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Please share a mistake you made buying a coin within the last few years.

Hopefull others may learn from our mistakes. Here's mine:

I bought some raw $20 double eagles a year ago at a show all in stapled white cardboard
holders and one had a bad nick along the edge hidden by the folder. I learned, if it is displayed that
way to insist the dealer remove the staples for inspection. If they refuse I won't buy it.
"location, location, location...eye appeal, eye appeal, eye appeal"
My website

Comments

  • RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    I ponied up $75 for a cameo Accented Hair at a show that was in a 2x2. When I later pulled it out of the holder, I discovered that it was massively hairlined on the obverse. That was the last time I paid strong for a coin under crappy show lighting without viewing it naked.

    Russ, NCNE
  • DD Posts: 1,997 ✭✭✭
    Bought an overjuiced picture of a 1879-S Morgan. I thought it was PL at least, maybe DMPL. I quickly learned when I recieved the coin that the contrast and everything was pretty messed with in the photo. It was a valuable lesson though, I took the time to learn a few different programs, and the looks of coins that are messed with by computers.

    -Daniel
    "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

    -Aristotle

    Dum loquimur fugerit invida aetas. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.

    -Horace
  • ...........bought coins with credit card ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,not smart
  • robertprrobertpr Posts: 6,862 ✭✭✭
    Well so far three out of four mistakes are people buying coins that couldn't be properly viewed. I'm sure just about everybody here can relate, from eBay experiences or from buying in-hand.
  • airplanenutairplanenut Posts: 22,209 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This coin looked great at the show... like an MS66

    image
    image

    Then I took her home...

    image

    The consolation was that I bought two other coins from the same dealer--slabbed both and sold one, which paid for all three coins and the grading fees image
    JK Coin Photography - eBay Consignments | High Quality Photos | LOW Prices | 20% of Consignment Proceeds Go to Pancreatic Cancer Research
  • FatManFatMan Posts: 8,977


    << <i>Well so far three out of four mistakes are people buying coins that couldn't be properly viewed. I'm sure just about everybody here can relate, from eBay experiences or from buying in-hand. >>

    Yep, my error was bidding / winning a Heritage Auction coin from the image. Buying coins without holding the coin in hand are mistakes waiting to happen.
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yep, my error was bidding / winning a Heritage Auction coin from the image.

    Ditto, and lesson learned.
  • BECOKABECOKA Posts: 16,961 ✭✭✭
    Bought a coin raw on e-bay.
  • My biggest one was my first coin bought from Ebay. I thought I was buying a gold quarter eagle (the modern one). It turns out I got suckered into one of those "place your bids and then I get to pick what I send you" auctions. (They have another name, but I can't recall.) Well, on top of that, the auction only accepted Western Union payments. The worst part is, Ebay stopped the auction after the gavel went down, so not only did I pay, but because Ebay had stopped the auction (again, after the auction ended), they left me high and dry.

    Now I only pay with and accept Paypal in my auctions.
    If you haven't noticed, I'm single and miserable and I've got four albums of bitching about it that I would offer as proof.

    -- Adam Duritz, of Counting Crows


    My Ebay Auctions
    image
  • DNADaveDNADave Posts: 7,279 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I made a good mistake selling a coin recently.

    Just look at HTUBBS Icon. That was my coin.

    I sold it to him for a $30 profit. He sold it for a $500 profit.
    I'm not sore about it, in fact he proved what I had thought all along, that it was a monster.
    He was able to take better pictures than I ever could.


    Still, seeing it there is a little painful.
  • EagleEyeEagleEye Posts: 7,677 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My mistake was not buying more raw WI Extra leaf quarters at $100 a set (1/05) $250 a set (2/05), $350 a set (4/05). I guess 500 sets wasn't enough.
    Rick Snow, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Inc.Check out my new web site:
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,580 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Spent $40 on an "early date" P&D bison box. Sold it later for $14 on eBay.
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • CoxeCoxe Posts: 11,139
    I bid and won a Morgan dollar in one of the Reiver sales. After winning, I posted what I won and that it was a desirable VAM. Heritage then re-ran the auction saying there were technical problems. I still won it but paid about $200 more than the previous night. I won't know if another astute bidder was locked out but knew it was a top VAM or if I clued other bidders in who then bid it up on the second run of that auction. (I edited my posting but only after Heritage announced they were redoing the sale.)
    Select Rarities -- DMPLs and VAMs
    NSDR - Life Member
    SSDC - Life Member
    ANA - Pay As I Go Member
  • LALASD4LALASD4 Posts: 3,602 ✭✭✭
    All the coins that I brought are MISTAKES.image
    Coin Collector, Chicken Owner, Licensed Tax Preparer & Insurance Broker/Agent.
    San Diego, CA


