"I'll give ya 150 bucks for it."
Posted on 05/15/2012 10:16:58 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
WE ARE HONORED TO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO SELL WHAT MAY BE THE "LOST 1870 S THREE DOLLAR GOLD COIN" FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT. THE STORY GOES THAT THE ORIGINAL COIN WAS PLACED AS A CORNER STONE OF THE MINT IN 1870, NOT THERE NOW!!! THE SAME MOLD WAS USED TO MAKE A SECOND COIN HOWEVER THE MOLD WAS DAMAGED DURING THE FIRST STRIKE. THE INFOMATION WE HAVE IS THE SECOND COIN HAS A REPAIRED "S" DONE AT THE MINT. THIS IS POSSIBLY THE COIN WE HAVE FOR AUCTION.
THE ONLY OTHER 1870 S THREE DOLLAR GOLD COIN KNOWN TO EXIST WAS SOLD AT AUCTION IN 1982 WHICH WAS ALSO A REPAIRED COIN AND DESCRIBED AS DUPLICATE OF THE ORIGINAL CORNERSTONE COIN, IT SOLD FOR $687,500. SO IS OUR COIN POSSIBLY THE CORNERSTONE COIN, OR FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF J.B. HARMSTEAD COINIER FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT? THE MYSTERY REMAINS PART OF AMERICAN NUMISMATIC HISTORY.
OUR COIN WAS FOUND IN AN EARLY SAN FRANCISCO SOUVENIR BOOK, ON THE PAGE DESCRIBING THE MINT, BY A EUROPEAN TRAVELER, THEN BROUGHT TO US VIA ARMED GUARD AND PLACED IN THE BANK VAULT UNTIL SALE TIME. THE ORIGINAL SOUVENIR BOOK WILL GO WITH THE COIN AT AUCTION. INSPECTION APPOINTMENTS ARE ENCOURAGED AND SUGGESTED!!!ESTIMATES FOR THIS ONE RARE COIN IS $2,000,000 TO $4,000,000 USD AND MAY BE THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD!!!
My first thought when I read the auction blurb was "Why, if this coin is so valuable and rare, isn't it being auctioned off in Sothebys, or Christies, or even Gallery 63 (which is about 15 minutes further down the same road and is where they film the tv show Auction Kings)? My guess is because nobody can prove that it's a genuine coin and they are hoping some rube will pay 20-30 thousand for it on the chance they can get an expert to verify its authenticity. Notice they use the weasel word "may" when they describe the coin?
Anyway, there is a picture gallery if you click on the link so you can see the rarest coin in America and decide if it's the real deal. What do you think?
"I'll give ya 150 bucks for it."
You wouldn’t repair the mint mark, you would repunch it. Also the mint mark looks like a really bad fake, much too vertical. If you could look under a loupe you would probably see tool marks indicating it was punched by hand.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. Found by a European traveler, and transported under “armed guard?”
Because, of course, said European traveler would immediately think if them to sell it rather than say, Heritage.
NO professional would sell this coin without having it authenticated. Some would sell it without doing any type of due diligence so that they could say “well, we presented it as a possible”...that is completely unethical on a $1,000 item, FGS.
Also I just noticed they call it a mold. Anyone with the smalles bit of knowledge of coins, knows they are called dies. If this were the original cornerstone coin, the mintmark would look like any other s mark from that time.
Some Roseville came up for bids. They were very excellent pieces worth hundreds of dollars and more. There was only one problem with them. They were very high quality fakes from China. I do not have the knowledge Jack has and thought they were the real deal.
When the bidding started at a suggested price of several hundred dollars, Jack stood up and said, “Jack bids 25 cents!” The look on the auctioneers face was of shock. He and everyone else in the room then knew the pieces were fake.
Sadly Jack has passed on few years ago. He was actually quite wealthy and drove around in an old VW Micro-bus without air conditioning. He was an Iconoclast.Jack is missed.
-----------
LMAO! If I was handy with pictures, I'd put up one up of Les, who owns the pawn shop in Detroit.
Chumley would lose it. I love that guy!
Reminds me when Les bought a toy pedal car from the 1950s for $50 after hard-bargaining the seller from his asking price of $500.He knew that restored cars sold for $5,000-$6,000 at auction. "That's what I call smart bargaining," exulted Les.
Yuuuup!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.