My worst Numismatic Blunders
Scootersdad
Posts: 180 ✭✭✭
As a long time collector I've made lots of mistakes. It isn't easy to admit failures but "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"
so I've read. I remember the instructor at the HVAC tech school I attended say something like "some of you will take your learning with you and then repeat it over and over. Others will use this as a stepping stone and continue to learn as long as you stay in the profession".
My numismatic journey started at the flea market buying Merc dimes taking them home cleaning with baking soda and boy what an improvement. Worked my way up to buying raw coins on E Bay filling coin folders. Years later sent my 1912-S Liberty Nickel to NGC. 
My first documented blunder. Years later I had two holes to fill in my Merc Dime set 16-D and 42/1. A Dealer at the monthly coin show had both raw. He was retired military, was there every month, seemed trustworthy. In my eyes both didn't show any cleanings so I pulled the trigger $2,700 for the 16-D in VF and $500 for the 42/1 in XF. Quickly put them in the folder. Maybe 2-3 weeks into the enjoyment phase a little voice inside my head kept repeating "get them graded as someday I might want to sell".
Sent to NGC which graded the 42/1 XF40. This leads me to the second blunder when 16-D came back altered mint mark.
Good news is the dealer gave back the money over the course of three months. I decided NO expensive coins raw.
I would guess most collectors would have dropped out of the game at this point, but not me. If I purchased slabbed coins from the major services what could go wrong.
Graduated up to Morgan dollars which I starting buying the commons first. Saw an opportunity to purchase a 1889-cc NGC VF20 and 1895-S in PCGS XF40 from a major auction house so I pulled the trigger for $2,258 for both. Eventually lost interest in Date/MM.
Then CAC came onto the scene and eventually I got accepted. I got lots of Green stickers and even a few gold stickers but both 89-CC and 95-S were rejected. When I decided to sell and offered to multiple dealers no one was interested. The consensus was 89-CC was over graded and 95-S was scruffy. I sent to an auction house and took a beating, I netted back a loss of $894.
This was blunder #3. I decided no big coins without viewing or representation. Note: my wife of 37 years calls me a hardhead, she is smarter then i give her credit for.
Now for the coup de grace. I made a impulse buy at the recent FUN show, Cost $1,500 which my Cap one CC declined the transaction. Embarrassed I took the walk of shame, trying to convincing myself It was a omen to save myself from myself.
I glanced at my phone to see what time it was and low and behold Cap one sent an alert asking if this transaction was legit and if so they would authorize. I made a u turn and put another nail in the coffin. My forth blunder is not directing any blame on anyone but me. Nobody forced me, I did of my own fruition. Gambling is addictive and not wise.
While working on the title of my post, I discovered many descriptive words I could have used not in any order:
unknowledgeable, uninformed, gullible, adjective, naive, tricked, easily deceived, tuition, pigeon, victim, deluded, fooled, erroneous, vulnerable, susceptive, dewy-eyed, unguarded, impressible, pliant, defrauded, ductile, malleable,
educable, easily duped, cheated
thanks for reading!
Comments
I like the quarter!
So...about $800-1000 of coins at wholesale for $1500?
Could be worse, you could have gone to Vegas and put it all on Black...and ended up with Red.
Isn’t it lower? 300-350 for the gold 1/10 Eagle (it’s a normal bullion not unfinished proof dies, right?) and 175-225 for the proof quarter (a PCGS PR 65 CAC rattler sold for 175 on eBay recently).
As for numismatic blunders, most of us have been there. I’ve made a fair share of my own. A goal for 2025 is to avoid them but sometimes even the best intentions go astray.
I was being generous in the pricing since they are all CACG. Also, don't forget the 1909-S penny in the first photo, might be ms63 or 64BN.
I think that is a picture of a coin that is one of the top prizes for one of these boxes. I believe the box comes with just two coins.
I actually just confirmed an order to my wholesaler with a couple $5 eagles, got $290 each. The proof quarter on a good day might net $110, a rattler have much more of a premium than modern CACG. $400 total...
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Ah, I thought that was his image. I stand corrected. I priced the penny at $400-500, so my estimate should have been $400-600.
Yikes.
Has the overall margin on these been disclosed? I sometimes gamble for fun, but I prefer to have an idea of the odds.
Ouch on the WitterBrick.
Latin American Collection
Or green.
I hear that Las Vegas roulette wheels have 0, 00, and now 000 .
My big blunder was buying 1879-CC, 1889-CC, and 1893-CC Morgans in VF35, upgrading all three to XF40 not long after, then upgrading a second time to XF45. Talk about a beating!
