View Full Version : Finding Out Years Later You Were Mislead
Leaveammoforme
09-17-17, 15:49
It happens from time to time. Something you believed to be true/well known proves to be incorrect upon a little simple research.
My recent event revolves around a little hobby I have of going through my change. I don't purchase collectable coins but I do enjoy finding them.
I sort through it looking for silver dimes and quarters. I pay attention to pennies because , well supposedly, there are some valuable ones. I sort out the 82's down, weigh the 83's and try to watch for a few other things.
Well, I scored my first ever steel penny. Always believed they were super valuable. Simple look up showed mine is probably in the 0.50 cent range. I had always been under the impression the were worth around $100.
Womp, womp.
https://i.imgur.com/qWOda0q.jpg
Eurodriver
09-17-17, 16:03
USMC recruiter told me the weather at Parris Island in July was "beautiful, great for running".
Ooh boy.
Ever since day one of school.
But I think my real adult moment of disillusion was seeiing my High School guidance counselor working at Home Depot.......
Straight Shooter
09-17-17, 18:55
It happens from time to time. Something you believed to be true/well known proves to be incorrect upon a little simple research.
My recent event revolves around a little hobby I have of going through my change. I don't purchase collectable coins but I do enjoy finding them.
I sort through it looking for silver dimes and quarters. I pay attention to pennies because , well supposedly, there are some valuable ones. I sort out the 82's down, weigh the 83's and try to watch for a few other things.
Well, I scored my first ever steel penny. Always believed they were super valuable. Simple look up showed mine is probably in the 0.50 cent range. I had always been under the impression the were worth around $100.
Womp, womp.
https://i.imgur.com/qWOda0q.jpg
I have a passion for American coins....always have. People always say "Ive got an old..insert coin here...i bet its worth al ot of money". Probability is..IT AINT.
I can easily spot old/unique odd coins and do so often. About a month ago i got a 1992 silver quarter in change at Kroger. It stuck out to me like a spotlight!
Worth about $20 or so. The thing I tell people is OLD DONT MEAN VALUABLE! Example: Back in late eighties, I worked in a little country store. I got into habit of poppin open the cash drawer ever so often to look at the change. One day, found an 1856 Flying Eagle penny...boy, was I excited. Sadly, because they made millions that year, that coin...in circulation at the time of Lincoln & BEFORE the Civil war...is still worth only $30-$50 or so. Now, what woulda made it valuable, had it been an 1857...they only made a few thousand...THAT coin in bad shape, ir worth over $10,000 last time I looked.
Same with "old guns". EVERYBODY that knows me comes to me with-" I got an old such & such...can you tell me about how much its worth'? Most times I can...and usually they dont believe me...just 'cause its "old". So, Ive been mislead too on a lot of things, like those who think "old" automatically means "valuable". It dont.
Somewhere in stuff I had since I was a kid, stashed in various boxes that I couldn't put my hands on if I had to, I have a uncirculated steel penny that I got in a coin collecting kit in the late 60s.
I put it in a sleeve. No idea if it rusted or not.
If only I can find it maybe I can retire early! (Not likely!)
It'll probably get tossed by my kids when they clean out our junk "After I'm Gone"
Inkslinger
09-17-17, 19:20
Who mislead you to believe steel was worth more than copper? My guess is you're also being misled about the 50 cent estimate. The condition of your looks to be more in the 10 cent range. On the bright side, it was free...If you want, I can send you a couple more. 50 cents each[emoji6]
Leaveammoforme
09-17-17, 20:51
USMC recruiter told me the weather at Parris Island in July was "beautiful, great for running".
A National Guard recruiter told me he was only trained to kill.
Ooh boy.
Ever since day one of school.
But I think my real adult moment of disillusion was seeiing my High School guidance counselor working at Home Depot.......
Life happens but, yeah that would be an interesting sight.
I have a passion for American coins....always have. People always say "Ive got an old..insert coin here...snip....
I hear you on the age stuff. I too can hear that silver drop in my hand but I've been fooled by the noise the newer coins make as well.
Somewhere in stuff I had since I was a kid....snip....
I put it in a sleeve. No idea if it rusted or not.
If only I can find it maybe I can retire early! (Not likely!)
It'll probably get tossed by my kids when they clean out our junk "After I'm Gone"
This is my line of thinking. So many of my "treasures" will be trashed when I'm gone. Guaranteed.
Who mislead you to believe steel was worth more than copper? My guess is you're also being misled about the 50 cent estimate. The condition of your looks to be more in the 10 cent range. On the bright side, it was free...If you want, I can send you a couple more. 50 cents each[emoji6]
Dang.
I just lost another 80% of value?! I must have heard they were rare and valuable at some point and just never bothered researching it. The penny is in a sleeve now and is steel:) my precious.
My recruiter told me if I joined the Airborne I'd learn to fly.
I've got an uncirculated set of 1943 steels from each mint, I bet they are worth $1 each.
The internet has killed the value of coins. Proof sets purchased from Kmart back in the 70s and 80s aren't even worth the sticker price on them even though they have had 40+ years to appreciate. During the 60s and 70s it seems every kid collected coins and now those adults think they have an "investment" they can cash in on.
