CoinTalk Members Post Coins They Bought for Under $50
Members of the CoinTalk forum posted coins they bought for under $50, excluding shipping, in a thread started by member jtlee321. According to the posters, the purchases included an 1836 bust half marked down from $55 to $20 at a coin show, an 1852-O half dime for $36 and a 1738 Spanish half real for about $28 including shipping. The source does not show the posting dates.
Correction (Oct 13, 2026): We rewrote the headline, summary and body to match the source, a forum thread of member posts. We removed examples not in the source, such as a coin with a mintage of only a few thousand bought at auction for $20 and a World War II coin bought for $38, along with advice on auctions and negotiation and passages on digital technology, the environment and market valuations, and presented the posts as members' own reports. The previous headline was "Collectors Share How to Acquire Valuable Coins for Under $50."
This article describes a thread on the coin collectors' forum CoinTalk. The source does not show the posting dates. The content consists of individual members' own reports and opinions, not confirmed facts. The source text does not include the photos, so the type of coin is not stated in many posts.
CoinTalk member jtlee321 started a thread titled "Post your under $50.00 purchase..." The member wrote that many collectors have tight budgets, and that most of the member's own purchases are coins the member can buy for less than $50.
The rules of the thread
The $50 limit covers the purchase price only, not shipping. Purchases can be old or new and can come from a B&M shop, an internet site, a pawn shop or a garage sale, but they must be something the poster bought.
Purchases posted
According to the members' posts, the purchases included the following.
- An 1836 bust half: Omegaraptor asked a dealer at a coin show for a cheap bust half. The dealer first priced the coin at $55 and lowered it to $20 because Omegaraptor was a "YN," according to the post. - A $22 coin: Omegaraptor bought it at an "LCS" (the poster's abbreviation), called it a problem coin, and said they liked it for its mintage of 161,000. The coin was paid for with a roll of small dollars. - An 1852-O half dime: Omegaraptor wrote that the mintage was 260,000 and that the PCGS survival estimate is only 200, and said the price was $36. - A 1738 half real (a Spanish coin): Omegaraptor wrote that it cost about $28 including shipping from Portugal, and suggested that, because it is Spanish, it could have circulated in Colonial America and been brought back to Spain. - Other posts: TJ1952 reported $20 at a flea market in the week before the post; jtlee321, $48 at a local shop just before a birthday; Santinidollar, $35 as the member recalled it, and $40; green18, $17, $17 and $15; and stldanceartist, $20 at an "LCS." cpm9ball posted a coin that cost 68 cents.
Santinidollar wrote of having tried to get dealers to give a price break as a "YN," without success so far.
jtlee321 wrote of wanting to add a Spanish real to the collection sometime.
Source: CoinTalk, "Post your under $50.00 purchase..." (forum thread).
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