My Carson City Morgan Registry Set
Many years ago worked for a large company that had an internal posting for employee to employee sales. Kind of an internal Craig’s List. Someone advertised a 1799 dollar, fairly cheap. Went to see it, seemed like a nice original, bought it. You likely already guessed it, was a fake, a pretty well executed fake at that. This was before slabbed coins were widely available, if memory serves. Was a valuable lesson.
Appreciate your candor. My ego is my best friend and my toughest opponent on occasions. Peace Roy
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The "penny" in the first image is a 1969-s doubled die in AU58. Probably worth twenty grand!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Good post. As Namvete69 said, I appreciate the candor. Just about all of us have some minor, medium, and big mistakes.
My big one was believing the hype of a large coin firm out east. Conditional rarities - beware. Lost about $2700 on 3 coins.
Just keep learning, researching, (including this forum) and collecting.
Getting a '69 DD cent should've eased your pain considerably.
Yes, that is a great coin!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
The OP didn't actually get the 69-s ddo, did they? I thought stock photo
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Why didn't you just buy the 1916-D already certified? We all pay for an education. Some read more, and pay less, but we all pay.
Not sure I would call the brick purchase a numismatic blunder. More like gambling and being unlucky. I think of a numismatic blunder, and I’ve made plenty, more if an overestimation of my numismatic knowledge or skills, perhaps with a bit of greed thrown in occasionally.
Like VB before it, there is no such thing as "overall margin," because values are subjective and all over the place. That said, it's reasonable to expect that the dealer margin will be far greater than from simply selling the coins individually. Otherwise, there would be no reason to go to the time, trouble and expense of creating the lottery.
In addition, there are increased costs inherent in distributing coins in this manner. Those are going to be covered by the eager buyers. Not the seller.
The best you can hope for is that the distribution is on the up and up. As it seems to be with these guys. Beyond that, you have to expect major losses because, like any other lottery, many have to lose in order for a few to win big. And that's on top of what one should expect to be an inflated dealer margin.
As others have suggested in the past on other related threads, this is for folks who are willing to pay for the thrill of the break. And for those looking to exploit them by flipping sealed boxes upon sellout. Not so much for serious collectors building a collection.
@Scootersdad was especially unlucky, and got hurt a little worse than I would have thought. But I would also expect most people spending $1500 on one of these to not do any better than $750 or so, in order to fund both the house's expanded margin and the prizes for the winners. So $400 isn't really that far off my mark, and should not have been shocking, even if disappointing, to @Scootersdad.
Nothing for nothing, and no free lunches in numismatics. Which is what the thread is really all about.
The yellow label holder appears to be a 69-S DDO in 55BN.
I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
I like to buy only from well-established auction sites, then i have 3 levels of backup - the slab, the auction house, and the underbidder all give reassurance.
As for greatest blunder, I'm one of these Covid-lockdown guys who 'rediscovered' their old collection, and I piled up the coins trying to do a type set at lightning speed. Turns out the thrill of filling the hole wears off quick and I actually want nice coins ..
Expressing my opinion on this forum that varies from coins. And I’m not alone in this blunder.
@Scootersdad
So...is the 1969 S doubled die in your post yours? Or is it a stock photo?
Everyone seems to be glossing over this point, or perhaps I'm just thick.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
It's an image of a 1969-S DDO in a CACG holder. It appears to be the same type of production as Rick Snow's Eagle Eye Photo-Certs where there is an image of the coin on a laminated card. I imagine, but don't know, that the 1969-S DDO "card" is a promotional insert that comes with the Witter Brick that might describe the high end pieces in the series.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Ahhhh. Thanks @TomB
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Showed up to the Fremont coin show back in the 90's and forgot my loop. I was too embarrassed to ask to borrow one. Ended up with two cleaned Indian head cents that I thought were MS63.
I've had many a blunder for sure but, I think the biggest ones were the coins I had the chance to get but, decided not to buy. Back in the late 80's or early 90's at a large show I passed on a 1792 disme with a split planchet flaw for 5k. Another major blunder was Jules Reiver was willing to give me a 1796 quarter in AG or less for free and I turned him down thinking it was to low of a grade. Stupid Stupid. Dave
@Bustquarterhound . BOY do I know that feeling. Years ago a fellow collector who only collected raw coins (And only Carson City Silver Dollars) offered to sell me an 1870-CC Seated Dollar in a PCGS 12 holder he had purchased not knowing it was in a slab. Cost? $499. I turned him down because I was looking for a VF coin. How do I manage to dress myself! James