Ready to submit coin for grading then...Dropped it.

Have you ever dropped a coin prior to submitting it? I did. It was a rather boring Sunday a few years back, the girls were shopping and I decided to stop procrastinating and get a submission ready. I'd get everything together, labeled, packaged and ship it out in the morning.

Now I had high hopes for one of the better coins, possibly a new top pop proof. As I was putting her in the flip, I kinda thought I brushed the side of my finger on the coin. I will note, I don't wear gloves, and never had any issues. Anyways, I decided to give her a quick acetone bath just in case I'd actually touched her and got some oils on there. Toward the end of the procedure, as I was rotating dry, disaster struck, Yup, I dropped it, and dropped it in a very bad way. straight down maybe 4 feet...

She hit the hard wood floor like a rock, then like a yo-yo walking the dog, took off like a rocket across the room rolling 12 feet, then crashed into the iron leg of a chair, then did that slow swivel round and round thing before finally coming to a rest.

Did it get damaged? I took a look, oh Man, it didn't look like that a few seconds ago. Yup, it wasn't the same, actually looked kinda bad. My initial guess pre-drop was shot at PR68. Came back PR63. My girls returned home and I told them what had happened.

My wife said well you dummy, you picked a great time to mess with the coins. At the time, I'd been diagnosed with a temporary virus that attacked the joints in my hands which were swollen and not working very well. So would anyone else care to share their less than stellar coin plays?

 

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Poor fellow... Yes I can commiserate as it sounds like the sort of thing that happens to me when I handle other people’s stuff. Just the other week I had a freind take me to an outdoor gun range. He wanted to show off his brand new handgun. He handed it to me. I tuned it over in my hands and proceeded to it right into the dirt. Oh yeah. Last time he invites me to shoot with him!

 

I dropped a proof down the drain once.

 

I seriously did laugh out loud at that! Not because I thought it funny. More so that I completely get it. One day that’s a story I would like to hear!

 

I had to laugh at myself as well. It was a good lesson.

 

I dropped a raw dmpl Morgan on a hard concrete floor at work.

I got my boss into collecting coins. We went to an auction together and decided on the way there that we wouldn't bid against one another. As luck would have it we were both interested in a nice 1880s Morgan and I ended up winning it. I could tell he was really bummed out about it so I decided to sell it to him at cost 2 Days Later. I was examining the coin as I was switching it into a capital holder for him. It slipped out of my hand from about 4 foot up, similar to the OP, smacked concrete, rolled and then spun like a top. Both our jaws dropped, and we gasped and he actually snatched it off of the ground while it was still spinning. He accused me of doing it on purpose and we were sort of peeved at each other for the rest of the day haha. Luckily it wasn't damaged too bad just a small rim ding and he still ended up keeping it ..
good times man, good times.

 

I got a new metal detector. To test it out I threw a coin from Israel out on my lawn.
I never found that coin. it is still out there somewhere.

 

I took a $850 NGC MS61 Bust Half once, cracked it and dipped it to remove black streaks, then fumbled it and scratched it on my titanium wedding band. Came back MS details scratched and sold it for $500. Lesson learned. First thing I do when I handle coins now?-remove wedding band.

 

I was taking a 1892 Barber Half TDR out of a 2 x 2 and scratched it on a staple. It was minimum AU 53 dang that hurt.
Now when I remove anything from a 2 x 2 I puncture the plastic first.

 

Not a coin, but dropped my keys into the toilet as it was flushing. GONE.
Oh yeah, btw, I was 50 miles from home and any spare car key. Thankfully, my roommate was nice enough to bring them to me.

Then there was the time that I locked my keys in the car twice in the same day, half an hour apart (didn't fully put them in my pocket and they slipped out). Don't remember if I had to call AAA again the 2nd time, or if the window was cracked enough to finagle my way in (think I had to call them again, lol).

And probably the stupidest was when I ran out of gas twice in the same day...almost made it to the gas station, lol. Gas guzzling V8-351 Cleveland (before another stupid thing, which was letting a friend use the car and he crashed it...20 year old car with under 30k original miles....and I didn't have the brains to salvage the engine).

 

ouch, I grimaced when reading these! I try to be very careful and sit on the ground when taking coins out because I don't want to drop it from a high place. As for the 2x2 thing with staples.....oh yeah I'm well aware how they can scratch the coin so what I do is flatten the staples.

 

I found a seated quarter when I was a kid, first thing I did was scrub it with baking soda.


It doesn't look too bad though, and it's my most sentimental coin so it doesn't bother me much.

 

I did the same with a Walking Liberty Half when I was like 8. I was so proud for making it look "new."

 

Thankfully I only did that with copper pennies and Kaboom!, like in the commercials.

 

I took it to my local coin dealer to show him how I had (ahem) improved it. He was so cool and handled it really well. Taught me to never do that or I'd ruin the value.

 

Same here! He convinced me to keep it and start collecting. Thankfully it's worth more to me than it would ever be on the coin market.

 

Knock on wood but so far my worst has been putting the wrong coin in. Had two Seated quarters one that was spectacular and another that well um lets just say once I realized to late that I had put the wrong one in the submission that I am sure people ask why is this even slabbed when they see it

 

I suppose I’ll call this one on myself. I won a CT contest and got three nice 1943 steel Lincolns. Couldn’t find them when I went to put them in Airtites and they’re still MIA.

Can’t remember who ran the contest, but should they see this, I still appreciate the prize.

 

You want to talk staples? Still kicking myself.

 

Ha!!! I put a hundred dollar bill in a “safe place” in my office for emergency use almost three years ago. I still to this day don’t know what safe place that may have been.