A Flea Market Surprize

Found this little beauty at a flea market today. Nice UNC condition with rainbows obv & rev. Not bad for $8 !!

I wish you could see the actual colors. Blue to purple to gold. The scan doesn't really show them but this is the best this scanner can do.

 

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beautiful toning! that was quite a find you have there.

 

I guess this was my day for finds. Usually this flea market produces no coins at all, no coin dealers, just lots of glass cases crammed with everything imagineable. In one case, tucked behind all the $5 souvenir knives, I found a jar full of old well-handled 2x2's containing, to my surprize, nice BU Susan B's. Out of the 15 coins I found (3) '79 "Wide Rims" and was charged a whopping $5 for all 3. In yet another dealers case full of little plastic cars I found a brown envelope that contained 7 beautiful, CU British Armed Forces military payment certificates (5 Pence thru 1 Pound).

I thought I hit the jackpot when I noticed 1 guy had about 20 nice circulated thru BU Morgan's thrown in with some fishing lures. I asked for a price and he replied, "they're on the back". When I turned them over sure enough, nice gummy paper price tags stuck right on the Rev of each coin. And they had been there a while and weren't coming off without chemical help!!!

 

Not to mention the distinct possibility of different tarnish under the lables and in the other areas.

 

Nice coin....

At feal markets sometimes I do good sometimes I see nothing...most of the ones I go too have a few coins...every now and then I get a good one....

I got some 1982 Washinton Comm (Proof) once for $5 each for 4 and a few weeks ago I sent in 1 of them to ANACS and it came back PF68HVYCAMEO!!!!!

Then there is another place where there is an older guy that sells coins himself there...I would like to buy him out sometime...he has good coins mixed in with bad ones so it would be lots of fun to get to good through them all!!!

Again...great find!!

Speedy

 

I'm curious - what do you guys look for when you go to flea markets? What constitutes a "good deal?" Because there's a flea market out near me, and I was thinking of going sometime to look for any good coins. What kinds of things should I be on the lookout for?

 

Generally you will find coins being sold by two types of people at flea markets - those who know nothing about coins, and pick their prices out of thin air; and those who are scam artists with everything way overpriced, so they can be bargained down to just two or three times what they are worth. Both groups can have counterfeit/forgeries for sale, the difference being that the first group doesn't know that's what they have.

The only way to separate the underpriced from the overpriced and fake in the first group is the same way you can spot the second group and avoid them: KNOWLEDGE!

Personally, I would never buy a coin at a flea market unless it was one that I felt comfortable with my own knowledge about its genuineness and grade. IMHO any other approach is simply gambling, and I prefer to do that in a casino where I can control the size of my losses.

 

I look for any coin/paper money/ token/ etc ...most of the time I can remember that a Silver dollar sells for around $10 and silver Quarter is around $1.25 etc and I can remember some prices on coins and when I see a coin I try to remember what is the value of that coin...or I look to see if it is worth it to me at that price...sometimes I pay over list prices for coins...

I would say that you should look for everything...and don't be shy...ask if they will go down on the price....

You can ask anyone I know and they will tell you I am NOT shy...and I will ask anybody most any question...its worth it sometimes...most of the time they will go down a few dollars.

Speedy

 

Hey guys, thanks for the advice. Roy - lol @ the casino quip... I am only 19 though, and you gotta be 21 to play out here! (Me and my friends play a little Texas Hold'Em on the side though! I'm actually up almost $300...!) And Speedy... thanks for the tips - you can be sure I'm not shy when it comes to asking questions!

~AJ

 

I picked up a couple of morgans at a flea market last year. This year I noticed the same guy had doubled all of his prices, and the good stuff was gone anyway. Mostly however, the flea markets I've attended have things like overpriced Kennedy halves in 2x2's. Nothing much of interest.

 

I've found some decent deals at the flea market on things like circulated Barber halves(a few),Walkers,Franklins,and silver Kennedy's.
Also the occasional Morgan or peace doller,none seem to be in BU condition, but if the price is right (4-6$for halves 10-12$ for dollers) i pick up a few coins.
I find you have to be persistent , poke through a lot of junk and deal with some fairly scummy people to find anything good.
I'm posting scans of two coins i bought at the flea market. The first is a 1909s barber half which i paid 6.00$ for a couple of years ago and the best i can tell is worth 50-70$.
Scan 2 is a 1920s walker that i got a few months back,paid 4$ ,about what it's worth.
.

 

Nice Barber! Very pleasing to look at.... I hope I can find some good stuff when I go!

~AJ

 

Good luck-they usually keep the coins in glass cases filled with other junk like
watches,earings etc.

 

Normally flea markets are a good place to avoid if you are looking for bargains on quality coins. Sure, on occasion you may find a good deal but as Roy said, usually they are overpriced when the person knows what they have. The majority of flea market coins are mishandled and in bad shape from years of exposure to the elements and contact damage.

 

I found these this morning. The $20 Nationals for $30 each.
The 8 silver Washingtons for $5 (62.5 cents each)

 

At the monthly flea maarket i've had my share of finds;a 1853 silver 3 cent in fine for $2.00's, 6 different large bcents in g-VF for about $1.00 each, an 1865 3 cent nickel in EF for $8.00 and a 1857 flying eagle in VF for $17.00's and thats just a little bit of what I've found.

 

It is so interesting to see and hear everyones discoveries. I'm sure just about all of us has had an interesting experience good or bad at a flea or antique market. Keep them coming, this is great! This would be a nice category for a new forum. "Found at the Flea Market"!

 

Sometimes you get lucky and they don't know what they have,Thats when you get the bargins.

 

I agree with the fact that sometimes they don't know what they have, I found a nice AU hard times token (I forgot which one) In a pile of junk for $10.00, But I'm only 13 years old and I didn't have any money on me so i didn't get, so there are some good finds out there.