Burks Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Today my grandpa dug out his coin collection and the one we were working on about ten years ago. Talk about a day to remember! The main coins that I remembered were his Morgans and Peace dollars. Most would grade in VG or slightly better condition. Nothing to write home about but they mean more to me then cash value. What I didn't remember was the wide variety of coins we had collected. He started collecting coins around the 1960's when he and my grandma moved into their first house. He was digging a garden when there was a metallic sound as the shovel struck the dirt. What was it that made the sound? An 1848 Large Cent! Amazingly he still has this coin along with another 5 large cents. During the search for these coins he came across a large box in the closet. Well, what's in the box you might ask. About 30 pounds of various coins ranging from 2 cent pieces to 1840's English cents, Vatican 1 oz silver proof sets (set of 8 coins), shield nickels, proofs like crazy, unopened rolls, mint sets, tons of German money and notes, and coins from around the world. We also found papers stating he still has 2,000 stocks of some company that has been bought and rebought many times. I did find some nicely cresent toned 1oz silver coins. Not sure of who minted them but they are American and I will get pictures later next week. As for notes.....how about a 1866 $20 Irish note? Great condition with a few folds. Still looks like they day it was printed. Lots of pre-WWI German notes, probably 100 $1 silver certs, uncut sheets of four $2 bills, lots of star notes, many 1910-1920 $1 (the large ones). I never really thought he had such a large collection. Now that we both have a decent amount of money, trips to coin shows will become more frequent. I was told that when he passes away the entire collection will be passed down to myself. I alreayd have plans to pass it down to my children (when they get here). Very exciting day to say the least. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share my experience with others and to let you know the hobby will not die in this family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhawk Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Neat...like your own version of National Treasure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Most definately neat! P.S. It still pains me to know how sadden I was when I knew my grandparents had some kobans and obans - you know those cost real insane... a koban easily kills you 1grand and an oban? Some 20grand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 The English didn't issue cents in the 1840s. The only cents ever issued in the UK were patterns issued in 1961 when they were considering going decimal and these are probably now worth a fair bit of money. Coincraft doesn't actually list any values for them presumably because they don't turn up that often and demand for them changes with the weather because they are not mainstream, making them very difficult to price up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Most definately neat! P.S. It still pains me to know how sadden I was when I knew my grandparents had some kobans and obans - you know those cost real insane... a koban easily kills you 1grand and an oban? Some 20grand... Someday I would like to settle for a Nichi Bu Gin even. An Oban is out of my picture unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 The 1866 Irish $20 is a donation receipt for the Irish Republican movement, these were reprinted in 1919 also. A lot of these were sold on the East Coast of the USA, primarily in Boston. If this is a nice original piece with no alterations, and only a few folds it could well be worth several hundred dollars. Occasionally I see some $5 and $10 notes on eBay that have seen the worst of experiences, they usually never grade above VG or so. They must have been carried in wallets etc as souvenirs, thus accounting for their considerable wear. Even these seriously worn notes are worth a good bit now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 It sounds like a great experience. It's nice to know that your Grandfather's collection will find a happy home with you when the time comes. In the mean time, you have a great hobby to share and lots of great adventures to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burks Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Most definately neat! P.S. It still pains me to know how sadden I was when I knew my grandparents had some kobans and obans - you know those cost real insane... a koban easily kills you 1grand and an oban? Some 20grand... When silver was at an all time high (can't remember the price) my grandpa decided to melt some of the silver dollars to pay for his house. Can't really blame him there since the coins were worth a few bucks but as silver scrap they were well worth it to melt. Sorry I meant 1940's, my mistake. I'm going back tomorrow to catalog at least half of the coins. There were just way too many to sit there and study each one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Silver was probably the most expensive when the Soviets had their Olympics. Poor them, quite a lot of their olympic coin precious metal sets had to be melted down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trantor_3 Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 wow, must have been a great moment, browsing all those coins. Unfortunately none of my granparents ever considered collecting coins... they barely had enough money to pay their bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 wow, must have been a great moment, browsing all those coins. Unfortunately none of my granparents ever considered collecting coins... they barely had enough money to pay their bills. Neither did mine. My grandfather's passion was cars. I think he's owned nearly every model of British car from the 1930s to the 1970s minus the Rolls Royce which he had a chance on but decided against. He's also had a taxi, a bus and an ambulance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burks Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Neither did mine. My grandfather's passion was cars. I think he's owned nearly every model of British car from the 1930s to the 1970s minus the Rolls Royce which he had a chance on but decided against. He's also had a taxi, a bus and an ambulance. That's like my dad. He really was never into coins but loved his cars. We are restoring a '78 Trans Am, Road Runner, and working on buying a '98 Trans Am. Got a call from grandpa today, he found a briefcase FULL of foreign coins and notes from his time in the military. Sadly this comes at a time when I am moving 3 hours away from my family in a matter of days. May just have to make trips back to work on the collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhawk Posted August 1, 2005 Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 You Suck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted August 1, 2005 Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 Neat story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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