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
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 »
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’.
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.
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 »
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 »
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
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.
A year! Wow, that’s commendable, no doubt. I wonder who on Earth would not succumb any longer.
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 »
Kaiser you aren’t supposed to talk about the “Coinluminatti”!
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.
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!
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 »
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?
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 »
Talk about a “Garage Sale”! Thank the Lord for hoarders…
NumisdudeTX
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”.
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 »
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.
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?