Post Your Stories of Great eBay Finds

Most of the auctions I find on eBay anymore are for fakes, overpriced problem coins, or "unsearched" OBW rolls.

However, there are deals that can still be found...like finding silver while roll hunting. I've made some bad purchases, but I've had my share of pleasant surprises, too. Here's a story about some nice coins I got from an eBay seller in NYC...

It's gotta be about twelve (12) years ago now (perhaps a bit longer) when I bought my first rolls from an eBay seller know as "PopVintageNYC". PopVintageNYC was a vintage clothing shop in NYC that specialized in real vintage clothing from the '20s to the '70s.

Until that time, everything they advertised on eBay were clothes (very expensive clothes!), not coins. I later learned that they bought up entire estates to get the clothes for their shop.

My guess is, they bought up some coins in one of the estate sales and sprinkled a few rolls in with the clothes they sold on eBay...that's when I "discovered" PopVintageNYC. Each roll I bought was was nicer than the last!

They were in old plastic tubes (no screw tops). They were sealed with white medical tape and dated 6-9 months after the mintage years. My guess is that someone quite knowledgeable of coins searched many rolls to come up with just one of these rolls...they're just too good to be true! Every coin is spectacular. MS-65 would be a dog in these rolls. I bought about a dozen rolls from from them, then I screwed up! I'm not 100% sure it was me, but something happened!

The prices they were getting for their rolls began climbing so I did something I never do...I called the store directly to see if I could make a direct bulk purchase of whatever they had. I still have the guy's cell number (Mitch) in my old Razor phone. We spoke a few times and it looked like we were gonna strike a deal, then he leaves a message to say the coins were no longer for sale.

That was the entirety of the message. I tried calling back, but he never answered. The auctions they had running on eBay were discontinued, also. Then, six months later, their physical NYC store closed, as well.

I have no idea what happened to them or what the story was behind the coins, but they are HANDS DOWN the finest business strike rolls I've purchased on eBay. I was hoping someone else on CT might have their own "PopVintageNYC" story...or a similar story where you found hidden treasure on eBay.

Here's one of the rolls I came across lately that got me thinking of them again...

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I have a few. One I remember was a fuzzy pic, (I know, many are setups), that said 1812 Bible and Coin. Listed for $50 and no bids. I squinted hard and thought it was a decent large cent. So at the last second I bid opening bid and won. I got it, and it was a VF large cent. Ok, good for me, worth a few hundred. I threw the bible in a pile. I did notice it was printed in Philadelphia.

Got to thinking, that is kind of early for a US bible. Looked it up, and it was pretty rare. I contacted a rare bible room of a local university and they indeed wanted it for their collection. I donated it, got a $1200 tax deduction. So, I made about $500 in taxes from that $50 purchase, and still have a nice little VF 1812 large cent. Even better, a local university now has the bible available for study.

 

WOW!

 

I collect WW II stuff. The bayonets made by Wield Tool are very rare. I always wanted one. An eBay item came up with a bayonet in a sheath. The sheath was painted red and turned everyone off. They want original, untouched antiques. I looked close and saw WT on the blade. I got the whole deal for a very low bid, I think under $75. The blade is worth lot more than that.

 

I was looking for some Star Notes to post to another thread and came across these four (4) proof quarter sets. In 2007, paid $187 for all four!

I completely forgot I had them!

 

There's a site called GovernmentLiquidation.com (or something like that) that auctions off military surplus items. Some friends of mine make money buying brass shell casings and selling them for scrap.

One guy bought up twelve lots (ten/lot) of Army bayonets. I assumed they were Vietnam Era bayonets, but I don't know. He paid less than $10/lot and sold them off very quickly at $10-$20 each on eBay

 

One of the best eBay finds I've ever made wasn't even a coin, but rather some foreign Dansco albums early last year. During the 1960s, Dansco briefly produced a line of foreign type albums. Today these albums are highly desirable, often bringing over $100 for used examples. Overall, I paid roughly $115 for all five albums, excluding shipping costs.

 

It would be nice if they were filled with coins, also!

It's interesting you mention that! Just yesterday, I was looking at this eBay ad for "custom" $10 Indian Gold Eagle albums. I was wondering..."Who would store their Indian Gold Eagle collection in a Dansco album?"...which probably accounts for their rarity.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-printed-Dansco-album-for-Indian-Head-10-Gold-Eagles-2-pages-32-ports/313088715850?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20160908105057&meid=6bceef9466a3417bbd243905ed735812&pid=100675&rk=3&rkt=15&mehot=none&sd=373113513752&itm=313088715850&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2380057&brand=Dansco&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci:6e631921-cab9-11ea-a1f5-8621349623dd|parentrq:6d8d2e281730a4d626e45019fff6c53c|iid:1

 

Ebay stories.... you bet I have a few of those! But here's the best one!

