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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,682 |
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Valued Member
United States
415 Posts |
So there is a little antique/coin store in my town that I stop by every once in a while to look at stuff, but have never bought from before. They are mostly antiques and the few coins they usually have are usually way overpriced and not really great coins. Well as I was looking at their stuff today, I noticed a ziploc bag of 53 nickels dated in the 30s, 40s, and 50s and it was priced for $10 bucks. I am working on a Jefferson set and I figured it would be mostly common dates, but for 10 bucks I figured it would be worth it to fill a few holes. Instead of giving him the 10, I offered a trade for a common date Walker. It being worth 6 in silver and only having paid 8 for it, I was looking to save a few bucks on the deal. He accepted, which seemed to confirm that there was not much in the bag, but boy was I wrong. The bag had TWELVE War Nickels in it! I seriously could not believe it. That alone is almost 11 bucks in silver and he was only charging 10 for the bag, and let it go for a coin worth 6-8 bucks. I have to think he just didn't realize what was in there since he usually overprices things so badly. Must have just bought it off someone for cheap and assumed there wasn't anything there. Although he will probably sell that Walker for 20-30 bucks, so he likely comes out ahead in the deal as well. I just cannot believe I made such an awesome score. Traded 6 bucks in silver for 11. Plus 2 bucks in face value of the other 41 coins in the bag, which filled a few more holes in my album. Just goes to show that cheap bags of coins like that aren't always filled with junk! |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1132 Posts |
Awesome Sauce!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4809 Posts |
You are a shrewd one Mr. carnold! Well done!!
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Valued Member
 United States
415 Posts |
Honestly I feel like I was just lucky more than shrwed. Even 8 bucks for 53 common date 30s-50s Jeffs is probably overpaying a bit. I just really wanted to fill some holes in my binder and since I was trading a coin I'd already had for a while, nothing was coming straight out of my pocket. I got really, really fortunate that all of those War Nickels were in there. But I do think it was a win-win for both of us since he probably only paid a couple of bucks for that baggie and he'll make way more gouging someone for that Walker than he would have from just taking a 10 dollar bill. And even most of the other coins were from the 30's an 40's, and some were better dates. Just an awesome score all around. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Cool score. I just went through 4 plastic rolls of 40 each. Maybe a few had any brilliance to them and the rest were the typical black. I must say war nicks have to be one of THE grimyest circulated coin alloys ever made  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4809 Posts |
Yes, you had good fortune on your side, but the approach you described was the smart part. I suspected you had no real attachment to the Walker so you took the risk-reward challenge. I'm sure that you sized up the seller; not an LCS employee and more prone to overlook some moderate value, but probably not a high value item. So for a couple of bucks at risk, you got the reward. Better odds than the lottery. Lesson learned: have a few trade items in my pocket when visiting the local pawn/antiques shops. You might be able to risk a little to get something more. I like those odds better than scratch lottery tickets...and more fun!! Take the compliment: your 64/$64 challenge and your bag of nickels provides reasonable objective evidence IMHO! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
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Moderator
 United States
187878 Posts |
Well done. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1704 Posts |
I have had some good buys in antique shops buying foreign coins in bag lots. The sellers do not typically know the silver content of foreign coins or the better dates. In one bag I paid $5.00 for I got an 1868 Three Cent Nickel in VF condition. |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,682 |
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Posted 05/08/2015 8:45 pm
