Best bargains for coins

Hi members of Numista!

What are your best bargains for coins?
This can refer to both a reduced price and an extra.

For me it is a coin set (free) plus some snacks that was worth USD 110 but I got for USD 20.

What about you? Love to hear your stories.

SRL

free silver coin vs.

Small lot that cost me 5€

A big lot in a box I paid 14$ including shipping. There were some small silver coins from 19-20th century ( about 15-20$ in silver, but several uncommon in good grade), some cool coins, many modern common coins, and a coin worth 500$ (catalog value) so I guess it was a good deal.

Squareroot, tell us the story?

Choucas where did you get it?

I used to put adds on Facebook to buy coins. I bought a lot for 70% of book value, when I got home I realized that the Morgan dollar I bought had a special mint mark and it was worth $1700 instead of $170!
I paid the guy some extra money after I sold it, but it paid for all the other coins I bought, so they count as free! And a good lot it was too!

Best bargains are ones you get in bulk lots, my best find was an Uncirculated 1927 Krone from Norway that I found in a $10 bulk lot along with some iron WWI coins and other reasonably rare Norwegian coins. Check out the value

Citeer: "Choucas"​A big lot in a box I paid 14$ including shipping. There were some small silver coins from 19-20th century ( about 15-20$ in silver, but several uncommon in good grade), some cool coins, many modern common coins, and a coin worth 500$ (catalog value) so I guess it was a good deal.
​

​What was the 500$ coin? Just curious.

Once a dealer I was visiting at a coin fair had some coins paired with the wrong pieces of paper, so for example a worn 1793 Carlos III Spanish 4 Reales was sitting on a piece of paper marked '1966 100 Pesetas, Franco €15', and a 1957 Elizabeth II South African Crown was sitting on a paper marked '1981 Diana Crown, €3'. It was his wife or daughter manning the booth, so I got away with a few of those.
(I still feel conflicted when I look at those coins.)

It also worked the other way (there was a 1932 German 4 Reichspfennig on a paper marked '1930 5 Reichsmarks (Commem.) €150' I didn't buy that one!

Citeer: "CassTaylor"​Once a dealer I was visiting at a coin fair had some coins paired with the wrong pieces of paper, so for example a worn 1793 Carlos III Spanish 4 Reales was sitting on a piece of paper marked '1966 100 Pesetas, Franco €15', and a 1957 Elizabeth II South African Crown was sitting on a paper marked '1981 Diana Crown, €3'. It was his wife or daughter manning the booth, so I got away with a few of those.
​(I still feel conflicted when I look at those coins.)
​
​It also worked the other way (there was a 1932 German 4 Reichspfennig on a paper marked '1930 5 Reichsmarks (Commem.) €150' I didn't buy that one!

​LOL!!

I bought the lot on a ebay-like in my country. The ad has been there for months but nobody bid...
The expensive coin was this one :
http://www.inumis.com/vso/V00014/etat-fran%C3%A7ais-1-franc-francisque-petit-c-1944-castelsarrasin-a18903.html
A common coin but this mintmark (small c) is quite rare.

Citeer: "Choucas"​A common coin but this mintmark (small c) is quite rare.

​https://en.numista.com/echanges/liste.php?piece=298

25 members have this coin with the small c in their exchange list, and who knows how many in their collection list. I guess that coin isn't that rare.

Last year I found a 1952 France 5 francs in a bulk bin for about 25 cents. The catalog value is about $40. More recently, I bought a 1916 Walking Liberty half dollar from a junk silver bucket for the melt price (about $7 when I bought it). It is in very worn condition, but is one of the key dates, with book value of about $50.

Citeer: "redsmithstudios"​Squareroot, tell us the story?
​
​Choucas where did you get it?
​
​I used to put adds on Facebook to buy coins. I bought a lot for 70% of book value, when I got home I realized that the Morgan dollar I bought had a special mint mark and it was worth $1700 instead of $170!
​ I paid the guy some extra money after I sold it, but it paid for all the other coins I bought, so they count as free! And a good lot it was too!

​So few days ago in the HKINF I bought some Japanese coins for around 3 USD. So then I saw a Doraemon silver coin set (childhood memories!) and I purchased it. Online prices were about 110 USD but it was for sale in 60 USD and I somehow (using my negotiation skills) went it down to 25 USD. The owner then gave some snacks to thank my purchase.

SRL

Citeer: "Essor Prof"​

Citeer: "Choucas"​A common coin but this mintmark (small c) is quite rare.
​
​

​​https://en.numista.com/echanges/liste.php?piece=298
​
​25 members have this coin with the small c in their exchange list, and who knows how many in their collection list. I guess that coin isn't that rare.

