Last weekend my girlfriend and I stopped at a strip mall so she could check out a new store, I wasn't interested so instead of just sitting there I decided to check out the jewelry store that was just a couple stores down. When I walked in there was a display on the counter that had a bunch of clad proof sets and mint sets and a sign that said SALE. So I asked "how much" and the lady said $4 for the proofs and $5 for the mint sets, I asked if they had any silver ones and she said yes in the back, so she brings out 17 silver pre 65 proof sets and 3 year sets and said she wanted $13 each. I took a look at some of them and noticed a lot of toning, so I offered $10 each and she took it. I removed the ones in cellophane that were the most toned and put them in air tites and when I opened the worst ones and it smelled like rotten eggs, those are the ones with green on them. So here they are.
Nice buy! Maybe try acetone on the bad ones? It might work if the coin’s surface hasn’t been eaten into.
I'm going to go thru the remaining sets still in the cellophane and pick the best ones to fill these Capital cases with and the rest will go in the air tites.
I'd have probably bought the clad proof sets as well at that price. Who knows if they were willing to take less for the silver sets might have been get the to come down on those as well.
What would be a good price for them? The ones on the counter were all 80's and 90's and the lady said they had older ones (70's) in the back. I am seriously considering going back tomorrow and picking them up, I just need to figure out a good price.
You can get 100% acetone at WalMart. I use silk fabric, when I am popping coins into an album so they don't pick up any fingerprints. Looks like a nice buy.
If you can get $1 to 50 cents off the price per set that could be worth it. The mint sets could have nice Gem clad quarters that could pay for the entire purchase. Plus, always remember that the coins are always worth face at least. A 1978 proof set has $1.91 in face value alone, so... Also, those cents with the verdigris are not worth the effort to clean, unless you're simply using them for experimentation. Even as proofs, they are only worth face value now.
Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I'll offer them $3 a set for the proofs and $4 for the mint sets ($1.82 face) and get all they have, if not, I'll go up $.50 a set.
I think your score is an awesome one. One over riding tidbit that I take from this post. In all my years I have scored coins in offbeat places. Never occurred to me to visit the jewelry shop. I avoid those places. Last time I was in one I had to buy a diamond ring for a permanent room mate!
Be careful. You may one day find yourself trying to sell a bunch of corroded coins for a deep discount just to get rid of them. Hopefully silver goes back up one day and then at least you'll make money on melt.
I've got a question for the group, what if they had a 1865 proof 2 cent in immaculate condition. What would you pay for it? What would be fair? My red book says it's worth $450, but we all know how accurate they are.
In a shop that doesn't specialize in coins and has a batch of cheap/badly-stored modern stuff, I'd have a hard time convincing myself that such a coin was genuine. But I'm not there, and I have found big surprises in pawnshops. To answer your question, though, if I could convince myself that the coin was real, I'd still make a lowball offer, just to mitigate my own risk. If I pay no more than half of what I know I could get for genuine coins, I can afford to be wrong up to 50% of the time. Sort of.