What's your current best purchase so far? The one that had the highest return if you sell?
hfjacinto
Posts: 845 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hey all,
Reading the worst purchase thread got me thinking on what was my the best purchase. And this one was really easy. I paid $65 each for 2 2019 S Enhanced Reverse Proof American Silver Eagles. I still have mine in the OGP and based on current values, each is worth from $1000 to $1200. If I get them graded (pretty certain one is PF70) it will be worth ~$2000 so my return was 2700% just based on the OGP value and 5000% if I get them graded and one comes back a 70. Not bad for about about 30 minutes of work!
I only have a picture of both coins below.
So what was your best purchase/return on initial spend.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
10
Comments
In 2020 I bought a 1917 T1 SLQ in MS66FH for <$800, and the greysheet bid price has the value doubled on that coin.
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
Definitely this toner. It was a NON cac NGC 55. I sent it to PCGS for a downgrade to 53, and that got it a cac sticker and an incredible true view that really brings out its cool in person look.
I have been offered well over 200% of what I paid, from multiple people. Thousands more then I paid. I still haven't been willing to accept as its a special one to me. I can't find the old NGC slab pics but it was out there unnoticed for a while until I got it through a dealer/friend and upgraded (downgraded) it. I mean it wasn't totally unnoticed. As an NGC 55 it "won" the scottsmans catalogers award but then was floating around ebay for a while with horrible images. I had no idea it would be such a good investment. The price guides and the amount a dealer would probably offer aren't even close to what I've been offered over and over.
Jbknifeandcoin.com
IG: jb_rarities
One can defer to price guides and closed auction results, but ultimately you only find out how well you did on any particular coin when it's sold. Until then, its speculative.
I suppose the best I did was when I liquidated my Large Cents (along with a lot of my then unfinished 7070) in 2012. As a percentage of the amount I had in a coin to the amount I ultimately sold it for... a decent G/VG 1805 LC that I purchased raw from a dealer in Albuquerque for $50 realized $150 when I sold it on ebay... as I recall, I had a perfect storm of 3 bidders that bid it up in the last 10 seconds of the auction... about double what I had into the coin...
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.
Krug for gross profit since its value has increased by some $400 on a $2k coin.
but the "old man" from gold and silver pawn shop has the highest ROI at double its cost.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
On a percentage basis, it was these two from Heritage. SAE's in rattlers. Paid about $100 each.
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B8%2F6%2F7%2F4%2F8674330%5D%2Csizedata%5B850x600%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path[8/6/7/4/8674335],sizedata[850x600]&call=url[file:product.chain]
Finding W quarters in bank rolls back in 2019 and 20. Selling $10 rolls for $600 & $700.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
For the moderns, it would have to be the 12,500 mintage limit American Liberty 2021 High Relief Gold Coin because the prices are all over the place and more than double currently.on eBay.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/quarters/PCGS-2020-quarter-quest/album/247091
I bought my chopped 76-CC DDR T$ raw for $1200. Got it into a 55 holder with a sticker. Probably worth somewhere in the $3500 range.
Chopmarked Trade Dollar Registry Set --- US & World Gold Showcase --- World Chopmark Showcase
Well, you never really know until you sell.....
For me, it might very well be some bullion Krugerrands I bought back when it was cheap. I've doubled and tripled my money on collector coins a few times, but the bullion has done quite well in comparison........
Of course, other investments have performed even better.
It's ridiculous where the prices are now. It was about 4500 in proof 70 last fall and winter.
Throw a coin enough times, and suppose one day it lands on its edge.
I bought a 1883-CC $20 Liberty atvthe Michigan State fall convention in 2003. Took it to one of the vendors at another fall show a couple years later and asked if it was cleaned. He said yes. My heart sank at that. Finally decided to get it graded in 2018. This was the result.......PCGS XF45.
Throw a coin enough times, and suppose one day it lands on its edge.
What's the biggest financial homerun you have made in numismatics?
Selling something for 10x your cost is basically a good cherrypick. It's great when it happens, but not all that notable otherwise.
Selling something for 100x your cost is VERY difficult. Even more so if you include slabbing fees as part of your cost. It can be done. It's not easy.
Selling something for 1000x your cost is more than difficult. But not impossible!
Always losing money, not today Mr Tax Man.
