk silver. Often the tellers hand me the coins out of their trays and will ask if I really want this coin because its really old or "weird". One of the "weird" comments came from a young teller as she opened a small bag of coins up and asked "these are all weird, do you want any?". She handed me a 3 cent 1865 nickel, Peace, Morgan and Ike dollars, a Buffalo nickel (no date) and a few beat up Mercury dimes. She charged me face for all of it except the 3 center which she said came in as a dime.

I also hit the pawn shops and have found a few nice coins there including a Capped Bust half and some graded coins plus a lot of junk silver. The best part is that I usually am trading in the things I've scrounged for free or next to nothing from yard sales for the coins.

As for deals from the coin dealers or ebay I've never had much luck. My grading skills aren't there yet so I am reluctant to buy raw coins. Forums like this are helping though and have saved me from being taken advantage of. Everyone likes finding a deal!

Maine_Jim

 

A 1924-s Lincoln MS60+! Found in a roll of pennies I picked up at a yardsale for $2

 

Had a great rip of a silver center 1795 dollar bought on (well, atually off) Feeabay. Paid $@, worth 3-4 times that.

 

I just got a 1957A star dollar for....1 dollar i was pretty happy for that trade since i dont have any silver certificate.

 

Got this on Ebay

 

I had a really nice group of slabbed coins walk up to my table recently: Walkers, Dollars, Commems, and Gold at a really attractive price. I bought them all and this made the show more fun and worthwhile.

 

Got a 1928 Silver Certificate 'B' series....it's been folded, but it's in really nice shape.
(It's also got the funny back).

 

Don't think it was that good a deal....

 

What do you think of this one for $70?



Or this one for <$200..



Or this one for a pricwe I can't even remember. Couldn't be too high with the budget I was on. No more than $100..

 

Another thread to reactivate!

Let post 'em

 

Sheesh........a whole bunch of folks I haven't seen in quite a spell......

 

I paid not much over melt value for a 1905-P Barber half that came back from PCGS as UNC Details. Unfortunately the dealer (not a numismatist but a silver hack) didn't recommend putting it in acetone or give any advice. Either way, it was slabbed and I sold it to an HA guy for $750. I'm sure he gave it the acetone treatment and it is now sitting in an MS62/63 slab in someone's trophy case. I was young and a newbie. Shame on me.

Kinda back-handed win to me.

I also bought a plate full of "polish coins" that had the following in it. I paid $22.50 for the plate - plus 12% premium. The coin sold for $365.

Bonus - I got a bunch of polish coins too!

 

Can't ever say I have gotten a deal of the century. However patience and careful bidding has produced quite a few good auction buys, if added together, put me solidly in the black.

But I haven't given up hope....

 

Nice to look back.....