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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 24853733, member: 10461&quot;]<i><font size="3">(There used to be someone else&#039;s web page about this coin which I would link to, but that&#039;s gone to the Internet Graveyard, so let me retell the tale in my own post. ~RWS/&quot;LM&quot;)</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p>Around 2004 or so, I acquired this holed 1806 Draped Bust half dollar in a swap at the FUN show in Orlando.</p><p><br /></p><p>As I recall, I traded a couple of Irish mint sets worth about $40 for it.&nbsp; I got it for my &quot;Holey Coin Vest&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_12/002-HCV2.jpg.018815935cb38ee821709737f58c62e4.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1592894[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1592895[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3"><b>Image credit: </b>Sheridan Downey, accessed from the <a href="https://www.jrcs.org/jrcs_rare_gallery.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jrcs.org/jrcs_rare_gallery.php" rel="nofollow">John Reich Collectors Society R6 to R8 rarities gallery.</a></font></p><p><br /></p><p>I later sold the coin in 2005 to Rich Sayre, aka &quot;Cladiator&quot; on the Collectors Universe forums, for $75.&nbsp; So, having had $40 of trade goods invested in the coin, I figure I made a modest profit on the transaction.&nbsp; (In fact, I nearly doubled my money.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Rich later put it up on eBay, and he and I were equally flabbergasted when it skyrocketed to a low <i>four-figure</i> price (I forget what it closed for now, but it was in the very high $1,000s or low $2,000s).&nbsp; At least two people got into a bidding war over it late in the auction.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Why? </i> Well, it turns out that it was a previously unknown die marriage.&nbsp; This was later confirmed and it became the discovery coin of the 1806 Overton-129 variety.&nbsp; Unique at the time.&nbsp; According to <a href="https://www.jrcs.org/jrcs_rare_gallery.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jrcs.org/jrcs_rare_gallery.php" rel="nofollow">this page</a> from the John Reich Collectors Society, there are two known.&nbsp; So another was subsequently discovered.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The sad story (for me):</b></p><p><br /></p><p>At the time of the discovery, the 1806 O-129 discovery coin was speculated by some to be worth as much as $10,000, never mind the hole in it.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know what subsequent sales records for the known examples are.&nbsp; I doubt one ever fetched that much- particularly since that second example was discovered- but suffice it to say... I sold a coin worth <i>thousands</i> for the paltry sum of seventy-five bucks!&nbsp; Oh well.&nbsp; At least I&#039;ve got the tale to tell.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s how it goes in the cherrypicking game.&nbsp; Sometimes you&#039;re the windshield, and sometimes you&#039;re the bug.&nbsp; I really don&#039;t mind all that much, and view it philosophically.&nbsp; I never would have discovered the thing on my own- die variety minutiae is not and never will be my cup o&#039; tea.&nbsp; Congratulations to the discoverer, David Hatfield, as far as I&#039;m concerned, as he had the specialist knowledge to make the discovery.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rich and David later made a nice consolation gesture to me: they presented me with a copy of the Overton book, signed by everyone involved in the discovery.&nbsp; (I later sold it to someone who will use it- die varieties are still not my thing, and the book read like an algebra text as far as I&#039;m concerned.)&nbsp; But more power to &#039;em.&nbsp; I respect the specialists who are savvy enough to spot stuff like this.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The happy ending (postscript):</b></p><p><br /></p><p>In the next year (2006), I got my comeuppance.&nbsp; I was going through a bulk bag of Wheat cents and found a sharpish looking 1914.&nbsp; There was a little speck of gunky dirt below the date, which I removed, and lo and behold, there was a &quot;D&quot; mintmark hidden underneath!&nbsp; So I cherrypicked a 1914-D cent which subsequently graded XF40 at PCGS.&nbsp; I paid 3-5 cents for it and sold it for $700 after slabbing.&nbsp; What comes around goes around, and I had my chance to be on the <i>luckier</i> end of a cherrypick that time!</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://d1htnxwo4o0jhw.cloudfront.net/cert/15076210/large/100883452.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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