A collection that had been tucked away for decades in a garage in Boston sparked a frenzy of competitive bidding for an assortment of fresh-to-market coins, lifting Heritage’s The Boston Collection US Coins Showcase Auction to $987,789 September 11.
The collection included boxes that were postmarked as early as 1942, including correspondence from the U.S. Mint, that remained unopened until this auction.
"The collection was put together in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s by the grandfathers of the consignors, who discovered it in a garage," says Sam Foose, Senior Consignment Director at Heritage Auctions. "Much of the material in this collection has never been offered at auction before, and the aggressive bidding underscored the significance of this collection.
Among the highlights in the auction were boxes of Proof sets. A box of 25 unopened mint-sealed Proof sets led all lots when it soared to $60,000.
A 1952 box of 50 unopened mint-sealed sets brought $28,800, while another 1951 box of 25 sets drew a winning bid of $27,600. A box of 100 1955 Proof sets sold for $16,200.
"These Proof sets had been stashed away in the garage for decades," Foose said. "Unopened, mint-sealed sets always are in high demand because the coins in the sets often are so well-protected, and the opportunity they represented was shown in the aggressive bidding that drove their results far beyond pre-auction expectations."
A 1909 Half Eagle MS66 NGC brought the top result for an individual coin when it closed at $26,400.
Other top lots included, but were not limited to:
A 1945 Wells Fargo Original BU Roll of Half Dollars: $12,000
A box of 25 1954 Proof Sets: $11,400
A box of 25 1955 Proof Sets: $10,200
Images and information about all lots in the auction can be found at HA.com/63242.
About Heritage Auctions
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, Brussels and Hong Kong.
Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet’s most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,750,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of more than 6,000,000 past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.
Talk about a beautiful specimen? I know at least one reader here is not a fan of the design, however the top individual coin in the lot was the “1909 Half Eagle MS66 NGC”. I would love to own an example in the same grade for about $20,000 less. LOL
CaliSkier,
$26,000 less and I would have raised my hand for it. We each have our own limit. 🙂
Something tells me Kaiser Wilhelm that you would not be the only one, with said hand raised? LOL Don’t get me wrong, as I was trying to figure out how much of a discount I’d need before deciding to sell off something in order to raise the $6,000 I’d implied I’d be willing or able(not) to pay. Since I only alluded, I’ll now state it! I absolutely Love this coins design! The incuse, the Indian portrait, the Eagle; the GOLD! IMO a much overlooked and under hyped design! Yes, I’m aware of all the Poo Pooing upon the coins original… Read more »
CaliSkier,
I too love everything about the look of this coin, but I am also taken by your marvelous description of it. Kudos on your altogether fabulous observations!
I would’ve shelled out $12K for that original roll of Wells Fargo 1945 Walking Liberty Half dollars. Oh my, I’ll bet there are some wonderful examples in that roll. The pressing question would be ‘to open, or not to open’.
Craig,
Many a time I’ve tried to restrain myself from opening a Mint package. Once a batch even lasted almost a year, but in the end they all succumbed to my OCD fingers.
Kaiser, I’ve managed to not open any AWQ or AI$ rolls or even the white boxes they come in- so far…
Major D,
Much admiration for your willpower! I couldn’t stand not opening my Mint boxes.
The problem with the Mint mailing boxes is that you never know if they were opened, then reglued.
Major D,
This obviously requires the services of an Adhesion Verification Specialist!
Perhaps a new certification service is in order Kaiser. After all, CAC and others made a killing off of stickers? Is your box of rolled coins stickered with AVS? Submit boxed, rolled coins to Adhesion Verification Specialists to receive your ORIGINAL Adhesion Verified Specialist sticker! Just $45 per sticker.
Thank you so much, CaliSkier, for giving me the all impetus I required to get moving on an almost certainly quite lucrative post-retirement career.
“Attention all you numismatists out there with basements full of unopened Mint products, get your genuine AVS Stickers here!”
Note: “all the impetus” rather than “the all impetus”. Yet more evidence the EDIT function is still completely on the fritz here.
I’m now ALL Kaiser Wilhelm as it just so happens the acronym to your company is shared by my absolute favorite NHL team, the Colorado Avalanche! Their nickname or short name is the Av’s! CaliSkier hanks for the reminder that a better hockey season is just about here! Go Av’s! Thanks for getting me psyched!
without my glasses that logo on the bottom looks like it could be for Cologuard
.
Caliskier,
I am indeed honored to share my new company’s acronym with the abbreviation of your favorite ice hockey team. Awesome!
Kaiser, I have several boxes which I haven’t opened, including two which contain 8 2011 25th Anniversary ASE Sets. Now I have to say that takes a bit of discipline to leave them unopened and untouched for 22 years. I have a lot of ASE’s already to view and besides I like the idea someone in the future (hopefully distant future) will get a thrill either opening them or buying at auction (like that recent one in Boston). Plus, should I lose all sense of reality, and decide to have them ‘graded’ the only way to get the 25th Anniversary… Read more »
I have 2, $20 rolls of 1964D JFKs I got at a bank 20+ years ago. Still never opened Dallas FedRBank maybe my kid get $12,000 for them in ‘88 [2088] Craig I’ve opened & looked at my 25th An. Set, very cool I just keep,it all in OGP.
