15 Proof Ikes Bought At Face! Story And Pics Inside!

If you aren''t in the mood for a story, skip to the pics! If you are.... enjoy!


The Story:
I used a key bank locator for my area code last week and found a whole bunch of banks in a 15 or 20 mile "U" shape. The perfect treasure trail! My friend and I Finally got around to it and hit them all up for halve dollars and ikes. The adventure got crazy real fast because my friend drove and he was not used to city driving.

The city of syracuse is where most of the "U" trail of banks was. Some even in the ghetto, which were a bit scary for us, because we stuck out like sore thumbs. So despite all the navigating around one way streets, his out of date GPS, crazy drivers, we hit up about 15 banks, my key banks and his MandTs. We had a fun day!

Only one bank had something worth talking about, and thus what you are here for!

Here's where we scored:
This bank in east Syracuse had some nice, but ignorant tellers (and by ignorant I mean didn't know about coins)

I asked about halves, they had 3 from mid 70s. One young teller, I asked about Eisenhower dollars, so she starts looking through her Presidential dollar coins " I have andrew johnson...I have...blah blah blah"

"No" I said politely "They are BIG coins, like these" and I pulled out the rusty ikes I have been leaving in my pocket to try and give some natural wear to.

"OH! those annoying things? They don't fit into any of my slots! I have them in this drawer. You gonna take some off my hands?"
"Yes!" I said with a smile to my friend next to me
The teller replied "Soooo... I got like,... 15 (she was like, 15, so imagine that in the inflection)
"How many do you wa-All of them" I cut her off out of excitement, seeing the amazing gleam of the proof coins

They were so shiny, I had never seen proof coins before (I'm still new!)
All 15 in one spot was like a mirror!

Them handling the coins was making me sweat, all I could think of was "finger oils all over.... they are scratching each other, AHH!"

Ater buying them all for 15 dollars, as per agreement with my friend, he and I split them up. He didn't take the half we agreed on, he only took 5 and counted it for my gas contribution as well!

He even took the few that had noticeable scratches, most of them are pristine!

What I wanna know is... the guy who brought them to the tell last week... WHY? Proof coins are ALWAYS worth more than face, aren't they?


They are all bicentennial and 1977, glad I have both types for the artwork!
They are all "S" mint

Here are the pics!