Sometimes you get lucky and a gamble pays off...

One of my flea market fantasies is finding a Cheerios Dollar in a bin of cheap coins. They estimate that about 5000 of the coveted 2000 P prototype reverse may have been minted and placed in Cheerios boxes. This interesting varient was not discovered until years later, so most were probably spent and eventually found their way to wherever it is that all of the billions of modern dollar coins end up, since nobody ever actually uses them as money. But some of them must be out there, tossed in peoples junk drawers and forgotten. Amazingly, less than 100 have ever been certified.

Not surprisingly, flea markets have not yielded the prize to me. However, a couple months ago I did an Ebay search and came up with the lot pictured below. It was the BIG PRIZE! Listed under collectable toys, because apparently the owner thought that the Matchbox car was the desirable thing! It was described as a couple things found in Cheerios boxes....A nice car and some random coins, or something like that. The bidding was at around $100...in a state of euphoria and disbelief I put in a maximum bid of $3500, checked back the next day and it was still around $100. Was I the only one who knew about this??

A few days later I checked back, and well apparently one or two other collectors found the coin, because bidding was over $1000. I know $3500 was about the max anyone would pay for the raw coin so I just stayed put.

I should add that there in a hook in the Cheerios Dollar plight....a few coins were found in Cheerios packaging that did not have the prototype reverse. These coins are no different than all other 2000 P dollars, the special detail in the Eagles feathers is not there. These coins sell for a couple hundred dollars certified, while prototype reversers sell for, well, $3500 and up.

SO the next day I checked back for the end of the auction. Of course there is a flurry of last minute bidding.......all the way to my max of $3500! And I win! I was excited, but a little bummed that I did not get a really great deal, and also worried I might get the booby prize; a non-prototype reverse turkey.....

I am sure the seller was never expecting such a windfall...shipping was listed as standard first class mail, but the coins (and car) arrived Registered insured express mail. The dollar looked great, and I really really wanted to see the back... to be SURE.... but I sent it in to NCS than NGC in the original packaging. And tried to think about something else for a couple weeks.

WELL YAY as you can see from the second photo I GOT THE PRIZE! and top pop MS 68 as well! Sometimes a gamble pays off. I wonder what I would have done if no other collectors bid up the coin....Could I, in good conscious, pay $100 for a $7000 coin? Would you?

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