Well silver coins are worth the silver content and gold coins are worth something but probably not much more than you paid for them awhile back. My coin collection is pretty much like my beer can collection, just not worth the effort to try and sell it and I get more "return" looking at them and remember where I got them and the people who helped me with my collection. I can look at a certain coin and think "My Dad got me that one" or "My grandmother got that one for me" and that's worth way more than current internet prices.
My only concern is finding someone deserving to give them to one day. I'd rather give them to somebody decent who will actually appreciate them and fondly remember me than to try and cash them out. I know who is getting a lot of my guns and stuff, but I don't want to burden somebody with a mid grade coin collection if they have zero interest in it.
Btw, it's the COPPER 1943 that is worth a shit ton of money but beware of fakes. Probably 90% of those on the market are fakes. They were being faked as early as the 1960s, seen a lot of fakes and you better become an expert if you even think about buying one. There are so many fakes people who have them in their collections use them as reference examples because they think the ones they have are real.
Just enjoy your steel penny. It's unique, somewhat rare and interesting even if it's not terribly valuable.
USMC recruiter told me the weather at Parris Island in July was "beautiful, great for running".
*grins, nods, takes another sip of whiskey*
USMC recruiter told me the weather at Parris Island in July was "beautiful, great for running".
Mine told me 'it's like going out for football.'
Mine told me 'it's like going out for football.'
Must've visited the same guy...unfortunately, when I visited, asthma was a no-go. [emoji20]
"I just got like, this 5.56 okay? And it's 55 grain ball. And everybody I've ever seen shot with it, it dicks them up."
---Clint Smith
Thunder Ranch
It happens from time to time. Something you believed to be true/well known proves to be incorrect upon a little simple research.
My recent event revolves around a little hobby I have of going through my change. I don't purchase collectable coins but I do enjoy finding them.
I sort through it looking for silver dimes and quarters. I pay attention to pennies because , well supposedly, there are some valuable ones. I sort out the 82's down, weigh the 83's and try to watch for a few other things.
Well, I scored my first ever steel penny. Always believed they were super valuable. Simple look up showed mine is probably in the 0.50 cent range. I had always been under the impression the were worth around $100.
Womp, womp.
https://i.imgur.com/qWOda0q.jpg
My grandfather left me his modest coin collection...unfortunately I found the same as you...very cool but not valuable.
Pennies...
(a few steel)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/9abf061bd599c3e38e7a3f75c08b7a20.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/ab233fd8cead75286c2f3f99a8daf32b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/8c88bfa11d9e4f277f5263fb2f864c26.jpg
Dimes...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/b9db6f060e959d658aa69f38ad060b87.jpg
Even a couple mercury...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170918/e6914baf8c8ae5ee8758d67af413daff.jpg
A family member picked the good stuff, including quarters that are all gone, and silver certs, to support a habit. I didn't know for years. Sold a bunch of my dads stuff too. [emoji35]
"I just got like, this 5.56 okay? And it's 55 grain ball. And everybody I've ever seen shot with it, it dicks them up."
---Clint Smith
Thunder Ranch
Doc Safari
09-18-17, 16:21
I used to collect commemorative things from Franklin Mint, usually entertainment or historical. I never expected them to be worth much more than I paid for them unless the "right collector" came along.
The trouble is, with all their warnings of "limited" availability and "you better hurry as these won't last", and "this is sure to appreciate in value", I watched an item I purchased years earlier be reissued by them with the same hyperbole.
Luckily I hadn't spent too much money on "collectibles" and all of them were purchased to have conversation pieces and not as investments. Still, watching their so-called "collectibles" turn into worthless crap was a valuable lesson in not buying something hoping it will be worth a ton of money someday.
I've even applied this to firearms: I had a near-mint pre-ban HK91 and found that it was supposedly worth so much money after the ban that I couldn't find a buyer for it.
I ended up trading it for something allegedly of equal value (a Galil).
From my childhood collecting 40 years ago or so, the 1909 S VDB, 1914 D and 1922 plain pennies stick out as valuable if the condition is uncirculated or extremely fine. There are a few others in the 1909-1930's range that can have value beyond their worth as a possession, but after that it would be pretty hard to get excited about the value of a penny.
Aside from some vintage guitar gear I have this New York Herald 1865 8:10 AM extra from the Lincoln Assassination. It's not a copy, it's from my Great Gramps. I've seen values range anywhere from $75 to $5k. I'm guessing towards the lower end of those estimates. With all the Lincolns in this thread I thought I post this.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1baigtd4ljd6ai/nyh1jpg.JPG?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2bai7u1rbx0d0sa/nyh2.jpg?raw=1
It didn't hurt them worse than it hurt me.
From my childhood collecting 40 years ago or so, the 1909 S VDB, 1914 D and 1922 plain pennies stick out as valuable if the condition is uncirculated or extremely fine. There are a few others in the 1909-1930's range that can have value beyond their worth as a possession, but after that it would be pretty hard to get excited about the value of a penny.
Got a 1909 S and a 1909 VDB but I never did manage to find a VDB S. Probably the best "grail penny" of all the Lincolns, especially since ever 43 copper or 44 steel you will see will almost certainly be a fake. The cool thing is I found all my Lincoln pennies the hard way by going to the bank in the early 1970s and buying $10 worth of pennies and hunting for wheats. Then I'd replace them with more modern pennies and exchange them for $10 worth of different pennies every week.
Was lots of fun to do. I still have a thing for wheats.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.