Post a coin you "couldn't afford to keep"

Proofmorgan

I've heard this from smaller dealers on some high-end coins that by chance make it over the counter.

I've also heard it from collectors that "make" a coin or get an offer for a coin that is so high that it seems unwise not to sell it.

Post your coin and the story associated.

jacrispies

Bought it raw from Ebay from bad photos. It was likely my only chance to buy one, but one hefty offer later and I was off to the post office.

pcgsregistrycollector

Nice coin. I've always wanted a Gobrecht. They've just been out of my price range.

pcgsregistrycollector

I couldn’t afford the 2017-D Jefferson nickel with corrosion because, surprisingly, the corrosion actually makes it highly valuable. Usually corrosion hurts a coin’s worth, but in this case, the corrosion created a unique pattern or “toning” effect that collectors find really rare and desirable. It’s like an accidental one-of-a-kind artwork on the coin’s surface, which drives up demand and price.

rte592

Wait What?
That's what credit is for
I don't play at those levels, So I'll have to check that box NA Not Applicable.

seanq

I downgraded from this coin to the circulated VF that is now my icon photo. I could not bring myself to crack out such an expensive coin, but now I keep the lower grade example in the album with the rest of my date set. This is by far the finest known clip for the date, it has probably doubled in value since I sold it a few years ago. Graded NGC 64RB.

Sean Reynolds

jesbroken

Would love to have kept it, but just too great an ROI.
Jim

Edited to add: Sorry left off that the coin was an LM-10.2 Rarity 6 Thanks, Jim

Walkerfan

@seanq said:
I downgraded from this coin to the circulated VF that is now my icon photo. I could not bring myself to crack out such an expensive coin, but now I keep the lower grade example in the album with the rest of my date set. This is by far the finest known clip for the date, it has probably doubled in value since I sold it a few years ago. Graded NGC 64RB.

Sean Reynolds

And look at that beautiful woodgrain to boot!!

jedm

Notice the cud on the reverse. I have yet to see another one like it.
Couldn't resist the offer at the time.

JimTyler

Late 1980’s owned a 1889-CC PCGS MS-62 don’t remember exact cost around $7000. It was either keep it ( that’s what I should have done) and be a one hit wonder because that was everything I could afford to put into coins or sell it make a little and keep playing. I wanted to keep playing. 😪🤧

Crypto

I had a small hoard of NGC PL double eagles by 2009-10ish. Sold them to focus on trade dollars for about 1500$ each

124Spider

There is no coin in my collection that I woudln't sell for "the right price"

But there is no coin in my collection that I'm presently looking to sell.

And there is no coin in my collection whose price/value is such that I "need" to sell it.

So, for me, the answer is "none."

RobertScotLover

@jedm said:
Notice the cud on the reverse. I have yet to see another one like it.
Couldn't resist the offer at the time.

and what about the cud on the obv?

Walkerfan

Personally, I wouldn’t purchase a coin that I couldn’t afford to keep. That would seem pointless and painful to me, I suppose, unless of course, I could flip it for a good profit quickly. But I’m not a dealer, so that is not one of my primary or natural objectives. I collect for enjoyment and long-term investment not as a business or income driven venture. Very interested to hear what others have to say on the topic, though.

FlyingAl

@Walkerfan said:
Personally, I wouldn’t purchase a coin that I couldn’t afford to keep. That would seem pointless and painful to me, I suppose, unless of course, I could flip it for a good profit quickly. But I’m not a dealer, so that is not one of my primary or natural objectives. I collect for enjoyment and long-term investment not as a business or income driven venture. Very interested to hear what others have to say on the topic, though.

Sometimes you purchase the coin well within your means, and then due to some circumstance or another, the coin far exceeds that value. Generally, you end up selling in that case.

2windy2fish

Very early days as a not so well financed dealer, absolutely had to turn the inventory to keep afloat.
The Fugio likely hurts the most followed by the Half Dime overdate..

ad4400

I was able to cherry pick this unattributed. I had a number of household expenses pop up shortly thereafter and keeping this piece became hard to justify. It is still top POP for the variety. I wish now I could have found a way to keep it, as I would then have two top POP for the two feather set.

Clackamas1

This is the coin facts photo of the top pop 58-P 67+RD. I made it from a roll as an MS67RD pop like 3 at the time, before truview and plus, sold to DPoole for $2K because I needed the cash to start my business. I don't know where the print came from, it was not me and it was from a roll. It upgraded sometime in the future. I still have its sister coin but it is not as stunning as this one.

jfriedm56

@jedm said:
Notice the cud on the reverse. I have yet to see another one like it.
Couldn't resist the offer at the time.

