Oh the random things you find in European Coin shops

As I have been traveling through Europe this semester, I have been keeping an eye out for coin stores with the hopes of cherrypicking some cool US coins. Well, this weekend I traveled to the Nice/Monaco area, and I stumbled across a small-ish coin shop. I then abandoned my friend to peruse the shop’s selection of stuff available. The stock was mostly stamps, but there was a fair bit of coins as well. I ask the owner if he had any US coins, and he brought me a few binder pages to peruse. They consisted mostly of average coins that you would see at flea markets (Morgans, wheat and Indian cents, modern silver, some low-grade older stuff, etc.), but then there was this coin. I immediately pull it out of the page while trying to keep a straight face. When I asked the dealer how much, he said that because it was not in any of his books, he thought it was a fake, so he wanted €10. While continuing my poker face, I look it over a little longer to act like I was thinking about it, and then I gave him a €10 note.

The coin I got was a 1964 D Peace dollar. It has a wonderful golden tone, though the reverse has rim bumps and a couple slightly heavy hits. The luster is brilliant, and I am quite happy how well the pictures came out with my iPad and the crappy lighting in my hotel room. I am worried about what I should do with it since I cannot import it to the US. Can the US confiscate something like this while it is in a different country? I’d like to hear your suggestions.

I am still wondering how the heck it got there.

 

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More like "check the date, fool"

 

Ship it to me, I always wanted to get a Carr cop...errrm... overstrike :-D

 

The Carr overstrikes have a different D and specific die markers.

 

April 1 makes for lots of fools.... which I for one ain't!
I wonder if the U.S. customs service has a sense of humor? I'm sure they have rubber gloves and ky

 

Oh, oh!

I wanna buy it.

Can I give you 10,000 euros?

 

Best april fool thread
U had me until i spotted the D mm

 

Yup, you all expertly looked at your calendars while reading this post.

PCGS has an etremely good Photoshopped image of a 1964 D Peace dollar, which is used here.

Technically, they are supposed to have a D mintmark.

 

By all means, leave it in Europe. I happen to know people here who, for a decent annual storage fee, would keep it in a safe place. And for an additional visitation fee, you could even have a look at it whenever you come back.

Christian

 

What are coin shops like in Europe? Do they actually have many US coins? Is there much of a collector base in other countries for US coins?

 

I think there are few specialized collectors of US coins in western Europe. Every coin collector has a number of Morgan dollars, but try to find someone who knows what a VAM variety is on the other hand, there are also collectors/investors who collect Double Eagles by year and mintmark.

Generally speaking, larger denominations and in particular gold coins are quite popular. Gold and silver dollars are often certified, while virtually all smaller denominations aren’t. So you basically can’t sell Lincoln cents, because nobody wants them, but a pre-1933 gold coin would be very popular, especially if certified by NGC/PCGS.

@Seattlite @Rheingold

 

I agree with micbraun 100 percent.
He described the US coin Market in Europe very precise.