What's your best story?

We all know about the rush we get from finding a great coin for a good price, or getting something rare as a gift, etc. But that's too plain and dry, so this is what I'm hoping this thread will do:

What's your most interesting coin (or banknote) story? Did you find a rare coin burried somewhere? Met someone who was cleaning out an estate and discovered some kind of rarity? Bought an unrelated object (painting, cash register, decorative box) and discovered something inside? Found gold in common change?

Not looking for "new purchases" or coin photos, just share your stories. It'll be an interesting thread, we've all had at least one experience like this :thumb:

 

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Russian Revolution

I'll go first, hopefully get this rolling and give you guys an idea:

About a year ago a guy contacted me about some Russian 100 and 500 Rouble banknotes he had from 1912. He sent me a photo of a few (all very very crisp, barely any folding), and said that there were about 60-something of them. He didn't know much about them, but said it seemed they were undisturbed for a while and were packed together. I figured they looked good, seemed pretty cheap price-wise, so I bought them all...

When I received it, the notes were wrapped in some aging paper and had a letter from 1917 attached with them. The letter was written by an Ohio bank that handled international deposits/withdrawals of some sort mainly between Russia and the US, and were a receipt that a "Mr. _______" had withdrawn 12,000+ roubles legitimately" and that they were his posession, and then some exchange rates at the bottom. The notes were as crisp as the day they were printed, just worn around the edges from being wrapped in the paper. And about 1/3 of the 500 Ruble notes had the rarest signature for this series of notes, which rarely appears on the market nowadays.

Someone was traveling between the US and Russia right around the Revolution in 1917, the most turbulent time in Russian history, and for some reason these notes just stayed wrapped for almost 100 years in this package, with the letter and everything.

 

When I was about 10 years old, I am 22 now, I was at a garage sale with my mom. I found a box of old Sports Illustrated magazines that I liked and decided to get the whole box of them for I think 2 dollars. When I got home, I began looking through them and found an 1886 - O Morgan Dollar on the bottom of the box.

 

In the late 70's when I was living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I got into a conversation with the owner of a small auction house who had just purchased some of my Mom's paintings to sell at one of his weekly auctions. He related the following story to me.

He was returning home from a buying trip in New Jersey, and as he made his way through a residential section of a small NJ town, he spotted an old upright piano at the edge of the street in front of a house that had a "SOLD" sign in the front yard. He knocked on the door, asked the new homeowner if they were planning on throwing it away, and if they were, would it be okay if he took it. He was told, "Sure! Go ahead! The former owner left it here because it's broken and won't play." He loaded the piano onto his truck, and when he arrived home, he decided to see if he could fix it. When he opened the lid, he saw instantly why it wouldn't play. He found $134,000 in cash interwoven between the strings.

Chris

 

I was selling some coin albums and misc stuff at a garage sale last summer. A man that was looking at my stuff said his wife bought a bag of wheat cents from a garage sale earlier that summer. At the bottom of the bag was a $5 gold. Some people have all the luck...

 

I got interested in coins when I was five, when I received a 1916D half dollar as change at the bowling alley where I was a junior league member. We couldn't keep it at the time (things were tight), but I got a Whitman cent folder at Christmas that year.

Several years later, we were living in Hawai'i. My father got a Hawaiian dime (one year type only, from 1883) in change! Who knows why it was in circulation eighty-odd years later. He let me keep that one.

I still have it.

 

My Experience with Banknotes:

When I was collecting Large Size Banknotes a really wonderful thing happened to me.
I was fortunate to meet some Great Dealers that I would call friends and an Author whom I truly revere, Mr. Gene Hessler
It was through my collecting experience that I found the real treasures of this hobby, the people who make it really happen.

Gene, Jeff, Don, Brad, Scott , Lynn and few others..long may you live and best off health to you all.

RickieB

 

I've told this story before. I was at a flea market a few years ago. A mother and her adult son had a table. The son had a box of junk marked five for a buck. Mixed in with the Hot Wheels and Happy Meal toys were two graded coins---an ASE and a $1 commemorative from the Olympics in the 80s. I showed him these and he kept saying five for a buck. If you don't want them somebody else will.

I bought both for twenty cents each. I also bought from him in the same box a baggie full of play money, bills and plastic coins. Mixed in with the coins was a Barber dime.

