Picked up a 1925D Gold Indian two and a half dollar coin. Always wanted one. Everything else in my collection now seems less exciting.
very nice You got to love gold coins, they are special pieces. congrats on your new coin, I'm sure you will enjoy it.
Thanks. As usual it's a long and complicated story how I ended up with it. But it is AU and good enough for me. It ended up costing $170 and two 50 mile round trips to Rhode Island. The price marked on it was $195. Now if I can get the other 14 in the series.......Ha Ha Actually the $5 Indian Gold half eagle looks tempting.
I know what you mean... despite being enamoured with halves (especially from circulation!) for a while now I'm starting to appreciate the $5 gold incuse design...
Congratulations! :high5: I know the excitement of getting a new coin. It's one of the thrills that makes our hobby so much fun.
Congrats Victor :high5: Just beware, the first step upon the path of the yellow brick road can be a treacherous one, for now there is no turning back.
congradulations victor. I think the 2 1/2 and 5 dollar indiana is one of the most beautiful designs of all time. you have something you will enjoy for a bunch of year.
Yes, I am not going back to the Silver Witch's bank. I have so many Kennedy half dollars hoarded there is no place to put more. They are sorted by year and stacked in piles. Slowly I'm picking through and placing the AU58 and better coins into 2X2 holders. Why I don't know. Nobody seems to want them. I sold two complete sets in blue Whitman folders (of 1964 to 1985) for $48 to a dealer. This leaves me with one nice set in a Dansco 1964-06, another partial set in Whitman folders, and a third partial set of 1964 to 1983. I did get 3 1970D Kennedys to make them complete. But once in a while the urge to search rolls pops up. I got two rolls a couple weeks ago and found three 40% coins. So that keeps my interest up in half dollar roll searching. On hold for now until I can get rid of some more.
A true numismatic accomplishment. I think those things are on everyone's wish list, yet so far down on the to do list,...lol. Man I wish I had a barrel of em mate.
Well just to update this, the coin was a fake. So I got my money back. Only the dealer made a $25 mistake in the receipt and I got $25 extra. Well that pays for my three 50 mile round trips to Rhode Island. And a note to all: Beware of Michael Girard jewelers of West Warwick, RI.
WOW!!! Bruce, I am happy you got your $$ back. We ex-Marines would have had to plan a blanket party for that SOB!!! Semper Fi Brother.. RickieB
Here's the long story I would have skipped if the coin was authentic. This jeweler had 2 indian heads in his store. I was looking at some other Gold and he reached down and placed these two right in front of the showcase under my nose. They were in 2X2 holders, one marked 1925 ($150) and the other 1925D ($195). The first he said was VF and the1925 D was AU. I asked for a deal if I got both. He said both for $325 then waited on someone else. So I told his wife I wanted them. I gave her 4 hundred dollar bills. She gave me $65 change and said "Is that right?" I shook my head no. Then she produced another $10. After asking for a receipt, he made it out for $350. I went home and grabbed my Redbook, there is no such thing as a 1925 without the D. I called him up and said I wanted to return it. He said I must return both. So I drove there the next day and returned both. Only he wouldn't look at me and his daughter returned my cash with an added $25.00. I then purchased back the 1925D for $195 using their $25 and ending up paying $170 of my money. Now to answer your question Bruce, I started taking it around to dealers. The first, Lincoln Coins in Worcester, MA said it might be fake or might be whizzed. They wanted me to submit it to ANACS. I then took it to a dealer in Putnam, CT. At first he offered me $100. Then I asked if it was real and he started looking closer. A book he has says there is supposed to be a faint wire rim from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock but in no other place. Authentic coins have this peculiar trait. This coin did not. All along when I looked closer with a 10X loupe I thought I saw a few tiny bubbles and cast flashing traces. I then went to a 3rd dealer who wasn't there. I took it then to Vasbro Coins in Norwich, CT. That guy said within 20 seconds of looking at it that it was a knock off casting. Several dealers weighed it. It was in close range weight wise. It was real gold, but cast. It is jeweler's costume jewelry for necklaces. I then called the jeweler. He wasn't there. I told the daughter it was fake and I want my money back. She said he wasn't there but would be tomorrow at eleven. When I first called about the other coin (with no D) he asked if it was still in the holder he sold it in. That coin was. But now I had taken this coin out to weigh it and put it in a new 2X2. I STAYED UP LATE AGONIZING. I decided to slip it back in the holder it came in. Poor job. I ended up wrapping the 2X2 with clear postal tape, then worried all night. Drove right to his store at 11am the next day. Deja Vu. He didn't look at me and the daughter returned my cash. And again this time I got the extra $25. The Warwick police station is right across the street. How many have they sold that never got discovered? They have a set routine. The guy makes the deal. The wife handles the money and tries to cheat you in change. Any gripes or returns are handled by the daughter. Now how badly do you think I want a real one?
Also there are two sidebars to this story. First, in looking at the cash they gave me there is a $50 bill that looks to be bleed through from the back to the front. But looking closer, maybe the front is printed lightly with United States of America, to appear like a bleed through. So my deduction is, are these rascals printing their own money to look like errors? If so, what other scams are they pulling off? The bills that come out that look funny they just pass off to customers. Secondly, my usual pattern is to keep any Gold or Silver around the house for a day or two but then store it in a safe deposit box at a bank. What if I had taken that fake to the safe deposit box> It would be in there now and I would be thinking I got a real deal on an Indian Gold two and a half dollar piece. 5 or 10 years from now when I took it out and maybe tried to sell it, I would get the shock of a lifetime. The dealer would be dead or gone and the receipt would probably be misplaced.
