What was the last big numismatic mistake you made?
ColonialCoinUnion
Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭
And what have you done since then, if anything, to ensure you don't repeat it?
0
Comments
rainbowroosie April 1, 2003
As for what I have done since...No boyfriends allowed in my house.
Jim
">"http://www.cashcrate.com/5663377"
The problem is I'm sure I'll do it again. Just can't control myself.
Insurance is a GOOD THING!!
Jim
I was offered a raw coin some time ago at a major show. (As a side note, I often buy raw, as many better colonials are sold that way, then slab them myself. Numerical grade is a secondary consideration for me, but all things being equal I'd prefer my fantastic, original, rare pedigreed coin to be in an MS64 holder, for example, than in an MS63).
So anyway, I'm at this major show and I am offered a fantastic coin which I decide I'd like to buy. Its a gem, fabulous, pedigreed etc.
I avail myself of the 'free chat with David Hall' opportinity at the PCGS table and show it to him. He says 'best I've ever seen, MS63, 4 or 5'. Of course the free opinion is not a definitive grade, as David points out to others waiting in line, and so I go ahead and submit the newly acquired coin for grading fully expecting a 63, 4 or 5 result.
It comes back AU58.
Now, I know what it is, and what its worth, but this is at the very least annoying. At best, I could have purchased it conditionally based on a walk-through grade result at PCGS. And if it had 58'd, I'd have still bought it, but for a different price.
That ain't going to happen again.
K S
Now I’m sorry that I let the 1795 cent go, and I’m kind of sorry about the 1848-C $2.50 gold as well.
I now have a 1795 cent in a PCGS AU-50 holder that is not nearly as nice as the coin I sold. And I did buy an 1838-C $2.50 gold to replace the 1848-C that I sold. That last transactions was a very good move, so I guess you would say it was a 50-50 deal.
And yes, I still the Gobrecht Dollar. It is now an “Emperor Slab” (overgraded) in an NGC MS-60 holder.
Getting started!
Greg Hansen, Melbourne, FL Click here for any current EBAY auctions Multiple "Circle of Trust" transactions over 14 years on forum
don't buy raw DMPL's unless you can view in person.
Why step over the dollar to get to the cent? Because it's a 55DDO.
Tom
Jerry
<< <i>Paid twice what a coin was worth just because I had to have it. Didn't feel I would see another one for years.
The problem is I'm sure I'll do it again. Just can't control myself.
Most of us have done this. I'm beginning to wonder if this is not what's driving some of the market...what's left of the up trend anyway.
Jerry
The kicker is that the same German antique dealer had a tray full of US colonials, all in nice shape, that he wanted dirt prices for. I passed on them because I didn't collect them. Stupid kid.
The Lincoln cent store:
http://www.lincolncent.com
My numismatic art work:
http://www.cdaughtrey.com
USAF veteran, 1986-1996 :: support our troops - the American way.
for $250.
FrederickCoinClub
Wandering over to the Open Forum
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Lesson. Don't crack em out when there is a big spread between the lower grade and the current grade! And remember...even GRADERS aren't good graders. We are schmucks to think WE are!!
If the coin has 3-5x commercial upside (or more) for the upgrade, and 50% or less downside risk for the downgrade he factors in his percentage chance for the upgrade (based on his top grading acumen) with the commercial implications and can make a relatively objective economic appraisal of whether it's worth a shot to try for the upgrade.
I think that I read this in one of Scott Travers books. It made for very interesting reading.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
The coin was ruined [IMO]. Not a day goes by that I don't kick myself.
Yeah, I really applied THAT formula!! ZERO upside, 73% downside!!!
So shall we call that a LESSON LEARNED??? I think so.
Just after I sent payment, somebody negged the seller, but it would have to be the first time I was ever encouraged by seeing a neg in a seller's profile- somebody had negged him since their lot was only 63 pounds! This indicated to me that they at least got something, and I figured if I got even sixty pounds, it was still a great deal. I got zilch, and the guy was NARU'ed before I could even neg him. Took the money and ran- about 250 bucks.