 

I told this story before too. My son had a buddy who's uncle recently bought an auto junkyard. The uncle hired my son and his nephew to help clean up the junkyard. The uncle decided to move the auto smasher, which had been in the same spot for years. Under the crusher, mixed in with the oil and other junk was over $800 dollars in change which had fallen out when the cars were crushed....$13 in silver, including one Morgan. Trouble was ALL the change was bent and smashed. Some coins were ripped. The Morgan looked OK on one side, but the other looked flat and smeared. They also found two rings and a rusty, pistol. They threw the pistol into the weeds. They sold the silver to the local coin store, who also gave them 50 cents on the dollar for the rest of the change.

 

Just yesterday, I was talking to my buddy who just inherited a "big bag of old gold coins" - he let his 7 year old take to school for show and tell! They are looking to sell, and were considering cash for gold. I want first dibs!

 

I was helping an old fellow sort through his attic and help him get rid of the stuff that was no good. His wife had passed a few weeks before, and she was well known in our town and always willing to help those less fortunate. She went out of her way every year to make sure that children from low income households had winter hats and mittens to keep warm, she even would take a box of canned goods and leave them on the door step of elderly. A real pillar of the community. So much so, the entire town turned out for her funeral.

Anyway, as we were going through boxes and boxes of stuff in their attic, we came across a box of first edition cook books. Since the husband had his meals delivered by MOW, he said that I could take that box and keep it. After several hours of sorting, and disposing of the junk, he took me out for fish fry dinner, and after leaving the restaurant I went home with my box.

After showering, I decided to go through the box and kind of skim through the books and see some of the old recipes from back in the day. On the very bottom of the box, I found a small container of CC Morgans. Knowing the value of these I took the container back to the guy the next day and told him that I found these silver dollars in the bottom of the box and brought them back to him as I was sure he didn't know they were in there and more likely was not intending on giving them away.

He told me that his wife liked holding onto old things passed down to her from her father and those silver dollars her father collected when he went to Nevada on business.

I told him these would be quite valuable because of the mint mark, as well as they are a little over 3/4s of an ounce of pure silver. He told me that I could go ahead and keep them as he has rolls of them in a safe deposit box at the bank.

Four months later, he died of pneumonia.

Not long after his passing, I received a letter from an attorney requesting my presence as he had something important to discuss with me.

Seems this guy had no living relatives, and as a result, he left me the rolls of silver dollars from the safety deposit box.

Most of them were worth melt, back then was around $8 an oz., but there were some that were uncirculated but common dates. There were 5 rolls of Morgans, and 3 rolls of Peace dollars.

I was 17.

 

I've told this story before...

I always ask cashiers if they have any odd change/bills in their till wherever I go. One day I was at Quiznos getting lunch and asked the cashier if she had anything odd. She told me that she had a couple of old looking pennies and a gold colored dime. She gave me the coins as part of my change. Once I got in my car, I pulled the change out of my pocket to see what they were. The cents were common date wheats in average condition. However, the "gold colored dime" that she gave me was a 1995 1/10th ounce US gold St Gaudens. I was so happy that I almost forgot to eat my lunch!

 

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

Please tell him not to use Cash For Gold, or any mail order gold buyer. They pay much less than half of what it's worth. Same thing for those traveling gold buyers. Find a good coin dealer in your town for the most fair cash out of his gold. Check with as many as possible before selling.

 

Not to exciting but still fun, my father in law was a avid collector coins and bank notes when he
Passed several years ago we were cleaning out stuff and taped underneath a drawer were 100
$2 bills no red seals most had the bicentenial design on them and they were circulated
So not much over face but still a cool find

 

Right, I told him to give me a list of dates, mintmarks, and estimated conditions. I was gonna check it over for keys, meltvalue, collectabilty, ect then try to give him a ballpark value. I hope he lets me sift through his pile of gold and his "butt ton" of silver. He has no idea what he has and no interest in hanging on to it. He did recognize some pics I showed him of $10 Indians and type3/$3 indians. No Saints or Libs.

 

this is a fantastic thread. some realy great reads

 

+1

 

I knew it'd be successful if everyone pitched in, and CT never fails :hail:

 

Awesome stories! Unfortunately I don't have anything like that of my own. Closest thing is a couple weeks ago I got 4 Ikes from the bank. 2 '72 D's and 2 '74 D's.

I'd love to hear more stories!