My best buys have been 1921s Buffalo Nickel G4 for 25 cents 1979p sba near date MS65 free with a 1 ounce silver round 1763 1 1/2 Altin gold Ottoman coin for $22 (guy thought it was brass!!)
Yes, and no. The fraction was on the die, but due to die alignment it was not struck onto the coin. I'm just going to go ahead and spill it here - this is a very rare variety of half cent, the rarest obverse/reverse die pairing in the whole series, in fact. There are more 1796 half cents of either variety than there are of this one 1808 variety. I think the last time someone found a new example of this variety was in the eighties, and it's been known since the fifties. Most examples of this variety have the lower right reverse very weak to not at all visible due to both die misalignment and wear. They're also found in low grades. If my memory serves, the finest known is an EAC VF30 or so. This is (in my understanding) the sixth-finest (give or take) of ten known examples of this variety, the 1808 Cohen-1. Value-wise it's impossible to say what it's worth with any certainty. All coins have the possibility of selling in a range of values, with extreme rarities having a very large range. I don't intend to sell it. If I did, I would expect a great deal of money. Even though this is such an extreme rarity, when I was at the EAC show this year showing it off, I met, I believe, three gentlemen that own four of the other nine examples. Yes, one gentleman has two. If one were putting together a set of business-strike half cents by Cohen variety (98 or 99 varieties, depending on who you listen to), there are about four or five coins that you are likely to have to wait literally years before you'll see one offered for sale at auction - and one of those is currently UNIQUE. This is one of the others. To clarify - I said this was the rarest obverse/reverse die pairing with ten known, and also that one Cohen variety was unique. This is not a contradiction. The Cohen varieties, in the 1790s, also included differences in edge device - large edge letters, small edge letters, gripped edge, and plain edge. Some of those varieties are currently rarer than this one. Fish
John,one of my best buys was a 1950 100 Francs from Monaco.The guy had NZ$8 on it.He let me have it for NZ$5.When I got it,I saw the letters 'ESSAI' in the space above the '100'.It turned out to be a Monegasque 100 Francs pattern coin catalogued at that time US$55 in Krause! I told the guy a few weeks later.He couldn't do anything about it.I think I have sold it recently,as I am in the process of slowly offloading my non-British Commonwealth coins,including a Hanovarian 1828 2/3 Thaler. Aidan.
John,have you ever heard of Bill Leggett? He's a stamp dealer who operates from home.I used to be his best customer for coins at the fairs at Turnbull House that John used to run periodically on a Sunday.Bill once had a 1920H East African Florin.It was a bargain at NZ$20.He also had a South African Republic Kruger 'Single Shaft' 5/- for NZ$65.I bought it off him privately for $50 because of the mount marks on the reverse.I liked it for the very nice obverse. One time he had some Rhodesian banknotes at a fair.I bought a 1968 1 Quid off him for around NZ$25. Aidan.
my best buy - over 70 world coins for $5.00. included in the bag was a 1961 France 5 francs, a 1907 Canada Large cent (VF-20), and a 1949F German 10 pfenning (XF-40). all tolled up, it was worth a little more than $50.00. -Steve
At a garage sale about two years ago. Jar of about $35 in cents. Paid $50. Bottom loaded with Indian Cents. Newest coin was in the 30's. I still haven't gone through them all. I estimate about 10 to 20 thousand without even trying.
Steve,you'd better check that 1907 1c. coin from Canada.If it has the letter 'H' below it,then it is worth quite a bot of money.It is a coin that eludes me as well,along with the Canadian 20c. coin. Aidan.
the 2005 Krause has the VF-20 as $16.00 - i'll pick up the new Krause at Baltimore - will i be shocked or just pleasantly surprised at it's current value? the 3 coins i listed were the big money coins in the bag. a few $1.00 coins, but many less than $0.25 coins. -Steve
Steve,you still haven't answered my question - Has the 1907 1c. coin from Canada got the 'H' mintmark? Aidan.
I bought an unc 2001 $5 gold eagle for $98 and it graded PR70 at PCGS. It was my first actual homegrown 70. PCGS lists it at $1750. That's my lotto story. I thought that only happened in fairy tales.
Steve,that is worth hanging on to,as this coin has the distinction of being the last Canadian coin to have been struck at a mint in England - in this case,Heaton's Mint,Birmingham. A few years ago,I did get a 1980 1 Livre from Lebanon that commemorated the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid from a dealer's $1 tray.I looked it up in Krause,& was floored that it was catalogued at US$15 at the time.Talk about a bargain. Aidan.
Aidan- i know about the coin, my father deals mostly in Canadian coins and got a laugh when i told him of my good fortune. as i said, my 2005 Krause listed it in VF-20 at $16.00 - i have no intention of selling it, it belongs to my son nice score on the 1 Livre - one person's junk is another person's more valuable junk the 1961 5 Francs might be sold if the price of silver climbs a bit more - the coin isn't rare and it's well worn. the 10 pfenning has some toning and is a solid XF-40, but still is worth $10.00. regardless, the bag of coins was more than worth the $5.00 if there was only $5.00 worth of junk in it - my son and i have spent several hours id'ing the coins, grading them, and putting them in 2x2's. of course he got very excited to see the value of the large cent. -steve
Steve,those 'BANK DEUTSCHER LANDER' type coins from the West German 1948-49 are getting harder to find,especially the 1 & 2 Pfennig coins.The 5,10,& 50 Pfennig coins of that coinage are still easily found. If you ever see a 1951 2 Deutsche Mark from West Germany,hang onto it,as that is a pretty pricey coin.My boss bought one off someone who was about to cash in a whole lot of West German coins for around 3 Quid when he was over in England ona business trip. Aidan.
Same here. I bought 3 sets from the mint and had actually considered giving 2 of them away as Christmas presents last year. Fortunately, I changed my mind about that.
my only 2 pfenning is a VF 1966 worth all of $0.50. i have 4 1 pfennings, all 1950. 2 F, 1 G and 1 J mint mark. another great coin i have is a 1921 French 10 centimes in VF - i like this coin simply because i can imagine Hemingway plopping one of these down on a bar in Paris to pay for wine. -Steve
