Worst coin purchase you ever made.
Panda4456
Posts: 362 ✭✭✭
Let’s hear it….
What purchase do you regret? It could be overpaying for something or buying a fake etc.
1
Panda4456
Posts: 362 ✭✭✭
Comments
i don't recall offhand anything specific i was unhappy with as much as just over-buying on many occasions and have to say, i'd rather have just bought a few turds now n then vs spending so much at times. i have to say, 95% of the time, it goes OUT a whole lot easier than it comes IN.
Who here hasn't made mistakes? I'm not anxious to catalogue them here. Most I'd chalk up to learning - for example, buying a nice rose colored 20 center with a significant obverse scratch (straight graded holder though). In retrospect, the scratch was a lesson in not buying "but for" coins. Ah, what else? Nah, I don't want to get into it, sorry.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I agree with what Catbert said. I have paid over published values at times to get a coin that was strong for the grade and most importantly had super eye appeal. Those are coins that I am proud to hold. I used to buy coins that would have a flaw that bothered me ("but for") just to get a great deal and that I believe was my bigger mistake.
I bought this PGGS AU55 1812 small date large cent from CVM, ex: Husak (Heritage 2/2008 lot 2295) in 2009 for $10,000. When I sold my large cent collection via Goldberg’s in June 2017, as lot 292 it brought the princely sum of $2938, the worst performing lot in the entire 156 coin collection.
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When I was collecting Lincoln Cents I decided to buy a 1914-d in MS64 RD for my set from a major pnline dealer. Had all the bells and whistles, OGH, CAC. Cornerstone of my collection, blah blah blah.
Well it sold years later at a Heritage auction unreserved for less than HALF of what I paid!
I am ashamed to say how much that was, but it hurt badly.
And still does. 😡
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
In late 1990 I sold a number of interesting coins I had bought over 5 years (mostly lower grade seated and bust) to buy a few heavily promoted widgets. I sold a bust dollar, some dimes and a half, several seated halves, and some nice Indian cents for a generic PCGS MS66 Morgan, MS65 Peace, and MS66 Walker. What a dumb thing to do. Three years later I sold them and entered a 20 year collecting hiatus.
The original coins were nothing special, all probably cleaned, but I bought them because I liked them. I bought the junk because... I'm not sure.
Why wouldn’t you guys just do a “buy it now” instead of an auction?
I suspect this was more a matter of bad timing than anything else.
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at that time, i'm not sure how dumb it was. that was a chaotic period for grading coins. a LOT less information about availability, pops, grading standards, authenticity, surfaces, altered, color etc but w/o being a well-informed dealer or having a few at one's disposal, being a collector at that time probably cost A LOT of people A LOT of money if they held. some of the values at that time that members have shared here are breathtaking. makes even 2021/2022 look like amatuer hour.
ms66 walkers and ms65 peace and probably ms66 morgans WERE something back then. when i first started, 2010 or so, i was ELATED to find ms65 worthy peace dollars raw and for that matter morgans. back when turn around times for regular was at most 10-12 days.
Back in 2010, I bought a counterfeit PCGS-55 1916-D Mercury dime on eBay. Thanks to a little timing luck and these Boards, I got every penny back from eBay, even the $3 shipping. The thought of passing that "heirloom" down to one of my children, only to have them find out x years later it was counterfeit still causes my blood pressure to rise.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
I figured most people would classify their "worst purchase" as one that lost them a lot of money, but for me selling my collection to buy something I didn't really want is my worst purchase, even though I actually made some money on the coins. Got caught up in the early PCGS hype and forgot why I started collecting in the first place.
Edit: I have no doubt that Morgan is in a 67 or possibly even a 68 holder now, it really was pristine with amazing luster. Or maybe that's just my memory!
The next one I buy!
I really don’t understand why people worry so much about overpaid. Lots of coins are hard to put a fair current market price because of rarity or nice toning etc. I think the most important is buying the right coin. Most of the coins I bought are above market or market price but I always can sell them over the years. I think buying coin is kind of like buying stock; buy high sell higher.
Not a U.S. coin but the most I ever paid for a coin ($2500) was this Tiberius Caesar aureus. When I purchased it I was told it had rim damage and that it was originally purchased from Stack’s auction in 2002. I knew an undamaged one would cost me $10,000 so I thought I was getting a decent deal.
