Have you ever discovered that a coin purchase ...

Mesquite

... revealed to you numismatic tunnelvision or a blindspot? This one did for me. I bought an 1893 Columbian yesterday. Thought it had probably resided in someone's collection and then made it into circulation for a brief period. I was totally fixated on evaluating the toning of the coin and completely missed the harsh cleaning and defacing of the obverse and the two rim dings seen in the obverse photo (at 6:00 and at 3:30). I totally forgot to evaluate the coin as a whole. I got lucky this time - the coin cost me $8. An inexpensive lesson in looking thoroughly before pulling the trigger. I imagine that this was a looker in its day. Someone apparently didn't care for that look.

airplanenut

My best example got caught before I bought it... nice electric green on a 1913 T1 buffalo, but the rest of the coin was almost burnt and dead... good thing I didn't buy it.

Shortgapbob

I did it once with a 1903 Morgan at an auction. I saw the coin in florescent lighting (the first bad thing) and was so impressed by the mark free surfaces, that I really missed the fact that the coin was overdipped. This was clearly evident after the purchase. It was still a decent coin, just not worth quite what I paid for it.

CarlWohlforth

Sorry, I can't top your example. At first I did overlook the rims of the coins...

ibzman350

This one hurt.....................local auction, get to the auction a bit late, saw the coin in display case and noticed it's one of my favorite dates.

Bid and win the coin..


get the coin home, dang...










Herb

ColonialCoinUnion

Please don't buy any more coins until you spend time with someone qualified to show you how and what to look for.

mgoodm3

Been there.

Longacre

That hurts. I bought an early copper in a 2x2 at a show (not very expensive), which looked great, but when I got it home, it was obviously cleaned at a certain point near the edge. Nothing harsh, but the coin did not have as much appeal to me after I noticed it.