That's a negotiation technique that many dishonest dealers use. They criticize a coin in the hopes that you'll sell it to them cheap. I showed a B&M coin dealer a raw gold $20 Saint many years ago before third-party grading services existed when gold coins carried a decent premium over their melt value. The dealer told me it was a counterfeit and then he tried to buy it from me. I didn't even ask for his offer since I knew it was real. I told him that I couldn't sell it to him in all good conscience since it's a counterfeit. I then told him that I will take it home and pound it with a hammer and include it with some other scrap gold to send to a refinery. The look on his face was priceless. At the time, I belonged to two coin clubs and I let my coin buddies know what transpired and several of them had similar encounters with this dealer.
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
Purchased this coin as a common 88-O for under 10 dollars years ago. Showed it to dealers at different shows and most said cleaned with a “Brillo pad”, grading XF. I knew better as I graded it as unc. The dealer I trusted thought it would 62 as did I. Close.
2019-S ERP for me. Those were exciting days after the release. People were going nuts. I kept mine in the original packaging for a few years, but ended up giving in. Sent it off to NGC and she came back a 70. Good times!
I hate when people do that.
I had a guy recently message me about a $5000 comic on eBay. He said "UGH.... "and listed all the defects. Then he offered $4000.
I replied that I could not, in good conscience, still him such an ugly book. Lol
As for the coin mentioned here, it actually does look cleaned in the photos. So I don't think that was so much a negotiating technique as an honest opinion. Look at the date.
Langbord would have benefitted from your plan.
The quarters, all three of them came from melt. The dime came from sorting 90%, sold the dime for 11k.
$5 1969 proof set from AHCollectibles on Ebay. The Washington made 69DCAM (Pop 24/0 at the time), sold it for a bit more than that.
That 16D dime is exceptional! Great find!
Bought these off eBay raw for basically melt. Graded AG3, F2 by our hosts and sold here for I think around $700
And a dealer had offered me less than purchase price at the Baltimore show in 2022.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/quarters/PCGS-2020-quarter-quest/album/247091
To be fair, it DOES look cleaned.
peacockcoins
My best buy ever was a beautiful collection in my field of interest, purchased from another collector. In second place, I once cherrypicked a beautiful one of these for $10... but it turned out to be my little deal with the devil and I almost destroyed myself with the windfall.
Do coins found searching rolls count? As a kid In the late 1950s or early 1960s I found a 1909-S VDB in a bank roll and like a idiot sold it to a "We Buy Coins" guy at a local hotel for $16.00 or a 1599% profit.
I also remember as a adult in the early 1970s cherry picking 1882-CC dollars from Treasury bags for $7.00 each at a show in Cheektowaga NY (Buffalo). Sold some on the BST a few years ago for over $200 each. Also snagged a 1883-CC in the GSA sales as one of the random date $15.00 items. Later graded MS65PL by NGC and sold on eBay for $715 along with a 1882-CC bought in the same sale graded MS64 by NGC and green CACed that sold for $500 in a private deal.
When you are as old as I am and keep coins as long as I do you can remember lots of good (and bad) deals over the years.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
The best one already sold was probably the 1901 PCGS MS61DMPL Morgan dollar. Of current holdings, I would think the 1796 BB-62 NGC VF Details Bust dollar.
Alright, we want to hear more! Deal with the Devil? Do tell
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Never know for sure until you sell it.
@Smudge. You are so right. I can point to an 1840 Seated dollar I sold for 3 times what i paid as my best so far. I own an 1846-O Seated Dollar that is in a PCGs 35 holder but is better looking than any AU 50 coin I have ever seen. I paid $325 for it and would be stunned if it did not sell for 4 times that. However, it is to this day the prettiest Seated coin in my collection and I would have to actually SELL it.
On a different note, our family has decided to get smart phones in the fall so I might actually post a coin picture some day. guess which coin will be first? James
Not bad for 3 bucks, right? Junk box find.
spent over a year of my young life blowing the money on sex, drugs and rock n' roll, it wasn't as fun as it might sound, I don't recommend it
I've shifted my collection priorities and much of my collection has been purchased during the run up of the last few years in the hobby. So, I don't have any home runs to report. Will have to wait many years and hope the market will value my collection down the road. If not, so be it.
What is important is you were able to see threw it all and get your life into a better place. A lot of us have been down dark paths in life many never come out but the few that do are stronger for it and could teach many a thing or two. Some people think it is cool to live that way it is not it is very empty in those darkest moments. The Devil (whatever you want to call him) only offers illusions nothing else one way or another those illusions come to an end. Either by ones own reflections or by time.
