Local Coin Shoppe FIND! 🎯

summertooth (73)in #silvergoldstackers • 3 days ago

Well this was unexpected.

A couple days ago I was passing through the small town of Albany, Oregon. It was just after 10am and I had a little time so I decided to see if there was an LCS (local coin shop) I could stop at.

I live in a small town with no LCS, so when I get a chance I like to stop in and browse. Online shopping is fine but you just never know what you're going to find at an LCS.

The shop is called Albany Coins & Jewelry. It's a small, stand-alone shop that is filled with stuff. When you walk in there is a display case to the left with silver and gold coins and bars in no particular order. On top of that case are three boxes of generic silver and two boxes of copper rounds.

The person working behind the counter was very welcoming and quite talkative xD In fact, we chatted for about 5 minutes before I could really concentrate on the silver! As we chatted she mentioned that she like to keep the generic silver out for people to touch and pick though. Then she handed me an Engelhard 100oz bar that was also just out on the counter and said, "like this bar, most people don't get to hold a 100oz bar, here, hold this and feel how heavy a 100oz bar feels." then she said something about folks that might try to steal a round or something from the box and how karma will get them in the end.

I was finally able to look through the silver after someone else came in the shop and took her attention for a minute. I picked through and found 5 sweet rounds. All the rounds in the box were $34/each and I had $100 to spend, so I had to narrow it down to 3.

One of them I can't show here because it may or may not be a gift for someone here :D

Another one needs to be researched more because when I found info on the one I'm about to show you, I got so excited I had to post it immediately...

A vintage silver round minted by the Draper Mint. The Draper Mint was founded in 1960 by Loyd Hewitt in Draper, Utah.

You may have heard of the Draper Mint as they were the producers of the Swiss of America silver rounds. @silverd510 is a huge fan and collector of these chunky 1oz "rolo" rounds. Check out his post about filling a tube of these if you want to see some sexy silver snaps.

Draper Mint also minted extruded bars that are now very collectable. The mint was eventually housed in an old Poultry Processing plant that was previously owned by Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the Television, which is your #randomfact of the day :)

So, what is on the flip-side of this 1974 vintage silver round?

A potato, of course!

🥔

Not just any potato though, a Jim McCullough CERTIFIED seed potato xD

When I was looking through the box of silver I was first drawn to the potato, of course! I love silly stuff on silver. Then I flipped it over and right away recognized the Draper Mint name, so I set it aside. However, I did not realize how rare this round is, and thankfully, the comprehensive All Engelhard website has a Draper Mint section!!

https://allengelhard.com/draper-mint/

Here is the entry for my new potato round.

Less than 2000 minted, and 50 years old to boot, which means there are surely less than 2000 in existence today. I can't find any of these for sale online, and the only sale info I can find is an old ebay listing relisted on a different site with a price of $94.50, for whatever that info is worth.

Bottom line: I may have to flip this round 🤑

#pimp #thealliance #silver #sgs #localcoinshoppe #lcs #vintage

3 days ago in #silvergoldstackers by summertooth (73)

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thebighigg (72) 3 days ago

You found a Draper Mint? That's awesome! At first I was thinking you were certified insane... Or maybe that's me? lol What an awesome find, those are not easy to come by these days!
!PIMP

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summertooth (73) 2 days ago

I'm insane in the membrane bro! 🤣
Yeah I got lucky. Also the owner seemed pretty disorganized so I would bet there are other gems in this shop. Will definitely be stopping in again when I'm down that way.
!PIMP

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ssg-community (69) 3 days ago

You received an upvote of 79% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Thank you for contributing more great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag.
You have created a Precious Gem!