My Pig in a Poke
Private
By JTO
David W. Lange Overall Achievement Award
Updated:
3/30/2023
Views: 707
A "friend" told me that he had acquired a set of Indian Quarter Eagles. He showed me a great looking set in a black capital plastics holder. He wanted $10K for the set. I had to think about spending that kind of money period. Even more because the set was uncertified coins. In the back of my mind was the fact that this series of coins were one of the most counterfeited coins seen in the 1960's. My "friend" told me that he had bought them from an elderly lady he knew and that her husband had collected them. Her husband had collected them when he was young as gold was disappearing. After a few days I decided to go for it, and buy the set. When it came time to do the deal, I looked at the coins and thought what the $%#&*! I said I remembered the coins in a black holder and I thought that set he had previously showed me was in better shape. As I looked at the set, my friend then told me that there were actually 2 sets, and that the first set (the one that got me excited) had already been sold. I was not happy. The second set was not at all like the first. Each coin in the first set had had rich luster, or so I remembered... The second set, the one that I was now looking at, looked to be mostly ~AU. This set was housed in a BLUE capital plastics holder. I had to try to grade the set on the fly or risk losing it as well. All I really focused on was the 11D. It had the wire rim (or fin for the purests) that is a diagnostic of a genuine 1911-D and the "D" was strong, so thought I was okay. The coin looked to be an AU-58, MS-61 or maybe a 62. I offered $7K and he came back with $7.5K.
This all happened in early 2008. In the spring of 2016, not quite 10 years after "the deal", I finally decided to find out how I had done with my pig in a poke. I took all the coins to the Dallas ANA for NGC to grade. Great plan, no shipping to worry about with immediate gratification. Unfortunately for me only PCGS was doing "on-site" grading, so I submitted the 11-D and 14 to PCGS and left the rest to NGC (I cut out half of the shipping worries.) I guess that "The Deal" turned out to be okay in the end.
Since the original submission (three coins were cleaned and 3 AU-58, including the 1914) I have upgraded several. With the ease of completing this gold series, (the easiest US gold series to complete) I will never be a top 10 or even top 100! Investors and investment firms have invaded this series in a big way. But my untimate goal has been to have a nice Mint State set. I have pictured the coins so you can form your own opinion both as to whether I reached my goal in you eyes.
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My Pig in a Poke
By JTO
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