Threw pain there is gain. Sometimes it takes a long time to see that gain with clear vision.
I sold my Walkers in the Heritage ANA sale in 2016 (the Ray Levoi Walkers). Some I broke even on, a few I lost money on, and a few I did well on. I think by percentage the 1919 in MS66 had the highest return. I bought it in 2010 from Legend for $11,500 and it sold for $25,850. I "paid up" for a lot of coins in that collection so my returns were modest overall.
Anyway, here is the coin:
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
Those dealers mentioned above who try to talk down or comment on negativity with said coins because they want to buy them cheaper. Scummy to say the least. Reminds me one time I was at a charlotte coin show when a guy was showing a coin to a dealer, they dealer kept commenting how it had this issue, and that issue and low end for the assigned grade, etc, on and on, when the collector said, well i bought it from you a few years ago and you said its was choice for the grade!
I once purchased a $20 gold certificate from a dealer that was graded f12, when I went to sell it a few years later it was a VG8. I walked away and stopped using that dealer. It is what it is. You can still say no and not sell it.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
@tcollects
Thanks for explaining. Sounds like you straightened yourself out, and I wish you the best!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
This is why the major third-party grading services are so popular. Before third-party grading, many coin dealers would undergrade coins when buying and then overgrade those same coins when selling them.
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
thanks for the kind words guys, I'm lucky to have made it out and I'm grateful every day, you learn a lot about humanity walking on the wild side
If I were to answer this question, my short list of best purchases would be headlined by cherrypicked varieties. For example, I bought an 1888-O "Hot Lips" Morgan in XF out of a dealer's junk box for $11 back in the 1990s. Nobody cared about VAMs yet. I pointed out the variety, and he said, "OK, it's $11 instead of $10." It's in a PCGS XF45 holder now. PCGS price guide is $375, so 34x the purchase price 30 yrs. later.
Following the cherrypicks would be lower grade "key date" Bust and Seated coins in the AG03-F12 range that I bought many years ago - e.g., 1796 quarter in PCGS AG03 and 1822 25/20 Bust 25C in PCGS VG08. These coins have provided large returns, percentage-wise. You know, because AG03 is "investment grade" material.
I gave $465 for this years ago. It was raw at the time. It's hard to put a value on it. There are very few auction results that are helpful. I would guess it's value to be $4000 to $5000. Credit to @messydesk for the images.
I gave $35 for this Flying Eagle Cent. PCGS gave it a VF-35. It sold at GC a few months ago for $3100.
@ldhair: wow - that’s the toughest variety in the FE series (1857&1858). There are no MS examples known. Congrats!
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
My best deal was the sale of a set - not only for the $$$$ but it was also unexpected. I had just finished a FE Complete Variety Registry set (20 coins). A fellow Registry collector asked if I would consider selling 3 of the coins to improve his set. I declined, but committed to selling the coins to him in the future when I retired the set. He persisted, knowing that I planned to retire the set in a year or so. Finally, he asked if I would consider selling him the whole set & what was my price, if so? I gave him a price & he accepted. I figured I could always build another set (I did). Another side benefit was I discovered Hugh Wood (HWI). We used them to facilitate the transaction. I still use them today.
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
I've mentioned it before, but a 1958 Franklin Half bought for under $100 in NGC PF66 CAM. I cracked it out, removed the haze and PCGS graded it PR68 DCAM, and CAC agreed. I ended up selling it for a little over $6k. I probably should have kept it since it will be difficult to replace if I ever want to.
Collector, occasional seller
Back in 2008, I found six 2008-W $1 ASEs, Rev 2007 for around $35 each at a local B&M - news was just breaking on these. Had 'em graded; four 69s and two 70s. Sold the 70s for $1k each and set aside the 69s, one for each of my kids.
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
I saw this on eBay in 2017 and immediately recognized the significance. I made a deal with the seller to end the auction early and ended up paying $4,300 total (it was bid to $20 at the time). What is it worth today ? I'd have to auction it to find out. But probably a lot more than $4,300.
Original DeFrancisci 7.5-inch bronze casting for the Peace Dollar reverse, intended for use as a galvano by the US Mint. In original form with "Broken Sword" (the sword was removed from the master hub before coining):
That’s amazing. Did the seller ever explain how they had come to own it?
I have done well procuring material at shows. Recently super deal from walkup seller off bourse with nice stuff to sell at show. Some sold have achieved super margin others average. Depending on the venue at times sales results can vary. Lately servicing client want lists from show purchases. Fun.