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What is the biggest loss a coin has had at auction?

In other words, maybe a rarity hammered at 50,000 in one auction but a few years later only came in at 30,000. Have any of you sen this happen? If so, what kind of coin was it and what was the dollar amount?

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  • ms70ms70 Posts: 13,954 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don't know about the past but I predict for in the future it will be "the" 1933 Double Eagle. That's if the others are allowed into the hands of the public.

    Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.

  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,782 ✭✭✭✭

    I know a board member that took a $5,000+ loss on a Buffalo nickel.
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • How can anyone lose $$ on a coin at auction---set a reserve !
  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,540 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Think it was 3 years ago. Some nonsense re a "finest known" 53 S Franklin Half that became a pop 2 six months later & was sold for a five figure loss.
    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
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  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,782 ✭✭✭✭



    << <i> How can anyone lose $$ on a coin at auction---set a reserve ! >>


    Can an auction with a reserve really be called an auction? image

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    Coin collectors are a lot like Vegas gamblers.

    They both like to brag about their scores, but

    never about their losses. Ego I think.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • CoinosaurusCoinosaurus Posts: 9,631 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The 1870-S half dime sold for $425K and a few years later around $250K, if memory serves.
  • mrearlygoldmrearlygold Posts: 17,858 ✭✭✭
    A fellow I know told me he paid 1.7 Million to a company in New Jersey for coins that when all sold will have brought less than 1.2 million, and this is in the hottest coin market in decades.

    Nice huh?
  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,162 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The answer to your question could be the Dexter 1804 dollar [currently NGC PF65 but PCGS PR63 then]. It sold for $990k in 1989 and then I believe sold for around $600k a few years later [after the market had crashed].

    But the all time King of Flops is the King of Siam set. It sold for $3.19M in 1990 and then only $1.815M in 1993.
  • foodudefoodude Posts: 3,572 ✭✭✭
    But the all time King of Flops is the King of Siam set. It sold for $3.19M in 1990 and then only $1.815M in 1993.

    That's the same one I recall.
    Greg Allen Coins, LLC Show Schedule: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/573044/our-show-schedule-updated-10-2-16 Authorized dealer for NGC, PCGS, CAC, and QA. Member of PNG, RTT (Founding Platinum Member), FUN, MSNS, and NCBA (formerly ICTA); Life Member of ANA and CSNS. NCBA Board member. "GA3" on CCE.
  • Aegis3Aegis3 Posts: 2,905 ✭✭✭


    << <i>In other words, maybe a rarity hammered at 50,000 in one auction but a few years later only came in at 30,000. Have any of you sen this happen? If so, what kind of coin was it and what was the dollar amount? >>



    Assay Commission medals of the 1970's have not done well. As examples, the 1971 medal in the Dreyfuss sale (1986) sold for $1,430, while when sold again in 1995, went for only $825. The 1972 medal which appeared in both sales went for $1,430 in 1986 and dropped to $385 in 1995. The 1973 medal sold for $1,650 in 1986, $935 in 1995, didn't meet reserve when auctioned in 2003, and in 2005 sold for $460.

    They are, however, quite fascinating to collect.

    --

    Ed. S.

    (EJS)
  • wondercoinwondercoin Posts: 16,973 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Percentage-wise - I watched a valuable modern coin sell in the right auction venue for around $12,500 three years ago, then resold in a questionable auction (by one of the top auction companies) setting around two years ago where it realized less than $2,500 at auction and then resold this year in a proper auction venue for more than $16,000. That middle sale was a killer (percentage-wise) for the owner.