Well here you go. I had found this at a garage sale many years ago, when I was in my 20’s. Sold it and bought 3 DE’s. Wish I still had it.

epc

I usually don't play at the level of 1853-O No Arrows half dime in MS64, but when I had the opportunity, I had to trade my AU55 as part of the deal. I didn't really like it that much anyway.

Walkerfan

@FlyingAl said:

@Walkerfan said:
Personally, I wouldn’t purchase a coin that I couldn’t afford to keep. That would seem pointless and painful to me, I suppose, unless of course, I could flip it for a good profit quickly. But I’m not a dealer, so that is not one of my primary or natural objectives. I collect for enjoyment and long-term investment not as a business or income driven venture. Very interested to hear what others have to say on the topic, though.

Sometimes you purchase the coin well within your means, and then due to some circumstance or another, the coin far exceeds that value. Generally, you end up selling in that case.

I delight in watching my coins appreciate dramatically. Others see it as a good profit taking opportunity. Neither one is wrong. 😀

oih82w8

Life has a way of getting in the way of my coin collecting. There are highs and lows during this journey we call life. At least I still have the images of coins that have moved on to other collectors.

One in particular that I had a hard time letting go of was my Capped Bust Half. It has been the only coin that I have ever cracked out and gained a grade. I bought her as a PCGS AU53 CAC and submitted her raw and she came back AU55 and CAC liked her as an AU55 as well.

seanq

@FlyingAl said:

@Walkerfan said:
Personally, I wouldn’t purchase a coin that I couldn’t afford to keep. That would seem pointless and painful to me, I suppose, unless of course, I could flip it for a good profit quickly. But I’m not a dealer, so that is not one of my primary or natural objectives. I collect for enjoyment and long-term investment not as a business or income driven venture. Very interested to hear what others have to say on the topic, though.

Sometimes you purchase the coin well within your means, and then due to some circumstance or another, the coin far exceeds that value. Generally, you end up selling in that case.

Excellent observation, and it reminded me of another instance. I cherrypicked this coin from an eBay auction, the photos were lousy but I was able to attribute the variety by the obverse cud. I found it right before Christmas 2008, and having four young kids including toddler twin boys... well, keeping it wasn't an option, not when I could sell it for roughly two mortgage payments. It ended up in the Gerry Fortin reference collection of Seated dime varieties, he wrote about the coin here.

Sean Reynolds

jedm

@RobertScotLover said:

@jedm said:
Notice the cud on the reverse. I have yet to see another one like it.
Couldn't resist the offer at the time.

and what about the cud on the obv?

The cud on the obverse is not uncommon at all for the 1804. The reverse cud in this iteration is one that I've not seen again since. Most are advanced to cover all of the I in AMERICA. A well known collector/dealer noticed it on this forum and made me an offer. The profits were spent acquiring more coins for my collection.

SmEagle1795

I cherrypicked this R6 1808/7 $5 in AU58: I bought it for $8500 and sold it a handful of months later in an auction for $18K. Needless to say, I was thrilled and it helped cement my addiction interest in the selling side of coins.

BillJones

@jacrispies said:
Bought it raw from Ebay from bad photos. It was likely my only chance to buy one, but one hefty offer later and I was off to the post office.

That Gobrecht Dollar looks like one I saw in a Catherine Bullowa auction back in the 1970s. I could not afford a decent one at the time. I think I bid $400 on it and didn't get it, which was just as well.

As for coins I can't afford to keep, there are far more coins I can't afford to buy. Here's one of them.

jesbroken

I've had quite a few of the 1804 draped bust half cents crosslet 4 w/stems with the obverse RTY cuds. Interesting that both one cent and half cent coppers had similar cuds on obverse.
Jim
One cent...CoinFacts

Half Cent

Proofmorgan

I'll play now:

I found this Roanoke with OK photos in the original packaging on ebay and paid 67+ money at the time (about $2500). I posted on the forum and really got hammered on it that it was a 66 and I was irresponsible for buying it. It graded 67+, I reconsidered it and it made 68. I was offered 5 figures for it and although I love it..."I couldn't afford to keep it" and used it to further my early gold addiction and help purchase an early Newman $2.5.

Coins3675

Nice commem half @Proofmorgan

pursuitofliberty

I didn't need to sell it. I could have afforded to keep it.