Frankie,
In 2088 my grandchildren will be in their 70’s so I don’t think that’s for me.
Craig,
The stamina of your willpower in that regard is beyond even my furthest imaginings. I would have been compelled to tear those boxes open ages ago!
Craig, you raise an interesting point regarding unopened boxes and grading? That was my understanding, re: getting them graded? However, I wonder if there is an actual set date, they have to be submitted by? I have a box holding 2 sets, another holding 1. I kept them this way due to realizing at the time(2011) people were reselling on the secondary market and fetching a higher premium for unopened boxes. I kept a few other coins this way, although did open a few gold commemorative coins I purchased, once realizing there was no secondary market demand, opened, unopened or… Read more »
CaliSkier and Craig,
Between my practices of opening all my Mint purchases, not having any of my coins graded and never selling any of my coins, all I am left with decision-wise is which new Mint products to pick up throughout the year. Which is not, however, to say that I don’t admire the pluck and adventurism you guys show by getting involved in all of those occasionally tricky situations I’ve chosen to keep myself exempt from.
CalSkier, You raise an excellent question regarding the 2011 Sets (ever notice how everyone says that on tv when asked a question) and I honestly don’t know or really care if the 25th Anniversary label is still offered. I say that because I seriously doubt that I’ll ever submit them to either PCGS or NGC to be graded. I’ve always thought grading should be left to the older, classic coins of bye gone years. Why folks send in thousands (or millions) of new bullion coins for grading is still an alien concept to me. But that’s just my opinion. But,… Read more »
A year! Wow, that’s commendable, no doubt. I wonder who on Earth would not succumb any longer.
David,
And that was only because I had completely forgotten about them!
$300 per half? They’d all need to be MS-66 or greater. I would definitely not open to find out.
I know , but how many original 1945 Wells Fargo rolls of Walking Liberty Half Dollars have you ever come across? I’d definitely keep it as received! That’s what makes it worth so much. It’s a damned shame we haven’t mastered time travel yet.
On second thought, the one were reason takes hold, I’m wondering if that roll contains ‘newly minted’ 1945 Walker coins from the mint (which is what I assumed) or just various dated ‘used’ coins. If it’s the latter, than $12K would be a waste.I bought quarter rolls from my Wells Fargo bank, was looking for a few ‘W’s’, and the coins were so disgusting I didn’t want to touch them.They looked like they’d been to hell and back. Lol
You sure got that right. You never know if it’s a mixed roll or not. And if it’s mixed, they’re definitely circulated. I would have liked to see pictures of each end of the roll. Yes, I’ve been there too looking for W’s and am lucky I didn’t catch a disease looking through rolls of nasty looking quarters.
Major D,
The ANA doesn’t offer a vaccination against creepy coinage. 🙁
I was thinking about the coins at each end of the roll also. That might explain the eventual price someone, who was present at the auction, paid. It does make you wonder how many other coin stashes similar to this one are out there waiting to be discovered. You do have to be careful looking thru rolls these days. I’ve encountered some with a black sticky substance on them so I put latex gloves on to handle them. Needless to say, I quickly lost interest in pursuing the hunt for those ‘W minted’ quarters.
Craig,
It has to be the Chinese. They’ve been counterfeiting our coins, they shipped us lethal doses of Covid, they send spy balloons floating coast to coast and now they’re defiling our circulating coinage. What national insult can we expect next?
Craig,
Some circulated coins look like someone has taken extra care to make sure they are as damaged, filthy and downright unlovable as possible.
Craig,
But aren’t we all traveling through time every second of our lives?
Major D and Craig,
Here we are with the “not opening” thing. This isn’t the coin lingo I speak. 😉
Major D, I was just looking at that and based on what I saw in PCGS CoinFacts, it’s looking like they’d need to be 66+ or an outlier of a MS68 w/in the rolls to offset cost or turn a profit. The price phlegm I see is that there are only 285 coins graded by PCGS at 67 or better. 412 coins MS66+ or better. Odds are stacked against the submitter, as I don’t see PCGS, being willing to blow up those high grade populations by adding 40 coins to the mix, whether the coins deserve the grade or not?… Read more »
CaliSkier,
Well that’s just great. We’ve got political conspiracies, we’ve got alien conspiracies. and now we’re throwing numismatic conspiracies into the mix?
CalSkier,
Don’t forget about the 1933 gold double eagle! I haven’t seen any depreciation in the price the current owner paid for it, around $20 million, since those addition 10 1933 gold double eagles were confiscated from their owner a few years ago. Curious?
Craig,
I would guess that if anything the future going price for that single legal 1933 Gold Double Eagle has nowhere to go but up considering that the other ten of its kind are now, thanks to the Treasury Department, forever removed from anyone in the public having any chance of accessing them again. Just sayin’.
