Have you ever inadvertently cherrypicked a coin?

This is my first attempt at a new thread so sorry if this question has been asked before. Back in December, I read a post here about Type B Washington quarters that was very informative. I had purchased 40 BU silver quarters (dates between 1954-1964) from an online dealer last July/August for the sole purpose of adding them to my collection. After seeing the post on this very cool variety, I checked the quarters out more closely and found 8 that were the Type B variety.

Have you ever inadvertently purchased a coin that turned out to be an unexpected variety?

TC

 

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I purchased a 1945-(micro)S, expecting a regular 45-S Mercury dime. I don't consider it a major steal, but the micro S commands a small premium and made my day just a little brighter!

 

A few that stick out. 1890 cc morgan. Bought back in the early 70's. It's a tailbar. Another early 70's purchase was a group of foreign coins. I did not have a krause or any other thing available. I looked it over and saw about $12 worth of silver, ended up giving him $20 for the lot. They pretty much stayed in a box for a few years not looked at. Finally made it down to check some of them at the library. One turned up as a 1762 russian rouble.

More recently picking a few nice ms morgans out of a bulk bin. Got a 1876 S VAM -19A with cap band gouge. (Hit list 40 VAM) Did not see it until I got home.

 

I picked up a capped bust half at a local antique store, it was almost a fine, at least a vg-10, not cleaned, it was marked down from 65 to 52 dollars, when I checked the overton on it, it was an r-4 my rarest one.

 

Picked up 5 MS 1934-D Peace $ off Ebay for $180 -- all were the rariest VAM 4 -- made more than $5000 off those coins.

Best score ever....

 

Inadvertently - yes, but nothing major. Maybe just a higher rarity rating.

 

Yes but nothing really outstanding

 

Actually two.

I bought a slabbed 1862 $1 gold that turned out to be the DDO variety.
Breen 6074 or VP-001 (I don't know that reference).
Only record of value I could find was a sale for about 50% more than a normal 1862.
Thanks goes out to a friend who suggested I look in Breen's encyclopedia.

I bought a slabbed 1858 FE.
Turned out to be a 1858/7.
That jumped the price about 5x-7x.
Thanks goes out to the Cherrypickers' Guide that I bought a year or two later.

 

I can't remember ever running into that. And I actually try to find stuff when I hear about them. For example I am a hoarder of 1982 Pennies. When I heard about the finding of a reverse double die in the 1982 ones, I sat down and went trough hundreds of them. Nothing of course. Same with many other coins. Just never find anything unexpected. I keep checking my change for a 1913 Liberty Head Nickel too.

 

inadvertently?

Nah, I buy them because I cherrypick them.

 

Yep. Found an 1837 h10c LM-2 in a bulk lot recently - r.5 . Sold it at the FUN show.

 

When I was a kid I bought a 1979 Proof set for a few dollars from a dealer. It was probably my second proof set and I didn't know much about them. After a few years of collecting, I decided to take a break from collecting and then rediscovered the hobby several years later. It was then, when I was going through my "childhood collection" that I found a handful of proof sets including the 1979. I then discovered that it was in fact a Type 2 set, which I bought for only a few dollars!

 

I do it every month of the year.

I do it every month of the year.
When I buy rolls and mint/proof sets I just wait till I get home and give them the search. They are out there but you must know what your looking for.

 

A blind cherrypick is a very nice surprise. I've wanted one of the 1989 Congressional commems for a while. Saturday night I was cruisin the bay when I came upon an auction for two uncirculated ones. I only wanted one but I figured if the price was right what the heck. I put in my bid and ended up winning them. Got them in the mail today and lo and behold one of them was the 180 degree rotated reverse!!:yes:Acording to rotateddies.com it's an R4.:thumb::smile

 

not really any recently, I have bought a few coins that I wasn't 100% on that needed confirming at home, but bought them knowing or thinking there was something special about them. most of my good finds come from places not normally assoc. with old coins, in person buys, the downside of the internet is the info on coins and coin values is right there at everyones fingertips, before the net became so commonplace you would find lots more great buys, as folks didn't know what stuff was worth and just guessed instead of doing their research.

 

When I first Got into large cents I picked up a few just to practice attributing. Two of them turned out to be 1829 N-4 and N-7, the two rarest varieties for the year (R-4+ at the time, paid $10 each worth about $60 each at the time) and there was a 1798 S-160 in the group. An R-5 at the time.

 

last year i picked several coins including hungarian 10 krajczar 1888. i knew a coin worth at least 20-25$ in this condition. as soon as I checked Krause,couldn't believe.
it said 60$Vf, 110$ XF
couple months ago,1 sold for about 120$!

I could say,that was a cherrypicked coin,for sure.

 

You betcha. I have found r.5s in box lots. Currently, I'm investigating a slabbed Liberty Cap large cent. If it's a plain edge it's r.1, if it's a lettered edge it's r.5.

 

Bought a slabbed PCGS 1931-S Wheat cent that was graded XF-45. I sent it back in through a dealer and it came back as an AU-55! I invested $110 in it and came to find out it was worth $165 in AU-55.

 

Got an unattributed S-76 in a slab huh. (Since you said R1 and R5 I'm assuming it's not an S-80. Those are the only two I can think of that come both ways.)