We've had a trying few weeks in the outside-of-CoinTalk realm, and I haven't had much time or attention to spare for bargain-hunting. But trials sometimes bring opportunities, and in this case, it was an opportunity to visit a pawn shop several hundred miles from my usual territory. This was a small place with a narrow selection, but it looks like someone dumped a collection there. There were several dozen individual coins in 2x2s, including accurately-labeled small- and large-date 1858 Flying Eagle cents. "Great", I thought, "a dealer who knows as much as I do. No bargains here." There were also a few rolls of silver dimes for $69, Kennedy halves for $149... and four rolls of quarters for $129 each, almost within shooting distance of melt (before tax, which unfortunately was required in this store's state). I asked how low they could go on the quarter rolls, and like good negotiators, they said "make an offer". I opened with $100, figuring I might be able to negotiate a bit less than melt -- and they looked at each other, shrugged, and said "sure". (I'm pretty sure my poker face has improved over the years.) I also spotted this, and asked if they could throw it in for $10 -- again, they were happy to. I glanced at the writing on the roll, but figured I must not have been reading it correctly. (This was the same writing as was on the 2x2s -- apparently from the original owner). Here are the first 25 cents from the roll, in the order they came out: The top middle and top right ones are L's, I'm pretty sure, although the top right one is badly mangled. All the dates and counts were accurate -- there were one or two that might stretch to VG, but quite a few damaged or sub-G. I'm still not disappointed. I won't be able to visit the place again for at least a few weeks, but I'll definitely be making it a regular stop when I'm in that area...
I'm seeing a few coins in the $20 to $50 range based on just seeing one side of the coins. Great buy at 20 cents per coin. Fun stuff.
That's probably optimistic -- some of them have problems that don't show up in this photo. But I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple that would each cover the cost of the roll. I was already running late when I got to this place, and didn't give the rest of the stuff the time and attention that I probably should have. This state has a 6% sales tax, but it's waived on coins and bullion over $1000. Had I realized that, I might have seen if I could swing a deal for the rest of the stuff on the counter. Probably just as well that I didn't, though -- this was a big bite by my standards, and if I'd bought that much in mostly junk silver, it would've guaranteed a prompt 20% drop in silver's price.
