EBENSBURG —
Jan Hagerich’s buffalo nickel was “healthy” – which was unhealthy for her finances.
Hagerich and her husband, Dave, were among those taking items such as jewelry and coins by the Cottage Restaurant on Wednesday, to earn a few extra dollars or just for an estimate.
Among the items they showed clerk Kym Potesta of the International Coin Collector Association – which set up buying tables there this week – was a buffalo nickel.
What Potesta really wanted to see was a 1937 nickel, one in which the buffalo was mis-minted with three legs, known as the “unhealthy buffalo” among collectors. Those are worth $500 or more.
One by one, Jan Hagerich showed Potesta bills and coins she had come across over the years. They’d been lying around in a tin can in the basement of their Vinco home.
“I just had these and wondered what they would be worth,” Hagerich said. “But my buffalo has all his legs.”
Hagerich didn’t walk away unsatisfied, though.
She unloaded a palmful of gold jewelry – 10- and 14-karat – for $800.
Potesta initially offered $625.
But, when Hagerich said she’d had a fairly recent estimate topping $700, Potesta jumped to $800.
That’s what experts recommend before selling collectibles: Get two or more estimates.
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