Well, not in the attic, but in my wife's cousin's closet. My wife's uncle died a couple of months ago, and his two sons are the heirs. A few Sundays ago, we were at the uncle's house where various items were being distributed to family members. One of the cousins mentioned that his father had some coins that I should examine, but they were in a safety deposit box, so unreachable on a Sunday. (I still haven't had a chance to examine them, but will.) Then he said he had some coins that were acquired years ago that were in a box in his closet and would I take a look at them. Easy to answer yes. So he went to his house to fetch the box, and I took it home to go through it. There were about 100 world coins. and 100 US coins. Most were pretty worn, and a good number were bent, holed or otherwise abused. The world coins were from all over: Japan, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, Philippines, Canada, etc. There was even one from post-WWI Palestine. I was able to attribute all except for 3 very worn Chinese coins. Most would be worth $2-5, a few silver coins worth maybe $25, and a Canadian 1892 half dollar, worth maybe $75. The bulk of the US coins were large cents, flying eagle cents, Indian head cents, and nickel three cents. Most were in bad shape. There were a few that might be worth $10-25, a couple of flying eagles in better shape might be worth $50, and one EF/AU 1857, worth maybe $150. There were a few odds and ends, again none worth more than $10. There were three that really caught my eye: a 1893-O Barber quarter that was mint state with lots of luster, a 1909 quarter eagle that appeared to be mint state, and a worn 1834 plain 4 half eagle. I told my wife's cousin that these three should go to PCGS for grading, and he agreed. So, I took them to the Denver ANA show to submit. First, I showed them to Doug Winter and @Cascade at the show. We differed a little in our grades, but all agreed they should go to PCGS. The results came back yesterday, and I'm pretty pleased: 1893-O quarter is MS62, 1909 quarter eagle is MS62, and 1834 half eagle is VF35. Pics are below. Cal
Nice. I think that's what I had them at aside the Indian. I think I went 63 on that one but I'm no expert per say at grading incuse indians anyway, so a point off, I'll take it.
Wow, nice find! A lot of early gold pieces are covered in scratches, but that 1834 Half Eagle has minimal scratches and has great eye appeal.