But when a friend on the board saw this coin, he immediately became enamored. After several back and forths over several months (as I remember), I finally said something to the effect of, "Make me a stupid offer I can't refuse and maybe I'll sell it to you."

A few days later he did ... and so it is his now!

.
The advantage of that transaction is that a month or so later, it helped ease the cost of acquiring my 1815/2 Capped Bust Half Dollar, which appeared out of the blue and seemed to find me.

renomedphys

Taking “couldn’t “ to mean past tense, in 2013 I lost my job and had to sell some coins. Here’s the one I most regret not being able to “afford to keep”

I had bought this one from Brian Wagner and Stewart Blay for $25,000 and only managed to hang onto it for about two years. The $45,000 that I sold it for was little consolation. The fact that it disappeared from the subsequent owners collection by the time he sold was heartbreaking.

BillJones

@renomedphys said:
Taking “couldn’t “ to mean past tense, in 2013 I lost my job and had to sell some coins. Here’s the one I most regret not being able to “afford to keep”

I had bought this one from Brian Wagner and Stewart Blay for $25,000 and only managed to hang onto it for about two years. The $45,000 that I sold it for was little consolation. The fact that it disappeared from the subsequent owners collection by the time he sold was heartbreaking.

I have to confess that I have never seen an 1864-L cent in Proof during 66 years of collecting. I’ve owned several business strikes.

FlyingAl

@renomedphys said:
Taking “couldn’t “ to mean past tense, in 2013 I lost my job and had to sell some coins. Here’s the one I most regret not being able to “afford to keep”

I had bought this one from Brian Wagner and Stewart Blay for $25,000 and only managed to hang onto it for about two years. The $45,000 that I sold it for was little consolation. The fact that it disappeared from the subsequent owners collection by the time he sold was heartbreaking.

That coin is currently in D.L Hansen’s set in case you were wondering.

Coins3675

@renomedphys said:
Taking “couldn’t “ to mean past tense, in 2013 I lost my job and had to sell some coins. Here’s the one I most regret not being able to “afford to keep”

I had bought this one from Brian Wagner and Stewart Blay for $25,000 and only managed to hang onto it for about two years. The $45,000 that I sold it for was little consolation. The fact that it disappeared from the subsequent owners collection by the time he sold was heartbreaking.

That is an amazing proof cent, it is sad you had to sell it.

Spud2020

I had this coin over 10 years ago. I bought it from Numismatic Americana. I sold it to fund my Dahlonega-Charlotte set. I really did not have to sell it as this coin had it all. I think about it often an wish I had it back. This is the only photo I have.

renomedphys

@2windy2fish said:

Very early days as a not so well financed dealer, absolutely had to turn the inventory to keep afloat.
The Fugio likely hurts the most followed by the Half Dime overdate..

I love this hobby, you learn something new every day. I had absolutely NO idea that there was a "head of '94" with a somewhat straight date, and had it pegged as a possible counterfeit on first glance, or an unknown variety. Sheldon 63, R-3. Looks EAC 40 offhand. Penny Prices has this at somewhere between $5K (30) and $10K (40) but it would likely bring more today. Neat!

Meltdown

Coins3675

@Spud2020 said:
I had this coin over 10 years ago. I bought it from Numismatic Americana. I sold it to fund my Dahlonega-Charlotte set. I really did not have to sell it as this coin had it all. I think about it often an wish I had it back. This is the only photo I have.

That one is amazing, what was the grade on it?

Spud2020

@Coins3675 said:

@Spud2020 said:
I had this coin over 10 years ago. I bought it from Numismatic Americana. I sold it to fund my Dahlonega-Charlotte set. I really did not have to sell it as this coin had it all. I think about it often an wish I had it back. This is the only photo I have.

That one is amazing, what was the grade on it?

PR65 CAC.

Barberian

It served its purpose as an investment. I just wasn't interested in Morgan dollars and decided to sell this key date. Its sale enabled me to buy a top pop 77-S WB-6 half dollar with the credit. I'm a much happier collector now.

(Photo by GFRC)

Catbert

I don't think my example is strictly "can't afford to keep" because I only needed to sell it to take be able to buy a desirable seated half that was being auctioned. Thus I had to raise money quickly. Unless we are rich, we have to make tradeoffs or do without.

VF25 CAC

2windy2fish

@renomedphys
My apologies for not replying sooner, life is a bit chaotic at the moment.
PCGS attributed it as S63 Fallen 4..i have no idea what i sold it for!