I think this auction on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150250226575 for a roll of 60 3-cent nickels that were evidently rolled back in 1921 is an interesting one. I was going to bid on it when it was listed, thinking about a conservative price in case there wasn't anything good in the roll (maybe $750), so I could still kind of break even in that case. The current price is up to $1325. It reached this price at May-26-08 16:55:07 PDT with 45 bids. The seller didn't have any pictures of the individual coins, just a description of the dates by decade. After long enough (and enough questions, I'm sure), they put up a fuzzy image of all the coins. The image was added at May-26-08 at 22:58:02 PDT, 6 hours after the last bid and there hasn't been another bid since then. The new image shows a number of holed and some very worn examples. I'm curious to see if anyone is going to bid again after seeing the new picture. A warning to not be over enthusiastic about these kinds of auctions, I think. What would you guys pay for this item?
Larger Picture The wrapper says patented in 1921, so it could be rolled anytime after that. Grandpa must have been pretty old, maybe pull these out of change around 1890, say he was 20 then, so born 1870, just died at about 135 ? I'm suspicious of this seller. The photos of the coins face up don't show much detail, but you can see some coins are culls. He has a roll of indian head cents and seated quarters,too.
It wasn't that long ago that coins like that were going begging at shows for $2.50 each. Without the holes!
A roll of 3cN would certainly be a novelty ! There's no reason to believe this roll is any different from most others on E-Bay... rolled up for the occasion. I'll bet ya somebody just rounded up a bunch of dogs out of reject bins. Maybe $3 each. At $1325, that's $22 each. Crazy. I would never pay any where near that for 60 coins I couldn't see. As Treashunt says... "Run, don't walk, away from this one !".
Very interesting, are people trying to find some proof coin in that lot or something? Bizarre to be honest.
The top 3 rows of 6 ( 18 coins) don't show up well in the photo, that area is dark. Those coins look like the really bad ones. So, the photo is intentionally deceptive.
I guess so, maybe enticed by the "several from the 1880s", since all but the 1881 (the one shown in the picture) are hard to find and would justify a larger price. I know 3-cent nickels in F-VF can sell for $15 or so each, but the latest picture definitely brings down the potential grade average with all those G-AGs and holes.
Here's a coin pile he sold for $610. Buyer gave good feedback, but the pile doesn't look like much to me, has a Trade dollar ( not sure if real). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150223231553
I would love to find an old roll like this, but it looks like more than a few of these are holed and filled. Probably a bunch of worn out common date coins. The seller says he didn't see any mintmarks....good thing!! That does show he dosn't know much about them, or he is really playing dumb.
Kind of makes you wonder if someone really did come across a bunch of grandpap's coins, or he is pulling a leg and the whole story is made up? I know one thing, that annoying huge font is a turn off to my looking beyond the text in an auction. It is obnoxious.
I think it is a set-up job with the old wrappers. It would be funny if he bought the wrappers on ebay.
recieved one in change Im the one who recieved one in change from a Burger King about two months ago. If somone wanted to add 59 more we could probably make some pretty good money on the fleabay. I've actually got 6 or 7 of the things so If you just wanted to donate 53 more I would appreciate it.