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Your priciest coin purchase.....how long it it take you to decide to pull the trigger?

Auction or direct purchase?


Took me about half an hour of post "coin did not meet reserve" research to make Heritage an offer, that was fairly quickly accepted.

Price was in the new car smell range and was sold a year later at a respectable profit.

Comments

  • coindeucecoindeuce Posts: 13,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm curious. Did your calculation of profit take in to consideration the carrying cost for the year that it was in your posession ?

    "Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
    http://www.american-legacy-coins.com

  • EastonCollectionEastonCollection Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭✭✭
    auction - 10 seconds - love at first sight and had to have it
    Direct purchase - 1 second - more love at first sight and again had to have it!

    Preference direct purchase over auctions as I dont like to wait.
    Easton Collection
  • MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I'm curious. Did your calculation of profit take in to consideration the carrying cost for the year that it was in your posession ? >>




    Of course. Unlike central bankers, I understand the future value of money.
  • ctf_error_coinsctf_error_coins Posts: 15,433 ✭✭✭✭✭
    About zero seconds, but I have a very good eye for eye appeal.
  • hchcoinhchcoin Posts: 4,836 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Tough question - I have spent months and a few times years searching for the right coin at the right price. I found one a while back but the seller would not budge. Seller put it up for sale months later in a no reserve auction and I got it for less than my original offer. So in a way, it took me months to make the purchase but I was very happy I waited image
  • BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,513 ✭✭✭✭✭
    priciest purchase was through auction at slightly less than my max bid.

    Priciest auction bid was for a completely different coin, and that number was twice the number for my priciest purchase...but I won that coin for maybe 35% of my max bid.

    edit: Darn! Just remembered a recent purchase. That was my priciest. I decided years before the purchase to pull the trigger on this one
  • hchcoinhchcoin Posts: 4,836 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Tough question - I have spent months and a few times years searching for the right coin at the right price. I found one a while back but the seller would not budge. Seller put it up for sale months later in a no reserve auction and I got it for less than my original offer. So in a way, it took me months to make the purchase but I was very happy I waited image
  • AnkurJAnkurJ Posts: 11,370 ✭✭✭✭
    About 2 days once all of the details and payment options were ironed out. It was via direct purchase.
    All coins kept in bank vaults.
    PCGS Registries
    Box of 20
    SeaEagleCoins: 11/14/54-4/5/12. Miss you Larry!
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,515 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have some pricey coins and pricier coins that took me no time at all to pull the trigger. Both auction and direct. I've failed to pull the trigger on the priciest, yet. But I'm working on it, still. image
  • On my top two I had open offers out to some of the great collections making it known I was a strong buyer at a moments notice, when the offer came I sent payment adapt.
  • mozinmozin Posts: 8,755 ✭✭✭
    My priciest coins were all won at auction. It takes me days, sometimes weeks, to decide on my max bids. Once I decide on my max bid, I do not go over it with a higher max bid. I win quite a few of my auction coins exactly at my max bids. That does surprise me.
    I collect Capped Bust series by variety in PCGS AU/MS grades.
  • MGLICKERMGLICKER Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭
    Second highest was an 1894 Morgan in MS65, newly listed on Ebay late at night about a decade ago.

    Tossed and turned for an hour realizing that I was not going to get to sleep if I passed, so I hit the BIN.

    Ebay was a lot more fun back then.
  • morgansforevermorgansforever Posts: 8,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I spent a few days looking and pondering. I even asked the advice of a forum member.
    World coins FSHO Hundreds of successful BST transactions U.S. coins FSHO
  • BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,850 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Priciest auction win was from Heritage. I liked the photos and asked a trusted friend take a look at it. He called me and while we were on the phone he started looking at the coins. When I got the "Oh, Oh Wow!, this is a nice coin. This one is worth stretching for....." That did it for me. I won it at very nearly my max bid. When it finally arrived I was elated.

    Priciest direct buy? A trusted dealer called me from a PCGS Vegas show and said "I found you a coin". The TrueView photos looked nice enough. He sent it to me and after a single glance I knew instantaneously that it was not going back. Sometimes you just know.

