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How long did it take before you realized you were clueless?
lkeigwin
Posts: 16,893 ✭✭✭✭✭
After reading the seriousaboutcoins thread, I thought back to when I knew it all. I have a coffee mug that reads, "now that I know everything how can I turn it into cold, hard cash?"
How long did it take you before you realized you were lost? What or who saved you?
Lance.
How long did it take you before you realized you were lost? What or who saved you?
Lance.
Coin Photography Services / Everyman Registry set / BHNC #213
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I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I feel less clueless in my circle of trust. MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
'bout the same time I got my first set of eight freebie submission back. It seems I had a particular ability to pick out cleaned and/or slider Peace Dollars.
You might say it was expensive tuition, but in reality it was pretty minor really. I've learned a tremendous amount since then. I still have a tremendous amount of learning to do.
seriousblahblah is a troll. With the attitute he has I tend to agree with AUandAG. He'd be better off getting a different hobby. There is very little chance he'll be able to learn anything - sort of like the guy who picks up the snake and complains when it bites him.
<< <i>so just because ive been doing this 3 years... >>
No disrespect intended, but three years is probably not long enough to get this sort of thing figured out.
I'm still very much clueless in some areas whereas in others I feel I've finally gotten somewhat of a grasp.
going on 15 years sept 13th...understanding my sigline below helps...
bob
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
I think I'm still pretty much clueless about most everything in life, but that doesn't stop me from being strongly opinionated.
U.S. Type Set
Some things which I think I might have an inkling of knowledge of, I am often humbled by new revelations relating to...
Though i've learned a great deal about coins, I still have much to learn. Especially series I have little experience in.
I credit this forum and its participants with expanding my kbowledge base extensively.
One of the things I learned early on is to stay away from bright early copper as it is fickle at best and potentially non-stable over the long haul.
Maybe it's just my conservative side coming through but it scares me a bit.
I've even been burned by buffalos going dark and changing color in 'not too flattering' ways.
I try to stay humble and that way I'm less likely to make costly mistakes.
Not trying to make anyone feel bad with my response here. I've made some costly mistakes too!
Edited for spelling and premature posting:
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Phase 2 - ????
Phase 3 - Profit!!!
Let the gnomes explain it to you!
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
that's why I am here
Sometimes there are benefits to getting kicked in the butt now and them. It's way to learn. So long as the "tuition" is not too high, there is nothing wrong with it.
Thankfully I got over totally clueless in Numismatics realtively early on ... but that doesn't mean I know much. I was lucky enough to find a good mentor back then. I am still learning, and have been for a long time ... still taking notes and understanding what I can ... and still really enjoying it. Heck the more I learn, the less I realize I know.
I most probably still am making mistakes along the way too, but this place has helped me a lot. Knowledge gained, things seen and understood, some that I might have never seen or heard about otherwise ...
IMO, these forums are kind of like the big leagues. I'm just a thrid-string bench warmer mostly, that might not even start in the minors, but glad to be on the team just the same.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
in front of his peers. To this day, I always make a point of making eye contact with him when passing his table. Don't bother to see what he may or may not have in the way of numismatic material. I guess I was paying
for my education. Mel
If you can't handle the truth
Don't send your coins to a top TPG.
Grading fee's help to educate the novice collector.
Regards, Larry
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I was completely unimpressed.
After that very inexpensive mistake, I made sure ever single error I bought going forward was a true collectable error.
I have bought tens of thousands of error coins since then, with only one small mistake that I know of.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
<< <i>I had an eye-opener in the early 80's when a client offered me some of the coins I had sold him a few years earlier. The coins were far worse than I had thought at the time I sold them, and I had considered myself an expert grader at the time. The point, of course, is that sometimes the only way to know that you are clueless is in retrospect. >>
This is an insightful reply. "Ownership adds a point" is a true but troubling statement.
Now about 50% clueless.
But I'm still having fun. It can be cheaper than other hobbies for which you have nothing tangible left
at the end of the day.
Mark
Discover all unpredictable errors before they occur.
Never bought a raw coin on ebay, only slabbed coins that I'm confident are correct, so at least I've learned something.
(I had no idea)
The good news is that I caught on in 2006
I immediately started planning my retirement.
<< <i>How long did it take before you realized you were clueless? >>
What do you mean?
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>"Ownership adds a point" is a true but troubling statement. >>
Why is that troubling? People often disagree on grading with no malicious intent.
