Hey All, Over the past year I have had some amazing stories and coins brought to me by advertising via craigslist, I figured I would share them with you and hope youll share yours in return! 1. The first one of the year is a gentleman who emailed me outlining what he had in face value of junk silver (around $50 worth). We came to an agreement on price and we proceeded to meet and follow through with the transaction. I always ask my customers how they came by the coins. One, to read them if they are stolen or not, and two because I am genuinely curious. He said he actually found them along with about $500 in face at a storage locker he bought. His partner had sold $250 worth and he was testing the waters with me to sell his half. He said he's been doing it for 20 years and this is probably the best find, usually, he gets junk and it's nothing like "storage wars". I bought it all, no key dates, but a cool story none the less. 2. A family friend called me stating he was cleaning out his recently passed grandmother's house (in a very prominent area) and said he found some coins. I told him to bring them to me not expecting anything amazing. "Some Coins" was really and understatement in my opinion. With about 100 uncirculated morgan and peace dollars in rolls, 100 circulated, and right around 100 in large bills I was blown away. There were even federal reserve mint bags in there with dates of purchase written on them. The collection apparently sat unnoticed in a filing cabinet for years until the house was being ready to be sold. All coins and bills were taken out of circulation. This collection was purchased for a rather large sum, no key dates but the history of it and the family's ability to put aside so much money in the early 1900's is an mindblowing. 3. Lastly yesterday I had two gentlemen respond to my ad with some pictures of some circulated junk and a few morgans that were worn. I told them I would of course purchase them ,and to come on down and we'll evaluate them all. A lot of times people think they have gold mines when they don't so I was expecting the whole "it's an old dollar worth "big money". The gentlemen were quite understanding when I gave them a price and it was a small sale under 200 dollars. I asked them how they acquired the coins and they said they worked construction. Living in NYC I enquired to where they were working and where they found them in the house. Apparently, they were cleaning out a hoarder's apartment in Harlem, most likely a previously rent-controlled apartment of a women who passed and they came along 3 buckets of coins. The landlord wanted everything out of the apartment and thrown in the dumpster. The gentlemen stated that at first they threw the buckets of coins to the side as nothing then one of them said maybe we should cash them in. Low and behold they were all pre 64 coinage. The unfortunate part of this story is they sold about $3000 worth to a dealer in the diamond district at 80% spot : (. God knows what that guy found (the diamond district in NYC if you are not familiar is full of leeches and unscrupulous characters). They also stated they had to leave a jug behind because it was too heavy to put in their backpacks! Could you imagine. All that being said, the hoards are still out there guys. Dwindling for sure, but they are there. Thanks for listening : ) Have a great humpday!
Yep, and still being accumulated. If you don't have a clear will and/or emergency instructions, you're one mishap away from becoming the source of the next find...
Haha, well that was quite morbid, but you are correct it is not uncommon in today's age for such a travesty to happen. What I was really trying to convey through these stories was more so the people who accumulated them, and how most of it came from circulation rather than the idea that it can happen to any of us.
IDK, what would you call a "hoard"? I own maybe $2500 in FV silver, 20 ounces of gold coinage, about 500 "better" US coins, (seated halves, bust dollars, etc), and maybe 10,000 ancients. Is it a hoard or ...... yeah, nvm, its a hoard. Hopefully the instructions I left for my family will prevent it from being one of the sad stories.
Who cares? If they are not interested now, they won't be when they inherit the stash. Most likely most will turn it into a bank for a quick exchange. At least we all have pleasant dreams with our hobby. Dave
I've left instructions too, in case I expire before I can unload them myself. Hope to be around a bit longer, but one can never tell!
