What was the best pure luck buy you ever had?

gummibear

I got this one when I was just buying gold on ebay. I didn't notice anything in the picture on ebay when I bid. After I got it graded It was obvious something was there on the ebay pic. But no one bidding saw it. When I got the coin I do remember noticing something odd on the forehead. But forgot to take a close look before I sent it in. This is how it came back. I got it for $175 and sold for $2500. They always say it can be better to be lucky than good. Does this qualify for the YOU SUCK award? Oh and Kudos to ANACS for catching it and sending it back as a surprise. I had even called to find out why my order was taking longer than usual and they didn't tell me why just it was coming soon.
Richard

JZrarities

How did you sell it for $2,500 - eBay? Auction?

gummibear

<< <i>How did you sell it for $2,500 - eBay? Auction? >>


I sold it on Ebay. I tried much Higher first. Then I had it listed by Mike Byers fo $10K but no takers. It is the only known swiss gold error. So, I was hoping to get alot more.
Oh well.
Richard

OzzyAndy

Best buy I've had was buying a bulk lot of assorted world coins (about 10kg I think) and ending up finding more value just in silver than what I paid for it.

Andy

theboz11

1889 Royal Agricultural Society Exhibition at Windsor

The show was held in Windsor Great Park from the 24th to 29th of June 1889. The Prince of Wales acted on behalf of Queen Victoria who was President of the Society for that year. The Queen attended on the 27th and 28th and also knighted the Director of the Show on the 30th. The medal is hollow and was made in two halves, making this an unusual British medal for that period. It was designed and executed by Countess F. Gleichen. The reference for the medal is BHM#3379 and is shown only as being struck in bronze. It is also designated as very rare. 77mm dia and it weighs 114.3grams. It has a NAVY blue leather medal case... on the top it has a gilt CROWN.

This medal is 22kt GOLD. It was presented to the Director when he was Knighted by the Queen, making this medal unique.

I got this on Ebay from an English seller. He said he thought it was gold, but gave no indication that .HE had it tested. He did mention the grove at the foot of the reverse as a tested area by someone.

I sniped it for $265

JoesMaName

I think my best accidental purchase was probably this 1773 Mexican 1/2 real.

It's the Carols variety (sorry for the poor picture)
I picked it up for a few dollars on ebay after winning another piece from a seller who combined shipping.
His initial shipping fee was high but he had quite a few interesting coins going cheap so I picked up a few...

I'd like to say my eagle eye and encyclopedic coin knowledge allowed me to cherry pick it, but the truth is I didn't
even notice the variety till a few years latter when I finally got around to looking up the value.

It's the only time I ever looked up a coin's value and had all three of the below happen:
- Saw there was a rare variety
- Scrabbled to look at my coin with hope and anticipation
- Did the happy dance because mine matched!

The first two I've experienced often enough....

worldcoinguy

I am not a particularly lucky person. I have made some purchases in the last that have turned out favorable due to dramatic market increases, but I can't say it was my astute eye. Right place at the right time I suppose.

A few years back, I stumbled on 1880 rouble in cleaned AU condition in a local show and picked it up for under $80. I didnt have my Krause at the time, but I knew it was a lower mintage date. Sold it a couple years ago for over $700 on the bay of E.

This is another "right place at the right time" coin I picked up for around $150 about 10 years ago. Haven't let this one go yet.

TwoKopeiki

Holy *#&$, WCG, that's a gorgeous and a scarce Rouble. Way to go!

dan8402

<< <i>

<< <i>How did you sell it for $2,500 - eBay? Auction? >>


I sold it on Ebay. I tried much Higher first. Then I had it listed by Mike Byers fo $10K but no takers. It is the only known swiss gold error. So, I was hoping to get alot more.
Oh well.
Richard >>



Do you mean Swedish?

gummibear

Oops. Yes, Swedish.

wybrit

1839 proof penny, bought for $90 on this website (when there were auctions here), sold for $1,575 on ebay.

Aound the same time on the same site I also made a "steal" on my 1869 penny, not yet sold and not serious about selling yet.

speedracer75

I bought a lot on ebay about 2 years ago that consisted of about 50 coins (description indicated about a dozen colonial coins) and also included 2 ANACS MS69 2005 silver eagles. I placed a last minute bid and won as the only bidder for $150. I figured the two silver eagles basically meant I was only risking about $100 on the purchase. Anyway, I went and pieced out the colonials individually on ebay, and most typically sold for $30 each, but one in particular sold for $650... apparently it was a pretty rare one that a couple of people were able to figure out from my pictures. Definitely a good buy for me... though I'm also suspecting that if I had taken the time to get the colonials attributed by ANACS/NGC/PCGS, I may have even gotten more for them...

Another time I bought a poorly described collection on ebay for about $150, which easily had over $200 in silver melt value alone...


**EDIT** Note these were U.S. coins though, not world coins... sorry for the post to the wrong forum!

wybrit

Another cool buy I found was a beat up 1905 shilling in a $2 bin (not misplaced) and selling it for $60 on the bay.