i was doing my daily browsing of craigslist when i noticed a post for an old collection of wheat cents. i was reading how the lady inherited them and has no clue what they are and are selling them in rolls. so i emailed her and offered to help, because i hate seeing people loose out. she sent me pictures of a note that was left with the coins that has each year, MM, and number of coins in the collection. these were her grandmothers and she did not know she had them before she past away. now most of the coins were commons and non keys. just about a complete set though. there is possibly an 09-S. i can not tell if its an 8 or an S after the 09-. also what makes me think its an S, is because the lady did not number her coins, instead she tallied them. time will tell, she is opening the roll they would be in. now here is what i am proud of.... the paper had an 1922-P listed. now my first thought was the D got damaged and the lady thought it was a P. then i realized this lady who collected them seemed to know enough and surely would have known philly did not use a MM back then. so i asked the girl to go through the coins and find the '22. it was not hard to do, because the rolls were set by the decade. she emailed me and said "it just says '1922! no P or D under the date!" she is emailing me a photo to help her get an idea of grade in the morning. i will post it here to get some second and third opinions. she offered to compensate me(my guess with some wheat rolls). i already told her not to, because i messaged her and wanted to help. honestly, helping someone like this is better then getting paid. she is starting her own graphic design business so the money will really help out. as soon as she sends me the pictures, i will post them.
i was thinking of it, but only need three coins to complete my wheat collection (1909-s,1914-D, and '43-s:rolling if her '09 is an "S" and its in a close grade to my S-VDB and P-VDB, i will buy it. even if its not, if the price is right i will. i probably could have told her the 1922 is worth $20 and she would of been happy. but i am not like that, and if i would die, i would not like someone to take advantage of my family over my coins. if after i tell her the correct value, and she offers me a deal, i might take it.
I'm not thinking about taking advantage of her. I'm thinking more along the lines of fill in my holes, upgrade my scrubs and sell off what's left to move forward. Your time and expertise are worth something, right? She knows this, and there is not a thing wrong with being fair and being compensated for your time. If you have the money, and some of the things I listed above, I'd do it in a heartbeat, and most likely, so would she. As hot as copper is right now, I'd flip this as fast as I could without anybody getting hurt, you and her included....
My hat is off to you, panda for being honest. I know a great deal of people that would have taken full advantage of the situation (and this nice lady), and laughed all the way to the bank.
