"Reverse Cherrypicking" anyone?

rhedden

Have any of you ever experienced the sublime joy of "reverse cherrypicking"? If cherrypicking is defined as the act of paying a small amount of money for a massively rare variety, then reverse cherrypicking would be defined as paying a massive premium for a coin that turns out to be a common variety. In other words, due to thinking you found a rare variety, you overpay horribly for something which, upon closer inspection, is not what you initially thought it was. It's even better if an anonymous seller has disappeared into thin air with your money in the mean time.



Example # 1: I thought I had acquired a rare (R5) 1800/79, Sheldon-195 large cent on eBay, paying a high price, only to figure out shortly thereafter that it was a less exciting (R4) S-193 instead. I didn't overpay by too much, but what a disappointment.

Example #2: A dealer I know gleefully whipped out an 1830 "Large Letters" Bust half at a small, local show about 7 years ago. He wanted $1,800 for it, explaining in a hushed voice that a collector had just cherrypicked it on the other side of the room for $30. I flipped it over and saw immediately that it was not the O-114 Large Letters variety and passed on it. He knew instantly what he had done: paid a stranger $1200 for a $30 coin. The person who "cherrypicked" it was nowhere to be found. Ouch.

Now who else cares to admit to making a good blunder or two?

Tdec1000

Example number 2 is a rough one! wow!

seanq

I've won several auctions with strong bids on eBay only to receive a coin which I'd misattributed. Most recently it was an 1870 Indian cent in full good which I vastly overpaid for thinking it was a popular misplaced date variety.

I also remember a time at a WESPNEX show when an older dealer offered me my choice of a couple of extremely worn large cents for $10. I choose an 1803 thinking it was a rare date/fraction variety, except it wasn't. The other coin I could have had was a 1794. I remember the dealer just shaking his head when I told him which coin I wanted.


Sean Reynolds

rhedden

I remember the dealer just shaking his head when I told him which coin I wanted.



LOL- it was probably an S-48 Starred reverse, too.

coindeuce

I was so proud of myself for having purchased a 1794 Flowing Hair Half that I graded Poor 1, for just a few hunnerd, until the TPG's rejected it repeatedly as a no decision.

Twinturbo

Picked a 1870 cc half from a meltbucket for 2x spot
Got home and gave it a quick dip to remove the pvc
To my horror the cc mintmark just fell off...

rhedden

To my horror the cc mintmark just fell off...



Too funny. I once dug up a 1909-s Indian cent while metal detecting, and while removing the heavy crust and corrosion around the mint mark area with a pocket knife, the corroded mint mark just flaked off the coin. I don't think it was fake, just heavily oxidized, and there it went down the drain. My local coin dealer laughed until he was blue in the face. Oh well, at least it made someone's day.

cmerlo1

I call them 'lemonpicks'.

ProofArtworkonCircs

Some of my cherrypicks were wrong, but at least I didn't overpay for them.

Twinturbo

<< <i>To my horror the cc mintmark just fell off...



Too funny. I once dug up a 1909-s Indian cent while metal detecting, and while removing the heavy crust and corrosion around the mint mark area with a pocket knife, the corroded mint mark just flaked off the coin. I don't think it was fake, just heavily oxidized, and there it went down the drain. My local coin dealer laughed until he was blue in the face. Oh well, at least it made someone's day. >>



I learned that same lesson the hard way...
I dug up an 1904-s dime UNC details. I decided to scrape away dirt with my fingernail... S mint just fell off.... oh well win some and lose some.

halfcentman

The problem with the pedagogy of cherrypicking is that you need to focus on the attributes of common coins so the rarer ones stick out (unless the rare attributes are so glaring that they cannot be ignored).

Your eye will want to see what it wants to see, and that is how mistakes are made.

ricko

That has not happened to me... however, early in my collecting career, I do know I passed up some good coins/prices because I was unsure of their authenticity. Cheers, RickO

partagas

I have paid double what the coin was worth, but nothing more then a $100 loss on anyone item. Still hate to lose money but I don't feel terrible about any of my blunders.