What really grinds my gears about this episode was that I paid by PayPal, and I wanted to use my credit card, so I could have some recourse in case the shifty-smelling seller shafted me. But my credit card had been stolen the week before, and I had had to cancel it, so when it came time to pay the guy, I just used an e-check through PayPal and crossed my fingers. I gambled and lost. Within the same two-week period I also had two gold coins worth about $700 stolen from my booth at the mall, so that was a bad period. Things seem to happen in threes.
Another numismatic mistake I made was attempting to use electrolysis to clean a crusty large cent I'd found with my metal detector. It was the first large cent I'd dug, and when it came out of the ground, I could see it was a Draped Bust. Detector finds, particularly crusty copper, must be cleaned, so cleaning it was not a mistake, but using the electrolysis was. My homemade electrolysis rig worked splendidly on silver and had even done well on some copper in the past, but I guess I left the large cent in the solution a little too long, and when I "zapped" it, what little detail that remained on the coin just crumbled away- I'd "burnt it up".
So now I have a Draped bust slug. Just a featureless, pitted brown disc. Even if the cleaning had worked as planned, it probably would not have been a great looking coin (after all, it had been buried for 200 years), but I sure would've liked to have been able to make out the date on it.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
Turned into a real contest let me tell ya.
Loose lips sink ships!
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
<< <i>LM: I thought that you'd lament about mistakenly drilling a hole through an otherwise very valuable coin
I would never drill a hole in a lovely old coin! Sacrilege!
I only buy the ones that were already holed, long ago! A few people have sent me some and told me "here, you can drill this", but I couldn't do it. I have once or twice finished a hole somebody started a long time ago, when it was on a large cent I needed for the date set on the back of my vest.
And I did "cheat" a little to make the buttons on the vest. I had one Indian cent that was suitably holed for a button, but I still had five more to make if I wanted coin buttons on the vest, so I took some really crusty, nasty old Shield nickels and Flying Eagle cents a detecting buddy had dug and given me, tumbled 'em in a rock tumbler to clean 'em up, and then drilled two holes in the center of each to make my buttons. They look great on the vest, and were so nasty before that I don't regret drilling 'em. But that's the only time I have ever "cheated" and made my own holeys. It was a special circumstance.
I knew in my deep in my heart that you were not really a pro-active coin hole driller
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
END OF DISCUSSION. THERE IS NO BIGGER MISTAKE EVER!! And damn it if I didn't do the same!! And I'm still married..I haven't had to fork over her 50%... YET!!!
<< <i>I made the horrible mistake of letting NCS 'lighten' a beautiful 1877 trade dollar that was the finest I'd ever seen.
The coin was ruined [IMO]. Not a day goes by that I don't kick myself. >>
You? Did THAT? I'm speechless.
I will never do it again .... tho the lure of the upgrade is always tempting. It's like a drug that one must resist. If you do it once and get an upgrade, it's hard not to be hooked. And there's always just enough upgrades from across the hall to keep one coming back for more.
That's why I preach to just say no. It's not worth doing for a collector - except in the rare instance you've bought a really ugly coin.
<< <i>I let my second wife know about "the box".
END OF DISCUSSION. THERE IS NO BIGGER MISTAKE EVER!! And damn it if I didn't do the same!! And I'm still married..I haven't had to fork over her 50%... YET!!!
50% would have been a bargain in retrospect.
Rgrds
Tom
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Check out a Vanguard Roth IRA.
Will most likely go down as the worst mistake I ever made??
My collection was from my teen years thru my mid twenties... and my current collection has been assembled over the last twelve years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
My next big mistake was selling off some of my type set in order to pay household bills when I was between jobs in 2001. Utility bills come regularly, but a nice $425 VG/F Flowing Hair half dollar does not.