It was a janky listing for a 1914 D wheat (key date of wheats). There was one picture of the obverse, and it was very small, blurry, dark, and generally something to avoid at all costs. The listing was at $90, and I figured even if it was a super bad 1914 D, I could still make a few bucks. So I sent an offer for $80, and the guy replied to my offer with a counteroffer of $42! I never knew you could have so few brain cells to do that, but they did. I obviously accepted the offer, and the coin was real and everything. The coin was actually in decent shape (around high VF) and so I listed it for $170 and it sold immediately. It's not the craziest profit, but it is a weird story nevertheless!

 

I seem to recall Dansco used to produce custom binders for people. The pages were likely done with a label maker and blank pages directly from the manufacturer, such as this album for British Florins I made personally.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/custom-dansco-great-britain-florins-1893-1970.345977/

 

Perhaps Scrooge McDuck!
J.T.

 

Not much of a ebay story but it happened pretty recent about 2 months ago.
I happened to catch a auction from a seller with 2 minutes left. No lie 2 minutes left for 22 1964 Quarters. Won the auction for $3.00 each.. Only noticed just how nice they were in the pic till after the bid.
I was shaking to get the bid in as there were NO other bids.
Low level seller that sells trinkets and odds and ends that went under the coin radar.
He ended up sending me 27 Quarters all AU to BU.
A week later he posted 20 more and excepted my offer which was for $4.50 each..
Yes I felt a bit guilty so I offered a tad more..
This time he sent me 26 Quarters, some older ones but nice shape and again a few mint 64's again.
All free shipping.
Of course I gave him a positive feedback but a little voice in my head said he just might of went out of his way to make my day.
I messaged him about the extra's and thanked him and asked if he wanted some more money.. Turns out he did it on purpose and wanted to send the "shiny" ones first.
His Father had passed away about 10 years ago and he was cleaning out the house to rent it and found a clothe bag with these quarters in a wooden stove in the basement.
So glad I thanked him..

 

It's been a while -- other things have eaten up the time I used to spend camping on eBay.

A few highlights that pop to mind:

"1997 proof set" for $7.00 BIN. It was a clad proof set -- and a proof ASE in the blue clamshell container. The 1997 proof ASE is lower mintage, and goes for $50-60.

"1998 silver proof Kennedy" for $5 (yes, below melt). When I got it, I realized it was the burnished Kennedy. That goes for over $100 raw.

A bag of dug and cleaned Mercury dimes for about 20% below melt. It's a real shame about the cleaning, because it was really harsh, and a lot of them would have been XF or better. It included a 1926-S that I sold for more than the cost of the whole bag.

A box of 101 Morgan and Peace dollars for $1000. Already got my money back on that one, too.

A bag of random culls that I bought for something like $160. The holed, engraved Trade dollar turned out to be a proof; I sold it for something like four times the cost of the lot. The wheats included a 1910-S, a 1924-D, and a 1931-S. That nice Buffalo (darkly toned) was a 1925-S, not 1924-S (rats), but I still sold it for a nice price. And as it turned out, one of the Liberty nickels was a 1912-S. (I'm keeping that one.)

Those are the kinds of finds that kept me coming back to eBay. I hope one day I'll have time to start searching again.

 

Also, didn't want to top out the thread right away, but I'm pretty sure nobody is going to beat this @bqcoins classic:

From eBay

Back from NGC

I'm not sure if he ever sold it, but I think based on sale price and book value he's right around a 100,000% gain.

 

Jeez, I can't believe that was seven years ago.

 

Did you keep it?

 

Best score on eBay was about 5-7 years ago. It was a lot of Franklin/Kennedy Halves. One each from 1950-1964. Pics were terribly out of focus, but a few of the coins had the reflection of proof coins; most didn’t. I bid about 20% over spot. I figured it was worth the gamble, thinking they could be polished, too. I won the lot for about 5% over.
All but 4 coins were proofs. The 1951, ‘52 and a couple of ‘60’s Franklins were the only circulation strikes!
I submitted the 1950 to PCGS. It graded PR65! I think I sent a few others in, too. But this coin paid for the lot - and made up for the few bad experiences I’d had on eBay until then.
Wish I could find more of those!!!

 

I was looking for a Morgan to fill a hole in my album, a nice raw common date that would go MS if graded. I found one and it was listed as part of a group of coins and BIN. Price seemed fair compared to grey sheet, so I bought it. Didn't bother to look at the other coins in the grouping. When it arrived I looked at the other coins included in the group. Low and behold there were (not one but) two PCGS graded MS67 1955 Red Lincoln Wheats! What a nice way to start a new collection.

 

My best was a set of privately assembled mint sets from 1947-1974. Many had nice quality unc coins. I was able to upgrade many spots in my Franklin album and then sell everything left over for more than I paid.

 

A couple of years ago, I got what I believe was a great deal on eBay.
While I peruse eBay constantly, I am always on the look out for coins that appear to be going for low auction prices. I focus on Buffalo nickels, so when I found a 1937 D three legged on auction, I bid and lo and behold, I won for just over $400. It is raw and I have yet to have it graded, but will.