FINDING a valuable coin is a dream for millions of Americans.
One gardener thought she hit the jackpot by finding a rare coin in the garden while weeding carrots.
Her husband looked at it and determined it was an 1894-S barber dime.
This precise type of dime can be worth about $400,000.
Some have even sold for nearly $2 million.
The husband brought the coin into World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The store is the location for History Channel’s TV series, Pawn Stars, which featured the coin.
After he walked in with an asking price of $400,000, the host, Rick Harrison, inspected the coin closely.
A CLOSER LOOK
The man entered with the coin, which he had determined was a 1894 dime from the San Francisco mint. The apparent Barber coin is named after its designer.
“It’s the rarest of the rarest,” Rick said after the client introduced the coin. “They call this one the king of dimes.”
If it was a proof coin, he said, it could be worth significant money.
Proof coins are struck multiple times, and are made for archival and display purposes.
Their sharp designs give them a lustrous appearance and a high value.
Rick said there are likely only around 24 proofs made at the San Francisco mint that year.
“It’s sort of like hitting the lottery five times in a row,” Rick said.
Looking more closely, scratches were revealed.
Rick asked if the coin had been cleaned.
The client said his wife had cleaned it to try and reveal the date.
Unfortunately for the couple, the last digit of the date was illegible — the only numbers clear were 189.
After inspecting, Rick delivered the bad news.
“This is not an 1894-S.”
The client left without selling the coin. It’s unclear what exactly the coin had been.
MORE RARE COINS
This was not the first time Rick deflated a coin collector’s hopes.
Another client tried to sell a gold coin for six figures after cleaning it.
While it was real, the cleaning significantly hurt the price.
Leaving coins alone or in the care of trusted experts can be key to maintaining a coin’s value.
One coin expert recently gave the U.S. Sun advice on how to build a collection.