Several years later when I go to sell it I find out the rim damage was caused due to being ex-Jewelry which made it much less desirable since it was modern damage and not contemporary to the coin’s era. I was lucky to get rid of it at $1300. I took a $1200 loss. The guy that bought it from me was actually kind of reluctant to buy it but thought they might be able to sell it for $1500. The biggest loss I ever made on anything. I did take a similar hit on a Humphrey Bogart autograph I bought after being caught up in a bidding war (paid $1800, and sold for just $525 which was closer to its actual value…my mistake was being caught up in bidding war).
I have paid a premium (a nice way to say overpaid) for a few coins, but I liked them, wanted them and still have them. I was comfortable with the price at the time and still feel good about the purchase. Will I recoup the money if I sell? I don't know, not planning on selling. Cheers, RickO
A proof Seated Liberty dollar that I paid way too much for and has sat unlooked at in a SDB ever since I purchased it ca. 2007.
I overpaid for a couple philippines pesos but I don’t consider that bad because it’ll sit in my collection for years
I bought from the consignment hub on eBay.
My first gold coin. Bought it at a local auction and forgot about the BP when bidding. Also really wanted a gold coin at the time so I just kept going
. Luckily, the prices of pre-33 gold have shot up recently and it's worth more than I paid now which is nice. More careful about buying now, especially for my collection. Slowed down my buying to an average of a coin every few months. 
Collector
75 Positive BST transactions buying and selling with 45 members and counting!
instagram.com/klnumismatics
60+ years ago I bought a "proof" 2 cent piece for my type set from my friendly B&M dealer. Years later I learned that it was simply polished. Spent a large part of my paper route earnings. The value increase at that time would have been huge had it been an actual proof. An extremely valuable lesson. If someone would do that to a 12 year old kid, caveat emptor if you collect coins.
When I look at a coin in my collection, is the first thought: "wow, what a nice piece" or "wow, I'm buried in this piece(OS)"...
If I had to narrow it down to just one, Id say it was the 1909-S VDB I bought to complete my Lincoln Cent collection. I bought it raw and sent it to ANACS for grading. It straight-graded at XF40, so I thought I'd done pretty well... I was into the coin for around $1100 at the time (including grading fees/shipping). When it came time to sell, I learned that this issue isn't as "rare" as I once thought it was and got around $900 on ebay. It wasn't the most money I'd ever lost on a coin, but it was more the realization that these things aren't nearly as rare as I once thought they were. There are literally dozens of them at bigger coin shows... maybe that's what hurt the most...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
My worst is actually one of my best.
Early in my collecting career I purchased a GEM 1949 Franklin half for the princely sum of $30. Now you could have bought a gem Morgan and have money left over or a XF bust half for the same money at that time. Turned out to be a whizzed coin. Forced me to learn more about coins which has served me well in the ensuing years.
Still have it somewhere as a reminder……
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
I lost 25% ($500.00) selling a coin on eBay with no reserve once but hit on a slot machine first spin recouping it a few days later.
Well, great question. I have two stories. First, I needed money so I sold my PCGS 1955 Double Die, Au 55 PCGS on Ebay. This would have been in the early 2000's. I can't remember what I paid for it originally, but I lost $1000 bucks on that deal. I was encouraged by some of my other online coin guys and gals at the time to get someone to bid it up. One even offered to do it. It felt wrong to me so I took the loss and moved on..
Coin two was a modern coin a 2018 PCGS rev proof PCGS pr70 Block Island silver quarter. They were being hyped at the time by the modern coin sellers as a "grade Rarity" "low pop" I paid $895.00 I think at the time. I was putting together the whole set in PCGS ms/pr70 at the time. Well fast forward to today, I think I could get 100 bucks for it maybe. But I learned my lesson. Hopefully whomever is reading this will learn from my mistake also!
Most of mine were through the US mint during the 1990's & 2000's. Mostly proof sets and a few mint rolls. If I decide to sell these, I might get a fraction of what I originally paid. OUCH !!!