On average, i spend maybe 5-10hours a week at most on this hobby and have been at it since 2006. At that rate, i probably will never catch up and I'm fine with it. I also have no delusions that I'm going to make money on my hobby because i can somehow outsmart a pretty tough marketplace. A lot of the angst we encounter here and on other coin forums is a product of greed rearing its ugly head, plain and simple.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
A long time ago, I went to the Long Beach show to buy a certified Barber Half for type. Someone from another online forum had agreed to meet for lunch, and I asked if he would take a look at the coin and give his opinion. So the two (actually three of us) went to the booth and I my friend took a look. He said that we needed a moment, and we walked away from the booth. His opinion was that the certified coin was cleaned. Cleaned? But didn't certified mean something more? That was a wake up call. I bought him lunch and passed on the coin. I have previously and since, bought both cleaned and dipped coins, but at least I wasn't clueless about the purchases. Some years later, I attended a live seminar with one of the principles of the major grading services, and a question was asked about cleaned coins in holders, and that was where I learned the term market acceptable.
My local coin club is another eye opener. Some of the long time collectors, say things and bring items to show and tell, that make me cringe, because they indicate cluelessness. I am not going into specifics on the rare chance that one of them is reading. Some of these guys are 20 or 30 years in, so probably don't want to learn and may never move into a more discriminating numismatic group. Now, some of this is opinion, but some items would poll in the 90/10 on this forum, meaning 90% would agree on my assessment.
I am not clueless. I remain humble, and willing to learn. I know a lot about coins, a lot more about history, in the top quartile, perhaps top 5% in both areas in the hobby population. My grading skills are suspect, my dealer connections relatively weak. I do tend to know a lot about prices, and price histories (good thing considering my blog signature line).
/edit to add: I haven't read the other thread. I always keep in mind that there are a lot of trolls and sock puppets (alt IDs) on the Internet. Sometimes people post things to stir the pot, to get a flame war started, to play games with forum regulars, not because they believe it. If I suspect a troll post, I know to ignore it.
Makes me think, no, reminds me what else I've been stupid about. Makes me wonder if I'm being stupid about any money tossed at coins, even ones I think are legit good value.
<< <i>"Ownership adds a point" is a true but troubling statement. >>
If ownership adds a point, then why do I think some of my graded coins are a point or 2 higher than I would give them if they were raw and I were selling them?
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I used that line on a dealer one time and he immediately pulled out the book on the series and told me to buy it.
Check out the Southern Gold Society
Dragon, that doesn't stop anyone! Me the least of all.
-KHayse
<< <i>The seriousaboutcoins thread is painful to read. I actually feel bad for that bitter man. >>
No doubt ... anger like that doesn't go away easy.
I was made a numismatic mortal at a young age when I took my prized "BU" 1864 two-cent piece to an ANA show and patiently waited in line for the ANACS grader to laud me with praise over my excellent eye and exceptional grading skills. Less than 8 seconds after I handed him the coin, he handed it back to me and said ... "AU-58 ... next?" I was crushed ... CRUSHED! Then I spent a lot of time after that trying to figure our how I messed up.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
$500 vicinity and expected to be able to get 300 at the first shop I went to. The dealer gave me about
$130 which was only a few dollars more than I had in it. All my AG and G keys were actually only FR. All
my friends did much worse with most getting back less than half their "investment" and sometimes, much
less.
I came back to collecting with a brand new attitude. I wanted the best available and no questions about
it even if that meant I only had modern junk.
Truth to tell I'm still clueless. It scarces me that almost everyone thinks they're a lot smarter than I am.
<< <i>I don't think I was ever clueless. I'm usually too careful in the things I do (for better or worse.) But there have been some hard learned lessons. One comes to mind when I bought a nice looking XF-AUish 1831 bust half, the most expensive coin I'd ever purchased at the time, for $80. It had a very nice look to it, but had been cleaned. I tried to certify it ATS and failed. It took me a while to figure out what went wrong. It wasn't obviously cleaned, just some faint hairlines. I would call it a 50/50 today (you could see it end up in a holder if you resubmitted it a few times.) That was an inexpensive lesson, especially considering I sold it raw on ebay for the same amount (I was out the fees) and I DID disclose that the coin may have been cleaned. It was just so nice looking no one really cared I guess. >>
What? If I understand you correctly,you had this coin graded ATS,it failed,cracked it out,sold it on Ebay,saying "the coin MAY have been cleaned"??YOU were one DISHONEST seller for doing that!!