I know they are currently in the hands of the Treasury, but the legal battle for them is still ongoing, from what I’ve read. I’d love to know the name of the individual that bought the one ’33 that can be owned by the general populous, although not many of us could afford the $19 million price tag. Do you think our gubmint is protecting this person’s investment by shelving those 10 additional ’33’s, or perhaps melting them. Wouldn’t that be antithetical to the ‘we have to punish the rich’ verbiage we constantly hear out of gubmint these days? We… Read more »
Craig, to open or not to open? Boy that is a good question? Others brought up some good points? Are they an intact, never searched nor seen the light of day? Did someone possibly put a nice uncirculated example at the ends of the roll? Although found or stored away in a garage, doesn’t mean there wasn’t shady stuff happening back in the day? Just don’t forget that the burden is more often placed on the buyer, regarding sessing out and bearing the brunt of poorly researched purchases or whether or not a given purchase will hold up to a… Read more »
CaliSkier,
Unless of course the abovementioned (by you, remember?) machinations are in place and the numismatic conspirators are protecting the rarity of registry set coins at all costs in which case none of this coin roll stuff will even matter. 😉
Kaiser you aren’t supposed to talk about the “Coinluminatti”!
CaliSkier, how could I forget that anything that happens among the Coinluminatti stays with the Coinluminatti? After all, the first rule of the Coinluminatti is that no one talks about the Coinluminatti.
Talk about a “Garage Sale”! Thank the Lord for hoarders…
NumisdudeTX
Seth,
Amen, brother, amen.
CoinNews.Net, is there any way you can re-enable the “Edit” function for the comments? Mike, Darrin, or ? In the above post, Not Phlegm, it was supposed to be Problem. Not a big deal, however it would be nice to make an occasional edit, in order to change a word or 2 that has been substituted for or changed by AI spellcheck to an unintended word. Thanks in advance!
CaliSkier
PS By is he way, as others have noted, you just get red flagged/carded with; “Slow down, you are typing too fast”.
I know, CaliSkier; hasn’t this edit malfunction kind of worn out its (un)welcome?
Hi Kaiser Wilhelm, I have been wondering if they disabled the edit function on purpose to force everyone here to slow down and make very sure you want to post what you have just typed out. I could live without the edit function. It just means I will have to accept there will occasionally be mistakes in everyone’s posts, including mine. No matter how many times I re-read what I typed out, I still find some kind of small error after I post it. I re-read one 12 times and still noticed an error after I hit post. I only… Read more »
Hello Jeff Legan, As usual you’ve come up with an idea about this situation that hadn’t even occurred to me. You certainly are a man who knows how to think outside the box; multi-kudos on that! It is possible that the site runners do indeed want us to slow down and have therefore erected this barrier to compel us to spend more time fine tuning our comments before we submit them as opposed to continuing to allow us to simply rush off to compose our next submission. When one looks at it that way perhaps it’s not such a bad… Read more »
Hello again, Jeff Legan, I neglected to address the issue you brought up about how much calmer this site has now become. I actually believe this will continue to be the “new us” and that it is not just a temporary aberration. The reason I say that is I believe many here, with myself being right in the middle of the mix when it comes to this, have by now taken a better, longer and above all deeper look at themselves and their own behavior in regard to the question of what exactly was in effect responsible for upsetting the… Read more »
I agree with your well thought out post Kaiser, but I have to admit the desire to slam Jeff’s post almost was overwhelming to me. After all, I am but a mere ‘troll’, and you know how temperamental we ‘trolls’ can be? Lol. But for now, let the peace reign.
Thank you, Craig, for telling me you consider my post to have been well thought out; after all, I’m no different than anyone else in regard to appreciating and in fact enjoying such very positive and uplifting feedback. I’m going to say this from the bottom of my heart, Craig, that your being able to contain yourself in the situation you outlined above is a show of remarkable strength and as such is in complete contrast to choosing what any form whatsoever of lashing out could ever be. Taking the very positive high road can never be thought of as… Read more »
Hello, so I clicked on the page as it had a picture of one of the coins my parents left me when they passed. I have 2 of the gold Indian coin the date is 1911. And a bunch of other gold coins, 1924 double eagle, etc.. I looked up heritage coins. I don’t know how or who so many people telling me to get them authenticated first or just let heritage take over or look for a private buyer and just get rid of them all on time I need help basically. There’s two gold bars and a bunch… Read more »
Christel, unless you are in a hurry and or need the cash, if I were you, IMO you should probably seek out a bit of real time professional advice, up close and personal via a LCS(local coin shop) if you have or can find a trusted one in your area? From the sounds of it, grading beforehand may be the best option in order to maximize your potential profits. Another potential hang up is going to possibly be, Capital Gains Tax? Beyond my scope of experience or knowledge. Whatever you do, be careful and I’d suggest soliciting a minimum of… Read more »
So, if one were in need if cash, like now, and they believed they had something valuable, other than spending the money they don’t have and time, which is extremely precious, at the moment, who could they possibly contact to maybe sell a coin or two to keep the wolf from knocking on the door?
Rhonda Lyle,
Considering that CaliSkier has in his above post quite methodically explained every single detail regarding how best to proceed with security in mind and by way of profit when selling a coin collection, there likely isn’t all that much more helpful information available for you here as to how to conduct what by your description amounts to being a fire sale.