The very first series I got into as a new collector was Franklin Halves. I bought a partial album of UNCs on ebay and began hitting the local shops to fill in the blanks. I paid pretty strong money for raw Franklins from one local guy for quite a few of the "key dates" the biggest purchase at the time for me was this one. Fast forwards a couple years and my first PCGS membership came with 8 freebies so I threw a few of my more expensive coins in and got this back.
Not the most money I've lost on a coin over the years but my first real lesson about learning to grade the series you're interested in yourself and not just take someone's word for it. I kept the photo around as a reminder... I think this was around 2006.
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Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
That coin is beautiful, Ray!!!
Tom
gratz on your recoup BS. obviously feel free to NOT read this post as it is more just where i happen to post it more than a response to your post.
your post made me think of the nuance surrounding buying a coin "right" and then selling it "right" along with this thread of which we have had many here.
how many times do we buy something, NOT get the results we want and perhaps equate that to perhaps, "paying too much?" (when in reality, it is probably more about when, where, how it is sold) i see people get more for their items MANY times just because of whom they are, others perception of them (myself not excluded buying and selling) mostly this is for what would be considering above average condition/value to upper condition/value. not the low and not the ultra high. those are completely different animals subject and influenced more than the middle. imo
anyone in collectables/hobbies for an extended period (decade+) will see trends up and down, no matter what is paid, no matter what is sold for. due to this, has shaped my keystone phrase to share with people and that is, "sell when you should, not when you want or need to." (of course selling at auction without a reserve or lower than price paid is exempted from that statement but not at .99c and it is a risky endeavor and i have seen even the big boys on the bay (other auctions sites loosely) have to change up their models to accommodate selling trends. .99c will put most out of business if that is their livelihood over the long haul unless they are buying WAY under current market.
as with all hobbies, they need be separated into 2 categories and are too often blended and vastly affects one's perceived ideal outcome with buying and selling, 1. hobbyist and 2. dealer. trying to straddle that fence will lead to some purple nurples inevitably. i have also said that a hobby should cost money, not make it. if one happens to make money, it is a plus but not required. those that consider themselves hobbyists may not like that but it is what it is.
the perception of money is a fascinating study. we go on vacations (all expense usually), eat expensive meals, buy unnecessarily expensive clothes etc (mostly all expense if a hobbyist) but if one loses a little bit of money on a coin and may consider that endeavor a "failure/tuition etc."
anyone take a look at a mortgage amortization? how much extra in interest is paid over that 10, 20, 30 etc year mortgage? sometimes 2x the valuation, perhaps 3x? yet we quibble for 5, 10, 20k etc at selling time when we are absolutely upside down. of course lenders should get something for that long of a loan and the risk and history teaches us, just even the past 200 years, just how many recessions, collapses, bubbles, bear markets etc will significantly affect the outcome of "values."
so hopefully one can read this rabble and work on perception of money, outcomes, plans, hobbies, businesses and perhaps make a better game plan and/or live with the outcome. (not too different really to dollar cost averaging, an argument in philosophy/rationalizing etc as many will argue and have said)
to be fair, posts like this should be 2-3x longer but i've gone on long enough.
A dealer at the Long Beach coin show back in the early 90s was promoting a club, whereas the participant could purchase modern proof PCGS Kennedy halves in grades ranging from PR67DCAM to PR69DCAM. I signed up (at the cost of $75.00) and purchased, as a member- a 1974-S PR67DCAM for another $75.00.
His sales pitch as to why these coins were scarce/rare- especially in the early 1970s in DCAM seemed spot on and convincing, as the PCGS pop reports reflected this. Fast-forward a few years, and PCGS had graded dozens of these Kennedy proof halves on each date, effectively driving the market to a less than $15. per coin.
Of course, PCGS hadn't graded many of these in the first few years of operation as PCGS fees didn't warrant doing so, and coins could only be submitted through a dealer. I'd imagine most would talk the owner out of wasting his time and money sending modern Kennedy halves in.
I do wonder what that dealer is selling or doing these days.
peacockcoins
Two coins come to mind; an Anacs certified type II double eagle that would not cross and an old holder ICG MS62 better date type II that would not cross over MS61 at N or P. A coin fraud also stands out.
