Ray Montorsi Penny Collection

[Guest]

I have a Ray Montorsi penny collection that I have. There are several pennies from 1909 to 1980. All pennies are in mint condition. The frame and glass are also in mint condition. The pennies are in a glass frame with a statue of Lincoln. I also have a paper telling about Ray and the collection. I have been unable to find any information about Ray or the collection. I have searched the web, ebay, and talked with a few collectors, but wanted to see if anyone has seen or heard about Ray and the value of this item. I have attached pictures.

Thanks,
Steve

[mustbebob]

Never heard of him.

[RWBILLER]

Welcome to lcr - usually those collection under glass show examples of some of the years, etc. The value is based on what dates and the condition of the coins. Usually there not worth very much - 5-10 dollars. You need to post the dates and some nice semi close Pictures
Thx
Roger

[1sgret]

Welcome to the Forum.

I have not heard of him either and he must have been a local coin dealer who was selling the sets for quick profit. I see the date on the news article is 1971 so I would check the coins to see if you have some decent dates and possibly some Doubled Dies.

[liveandievarieties]

Looks like a precursor to the "press release" advertisements that Littleton does. Also looks like the earlier cents (at least pre-43) may be cleaned.

[jallengomez]

I agree about the possibility of coins in this set being cleaned. Is there a way you can get us a few closeups of some of those earlier Wheats? Maybe the '09, '14' and '22?

[SteveB]

Thanks for all the replies. I am not an expert by no means, but since I could not find any information on this set or Ray I figured someone on here may know. As far as the coins being cleaned, I do not know. The coins in my picture look "shiny" because of the flash on the camera. However, the coins do look like they just came from the mint. The back of the frame is stapled and the staples look to be the original and have never been removed. I think the box that I currently store the frame in is the original box since the frame fits perfectly, however there are no stickers are markings on the box. I know the previous owner has never touched or removed the frame backing, however I cannot verify where the set was purchased or came from. Thanks.

[liveandievarieties]

It really doesn't matter how original the packaging is, if the coins used to put the set together were low quality, then they're still of the same level of desirability. No offense, just making the point that no matter how great the packaging, it's only the coins that determine value.

[jallengomez]

BTW, welcome to the forums. I don't mean to sound harsh, but the packaging on this set was merely gimmicky advertising and will have nothing at all to do with it's value. We still see the same sort of gimmicks in the coupon books in Sunday newspapers today. The value would be determined by each individual coin. If you could show us some close ups of the early wheats, especially the key dates we could better assess the value.

Jody

[SteveB]

Thanks again. I understand about the packaging being a "gimmick" to sell low price coins for more money. I found a coin collector today (who has over 2 million pennies - wow). I stopped by a to show him what I had and what he thought it was worth. He had never heard of Ray or had never seen this type of set, but said it was probably put together to just sell as a set. He said some of the earlier pennies were cleaned, but some still had value (1915, 1923, and a few others). He said he thought the set was probably worth around $50 bucks just because of the pennies, but if the coins that had been cleaned were originals it would be around $300. It would still be nice to find someone else with this set or someone who knew about Ray. Anyhow, I think the set is pretty nice so I will just put it back in the safe and look at it again next year... Thanks for all the replies.

[simonm]

Welcome to the LCR...unfortunately I have not heard of this person. Hope you stick around on the forum to ask questions and learn...this is a great place for all sorts of coin collectors!

[DoubleYou]

Wow. A cleaning job that took the value down by $250. Must've been a 1914-D or something.