​Indeed i think that coin is not that rare and that catalog value is a bit overrated since I see it a bit too often to worth that much.... I guess the variety was supposed to be very rare at the beginning when it was discovered but is becoming less rare each time someone is finding one more.
Nonetheless, i also think there are people on these 25 people who think they have small c and they have actually big C. Difference is not big and i saw pros selling a big c for a small c...
Anyway i sold the coin to a coin shop because i'm not into french coins.


@SquareRootLolly Damn, that's some good negotiation skills, indeed.

Hmm my best deal was an UNC 1958D Lincoln Wheat Penny for USD $0.11, that and 2 UNC 1964/64D UNC US coin sets for USD $9 each.

Citeer: "CassTaylor"​Once a dealer I was visiting at a coin fair had some coins paired with the wrong pieces of paper, so for example a worn 1793 Carlos III Spanish 4 Reales was sitting on a piece of paper marked '1966 100 Pesetas, Franco €15', and a 1957 Elizabeth II South African Crown was sitting on a paper marked '1981 Diana Crown, €3'. It was his wife or daughter manning the booth, so I got away with a few of those.
​(I still feel conflicted when I look at those coins.)
​
​It also worked the other way (there was a 1932 German 4 Reichspfennig on a paper marked '1930 5 Reichsmarks (Commem.) €150' I didn't buy that one!

I hope that if I ever have to leave my collection in the care of an inexperienced family member that you will be as far away as possible.

Given your own moral ambiguity, would it be too much to ask that you will stop lecturing others on their imagined shortcomings and trying to shoehorn the contents of an entire forum to fit your own narrow worldview?​

Citeer: "pnightingale"​

Citeer: "CassTaylor"​(I still feel conflicted when I look at those coins.)
​

​I hope that if I ever have to leave my collection in the care of an inexperienced family member that you will be as far away as possible.
​
​Given your own moral ambiguity, would it be too much to ask that you will stop lecturing others on their imagined shortcomings and trying to shoehorn the contents of an entire forum to fit your own narrow worldview?​
​

Have I not expressed at least some regret? What an awful person I must be, n'est ce pas? ​

As for your inane complaints about my lecturing and my 'narrow worldview', I leave you with this:

Once upon a time i picked an 1889 Canadian dime in Ag 3 out of a scrap bucket.
Loruca

My grandma gave me a small chest one day (yes, it actually was a chest, small sized and with broken locket, but still), and say that it was my grandpa's brother's coin collection. In the chest were many coins of various European countries of the early 1900's, and some banknotes from WWII Europe. After I sorted the coins I realised I had been given a real jackpot!

Among many common coins there were quite a few from a region I, at that time, didn't had. The Free City of Danzig. The coins where dated from 1923-1935. Consider that my grandpa's brother died when he was just at the age of 12, the coins had barely been struck when they must've been given to him.
The coins where:
5 Pfennige 1923 (×1, XF)
10 Pfennige 1923 (×3, XF)
½ Gulden 1932 (×4, XF)
1 Gulden 1932 (×3, XF)
5 Gulden 1935 (×1, XF)
That's about 750 € (~$900) worth for just the Danzig coins!

My family used to have a box, too, but after the possesser passed away, its whereabouts were lost... there were some greats like:

- The 1920s to 1940s Hong Kong banknotes
- Some old coins that I would never know what they were
- Some stamps
- Mails

I stil couldn't imagine that I will get a Liechtenstein Krone of Johann II for 30$.
Still didn't buy but will later.

My family also had boxes of old currency; the good news is that they were never lost.
The bad news is, the currency isn't all that impressive.

It's basically just the last two generations of pre-Euro French banknotes, and some early decimal UK coins and late pre-decimal ones.

Some weeks ago I bought a small lot (+/-1kg) in a second-hand-shop, and a 1972 gold dukaat was inside...
I paid for that lot 3(three) euro...

Citeer: "yvon"​Some weeks ago I bought a small lot (+/-1kg) in a second-hand-shop, and a 1972 gold dukaat was inside...
​I paid for that lot 3(three) euro...
​

​That is why I always check all the flea markets, yard sales and random-stuff shops first before buying anything. I have not made any bad deals:

~70 coins lot that included coins from switzerland that are worth over 7€ (still in use) - cost me 5€
~1/2KG coin lot with Finnish old coins: 4 over 100 year old copper coins, 2 silver coins from that age, and 250g of Finnish WW2/pre ww2 coinage - 12€
~Small lot with 20 old finnish banknotes and a silver coin - FREE
~A ståhlberg token (10000 minted), 10 penniä 1916, old letters and 2 "kenttäpostia" ww2 finnish mail from soldiers fighting on the front to their families - 2€
~Old glass vase with ussr tokens, ussr coins, coins from all over the world, about 75 coins - 5€
~2 markkaa 1865, pretty good condition - 17€
But the best deal was made by my parents: when I was a bit younger my parents saved almost 700 old Finnish coins...Now I could go sell them on ebay for 1€ or more each. But better just wait and see if they are worth more later.