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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,132 |
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Valued Member
Canada
50 Posts |
In 1997 I had the pleasure of participating in the Louis Eliasberg sale of US coins I purchased a few US coins and also they were selling a group of very nice Rutherford tokens that I bought. When I won the Rutherford lot the auctioneer David Bowers approached me and he said he wanted to introduce me to Richard Eliasberg the son of the late Louis Eliasberg. We sat together for a few minutes and Richard told me his late dad had a box of Candian tokens that he wanted me to look over and make an offer. Inexplicably I got busy with other things and never followed up on that conversation. The coin that always eluded me was an 1888 Newfoundland fifty cent piece in mint condition. The best I could do was AU 55. I even had an 1888 Newfoundland Specimen set but missing the Fifty cent coin. Well, a few months after I sold my collection Richard consigned what he had in Canadian with Heritage and lo and behold there was the elusive 1888 Newfy 50 cent in specimen 64! I actually bid on it for posterity but never won it. That might be the only regret I ever had in pursuing a complete set of Canadian and Newfoundland and other Provincial coins. https://coins.ha.com/itm/canada/new.../326-11157.sEdited by Sid Belzberg
04/14/2020 4:29 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
That's amazing.... What proportion of your collection was made up of Newfoundland coins?
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5585 Posts |
Silver101: In case you were not aware, just Google Sid's name and reference "auction". What he sold will knock your ears off.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
I know the reputation! And I have looked through some of the auction - incredible. I assume there is still a Belzberg collection - curious to know whether Newfoundland is in there...?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4911 Posts |
I love seeing posts like this..thanks Sid! As a side note I got to see the 1911 dollar back at a show a while back..the presence that coin possesses is immense!
Feel free to call me Will.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Very interesting, thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
857 Posts |
Do you think a true Mint state 1888 Newfie 50 cent is out there?
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Valued Member
 Canada
50 Posts |
I don't know but you can imagine my amazement when the missing specimen showed up. Here is an upgrade from the AU55 that I had that probably would not cause a great deal of consternation if it was graded a bit higher. https://www.PCGS.com/setregistry/my...449365/75294Edited by Sid Belzberg
04/15/2020 6:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2425 Posts |
Sid, what did you learn from this?
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Valued Member
Canada
50 Posts |
The main thing I learned is that when someone who together with his father amassed the *US equivalent of what we did in Canadian Coins, do not forget to take offers to look at coins even outside of their specialty.
Edited by Sid Belzberg
04/14/2020 7:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
some very stunning material would be an understatement...
wow!
Sid, if you don't mind a highly intrusive/personal question...
realizing that is was a labour of love that turned in to an investment, given inflation over the time period you collected, would you say you either
(A) broke even
(B) made a little
(C) lost a little
(D) would rather not say
cheers,
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Valued Member
Canada
50 Posts |
We had several collections including a Polish collection that did better than the Canadian so overall breakeven. I had been collecting since 1972 and never really had any expectation of profit The chase was priceless and the completion was amazing.To this day I get a thrill out of going through the catalog
Edited by Sid Belzberg
04/14/2020 11:42 pm
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Valued Member
United States
302 Posts |
As a former Deputy Curator of Canada's National Currency Collection I saw many unbelievable coins. I've learned to never claim that any particular date or variety of B.N.A. coin doesn't exist in mint state. It might be that there are more mint state specimen strikes of the Nfld. 1888 50c than there are business strikes, but one could turn up some time if the planets were properly aligned! Look at the Langdon hoard. Who saw that coming?
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Valued Member
Canada
50 Posts |
Yes, it is interesting that you mention the Landon Hoard. I can remember meeting you at Torex around 1973. At the time you already were working with The Bank of Canada and you mentioned to me the difficulty in finding an 1893 Round Top Ten-Cent in mint state. In my time the best I found was AU55. The Landon hoard all those years later and after I had sold our collection yielded a mint state 64 1893 round top Ten Cent! https://www.icollector.com/Ten-Cent...ig_i21474782 |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,132 |
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Posted 04/14/2020 4:06 pm