    image
  • My first coin buy at a dealer's shop. Spent time talking to him and taking up his time, so I told him I'd take the 1986 unc eagle. I didnt get a good look at it in the store and took a good look at home: cleaned and hairline scratches.
  • gyocomgdgyocomgd Posts: 2,582 ✭✭✭
    This is hard to admit...just starting out, I bought one of those eBay lots "valued at $30,000" or thereabouts. Paid just over a thousand and thought I was getting a steal. It was loaded with NTC-slabbed Morgans in dates where the margins really jumped...Silver eagles graded MS70 and valued at $3,000 (I still don't get why PCGS has them valued as such in their price guide to this very day) and other assorted garbage. I dumped it all in dribs and drabs, and probably got all of $300 back.
    image


  • << <i>Yep, my error was bidding / winning a Heritage Auction coin from the image.

    Ditto, and lesson learned. >>



    Been there, done that. NEVER again!
    "Everyday above ground is a good day"

  • RBinTexRBinTex Posts: 4,328
    Buying top pop modern crap image
  • mtnmanmtnman Posts: 571 ✭✭✭
    Bought a raw 1889CC Morgan on e-Bay before I joined these boards.
    BB from NGC - cleaned.
  • jmj3esqjmj3esq Posts: 5,421
    I bought a raw Oregon Trail commem on ebay from a guy who described the coin as AU. The picture he posted in his listing was not a picture of the coin he was selling. At the bottom of the page this was disclosed. I only saw the disclosure after I made my max bid. I got a bad feeling in myy gut after I saw the disclosure. When the coin arrived it was in EF condition and had been cleaned. The higher relief points on the coin were worn flat. I only paid $90 for it so its not a big loss. On top of it all the idiot would not honor his stated return policy. Rather than risking negative feedback and a long fight I took it in the rear and let the guy off easy. It was a mistake I will not soon repeat.
  • vega1vega1 Posts: 941
    In 1998 I bought a couple "first stat" Delaware state quarters thinking they were going to be worth something. I had just started collecting and bought the full page ad hype the dealer had in a coin magazine about what a valuable error they would turn out to be. I bought 2 at $30 a pop. A cheap lesson luckily.image
  • PhillyJoePhillyJoe Posts: 2,701 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Bought a coin raw on e-bay. >>



    Not only am I a member of this club, I could be the president.image

    Mine was a 1869 seated half.

    Joe
    The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. image
  • GemineyeGemineye Posts: 5,374
    Read the Label Not the Auction Title

    I Should have Read the label and really looked at the coin...I misread and Won......I had the coin to begin with....image
    ......Larry........image
  • VeepVeep Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭✭
    Mistakenly bid MS65 RD money for an RB '09-S VDB. Costly mistake.
    "Let me tell ya Bud, you can buy junk anytime!"
  • Redundant, but...
    Bought a coin sight unseen from Heritage Auction and put it on a 6 month payment plan, thus negating any chance at return/refund.image,image
    "Wars are really ugly! They're dirty
    and they're cold.
    I don't want nobody to shoot me in the foxhole."
    Mary






    Best Franklin Website


  • << <i>

    << <i>Yep, my error was bidding / winning a Heritage Auction coin from the image.

    Ditto, and lesson learned. >>



    Been there, done that. NEVER again! >>



    I guess I have been lucky so far. I have purchased several coins from Heritage and have always done well. I bid under what I would for a "sight seen" coin. By bidding a "sight unseen" amount, I don't always win but have done well on the ones I have won. The other day I bid $2599 ( total with buyers premium) on the below coin. I did not win but the winning bid was only $2760 (total with buyer's premium.) I think this was an extremely good bargin. Now the coin is on Larry Whitlow's website as a PCGS MS65++ for $4100. Now I wish I had bid a little more.

    Here is Heritage's description of the coin: Lot 2753 Auction 394

    1890 50C MS65 PCGS. The total coinage of business strikes this year totaled only 12,000 examples. This coin has brilliant centers with a light-gold peripheral ring. Examination under magnification shows a couple of field ticks and a scrape over Liberty's right (facing) arm. Robustly struck, but from lightly clashed dies, with the outline of Liberty's outstretched right arm visible beneath the eagle's wing. Desirable and high end for the grade. Population: 15 in 65, 12 finer PICS

    Now tell me if you think this coin is not worth the winning bid of $2760. I am not saying that all coins on Heritage's auctions are great buys like this but there are bargains to be had.

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