Collectors group seeks rare coins

Cathie Haas was toting a lot of hope at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn on Thursday.

Hope in the form of bulbous gold lockets, snaking chains of charms and baubles, bulging sacks of trinkets and silverware.

Maybe the glittering minutia could be exchanged for something a little more practical, she said.

More necessary.

"The hope is to make enough to redo my kitchen," the Coeur d'Alene woman said with a laugh, as she waited outside the door to the International Coin Collectors Association show.

Her husband Wayne was more of a realist.

"I hope you can buy us lunch," he muttered.

They weren't alone. The couple was among hundreds who have pursued dreams of extra cash this week by ferrying old coins, jewelry and other wares to the coin show, where experts assess and make offers on various goods.

James Griffin dug into his jeans pocket to retrieve his sandwich-bag full of treasure.

Inside were a few laundry loads' worth of coins, their faded dates spanning from the '20s to the '50s.

Passed down from his grandfather to his mother to him, he figured it couldn't hurt to see what they might take in.

"Not likely," the 24-year-old said of whether he'd sell them. "Most look like they're worth three cents."

Adrian Jund had cleaned out his junk drawer to bag up some silver from X-ray film, some random jewelry and whatever other items promised a hint of value.

"Some of it's old fillings," the 76-year-old said with a chuckle.

It's all accumulated over the years, he said, the usual clutter and occasional valuable that life takes in.

Jund hoped he could sell enough to obtain clutter that's more enjoyable, he said.

"This would kind of be my mad money," the Coeur d'Alene man said.

There have been a few jackpot discoveries since the show opened here on Tuesday, said event Field Manager Nathan Harding.

A gold bracelet a woman sold for $4,200. A rare penny worth $900.

It isn't the age of the artifact that counts, Harding cautioned. Metal content and rarity are what experts are scrutinizing for.

Although the show is predominantly coin-themed, he added, there are also experts on hand to assess military items, antique toys and instruments.

"We are definitely interested," he said.

The show runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Nate Burton moseyed out of the show still clutching the small metal box containing a decades-old coin collection.

"You can see from the dust on the case, it's been in the closet for some time," Burton said with a chuckle.

Most of it contains old military coins and unusual pieces he eyeballed while running an amusement park in the 1970s, he said.

"Most were dropped into kiddie rides," he said.

Burton sold off some of the collection in the 1980s to buy the wife a vacuum, he said. But he isn't sure if the $85 offered to him at the show is worth it, especially if the coins will end up melted down for the silver content.

So he'll tout the collection back with him, maybe stick it back in the closet, and wait for hope and the price of silver to accumulate.

"My grandson," he said of why he's kept it this long. "It's just something I can leave him."