Did anyone hear anything strange during the holidays? For example, we had a family get-together with lots of relatives and I heard something that got my blood pumping. My brother gave me a cool gift for Christmas. He bought me a stereo microscope to examine coins. Two eyepieces, mutliple lenses... 30x, 60x, ... pretty cool. Now I can examine those VAMs even closer. That's not the story. One of my in-law's saw the opened gift near the tree and asked me if I was a coin collector. Told him I just started. He tells me he has a few canvas bags of silver coins in his closet! He's not a collector. His father ran a store for 50+ years and passed away about five years ago. Any time half or silver dollars came in, he saved them. He said most are Kennedy's and Franklin's. He told me I can go through them next time I'm visiting (lives out of state). Then he told me he also had eight or so other silver dollars from the 1790's. He got them from his father and doesn't know anything about them. Said they were in great shape, some 1795's and the rest 1798's. I showed him my Red Book and he points to the draped bust type dollars with the small eagle reverse and the heraldic eagle reverse. They're in a shoebox in his closet. I think it's time for a road trip.
That sound you hear is nesvt packing his bags and heading out of town for a while... Let us know what you find- sounds like there might be some goodies in there! Rachel
WOW!!! wish something like that could happen to me. Anytime someone tells me that they have some old coins they want to get rid of it's usually Bicentennials and SBA's with a couple of worn out silver coins and a Buffalo. (Everyone's got a Buffalo!) "OH YEAH!!! AND LOOK AT THIS!!!!" (a beat up Ike "silver" dollar.) "Yeah, that's how you can tell if they got silver in 'em or not. They took all the silver out when they made 'em smaller."
nesvt - now ya wanna hear the part you don't wanna hear ? What are you going to do when he ask - " what are they worth ?" Think I already know the answer But you'll have fun lookin at 'em anyway
Well GD, I guess nesvt's answer to his inlaw is going to rely on three things, one is his love for G-d and truth, the second is his love for his wife, and the third is how big are those bags of silver? Only kidding nesvt, but what is that address...
sounds like you might have a good opportunity there, is your in-law is obviously not doing anything with them, then make him a good offer and take em home. if nothing else, you are going to be flipping some of the coins, which will preserve the coins, doing them a service. also, if they have been sitting in a closet for 50+ years, then who knows what rare dates are in them. this isn't a dealer trying to pawn off his old stuff, this is a relative. I say, go for it, pay him on an installment plan and go to town. congrats on your luck.
My grandmother did something like that for me. A few years back for my birthday she gave me a National Bank Note from a bank that had been owned by her father (my great-grandfather). As the president of the bank, his signature is on the the note. For obvious sentimental reasons, she had kept it for years, and had even had it framed at a coin store. When she gave it to me, she said she thought it was worth "maybe a hundred dollars." A hundred, indeed! Although I'll never get rid of it, it was appraised with a replacement value of over a thousand dollars. A currency dealer I work with occasionally told me that that particular bank's (FNB of McHenry, ND) notes are rare enough that I would probably never simply see one in a display case. I would have to actively search one out.
