My fault, My biggest coin horror story ever just happened

barberlover

For the most part, the coins i recently sold i did very well on but one coin i got taken to the cleaners on and it was my own fault!

I had to raise a fairly large sum in a fairly short time so i decided the time delays going the auction route was not the way to go.

While the coins i sold to Larry Whitlow got me a very generous offer from Mike Printz [who by the way is a great guy to do buisness with] the remaining coin was the 1877 CC seated quarter in pcgs 67 that i have mentioned before in several threads.

I figured that since heritage sold me the coin, they would give me the best offer in buying it back, well, there offer was 4275 and i had paid 5690 !

over 1400 loss and a 26% difference, my single worst transaction in coins in the over 35 years i've been in the hobby!

As i said this was my fault because i didn't bother to find out until much later that Heritage didn't own this coin, but was selling it for someone else.

I will never buy another coin without doing my homework first, from Heritage or anyone else!!

But, as i said, this waws my fault and no one elses. Les

MrEureka

Did you pay too much or sell too low, or both? (Or neither?)

barberlover

Mr Eureka, probably a little of both. The grey sheet doesn't list seated quarters above the grade of 65 and i never bothered to ask the salesman from Heritage if this was there coin or a consignment coin. Also as i said i was in a hurry to raise the money or i would have either gone the auction route or or shopped the coin around, but i just didn't have the time. Not all my transactions have gone bad though. I should add that Heritage sold me my favorite coin so i'm not completly pissed at them.

The longer i've been doing this the more careful i'm getting so hopefully nothing of this magnitude will happen again. Les

jonesy

We learn from our mistakes. Good Luck in the future.
Glenn

mdwoods

Barberlover, I did about the same thing by not having a reserve on my PCGS MS67 Barber quarter I recently sold in auction. I thought the coin would easily surpass what I paid for it, but it went for considerably less. . Fortunately some Lincolns I sold saved me from an overall loss.

roadrunner

Les, if this is the worst transaction you have ever had in coins you are way ahead of nearly most of us. I have a number of occurences in my past where I received 10 cents on the dollar for coins I was buried in...some raw...some slabbed. And those coins were just as expensive as your 1877cc quarter. But my biggest horror story was a dealer selling off a pile of $20 saints I gave him to trade out of for me. He used the proceeds to fund his business until he ultimately went bankrupt lying to me all the time. The horror is that he's back in business again.

I've found that it doesn't take a whole lot shopping around usually to find what your coins are currently worth wholesale. Dealers like
Legend, Whitlow, US Coins, Heritage, B&M to name the more prominent ones will pretty much bracket them for you. And in many cases, the dealer who sold me the coin was often not the strongest buyer when it came time to sell. I think that's one of the myths in the business that dealers want their old coins back. Sure, if they were undergraded....in old holders......or you underprice them. But often not otherwise.


roadrunner

MadMonk

Sorry for that kind of news. I wonder if you think of all the fun you had with the hobby, if that would help you feel better about the "numbers". This made me think of specialist retailer that would pay very strong money (well over sheet, up to full retail) for coins that he knew he could sell. He just dropped out of the biz a number of years ago, after over 20 yrs. I believe due to a divorce. He always had amazing coins. He had a very well established list of customers, and they paid full retail and above for his goods. He was extremely picky is a specialist, sent out a monthly list, and typically sold over 80% of his inventory. Those were the good old days. I guess my point is, always buy great eye appeal coins, and when you want to sell, talk with as many specialty dealers as possible.

barberlover

Mdwoods, now you have a reason to be mad at my former employer, because you know i wanted that quarter you were selling and i would hae bid higher than the winning bidder in that auction did if i was still working. Original surfaces, sharp strike and full luster with very clean surfaces Les

Yes, i do still think of the fun in this hobby, it's my motivating interest to stay in it!!!

I remember my dad giving me his collection of Lincolns and Jeffersons, I remember going to a coin shop for the first time with my grandfather and seeing my first gold coin, I remember paying for my wifes engagement ring with the first coin i ever baught raw that i had slabbed and sold for a profit.

I remember seeing the prettiest barber half i've ever seen in 1989 when i wouldn't pay what is was worth then but have been looking for it ever since.

I remember that to me this is a hobby and if i make money sometimes thats icing on the cake, but i came here for the cake. Les