How Four People Each Bought a Coin for $1240 and Immediately Resold for $20,000

Picture courtesy PCGS

During the last week, the ANA 2014 Chicago World’s Fair of Money was held and ended today. One of the top draws of the world's largest coin show was the 2014 50th Anniversary Kennedy Half-Dollar Gold Proof Coin that was offered to the public by the U. S. Mint at the show.

The Riots

According to a friend of mine who is a coin dealer that had a table there, the sale of the coin was a riot, literally. He said that people lined up twelve hours ahead of time and the line wrapped around the block three times. Apparently, the Mint only offered one coin per person, and when the news was disseminated before the show started, everyone came out of the woodworks. Either they wanted the coin for themselves or they knew that the coin would be a hot item and could be flipped for a profit, and flip they did.

Fights broke out in the lines, stabbings tool place, and coin buyers were robbed in the restrooms, according to my friend. This all took place on the first day of the show, and because of all the turmoil, the Mint decided to shut down sales.

The Coin

The coin contains 3/4 troy ounce of pure, 24-karat gold and is struck with a proof finish at the Mint at West Point, New York. The raised Kennedy profile is frosted and appears to float on the mirror-like background.

The front of the coin, referred to as the obverse, displays a portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, based on a portrait prepared for Kennedy’s presidential medal. The back, referred to as the reverse, is based on the Presidential Seal displays an eagle with a shield holding an olive branch and bundle of 13 arrows.

The Profits

So what about these big profits? Customers would buy the coin from the Mint table at the conference, immediately go the the Professional Coin Grading Service table to get the coins graded, then immediately go to coin dealers willing to pay large amounts for the coins. The first four lucky buyers who waited all night long to be at the head of the line were paid $20,000 for the coins. But there's more!

The four people received a bonus. On top of the $20,000, they each got another replacement Kennedy Gold Coin that would be purchased later by the coin dealer later.

Others were paid by coin dealers to stand in line and buy the coin, as much as $200.

But the first four were luckiest of all. Not bad for a day's work.