Coin Dealers: Describe a memorable mistake

RYK

Borrowing from SethChandler, who I think starts some of the most interesting threads, would the coin dealers describe a purchase that they had great confidence would sell quickly of for a sizable profit, but ended up being a bust (no pun, please, save it for another thread)? Perhaps we could all learn from such a mistake made by a professional.

Robert

Bear

It wouldst seem , our noble dealers have forsworn

the ignoble memorable mistaketh.

MadMarty

I see we have an ole' English Bear here!

BillJones

I recently passed on an 1878 $3 gold I should have bought in an NGC MS-63 holder. It's one of the most common dates in the series, but the coin was all there. It was really the ideal type coin for a collector of moderate means.

A few years ago I passed on another 1792 half disme. The dealer who had it did not specialize in that sort of thing and was looking to sell it to rainse money for a client. The price was around $8K. Not long after that the price zoomed to nearly $30K.

MS68

Too many to chose from. From a percentage standpoint, how about the Albany I bought in the Santa Clara November 2001 sale for $7763 that currently resides in a PCGS 67 holder.

Nic

One heck of a one of a kind neon color obverse 67! K

TheNumish

I've made so many mistakes I should wear a dunce cap all the time.

I'd say one of my bigger mistakes was when I called the mint about when they were planning to stop selling the Capitol Visitor Center $5 in unc. The guy told me there were only 800 coins left in inventory and after they were sold that was it. I figured out that the mintage would only be 5-6,000 pieces and it would be a great buy so I bought 20 pieces. Made good money on them but if I had some guts I would have bought 200 coins. If I did I would have made $200 each and that would have been $40,000. Opportunities like that don't come around often and I blew this one.

Interestingly enough someone who called the mint after me and figured it out bought the remainder of the mintage and made a ton of money. I think that person bought something like 600 pieces.

abuell

I was at a show once and a German couple brought in a bag of German coins to sell. A dealer friend of mine looked the stuff over and it was all junk. He passed and pointed them to a dealer who specialized in world coins. They watched as that dealer went through every last coin with a price guide adding up every last piece of junk. He then wrote them a check for the mess. A short time later that same dealer was passing by my friend's table when he slapped his forehead and said, "OMG I think that I may have really screwed myself!" Seems that he had used a price sheet demoninated in DM and written them a check in $!