Acquiring large lot collections & their surprises....tell us of your's

[barrysloate]

Ted, you're welcome, and you don't find stuff like that as much today.

Interestingly, I may have made one of the best finds of my life today, although not a baseball card. Some of you know I collect large cents (American pennies issued between 1793 and 1857). I was going through my album today just checking something incidental. Every large cent is catalogued not only by date but by die variety. Every time a die broke and had to be replaced, there was a slight change as the dies were hand made. Some die varities are rather common, and some of course are great rarities. I've attributed most of mine but found one today, an 1801, that I never got around to doing. It's been sitting in my collection for at least two years and I paid little attention to it.

So today I pulled out my die varieties book and the large cent and sat down to see if I could identify it (it can at times be a very difficult process). Well, not only did I identify it but discovered it is a major rarity, and by far the rarest one in my collection! And here it is sitting in my album for all these years and didn't even know I had it. I can't even remember who I got it from.

I called my large cent expert and he confirmed it is in fact a great rarity and has a high four figure value! So how is that for a find- I found it in my own collection. It's been an interesting day.