What kind of collecting stories have you guys had? Here's two I've had in the past few months. The other day I stopped at the bank on the way to work and didn't get a chance to take a close look at what I had until later. Then when I was headed to lunch I noticed the nice crisp $50 I got earlier was a 1988 star...needless to say...no lunch or dinner that day until I got home lol! Another day headed to lunch I stopped at a random bank on my way to ask if any customers brought in halves or anything special. The teller lays out 3 nice proofs (one of them turned out to be a silver proof) that I can tell from where I'm standing and then I proceeded to watch the teller run the coins face down on the rough counter to slide them into an envelope...(while making a noise like nails on a chalkboard to me) **cringe** So what stories do you have? Ever had a teller fold that nice new red seal or blue seal, or scratch up that nice peace dollar some kid brought in front of you?
This story is from a few years ago, and how I wished the old timer had been a customer of one of the tellers who saved coins for me. Back when I frequented my bank on a regular basis, I had about a third of the tellers saving me any coins that seemed old or odd. One time while I was waiting in line, I overhear one teller asking the one next to her "What is this? Is it American?" Naturally my attention focused on their conversation. The other teller responded, "Well, it says United States of America on it". When it was my turn, at the second teller's window, I had to ask if I could see the coin she was asking about. She showed me a very nice 1928 Standing Liberty Quarter. In our conversation, it seems that an elderly gentlemen brought 40 rolls of quarters to the bank and wanted "folding money". After looking at a few of the rolls, the teller was wise enough to purchase them for herself. She had looked through 8 of the rolls up to that point in time, and the newest quarter found was a 1943. Naturally, I tried to buy some/all of the quarters from her, allowing her a generous profit, but she said that her 10 year old son was starting to collect coins, and she planned to give them to him. Drat! A different teller, and they could have all been mine for face value. They have saved me Morgan and Peace Dollars, and a fair amount of silver over the years, but nothing of that magnitude. In the current days of direct deposit, I have little need to stop at the bank anymore, and I miss the tellers greeting me with a "I've been waiting for you to come in !".
I don't have any big stories like that but I got a silver Washington a few months back; so I put it in my wallet so I didnt mix it with the change in my pocket. Yet when I get home to take it out it seems it fell out somewhere else along the way
Very nice story and sounds a little like mine. My sister n law works at a bank and for a while i was getting some great coins. She stopped doing this for me as quickly as she started doing it. She got a better position at this bank and now she says she dosent have the time for it. I was encorage last night when my wife told me that her sisters husband had stacks of comic books that hes had from his childhood and he wanted me to have them. She will let me get them when she has the time to get them from the attic. This may be a while as her husband has MS and she has to spend almost all her home time looking after him. Its hard to wait and think what might be in these comicbooks as he was really into it. I do not plan on selling them as i want my son to keep them and let them gain more value. Hope he will not sell them but when i do see how much value they hold ill educate him as best i know how on why it would be wise if he keeps them and lets them gain even more value. Thanks for the tread and great read.
I had to get money for an emergency. I had to sell a rare San marino 1/2 oz gold coin. It hurt but in the end I will eventually buy that rare coin back. the beauty of coin collecting is that it is a life long hobby. I miss that coin bad but life is hard sometimes. thank God it was made of gold and got me out of a jam.
I got a story. My father collected coins, and would show me them sometimes, my parents had split up so I saw my father every other week or so growing up. I was going into the Navy and living at home, my job was a three block walk to work, working ot and only having to pay 20 a week room and board, no car, no gf, so more cash then sense. I went to a coin shop and bought 4 saints for 83 dollars each. I took them out of their little cardboard holders and carried them in my pocket. I visited my dad a few weeks before I was to enter the Navy and pulled them out of my pocket to show them off. He about freaked out that I was carrying them around loose like that, he showed me all the little dings that came from my pocketpieces bumping each other. So he took them and wrapped them in foil and held them for me. I forgot all about them, left the Navy, went to school, got married and got a job, we were having our second child and my wife was to be off work for a while, my job was not enough and she was thinking about asking her parents for some help. Then I remembered the coins, went and got them from dad and sold them, (it was early 1980) I got 2300 for them, we did not have to ask assistance from the folks, and today my daughter has given me a grandchild. I still sort of wish that I had found some other way to get cash, still have not replaced them, but who knows maybe someday I will replace them. If I do chances are I will not be carrying them loose in my pocket.
There were several times up to about a dozen years ago when I sold off practically all of my gold coins. Usually had to do with needing the funds for something or another, kids, pay car payments. The only time I sold something that I still regret was I had a high end type set of Russian gold from Tsar Nikolai that I sold when gold and Russian coins were both cheap. Curiously I have replaced all of the denominations, save the 10 ruble. I sort of want a nice 1911 because of the story behind them.
great story Chip. you can always buy saints back. MISC. years of course. they have airtites for those so you can carry them in your pocket again lol. I would not suggest that though because of the high cost of gold and they just might get lost.