Literally the "worst"
Okay, it's not holed so it could be worse
Does that remind anyone here that this is also true with the bean that shall not be named?
All of the mint sets, proof sets, and modern commemoratives I bought over the years.
The battle scars of all the good times
Many many years ago at Long Beach I stumbled upon a .....what I thought was... An undergraded and underpriced 1800's 2 1/2 gold piece. I should have known better after I looked in the dealers case. The item didn't jive with his type of stuff. As I look back, he may have been disposing of it for another dealer.
So I bought it. I was floating on cloud 9. For about an hour.
I showed it to a very sharp dealer, who happens to be a poster here on occasion. The dealer pointed out where the coin was lasered. Showed me how to tell. Ouch!! I won't mention which grading service it was in. The inspecting dealer gave me one piece of advice. " Loose it" . And I did. The next day at a 10% loss. Lesson learned. If it's too good to be true, there's a reason.
@streeter how can you tell if a coin is lazered?
I've bid up a few listings in ebay where the high bidder has their name stacked up a few times.
Most of the time I just help them spend their money.
Been caught out on a few but the dollar amount wasn't too steep.
Does that count.
This esteemed and particular member who guided me used to work for the company who happened to grade this coin.
I used to have a way to size up a coin that I thought was thorough. Well it wasn't, lol.
This coin had several 'disturbances' in the fields. Oh so slight. I didn't think they were important. I just thought it was par for the course on an old piece of gold.
What HE DID was Instead of just looking at the coin head on, he held it flat at a 5-10% angle and held it toward the light. Imagine holding your palm of your hand in such a way that you can barely see it because it is oriented to you flat.
Well the 'work' on the coin became apparent. The surfaces had been smoothed. I guess I thought that the toning was a little 'blotchy'. Lol.
I bought this coin for about half guide. I should have known better. Remember the phrase, 'buy the coin cheap but it still might not be cheap enough'
A non tabled dealer walking the show that I know was nice enough to say, "I'll take care of the problem". That's the last I heard about that coin. But I always keep my eye out😏
I had an attack of “auction fever” and paid way too much for an 1855-D gold dollar. Yes, the coin is rare, but a joker on the phone took me up to very high bid in a Heritage auction and then reneged on his bid. I should have demanded a re-start of the bidding but didn’t.
The coin is in a PCGS EF-45 holder. It has its original skin, and the reverse is sharper than the vast majority of the Philadelphia Mint pieces with strong date and “ONE DOLLAR.” Still I’m buried in it. BTW, my grade is AU-50, do I guess it has “a gold BILL sticker.”
I’d pay $2,938 for that one. You should have had me bid on it. Given my tract record, you might have recouped you $10 grand.
Too embarrassing.
I want to hear this
When I was brand new to coin collecting I bid on ebay and won an 1858 Flying Eagle proof in PR64 for only $4065. I thought I had just scored a major steal and was congratulating myself on how awesome I was. It was a few days later when I figured out what that J-203 on the label meant.
I sold it about a year later for a $1200 loss, by far my biggest loss on any coin I have sold.
Ok, I was a kid and bugged dad to take me to a coin store. I found a rare old Roman coin that I could afford and bought it. I felt pretty good with myself. Dad didn’t collect coins but after we left he said take a good look at that coin. I did and it said copy. I asked if he knew that when I bought it. He said yes and I asked why he let me buy it. He said to teach you a lesson.
You should have said "I'll remember this when I find you a nursing home to put you in some day."
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I've made a few mistakes.....I just learn from them, sell them and move on. I usually break even....Once in a while; I lose a bit and ONCE I even made a PROFIT. You'll have winners and you'll have losers. All that really matters is that you come out ahead with a net gain, in the long run.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
What is j-203?
The first coin show I went to I purchased several raw coins and then sent them in to be graded. Thinking I had picked some great coins. They came back body bagged. I carry one of them as a pocket piece to this day to remind me.
I believe it's a pattern where J stands for Judd who cataloged these coins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Paid UNC money as a kid in the 1990s for a raw 1928 Peace dollar at the ANA show after saving up for years. Realized after I became a better grader that it was not uncirculated but took me a loooooong time to admit I made a mistake and submit to PCGS. It came back AU58. I finally sold it a few years ago.