I check these out at the local coin shows and shops. Very inexpensive fun. I call it Coin Folder Hunting (CFH). Latest purchase for $6 in Tampa...I'll let you know if I find anything worth the money; however, when I get the time, the enjoyment I'll get is definitely worth $6. I've collected over a dozen of these folders (Highest price paid so far is $12) to eventually search through. I'm looking for an MS-65 Red 1958 DDO 1c
I have no problem buying them for that price. The sad thing is, when I see them. The seller thinks they are worth a fortune. Let us know if you find any errors or variety's.
I've done this for years. Mostly I find woodies and laminations or an occasional RPM. I've found several minor 936 DDO var. in VF/XF; a 1917 DDO in Fine, and lots of BU's in the 40's & 50's. Of course none of these is worth the time but as you know the hunt is fun. I've put a color set of Lincolns from Brown thru Brown-Red, Red-Brown, to Red to teach with. And years ago, I found a 44-D/S in MS-63 Red Brown that I sold on Teletrade for 200+. One local Sarasota coin shop takes the coins out and dumps them in a bucket. If I worked there, I would roll them up randomly, stick in a circulated Indian and steel cent and list them somewhere but all that takes time. I believe most dealers just blow the bucket out wholesale to other dealers. Many of you would not believe the accumulation of stuff most dealers consider to be junk tying up their money. It's our treasure! I cringe when I see a bag of silver Washington Quarters or Morgan dollars being sent out UNCHECKED for anything just to be bought and sold UNCHECKED again or melted! All those great "finds" being lost forever.
Right there with you. That's why I'd never be tempted to open a storefront; I'd love to get stuff in from the public, but I'd never be able to triage it as quickly as business would require. Or, worse yet, I would learn to do it -- which would mean the thrill of the hunt was lost to me.
What you see is what you usually get in album sets. A few times I have been surprised with a standout coin but not very often. I guess it's still the thrill of the hunt. Thanks for sharing congrats and good luck.
I live about 20 miles from the nearest city and we don't have any local coin shops here and it's too much trouble to go to a larger city.
To your point, I had put together a couple of Jefferson folders ('38 thru 2015) and brought them to a local antique shop owned by a couple of friends. I passed them off to sell with their other coins (back story is that they had a small hoard that I organized for them and was given first shot to buy anything I found). When they asked me what to sell them for...it hit me. For around $12 in face value and a few months searching nickels, they might get $40 as a set. But likely only buy the first folder.
I have also done this for over 30 years. The dealer buys a partially filled folder from the collector/seller based upon assigning wholesale values for the better coins in the folder and absurdly low values to the remaining coins. The dealer removes the better coins and frequently assigns a resale price for the remaining coins in the folder based on a “low” unit price. Many of my better coin purchases have been on partially filled folders of Lincoln cents, Buffalo nickels and Jefferson nickels, because the dealer does not want to be bothered with non-silver “junk”. It’s not unusual to find brown uncirculated or better Lincoln cents as early as the 1920’s, or EF or better Buffalo nickels, or uncirculated Jefferson nickels in the 1940’s (some of which have full steps). I’ve also found several Cherrypickers’ varieties among the coins, because many of these coins have been housed in these old folders for decades, well before widespread variety hunting existed. Coin folder hunting is much more satisfying than CRH, because one finds more collectible coins in less time. An extension to CFH of non-silver is searching junk silver, where one can find coins which clearly are a worth a premium to junk silver value. The coin dealer chooses not to thoroughly search out these marginal coins, 2x2 and price them for retail sale.
