Hoard Alive
Sometimes it's OK to hoard
It's OK to gather stuff. Organized specific hoards rarely rate reality TV episodes, but our favorite online auction site, eBay, offers opportunities to start your own collections. We love hoards of coins, stamps, and more coins. Jump in. Fill up your spare bedroom with valuable items that someone else no longer wants.
Wheat Pennies
United States treasury representatives churned out wheat pennies from 1909 through 1958. Most of them were mostly copper, but instances of the 1942-D edition was rendered in steel. Very few have been found. An example of such will fund college in the Ivy League with enough left over for a mocha latte.
Order up a few hoards of wheat pennies, then set aside a few weekends to shuffle through them. Organize your hoard into a cache. Subdivide and categorize your cache into an official collection. You just might find yourself overwhelmed with riches from what was once a lowly 1 cent piece. It could happen.
Morgan Hoards
Morgan Silver Dollar auctions often appear as individual coins plucked from recently discovered hoards. These items were minted from 1878 through 1921 and tend to cost much more than wheat pennies. Collectors take the time to have them evaluated by highly trained evaluators. You probably can't afford an entire hoard: bid instead on a single instance of a certified coin for the purpose of initiating your own personal little hoard. Certification costs money. Expect to pay a premium for a Morgan Silver Dollar in an official case with an official slip of paper in it. Bid carefully and only on products from trusted sellers.
GSA hoards describe auctions administered by the General Services Administration on behalf of the United States Government. The auctions didn't quite work out as the government planned (surprise) but remnants can still be bid upon through our favorite online auction site, eBay. Intrepid collectors offer shining examples from the GSA hoard.
Hoards of Washington Silver Quarters
Millions of 90% silver quarter-dollars bearing the likeness of George Washington were struck from 1932 through 1964. In 1965 federal coinologists decided to stop putting in so much silver. Forward-thinking collectors accumulated huge piles of these coins. They (correctly) assumed a dramatic rise in the price of silver. Even the least desirable example of a Washington silver quarter translates to over 20 times face value purely based on the worth of the scrap silver.
Collectors enjoy naming newly discovered coin caches. The Binion hoard carries with it a tale of deceit and woe worthy of prime time television. Binion coins can still be found changing hands via online auctions. As a casino proprietor in Las Vegas Ted Binion enjoyed access to a consistent flow of coins. He certainly extracted some of the more valuable examples for his private collection. Benefit from his foresight by bidding on remnants taken from from his secret basement vault.
Go Forth and Hoard
Start your own heap of stuff. Visit our favorite online auction site, eBay. Bid judiciously on piles of unsearched and unsorted coins that just might contain your retirement fund. Bid carefully on certified and graded individual coins as the foundation of your future hoard. It's all there.
