Coins people. Coins, LOL. Pick a coin in your collection and tell us a story. How, When and where will suffice. I'll go first, Thank You. This is one of the very first coins that I received from my uncle who was also a collector. He was a medic in the U.S Army during WW2. He also was an amputee who lost his leg from the knee down. He never told me the whole story about the coin, but I suspect he got it somewhere along his travels and possibly wore it. Thanks, and enjoy the mild weather on the East coast.
I was about 10 at the time. My mother gave me 50 cents and asked me to get something off the vegetable cart that an old man pushed down the alley every morning. Mom knew it would cost 25 cents and expected 25 cents in return. I made the transaction but didn't receive 25 cents in change. I was given an 1875-S Twenty Cent Piece rather than a quarter. Now, mom expects 25 cents change. I had a dilemma. My governing thought was that mom would say wow and tell me to put it in my coin collection. I needed to take a chance. Sure enough the results favored me. I recently gave it to my youngest son.
Not high grade--not a key date --although a key die marriage for the year. The story... It barely makes Good and has graffiti dating from the year 1845. It cost me solid XF money (Plus my max bid was almost twice what I got it for). But it was the last (achievable by me) die marriage for my 1827 set. It's estimated that only about 35 or so examples exist in any grade--most of which are damaged. When I bought it back in 2009 I had been looking for an affordable O-144 for the previous 19 years. The inscription in the upper right field reads "Cadet Robertson 1845. In the left (behind Liberty) Robertson is repeated. A note: As gentlemen military cadets were expected to never be completely without funds. Thus it became a common practice to carry a pocket piece--often from one's birth year. A search of West Point archives comes up with Beverly Robertson--born June 1827, appointed to USMA1845, and graduated class of 1849. He went on to become a CSA general during the Civil War. One has to wonder if this was his coin. Update from when I first posted about this coin. In 2019 I located a descendant of General Robertson living in Tennessee and asked about his ancestor. After a series of letters I gifted him with the coin and it rejoined the family.
Thirty something years ago, a good friend brought me a group of Premium boards. He found them while cleaning his grandmother's attic before selling the house. There was a Lincoln Cent board and also a Mercury Dime and a Barber Dime board. This is a close idea of what they looked like. As we looked at the Lincoln board, I told him that it was a shame that the hole for the 1909-S VDB was empty. Average grade for the coins were F to VF. All the coins had a nice well matched look. It was clear the coins had been in the holder for many years. My friend ask if I would take everything with me and give him a rough value. I was all over that. Late that night I kicked back in my chair and started on the Lincolns. I could not believe what I found when I took the 1909-S out of the hole. It was the S VDB in the wrong hole. Late night or not I had to call my friend. I ask if he remembered the empty hole I pointed out. That was a fun call. The next day he came to pickup the coins and wanted to just give them to me. That was a no and I made him take a fair price for all the coins. Shortly after that my friends dad passed away and left him a bank and half of the properties on Main St of a small Oklahoma town. He became a millionaire, overnight. The 1909-S VDB just came back from PCGS.
Just because it's sal I'll get derailed a bit (blame Dwhiz) 1707 200 Reis. I looked hard at the pictures when it first came up on auction and saw what looked like an overstike. Like the coin was restruck over an earlier coin. That was what I was most intrigued about, what coin was underneath or what could the original coin could be? I still don't know but one would think earlier than 1707. The auction passed and I got outbid like 4x my number made it more interesting. A month later it was back listed again from the same seller. I asked the seller if it was the same coin and Yes the previous bidder didn't follow through with the sale. I ended up getting the coin for less than half of my previous bid. One of my favorite coins, someday I'd like to see it graded and figure out what coin it was stamped over. Take yourself back to that time period when that happened and who carried it, interesting to say the least. Another interesting thing is this coin came from a delinquent safety deposit box auction.
This story is entitled: Lehigh's White Whale This coin represents my 8th attempt to fill this slot in my registry set. The first 7 attempts were various MS67 and MS67 5FS coins. Most were either lack luster, poorly struck, or down right ugly. The 1950-D may not be difficult to find in mint state grades, but obtaining a specimen that fits in a high ranking registry set is a difficult chase indeed. At the outset of my endeavor to complete the Jefferson series, I knew I would need fantastic coin to represent the "so called" key date of the series. After 7 failed attempts to fill the slot, I began to consider the ever elusive 1950-D, my white whale. In the 2011 Heritage FUN Sale, I obtained my first MS67 5FS, and I was so elated that at the time, I declared that coin my White Whale, but alas the coin had what some would call satin luster. Let's be honest, the thing was so flat and uninspiring that only an aficionado of technical grading could appreciate it. But I kept up the charade that I was happy with the coin and kept it in my set. In 2019, I found an MS67 with beautiful cobalt blue and antique bronze toning that resided in an old fatty slab that predated the 5FS designation. I was confident that it was full steps so I sent the coin to NGC for designation review and sure enough, the coin came back MS67 5FS and that coin represented my set admirably. My brother had taken up coin collecting again in 2019 and was building an impressive Franklin Half Dollar collection on his own; he started buying mint sets on eBay in an attempt to cherrypick some nice full bell Franklins. So he decided to buy a random 1950-D mint set that someone had assembled in one of those capital plastics holders. He handed it to me and asked me what I thought. Well, I wasn't too impressed with the Franklin, but when I got to the Jefferson my knees buckled and I almost dropped the entire set. Gazing back at me through the loupe was the finest 50-D Jefferson Nickel I had ever seen. I was Ahab, searching the 7 seas in search of my White Whale, meanwhile, my brother, completely by accident, has it fall right into his lap. So I sent it to NGC knowing full well what grade it would receive and I told my brother, when that coin comes back MS67 5FS, I am gonna sell mine, and you are gonna sell this one to me. He agreed that $500 was a fair price for his little brother to finally get his White Whale.
