JOHN: Hi there.
RICK: Hey, how's it going?
JOHN: Good.
Got a 1922 proof high-relief matte-finish coin.
RICK: OK.
Where did you get this?
I won it at a poker game, believe it or not.
RICK: This is, like, one of the holy grails of American coins.
And you won it in a poker game?
JOHN: Yeah.
RICK: Whoa.
This is cool.
In 1921, we brought the silver dollar back.
And the story goes is they were going to try and make
some really high-relief ones.
What this means by high relief right here is the image
really comes off the coin, OK?
It's much higher detail.
And I don't know the exact story,
but there was some problems.
Then they got melted down.
And most people didn't even know they existed for, like,
15 years.
And then also some stories came from the Mint
that they actually existed.
So there's a dozen of these things in the world.
JOHN: It's pretty rare.
RICK: Oh, it's beyond rare.
The 1922 High Relief Peace Dollar is one of the rarest
coins in American history.
It definitely shocks me that people will walk up
to my counter and pull out an item worth $50,000
or $100,000 or more.
I definitely want this thing, but I have to make absolutely
sure this is the real deal.
Silver dollars is what every coin collector collects.
Everyone collects silver dollars,
and maybe they collect half dollars and nickels.
But they all buy silver dollars.
I mean, that's the mainstay of collectible coins.
JOHN: OK.
RICK: So how much do you want for it?
JOHN: $20,000.
What, you want $20,000 for it?
$20,000?
JOHN: Do you think it's worth that?
Yeah, sure, no problem. Let's go.
[laughter]
No.
No, this is worth a lot more than $20,000.
JOHN: Oh.
That's pretty awesome.
RICK: Do you mind if I call a friend to take a look at this?
I have a few mega, mega concerns here, OK?
I've never seen one in person.
And I just want to make sure everything's legit.
And I mean, if someone was to fake a coin,
this is the one they would do it on.
I'm actually friends with a guy who works at NGC.
He's one of their best coin graders.
And if everything's legit, maybe we'll do some business, OK?
Sounds good. RICK: All right.
Hang out.
JOHN: All right.
I think there's a good chance it's legit.
Obviously nothing in this world is 100%,
but I'm happy with an expert coming in, for sure.
Dave.
DAVE: Rick, how you doing?
I am doing absolutely fabulous.
And this is it.
Aahhh.
[laughing]
JOHN: [laughing]
DAVE: Wow.
It isn't every day a 1922 High Relief
Peace Dollar walks in the door.
This guy got it in a poker game.
Oh my god.
It's always nice to get called in on an exciting coin.
This coin is particularly interesting, historical.
And it's rare as hen's teeth.
RICK: Now, what exactly is the story with this coin?
I mean, this was the coin the government minted,
but no one knew they minted it for, like, 15 or 20 years?
DAVE: That's correct.
None of these had transacted until 1937.
These were more or less unknown.
And they carried over the high relief of the 1921 issues,
all of which, by the way were stuck in a one-week period
at the end of 1921.
The high-relief design was sort of a triumph of art
and a failure of technology because although they were
beautiful, they couldn't strike them with enough pressure
to get a lot of them out.
So they ended up early in 1922 having to reduce
the relief of the design.
RICK: OK.
So I assume your main concern is, is it real?
Yeah.
DAVE: OK.
Definitely.
DAVE: It is in an NGC holder, which is wonderful.
The holder is completely intact and genuine.
And the coin is perfectly legitimate.
It's one of very few known.
OK, so the big thing is, what's it worth?
One of these sold very recently that
brought a touch over $100,000.
It was a little bit nicer than this, but not too far apart.
I think this coin is worth something north of $50,000
but less than $100,000.
RICK: OK.
Thanks, man. DAVE: Super rare.
No problem. - OK.
DAVE: Thank you. Congratulations.
JOHN: Thank you. Thank you.
DAVE: All right.
There you go.
RICK: All right.
All right.
RICK: I'll talk to you soon, man.
Sounds good.
I'm quite excited that this is the real thing.
Very few specialists have had the chance
to actually handle them.
But finding one of these, especially
walking into a pawnshop, is really extraordinary.
[sigh] I should've just gave you the $20,000
and not called in Dave.
[laughing]
JOHN: [laughing] I'm happier now.
RICK: I'll give you $65,000.
What about $90,000?
I think $90,000 is fair.
You were willing to take $20,000 for it.
JOHN: You weren't willing to offer me $20,000 for it.
I think $75,000 is fair.
Meet me in the middle at $80,000 and you got a deal.
RICK: [sigh] It's a deal.
- All right. - OK.
All right, let's go up front.
I'll write you up.
JOHN: I made $80,000 on the coin, super excited about it--
definitely going to keep playing poker.
Hopefully I get another coin like this sometime.