There are coins you want but can't get because they have high catalog value. Then there are coins you want with low catalog value but can't get because you can't find them. FINALLY after a multi-year search I found a coin I want. It's for my birth year set. It's a 1941 Peru ½ Sol variety that just never got listed for sale, at least not when I was looking. Krause has it listed for only about $5. The 1941 Peru ½ Sol coins comes in 2 varieties according to Krause: the 5 palm leaf and the 3 palm leaf varieties. The 5 palm leaf variety is the common one; the 3 palm leaf variety is the scarcer(?) one. Here's the common 5 palm leaf variety. Note that there are 5 palm leaves pointing at the llama. Here's the less common 3 palm leaf variety. Note that there are only 3 palm leaves pointing at the llama. The 3 palm leaf variety is about 4 times less common than the 5 palm leaf variety. But that's about $5 vs. $1.50. A LONG struggle just to find a $5 coin. And just to be complete here's the obverse: Okay, no where's that 1941 Argentina 5 centavos coin that will cost me at least $1.00
Congrats. There's nothing like getting a coin you have waited so long to get. I once waited 15 years to find a proof version of a Slovakian coin. Worth the wait and I am taking it with me when I die. lol
Congrats. I just found one of my common white whales the other day as well. Took me several years to locate a $2 coin.
Nice coin - happy you finally found it. I like these Peruvian Soles, specially the 1 Sol coins. I lived in Peru when I was a teen and do remember using these coins. My mother gave me a bag of them and found the 1950 1-Sol, one of the scarcer dates.
For years I was working on completing a modern Mexican set, and there are two coins from the 1980s and 90s that are like $1 value coins but I've never seen for sale. Makes me wonder if they really exist.
I figure the problem for really inexpensive coins is that the seller has to charge more for shipping than the catalog value of the coin. When I sell items like that (<$5) I ship without tracking. 2 oz envelope (I pad the coin well) I can do for 99¢. If it gets "lost" I'm not out much money. Never had a problem yet. When I ship I let the buyer know there's no tracking so that I can ship cheaply.
This is part of it, and I do the same when I sell coins. I just use a stamp and an envelope and almost always it goes fine. A few get lost in the mail, but I've had tracked packages get lost too so there are no guarantees with the mail. But I think in the case of the ones I need, they actually are rare but people don't realize it, so they might have them and just think they're common and not worth selling. Another one that I needed I was lucky enough to find two of on the same day in the coin store's junk bin, so I bought both and sold one of them. Even though the catalog value is like a dollar, it sold for $17, so I wasn't the only one looking for it.
Thanks, Steve, but I already have that one. It's the 5 centavos that I haven't been able to find -- yet.
I'm at the point in my birth year collection when I don't mind paying more than cat value for a coin I need/want. But I do take into consideration S&H. I won't buy a coin with a cat value of $1-2 with S&H of $4. For items under $5 (combined bid and S&H) I may pay 100% over cost. For items under $10 (combined bid and S&H) I may pay 50% over cost. I seem to be willing to pay more for GB&BC coins than others. That goes back to my stamp collecting days when I had a nice KGVI GB&BC collection.
If you don't mind answering, which ones? The only rarity in that period I know of is the 1987 5 pesos.
The one I don't have is the 1992 500 pesos. I don't remember what the other one was - I either found it or decided it didn't exist. Also extremely hard to find are the 1990 20 pesos, 1990 10 pesos (which is the one I said I found two of and sold one for $17), I think the 1986 20 pesos, one of the 5 centavos in the late 90s or early 2000s, can't remember the exact date, also the 1973 1 centavo can sell for around $20.
