I wasn't able to make it to the bid board this weekend since I decided to go down to the Stacks/Bowers offices in Irvine to do some lot viewing for the upcoming November Baltimore auction. There were some items in the online catalog that were not imaged, mostly bulk lots, and for those types of lots you really need to see the items in hand before bidding. I'm glad they auction houses offer lot viewing here in SoCal for us collectors who don't travel across country for a coin show. I saw several really neat lots and a few that I'll definitely be bidding on. Hopefully, I'll be able to share some winnings with everyone here in a few weeks. I did make it to the other bid board earlier in the week. There wasn't too much U.S. material that interested me. Just about all of the junk silver was still priced as if silver was over $40/oz. One item that I thought was a good value was an 1854 w/ Arrows Seated Half Dollar with a hole in it. Usually, when I see these holed coins, they are very worn and not worth anything more than their silver content to me. This one was a little different than the average holed coin in that it had very nice detail, probably XF and nearly AU details. The current bid on the coin was only $13.50 (barely above silver melt value) so I put my bid in at $14. Fortunately, no one else bid and I won the coin. Although the board was light on decent, well-priced U.S. material, there was quite a bit of foreign coinage that interested me. I was able to pick up a couple of U.S.-Philippines silver coins for less than their silver melt value. Also picked up a few older Canadian quarters for under melt. There were also several XF-AU Canadian Large Cents, mostly Victorian, and I was able to win a couple of those for a couple bucks each. Someone else outbid me on most of them though. I wasn't able to monitor all of those coins at the last minute as there were a couple of others that I really wanted to win. More specifically, there were two old German States coins on the board that I wanted. The first, was an 1831 German States Nassau 6 Kreuzer silver coin that was probably in VG condition. I didn't have any last minute competition on that one and I got it for just a couple of bucks. There was also a 1727 German States Hamburg 2 Schillings that was in at least VF condition and close to XF. When I first noticed it on the bid board the high bid was only $3! I knew that was the one to go for in the last minute. Unfortunately, another bidder really wanted the coin too. So, during the last 30-45 seconds of bidding, we took turns outbidding each other on the bid card by fifty cent increments. Fortunately, just as I finished writing my $6 bid, the bell rung and the coin was mine! I just thought the coin was neat that it was very old, had good detail and I thought it was fun that the coin said "Hamburger" on it. I also knew it was likely worth well over $6. When I later looked it up in an old Krause guide that I have I saw the coin was listed at $25 in F, $50 in VF and $85 in XF... not too bad! :thumb:
Nice your able to get so much silver under melt. That seated is nice, despite the hole. Really like the 1727 Hamburg. That was a steal pretty much. Congrats!
Yeah, I sure wish I was able to buy in greater quantity under melt But a few coins here and there each week adds up over time so I'm not going to complain. Most of the bidders know what a 90% silver U.S. half dollar melts for though, same for the dollars, quarter and dimes. So it's somewhat rare for the U.S. coins to go under the radar and end up going for significantly under melt, but sometimes it happens. On the other hand, the world coins draw much less attention, especially when they are in lower grade, and those can more easily be picked up cheap.
I dont know how to start my own blog but i have recently found an 1883 Cleveland & Sherman Coin and know nothing about it just wondering if anyone could help.
