For this question, I am talking about the pick bins that many dealers have where you can pick out assorted, often old world coins for a very low price (usually about 4-5/USD$1). World coin collectors love these bins because they help add to the collection, make good swap material for Numista, and can sometimes even result in finding a valuable coin for practically no cost.
What is the best coin that you have found in one? I have found a 1966 Australia 10 cent in MS-65, an 1890 British halfpenny in VF, and so much more.
I've picked quite a few coins out of a bulk bin that have high catalog values. Usually these things stay in my collection, so the value is somewhat theoretical, but occasionally I've sold or swapped things at quite a profit. Of course, that only offsets all the coins I buy from the bins that don't get swapped in a hurry.
Not really a 4-5/$1 but in a bin of World Coins for $1/each (Canadian dollar) a few years ago I picked up Israel 1949 25 Mil open link coin in a beautiful condition.
Here is NGC link for it. I consider mine an XF.
The most recent is an Unc Qatar and Dubai 1 dirham in a "1/25c or 6/$1" bin this spring.
Also, once came across a dealer who had a bin on his table with a "id and it's yours" sign on it. He said someone gave him their old collection and he didn't have time to search thru all of it, so was giving coins away to anyone who could find them in Krause. There wasn't any silver or gold, mind you, but I did pick up a really nice Unc UK 1967 half-crown for free.
Verweis : "smoked_caramel"Not really a 4-5/$1 but in a bin of World Coins for $1/each (Canadian dollar) a few years ago I picked up Israel 1949 25 Mil open link coin in a beautiful condition.
Here is NGC link for it. I consider mine an XF.
Usually coins without English/Latin alphabet language lettering on them that some uninformed dealer dumped in their junk tray; Ottoman Empire/ pre 1914 Egypt coins.
Bruce Brace, a (deceased) former President of the (also deceased) Ancient and Medieval Numismatic Society, once told me that he looked at Roman "junk" bins for rare 5th century small Roman bronzes. So, if you know your sh*t, you can get amazing deals.
I'm talking especially of the period after Honorius in the West and Arcadius in the East.
not of interesting numismatic value, but mine were financial finds - picked out a few 1 and 2 Euros coins, a few of the now obsolete UK pound coins, but the best were a couple 500 yen coins - a nice $5.50 find for a 20cent price
Well, as far as actual low-end (4-5/$1 or thereabouts) junk bins go, my best find was probably a very worn (and dateless) Shield nickel with rays (this type, only minted 1866-7, but the date is worn away on my example).
My best find in a junk bin regardless of the price - that one was about $1 per coin - was probably this Bohemian 1/4 kreuzer. I added this page to Numista; the picture is also of my example (though a misunderstanding of the image upload terms prevented this fact from being stated on the page itself).
But my overall best find in a bargain bin of any kind is probably this Elbing solidus. The pictures are not of my example, but mine isn't that much worse (I just posted it in the "49 days" thread on CCF), and the example pictured sold for over $100.
Krause lists the type (as KM#65) but just calls it "rare"; Kopicki rates it as R7 (estimated 4-6 examples known). There wasn't anyone recorded as owning this type on Numista (other than me) either.
I, however, managed to find it in a $5 bargain bin of assorted old coins... pretty much accidentally (I went "huh? Carl Gustav of Prussia? how?" and wanted to have it just for the absurdity - didn't realize just how rare it was until I came home and researched).
Fifteen years ago on vacation in James Town, Ca. I went into a coin shop on the counter was a big jar of coins 12 items for a dollar pulled out 36 interesting coins without looking closely at them as souvenirs . After going through them at home one of the souvenirs turned out to be a 1858 large penny from Canada in about un-circulated grade that a collector from New York state who was visiting a good friend gave me an offer of $500 in Morgan silver dollars for which I promptly accepted. After he returned home a week later I got a registered package containing the silver dollars. I got the coin collecting bug and have been collecting trading swapping and selling them ever sense.
Verweis : "CoinDan"... one of the souvenirs turned out to be a 1858 large penny from Canada in about un-circulated grade that a collector from New York state who was visiting a good friend gave me an offer of $500 in Morgan silver dollars for which I promptly accepted. ...