Picking From The Bargain Box

I've scored from bins, that's for sure. I'm pretty good with North American coins so I've been able to grab a silver coin worth about $3 for 20 cents, and lots of large copper coins for the same price. Be an expert in one field and you'll see lots of opportunities that no one else sees.

I once found a worn (what appeared to be) Chinese cash coin in a bargain box for 30 cents. Took it home, examined and photographed it, and had help ID'ing it on a forum similar to this. It required looking at a dutch book from the 1890's to determine that what I had was a Korean mun coin from the 1640's, dating to the reign of Injo of Choseon. I listed it on a 7 day auction on ebay, open to international bidders. By the end, through a late-night (or what was for them, mid-day) bidding war between two asian buyers, a gentleman in South Korea bought it for $167.00.

Follow-up to that story, and a moral: I shipped the coin to South Korea first class with no tracking. I decided the extra 12.00 to register the mail wasn't worth it. Long story short, buyer claimed he never received the coin, I had to refund the money, I felt like a dumba**. ALWAYS register foreign mail unless you don't mind eating the value of the object.

If you are goin to search through dealers junk bins, look for the unusual, and any older coin that is in superior condition.

I buy some coins from junk bins without really knowing what it is that I have bought. The fun starts when I get home and research the piece. With these sorts of 'bargains', quite often the dealer hasn't the time to properly identify them, and so leaves that to the interested collector.

grab a silver 3 pence from a 25 cent box along with a few other coins (5/$1), dealer told my at the checkout that it shouldnt be there and said it would be more money. must not have liked the look I gave him because he quickly waved himself off and took my loonie.