    Wondercoin
    Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
  • pontiacinfpontiacinf Posts: 8,915 ✭✭
    the recent 1960-D FS nickel comes to mind...
    image

    Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,273 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The 1870-S half dime sold for $425K and a few years later around $250K, if memory serves. >>



    That is basically correct, but the first price was not an auction. Rarcoa bought the 1870-S Half Dime from a local right here where I am sitting now, and Milas sold it to somebody with the agreement that the sale price would be whatever the Garrett 1804 dollar brought. Well, Garrett prices went through the roof, and the 1804 went for $400,000, which surprised everybody at the time. The buyer honored the deal, and paid $400,000 for the half dime. Later, after the market crashed, it brought somewhere in the low $200,000's. Oddly enough, so did the Garrett 1804 dollar.

    I remember the $400,000 number well, because about a year later the Linderman 1804 dollar came in to ANACS and I spotted it as one of the pieces stolen from DuPont in 1967. We talked the guy into leaving it with us, and then called the Colorado Springs police. When they asked how much the coin was worth, I said $400,000, using the Garrett number even though this coin was much nicer. The police said that that was too much for them to handle, and that we had to call the FBI.

    When I called the Colorado Springs office of the FBI, they asked how much the coin was worth, and again I said $400,000. They said that that was too much for THEM to handle, and that we had to call the Denver office. We did, and waited over two hours for an agent to drive down and take our statements and the coin. Of course, the local office would not even send anybody over to sit with us while we waited. I never knew that FBI offices had dollar limits.

    Tom DeLorey
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • StoogeStooge Posts: 4,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Back in the day on Teletrade, I seen a 1982-D Washington half PCGS MS69 POP = <10, sell for $5,000. Now they can be had for $650 or less. At least thats what I believe they go for now, since I havn't been watching them.

    Later, Paul.

    Later, Paul.
  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,392 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I heard a story that the Brasher Dubloon that was sold in 1982 at auction was later sold in a private sale for a huge loss later in the 80's.
    All glory is fleeting.
  • segojasegoja Posts: 6,136 ✭✭✭✭
    How about the 1963 Cent graded PF70DCAm that sold for around $39,000, now worth......maybe $300-500.

    Percent wise, that one should take the cake...or better said loss (I think PCGS absorbed this one)
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  • BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭


    << <i>How can anyone lose $$ on a coin at auction---set a reserve ! >>


    Sometimes people just want to sell. Haven't you ever sold a stock at a loss?
  • TheLiberatorTheLiberator Posts: 1,023 ✭✭✭
    Wow. This is an amazing (and scary) thread! thanks for the responses.

  • Conder101Conder101 Posts: 10,536
    Another good example is the 1795 S-79 from the first Robbie Brown sale. In that sale it sold for $63,000. Over the next ten years it moved through several different collections selling higher and higher each time until it ot back to Robbie again in the low 200K range. Then at the sale of his second collection in 1996 it sold for I believe somewhere in the 60K range again.

    Why? Because at the first sale there were about half a dozen well heeled collectors who needed that one last coin to finish their Sheldon set. (Robbie was only the fourth person to ever accomplish that feat because there are only 4 1/2 S-79's. Three are in very firm hands and the 1/2 specimen hasn't been seen in years.) So there was a lot of competition for it. Three yeas later the buyer sold his set and there were five competitors. Then he sold and there were four, then three, then two. Then Robbie got back in to finish the Sheldon set for the SECOND time and he won out at top dollar. In the meantime the other collector managed to acquire one of the other examples. So when Robbie sold again, there were collectors that wanted it, but no one who HAD to have it because no one was down to that last variety. So the price plummeted.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,782 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>ow about the 1963 Cent graded PF70DCAm that sold for around $39,000, now worth......maybe $300-500.

    Percent wise, that one should take the cake...or better said loss (I think PCGS absorbed this one) >>



    Yes, PCGS took the loss on that coin. The coin regraded PR64DCAM making "maybe $300-500" extremely optimistic!
    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • BECOKABECOKA Posts: 16,960 ✭✭✭
    I'm not sure about past auctions but I bet I can predict a future one. How about the modern PR70DCAM Eagle that just sold for $37,000. It's $700 dollars of gold bullion. I would bet that the next time it sells it comes down to less than $5K

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