Popular Post gmarguli Posted September 30, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 30, 2020 When dealers are lazy, you can find some nice stuff. Dealer junk box had a bunch of Peru one and two centavos in those 2x2s that fit 3 coins each. Garbage he couldn't be bothered to look up. Priced them all at $1 for 3 coins. From 1941-1949 Peru minted these One Centavo in 19.5mm diameter bronze. They switched over to 15mm diameter zinc in 1950. However, this 1949-dated coin is 19.5mm, but minted in zinc... PCGS just authenticated it as a pattern. Only one graded by PCGS, with one equal graded one (SP63) by NGC. Doubt I'll be retiring off it, but it's kind of a cool find. thebeav, Coinbuf, World Colonial and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coin Cave Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Nice find for less than a dollar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeav Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 That's a great find ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Did you recognize what it was immediately, or did you have to do some research? Either way, that is a fantastic find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonnieR131 Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Congratulations! It's nice to here someone getting a random deal like that, kind of like 'advanced' roll searching. A lot of people got good deals last night at H Auctions when the live bidding closed during the presidential debate, the numbers just seemed to freeze, hammer prices were nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeav Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 After thinking about junk box stuff, I remembered a bit of luck I had back in 1980 or '81.....It was the biggest show we had here in Buffalo, downtown at the convention center. Going through a foreign junk box. I was involved at the time, sorting through a barrel of foreign I had accumulated at the shop, and remembered a couple of Italian coins that you wouldn't look twice at. There was the 5 lire of 1955 or 1956, an aluminum thing with a fish on it. Well, it was a tough date in a series of common dates. I found three or four of them, uncirculated. There was no internet of course, but I was still able to sell them for the equillvant of a paycheck......Not as scarce as your find though ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Charriere Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 The "bargain box" seemed to become a regular feature in coin shops at a time (mid-1960s) when silver in circulation began disappearing and the public began "redeeming" them for pennies above face -- and also brought odds and ends in shopkeepers would not have the time, knowledge or inclination to study further, particularly foreign coins from obscure places. I cannot say I found anything to match your find but was able to bring a few type collections closer to completion with just the key dates left to work on. Those were the days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmarguli Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 12 hours ago, Just Bob said: Did you recognize what it was immediately, or did you have to do some research? Either way, that is a fantastic find! I bought the Peru 2x2s as many of the coins were nice gems including a few that I knew were key dates. I did not know this was a pattern until I looked it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie15 Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 I would not call the dealer lazy. I am sure he made his money on the other coins from his buy. Doing research on every single coin is often cost prohibitive. He could have bought the Peruvian centavos along with a nice collection of high grade gold and Reales. He made his money on the good stuff then looked up the zinc centavos just to find that most of them were not worth more than 30 cents each. He figured he had made his money and did not need to squeeze every cent from the rest. It is often better business to let someone make a buck or two off you than to spend time and money searching for a needle in a haystack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coinbuf Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Congrats, a very nice find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeav Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 While we're on the subject of 'junk boxes'....... I had a foreign coin junk box in my store. (Who didn't ?) There were three young boys that got off the school bus in my parking lot. Coin shops are like magnets for young boys. They came into the store EVERY day. It wasn't like they were coming in to buy rare coins, but I figured I could have some fun with them. Every day, I would grab that junk box and pull out three coins. Each kid was handed a coin. If they could tell me what country it came from they could keep it. Oh the facial expressions and gyrations were priceless. They would only get one guess and they REALLY wanted to get it right, they wanted that coin ! It went on for a school year or two....... Imagine my surprise, when, 25 years later, one of those kids found my other shop and came in to tell me how much that meant to him. Sure made me feel good ! RonnieR131 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebo Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 14 minutes ago, thebeav said: While we're on the subject of 'junk boxes'....... I had a foreign coin junk box in my store. (Who didn't ?) There were three young boys that got off the school bus in my parking lot. Coin shops are like magnets for young boys. They came into the store EVERY day. It wasn't like they were coming in to buy rare coins, but I figured I could have some fun with them. Every day, I would grab that junk box and pull out three coins. Each kid was handed a coin. If they could tell me what country it came from they could keep it. Oh the facial expressions and gyrations were priceless. They would only get one guess and they REALLY wanted to get it right, they wanted that coin ! It went on for a school year or two....... Imagine my surprise, when, 25 years later, one of those kids found my other shop and came in to tell me how much that meant to him. Sure made me feel good ! Neat story and something that they will always remember. thebeav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
