When a Dollar Isn’t Worth a Dollar

Posted on | May 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment

A friend was in town the other day on business and I went to meet him for lunch. We met at the convention center where he was working a booth for his company at the coin and currency tradeshow.

While wandering around the floor waiting for him I got intrigued. Especially interesting was a display from the U.S. Mint showing off things like printing plates for $10,000 notes, and a million dollars in the form of 10 $100,000 notes. Even saw a couple million dollar notes which looked pretty cool but were fakes.

coin and currency trading Besides every imaginable form of coin and currency, both foreign and domestic, including confederate, I observed traders of old stock certificates, bonds, baseball cards, vintage jewelry, antique movie posters and all sorts of things that had some history behind them. I also saw an intriguing old chronograph watch and some pocket watches like those used in the past by railroad conductors and engineers.

I was wondering if this was really just for collectors and hobbyists or if one could really make any money trading these old coins and currency. My friend assured me that the graders and dealers did, but that several people he knew had done quite well at it for themselves.

Caught up in the moment, I decided to try my hand. But since I knew absolutely nothing about what to look for, my friend pulled out some catalogs and showed me a couple simple things to start with. We narrowed it down pretty precisely to one dollar bill silver certificates produced during two particular years.

So I set out and found some which according to the books were worth more than the dealer was asking. But since I like a margin of safety in everything, we haggled and I got them at an even better price.

I felt pretty pleased with myself because I had come away with 6 one dollar bills supposedly worth somewhere between $34 and $42. However my buyers remorse later told me I’d spent $15 to buy $6. Plus if I factored in the $16 cost of parking and admission I was really only looking at a scanty profit and probably a loss if I had to go to another show to sell them to another dealer.

In hindsight I probably should’ve thought more about it. But hey, I can always hold them for another 50 years till they rise in value. Even better, I’ll leave them for my heirs to deal with.