The case of the really rare coins.

As you know, Barb and I were recently in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

One day we went to the open-air market where Papua New Guineans sell fresh vegetables and fruit, woven bags, sewn dresses, carved wooden art and so on. As we were taking in all their wares, I noticed one vendor was selling a number of coins from other countries such as Australia, the Philippines, and neighboring South Pacific nations. To my surprise there was a smattering of American quarters, dimes and nickels. They looked old. “What are the chances,” I thought to myself, “that some of those coins might have been out of circulation for a really long time and might be old enough to be of value?”

So I stopped and began checking the dates. I came across two quarters from 1965, a nickel from 1964, a dime from 1967, and a penny with a design on the back that I had never seen before. The face value of these coins was only sixty-six cents, but I thought to myself, “Wow, I might just pay for this entire trip with these rare coins that have been out of circulation for so long up here in the mountains of Papua New Guinea!” There wasn’t any internet there, so I couldn’t verify any of their values, but I just had a really good feeling that I had hit the mother lode.

I asked the vendor how much for these coins. He had been watching me closely and I’m sure the price was steadily going up the more I scrutinized his coins and singled out a few. But it didn’t matter because I was just sure these things were worth a ton. He told me I could have those 5 coins for 10 Kina. The Kina is the Papua New Guinea currency. I gladly paid him his 10 Kina (the equivalent of about three US dollars).

A while later I was in a town that had internet. I carefully pulled out my coins and began to look them up.

One title from my search stood out immediately. It said true silver quarters in circulation can be worth up to $16,500. Oh wow. This was going to be a good day! I was starting to feel giddy.

The first bit of bad news came when I discovered that silver coin production ceased in 1964. My 1965 quarters weren’t silver after all. Oh. I had misremembered the date.

But I learned my 1965 quarters and the other coins could still be very valuable if they had certain stampings or markings. But alas, all my coins were run-of-the-mill. They were worth (wait for it!)… face value!

?So I went all the way to the highlands of Papua New Guinea and traded three good dollars for sixty-six cents. Boy did I feel smart.

Is there a lesson here?

I think so. As my dad used to say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” That’s how I felt!