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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;V. Kurt Bellman, post: 3120931, member: 71723&quot;]I arrived at 7AM straight up, after a 1 hour 15 minute drive that included a stop at a Turkey Hill for a cold Starbucks and a 3-pack of TastyKake chocolate cupcakes (Eastern PA soul food for white guys). Most of the drive was along the shores of the Susquehanna River and was shrouded in deep fog the whole way. About half the trip along the river was eastern shore before the bridge on US22 takes you over to the western shore, and then take the US11/15 route up the west side. After about 40 miles total, I took PA104 in a more northwesterly direction into a sleepy town called Middleburg. As in, &quot;of nowhere&quot;. Absolutely ZERO cellphone signal. Even the XM Satellite service got spotty in those hills, and along the river cliffs earlier.</p><p><br /></p><p>The auction was in the reception hall of a very conservative evangelical congregation&#039;s building campus. Lots of parking. Four coin show type cases enclosed the better stuff, and the lesser material was on open tables. There were at least 30 gold pieces, which I wasn&#039;t going to stay for, but their quality was STOUT - really nice quality, especially the $10 Indians and the 3 or so St. Gaudens $20&#039;s.</p><p><br /></p><p>There were lot after lot of sets of 2 to 5 ASE&#039;s, routine to slightly better date Morgans and Peace dollars, and many well worn Barber halves. The total number of lots was 509. My first targets to examine were the large cents to see what I might upgrade in my set. I marked a few sets of 3 where I needed 2 dates and one where just ones good sized quality upgrade. That was it for me in lots 1-70.</p><p><br /></p><p>At 71-75 was a short run of classic commemorative halves, but I easily saw they were dogs condition-wise. Lot 91 was my first hard target - an 1827 capped bust dime in F condition (peak 1, not flat). Other than that, I would be waiting until lot 115 for some really sweet older nickels. I have a thing for V nickels with PL surfaces. Down page 3 from there was a SUWEEEET 1863 Indian Cent also with PL surfaces, 3 or 4 NGC slabbed early Jefferson proofs (a 1939 with a cameo obverse was getting my attention), and a 7070 album worthy 1930 Mint State Standing Liberty Quarter. On the next page a 1940 proof Lincoln cent (raw) was a honey, as well as a sweetie of an NGC&nbsp; MS65 1931-S nickel. Many more large cents, and a ton more classic commems beckoned.</p><p><br /></p><p>This was a &quot;hammer price&quot; auction. ZERO buyer&#039;s premium. After reading out about 10 typos on the list, we got underway. Junk was going for junk prices. Lots of worn Morgans going for $15 or less, some nice ASE&#039;s going for about $18. The first mini-run of commems went for low prices as I expected. Only the Maine went above my estimate for it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first time I introduced myself to the auctioneer was lot 91 - the 1827 dime. He got down to $10 when I shot my hand up. In about 20 seconds I was looking at $70 and I bailed out. The other guy got it for $65. After a run of very nice Washington Quarters I don&#039;t need, some slabbed Buffnicks went for very reasonable prices. Hmm, not nickel fans, eh?</p><p><br /></p><p>Lot 115 was an 1883 no cents nickel raw graded MS66, and it was all of that, but the Lot 116 fields were more PL, and that one had my eye. The MS66 went for $27.50, and my mouth started to water. The auctioneer started it at $20 and climbed down. Somebody beat my hand at $5, so I was in at $6. $7, $8 (me), $9, $10 (me) ... silence. SOLD! Hello, now we&#039;re here.</p><p><br /></p><p>It has magnificent surfaces and it also was &quot;woody&quot; coloring. Yes, it&#039;s the epitome of a common date. Who cares?</p><p><br /></p><p>(more to follow)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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