Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-07-17
A COIN EXPERTS TRIALS
BOTHERED BY PERSONS WHO THINK
THEY HAVE VALUABLE PIECES.


Must Have a Liking for Numisinatics
to Recome a Successful speculator in
tho Gold and Silver Coin business.
YES" said the coin man, there are
from 20 to 60 people who come in
here every day, some to ask questions
concerning coins they have at home,
some bringing coins with them to sell,
and most of them expecting to realize
something more or less and usually
more. That is the worst of it for l
don't believe there is one of the lot
who comes in and brings coins who
has not an exaggerated idea of their
worth, and they never go away believ-
ing a word | have told them. They
never do. They always leave with a
feeling that for some reason or an
other ] am trying to cheat them and
don't want to give them the full value
Of the treasure they have.
"There are two coins that give me
more trouble than any others and
have caused more correspondence
than probably all the rest put to-
gether. These are the quarters of
1853 and the nickels of 1889. People
have got into their heads that those
two coins are valuable, and it is easier
to get such ideas firmly planted than
to remove them. There are two quar-
ters for 1853. the one with the arrow
points On either side of the date and
with the rays back of the eagle on the
reverse. That is the one that is so
often brought to me, but it is very
common coin and there are any num-
ber of them. There is another quar-
ter Of that same year without the
rays and without the arrow points
which is valuable, but not extremely
so.
"The nickel of 1888 is worth no
more than its face value. There were
three different nickels made that year.
The old type was made with the
shield and the two others with heads,
and one had the word cents" on the
reverse side below the ''V,'' and the
other had not 1t is that one without
the cents which people have an idea
is valuable. But they are all common,
and they always will be common.
Another fairy tale in which the
people are interested is told concern
ing the silver dollar of 1878. You may
call that the tail of coin, indeed, for
the point about that dollar which in
terests the people is to be found in
the eagle. There is a very slight diff
ference in the two coins; in one the
tail of the eagle has seven feathers,
and in the other eight. But both of
those dollars are very common.
"The fractional currency in bills,
which people bring in sometimes, is
worth something if the bills are new
and crisp, especially the earlier ones.
Those with red backs are good, so are
others with the autograph signatures,
and especially the issues with perforat-
ed edges, where they were made In a
sheet and torn off as the postage
stamps are.
"Of the people who come in to bring
odds and ends Of coins the greater
number are men, though | don't know
but | buy quite as much of women.
Everything has its value and l know
where there is market for all kinds.
The collectors are chiefly men, though
have known women to collect, but
they have not had the most valuable
collections. There was one woman in
Chicago who had quite collection,
though she did not care to put too
much money into it,
"a collector is born anyway. They
can't be made. A man must have a
liking for it, and then if he is willing
to study and spend some money you
have a good collector. Different people
may collect a few odd things, but they
are not genuine collectors.
"One fine collection that has been
dispersed now was worth $4,000, and
l could put my hand on one or two
men who have collections approaching
that in value, but the greater number
will have coins worth $4,000 to $4,000.
These will be most of them United
States coins. Those are the coins that
bring in the best returns, though a
good collector never looks at his col
lection from strictly commercial
point Of view. There may be few
who collect in that way, but men who
love coins do not.
"A man must not do much in the
way of collecting until he knows what
he is doing. Yes, he has to begin to
collect in small way, for if he does
not collect he will not study, but when
he begins to study then he knows
something, and l warrant that in two
years he will have changed every coin
he has in his collection.
"The copper coins are relatively
considering their little intrinsic worth
the most valuable, and the rare cents
are those of the years 1899 1904, 1893,
1909, and 1911, and in that order.
There were two coins made in 1893,
one stamped regularly with that date
and the other with the nine stamped
over the eight. Both are rare, but the
one stamped clearly with the nine is
the best. The 1898 was the first issue,
but the issue Of 1893 seems to have
been soft, and it is more difficult to
find them in q state of good preserva-