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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,380 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I know that coin people like to tell stories about great deals they have made. But what about a great deal you never took advantage of.
I have an example of one from when I was a VERY young person and it involves one of my first trips to a coin shop.
I was in second grade or third grade and I was the youngest in my class having been sent to school when I was still 4. The year was 1955.
I saw in the window of the shop a new kind of penny for sale. This dealer from the Boston area had several rolls of brand new 1955 pennies with doubled lettering. He wanted 5 cents each or $2 for a roll. That day I had a budget of 50 cents to spend. It was money I earned from special chores over a few weeks. I recall my grandfather's first comment - "Boy, what kind of a sucker would spend 5 cents for a new penny?"
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1912 Posts |
Tassarolo Luigino 1666.
I bought one of these for (what is now a low ball price).
But when I thinned out my collection, the coin was sold.
In the back of my mind I sort of think I wish I still had it.
To buy one now in the same grade I once had, amounts to too much cost.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2869 Posts |
I wonder if it was the actual DDO? |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5362 Posts |
OldFordman Yes, they were rolls of actual 1955 DDO cents. I knew that dealer until his death and he used to say he only wish he had kept a roll. All of the coins sold to people who did not think like my grandfather in just a couple weeks time. By the time I saved up and bought one - it cost me $15.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
I kicked myself for a while after missing a F-VF 1859-S dollar. I went back to the shop and it was gone. But paraphrasing a line from an old movie, "Coins are like buses. Just wait and another one will come along." And so it came to pass a few years later.
The greater regret was selling my pocket crackout AG-3 1846-C half eagle to a guy in Raleigh that wanted it very badly. He was practically drooling for it. Nothing like it had ever walked into his shop, and I sold it to him for a fair price.I miss it and don't ever expect to ever find another one. I could buy another one for $$$$ but wouldn't be able to carry it in my pocket.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
07/12/2021 6:35 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7273 Posts |
I have a few regrets as I didn't have the money, my biggest regret was actually a few coins. The local coin shop I usually frequent has a top 50 PCGS 7070 registry set from a collector that passed away due to covid, he offered me all the coins at Grey sheet, sadly I was working on currency. I ended up passing on a lot of coins. I should have sucked it up and picked up the expensive ones as they are now costing much more.
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17903 Posts |
In my hometown there used to be a little antique shop run by an elderly lady who didn't know much about coins. She often had a bowl of foreign and pre-decimal coins for 10p each and occasionally put older British coins in her window, usually for much more than their true value. One day I went past and saw a beautiful 1845 crown there with a price ticket of £9. I went in and asked to see the coin: it was a nice Good VF, possibly AU by American standards. But I didn't have the money on me and £9 was a lot of money for me in those days. Next time I went to the shop, the coin had been sold.
In 1994 I was working as a tour guide in Paris. Our tour bus driver stopped near the Monnaie de Paris and we gave everyone free time for lunch. I went across to the mint shop and bought a 1994 French BU set for my collection. I think I paid the equivalent of about £20. In those days, not many people collected French Fifth Republic coins, and the sets sold in quite small quantities. By the year 2000, with the imminent introduction of the Euro, coin collecting really took off in a big way in France, and many collectors tried to complete their sets of modern francs. Often the only way to get a full set of coins from a particular year was to break up a BU set, and the 1994 set contained two coins - the 10 francs and 1 centime - that were only issued in the set. At one time 1994 BU sets were changing hands for over 900 euros, but they have fallen back quite a bit now. Nevertheless, I could have made myself a small fortune if only I'd bought a few extra ones from the Monnaie de Paris that day...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7005 Posts |
The year was 1972 or 73 a group of kids (ages 8 to 9) were enjoying their summertime riding bikes with playing or sport cards in the spokes and jumping 6" curbs thinking they were Evil Knievel, playing over the line at the local school yard and flying kites. We would get that kite up and out all the way and then send 2 kids down to Hills Drug Store to buy another ball of kite string (cost was 6 cents) that day we made 2 or 3 trips to the store and had the kite so far out we could barely see it. Then the biggest thrill was to let the string go..Any who 1 of the kids came back from the store with his change and there we saw the strangest (what we though was a fake) coin. Mind you my allowance was 25 cents a week, comic books cost 15 cents, pack of sports card with gum 10 cents, a soda was @ 15 cents less if you filed down a penny and we could get Thrifty's Ice Cream for 5 cents a scoop. So when that kid wanted 50 cents for that fake penny we all thought he was crazy.....Yes..1969 S LMC ddo-001... Oh well at least I can say I mis-handled one and to see the doubling in hand is one thing you can't forget...Thanks for the topic and having me remembering the joys of childhood. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
653 Posts |
....I feel rather proud about the great deal I never took advantage of.
This was some years ago.
It follows on from an ambition I had since high school history class. I had always wanted to own an Athenian Owl / Athena Tetradrachm
But all the ones I had seen over the years did not fit my ideal.
Then just a few years ago I walked into a local Coin shop and asked for "the latest". The staff member showed me a gorgeous (this should be typed in "all capital letters") Tetradrachm
The staff member even discounted it for me. But it was close before my mums birthday and I needed all my spare money for that very very special occasion.
Maybe in another 20 years I will cross paths with another such a coin...
Happenings like that really put things into perspective...
Squire
Edited by Squire Wilson
07/14/2021 10:13 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
Squire, visit the CNG auctions and drool. I have seen as many as 50 owls per auction (the current auction has 29), and always superbly photographed. Want an Ptolemaic owl? Want a counterfeit owl? You don't have to wait very long. They are not cheap of course. Everyone wants them.
The big eyes get to you.....
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
07/14/2021 2:55 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I agree - I also love the Owl Tetradrachms. I even love the counterfeits although I traded all of mine to another collector.
It is one of the early world trade coins - like the Alexander Tetradrachm, the Maria Theresia Thaler or the Mexican 8 Reales. I have always been drawn to these iconic silver coins. In particular the ones that circulated well beyond their date of issue.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
All this talk about foreign crowns has piqued my interest in the Dutch silver ducat. It has a slightly lower value than the riksdaalder (48 stuiver vs 50 stuiver), but traded in the American colonies at par, and was known as the "leg dollar". Both are smaller than the silver rijders, or ducatoons.
It is peculiar that the Dutch were minting three crown-sized silver coins simultaneously. The Royal Dutch Mint continues to produce them sporadically for the collector market, along with gold ducats.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
thq I would suspect that since the Dutch played a large role in commerce at the time these coins were issued that the three different sized silver coins were intended for different overseas markets. After Spain began dominating the world silver market due to increased production from their colonial holdings in the Americas, their Trade dollar became standard for much of the world.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
653 Posts |
Thanks for the response thq and swamperbob
I will check out the CNG auction site, but I am a bit of a "purist". I like to see the coin, feel its "aura" and hold it in my hand before buying it.
I am definitely not the "click and collect" type...
Yes, the big eyes of the owl are certainly an attraction but for me the rendering of Athena is also very important. She has to be portrayed as a "don't mess with me" Amazonian kind of goddess. In addition her expression also needs to show a hint of compassion and humour.
Not many Athenian engravers could render that. I have only seen one in 30+ years...
Squire
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,380 |
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Posted 07/12/2021 5:19 pm
