My $500 experiment... - Page 3

Originally Posted by Longhairboy

I've been collecting coins for a long time but I usually collect the ones that have different images on the "tails" side of the coin. I do have some pennies and nickels from as early as 1924 I think it was, and a Canadian half penny.

My grandmother has a coin where the Queen's bra strap is showing on the coin. Figured those were pulled pretty quick! (I think it was a coin, maybe a one dollar bill)

I'd think that wouldn't sit right with the Queen and are very rare - good keep.

There was a time when there was the saying "the sun never sets on her majesties kingdom". I might have that saying wrong! but what is true, there's many coins that have the queens (or kings) portrait on it, from many countries.

Big Burt, that's a cool story about the old paino. I wish I could luck into something like that. I wonder if there were any old painos stashed away in the old buildings in Deadwood before its current gambling "renaissance" and what had fallen or had been stashed in them? If those old painos could talk...

Being from Cali and mentioning that the paino was made out of black walnut, you might appreciate this fact. All the English walnuts growing nuts in the Central Valley are grafted onto black walnut root stock. When driving around there, its sort of strange seeing the two different colored barks and many times the "stump" may be wider than than the main trunk of the tree. I guess there is a fungus or something in the soil that the English walnut is plagued by but the native black walnut not. There are a few black walnut nurseies as well that we saw drving around there in the trip I did in the mid-2000s providing the root stock.

My sister lives in S. Dakota and not far from Deadwood, what it must have been like in the days of the "gold rush" there!

So here are the results of my $500 experiment. I ended up with 23 Philly mint Bicentennials that might never have much more than face value although perhaps my kids and g-kids (if I have them) may find them fun, especially g-kids as they get older and we're heading for the TriCentennial (if the U.S. is still around).

I did find a 1993 clad S mint proof that must have come from someone's collection. Its luster (the pix isn't very good but it will cast a glow on your finger if held above it) is what caught my eye, and maybe the sound as well but the weight is the same as other clads. Currently, really nice ones of this are going for a couple of bucks on ebay.

I also kept out a very nice condition (still had an edge to the rim and good luster) a 1971 clad because I saw so many 1971. coins. This will be my remembrance of my experiment. I don't think I would do this again because I don't think there's much to find in bank rolls anymore (at least in my metro location)...

P.S. I will go back and see if I missed any S mint (this is where the "proof" sets are made it appears) and any of the common misprints (there's only a couple for Denver and Philly mint coins) of the half dollars but the chances are very low finding anything more of value.

Did my first $500 last week and found a 1982-P w/o the FG mark. Sent it off to get graded. I'd look for all varieties and not only older coins. Well worth it if it comes back worth $100!