Let's get this "Tuesday" thang going again . . . . . . It's my birth year nickel donchakno . . . . . . . Z
A B -6 marriage and her darker look ....as well the inverted 3 under the primary 3 in crust I trust...
Another cool find a VP-001 1954 RED Recut tail feathers. https://www.papermoneyforum.com/pos...-proof-with-reengraved-tail-feathers-11525117 Found this one in a mint set
That is one of the best stories I have ever heard on these forums........you, sir, are a true gentleman and scholar.
The Story; Many years ago 1975. I had a cousin who had a coin shop in the town where I was living and I would go in to look at his morgan dollars since I was trying to build a set. I was married and had 2 small boys and very little money for coins. All of his coins were raw since the grading companies didn't exist then. I would look at his offerings and select some to buy. Most of the time he would charge me 5 or 6 dollars for each. This time I found one that I needed and presented it to him and ask the price. He looked at it and said it was a good one and the price was $400. I told him I didn't have that kind of money. He looked at me smiled and handed me the coin and said take it and pay me when you can. I was shocked and delighted at the same time. It took me about 4 months to get him paid. No bill or anything like that just trust. I put in my set and a few years later I sent it to ANACS to have it authenticated and graded. Here is that coin. It has resided in my set for all these years and a couple of years ago I decided to have some of the better ones in the set graded. Here is this coin as it now resides.
I've heard stories about siblings mad at each other and scratching the others vinyl records but dang that a whole nother level of revenge I don't guess there were many records around to take their frustrations out on.
As far as graffiti goes, that one isn't that bad. The 1893 S is one I'd definitely make an exception for a details grade.
Update, these look smaller than the for sale pictures isn't that usually the case with stuff on the Internet Some background on the coin/disk when you have time to read it. https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinView.aspx?PeopleSetCoinID=1613315
Only when it comes to US coins does 1 of 100,000 seem impressive. Still a fantastic coin, but in my opinion, it isn't rare. Just popular. Here's my show and tell, 1 of 3 known: Supposed experimental strike minted between 400-350 BC from the city of Miletos. Coins minted after that had a lion and star on the same side of the coin, with the lion looking back at the star, but with Athena on the other side like this hemidrachm that I also own: And heck, I have another from Miletos, only instead of Greek, this one is Roman, from the time of Nero: All three coins were minted in the same city, spanning at least 400 years. The United States is only 248 years old for perspective.
These two Silver Inaugural medals are exactly a century a part. I bought them in the same auction without realizing it. One is "very rare." The other is rare to very scarce. 1801 Thomas Jefferson inaugural medal in silver, 12 known. 1901 McKinley inaugural medal in silver, mintage 55.
I won't have time on Tuesday for a write-up, so here goes. I present a relatively uncleaned silver drachm of Khrusru II, King of Kings of Iran and Non-Iran, who reigned from 591-628. The Sasanian/Sassanian kingdom was a successor state to the Parthians, and the Sasanians lasted from 224-651. The most aggressive and successful of the post-Achaemenid states, the Sasanians gave the Romans a lot of headaches. The Eastern Roman emperor Maurice helped Khrusru II come to power and the Romans gained Armenia in exchange. Peaceful relations existed until Maurice was overthrown in 602. The Persians used this pretext to declare war, and over the course of the inept reign of Phocas (602-610), the Persians began to annex territory. After the Roman civil war and Heraclius (610-641) came to power, the Persians kicked it into overdrive, occupying Syria, Egypt, and much of Anatolia, regaining about 85% of the old Persian Empire. Against overwhelming odds, Heraclius slowly cobbled together an army and went on the offensive, and through clever tactics managed to win the war. It's probably Heraclian propaganda, but Heraclius produced a letter in which Khrusru addressed him as, "My vile, imbecile slave." Khrusru was overthrown by the nobles in 628 and sent off to the Castle of Oblivion (people just had more style then). The 20 year war exhausted both countries and Heraclius lived too long. He went from vast triumph in 630 to losing virtually all of the regained territory to the Muslims (the rise of Islam happened then) by the end of his reign. Khrusru II was arguably the most successful of the Sasanian kings in terms of territory, but while the Eastern Roman empire survived as a rump state, the Sasanians were gone by 651. I may be wrong, but I think the Sasanians were the first to refer to their realm as Iran. These are mostly common, inexpensive coins, but I have always thought the coins of Khrusru II were the neatest. The 'skeletal', fat-face portraits start during the high point of Khrusru's reign. Oh, and while the Romans were down to about a 5% 'silver' coin by 260, the Sasanians maintained a nearly pure silver standard throughout. It helped to be on the Silk Road.