    Both of these ended up among my favorite coin experiences.
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,756 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most expensive was at auction. Had to make the decision in about 4 seconds.

    The next was a direct purchase , about 15 min.


    I learned long ago, if a coin is nice , don't mess around deciding or it will get gone. Now it may have changed a little the past year or so with market conditions, but not by much.


    My most expensive coin yet is still to come later in the year.
  • jcpingjcping Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭
    My most expensive coin was also from an auction. It was a coin that I dreamed to have since I was seven. I searched 24 years and finally found one in an auction and flought to the city and attended the auction in person, it took zero seconds to get defeated since the opening bid was more than all I had at the time. Wait another 18 years, I found another one. it took me zero second to pull the trigger and pay one additional zero (10X of previous auction price) to own it. I am a very happy guy since then. image
    an SLQ and Ike dollars lover
  • seanqseanq Posts: 8,722 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The first time I broke my bank was a buy it now eBay auction, I thought about it for a couple of hours before pulling the trigger, mostly out of fear that I'd miss out on the opportunity by hesitating. I've never regretted that decision for even one minute since.

    More recently I broke the bank again on an eBay coin, this one was a ten day auction with an opening bid set at bust out retail. I figured I would be the only bidder and thought for about a week about taking a chance that it would go unsold so I could counter offer. I ended up making a bid and paying full price, and again I have not regretted it one bit.


    Sean Reynolds
    Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

    "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I first saw it and posted about it on CU back in December 2009.
    At the time I thought it would be an absolute impossibility. A pipe dream. This one of a kind coin disappeared from the seller's website, and I thought it was gone forever.

    Three years later she reappeared, and my situation had changed considerably. Took me about a week of gut-checking. She's mine now image
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • bcdeluxebcdeluxe Posts: 209 ✭✭✭
    Just an observation but I notice more ebay than anything else.
  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
    I had to wait about a week before the auction ended and got it by half of a bid increment.
  • BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,370 ✭✭✭✭✭
    In that process right now waiting for the coin to come back from grading. Will be a 1 minute decision as I know the price range I expect it to be in.
  • halfcentmanhalfcentman Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭
    Lisa and I bought a 1793 Cohen-2 Half Cent at the 2005 Early American Coppers Club Convention in Annapolis. It was a VG-8/8 choice by EAC standards.

    After the dealer took 5% off of the price, my wife said "yes" almost instantly because we had something called a "10% rule." reserved for coins which are very special and extraordinarily hard to find - which is was one of them.

    The nice side story is that when we sold our 21 Half Cents in 2006, the person who bought it and still owns it is a respected colleague and collector.

  • astroratastrorat Posts: 9,221 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Zero delay. It was an error twenty-cent piece and I knew that one was not going to get away. image
    Numismatist Ordinaire
    See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
  • Type2Type2 Posts: 13,985 ✭✭✭✭✭
    10 sec. Then 30 min's on price. image


    Hoard the keys.
  • OKbustchaserOKbustchaser Posts: 5,541 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Approximately 4 seconds. Only because it took that long to look at the balance in my checkbook.
    Just because I'm old doesn't mean I don't love to look at a pretty bust.
  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My biggest purchase was a spoon, and I thought it over a couple of days.
    (It was on a website for sale) Not an auction...
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Direct purchase....about three minutes of in-hand evaluation to be sure it was what I wanted...Cheers, RickO
  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,195 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Direct purchase: less than 10 seconds after realizing the dealer had massively underpriced the coin on their fixed price list (and two other collectors tried to buy it in the next five minutes, with a slightly worse example selling for 4x as much the next day).

    Auction: I knew I wanted it instantly but deliberated on price and strategy for several days, as it cost only a bit less than my house.
    Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
  • WaterSportWaterSport Posts: 6,895 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Neither - it was traded for 15 coins I had.

    WS
    Proud recipient of the coveted PCGS Forum "You Suck" Award Thursday July 19, 2007 11:33 PM and December 30th, 2011 at 8:50 PM.
  • WaterSportWaterSport Posts: 6,895 ✭✭✭✭✭
    whoops
    Proud recipient of the coveted PCGS Forum "You Suck" Award Thursday July 19, 2007 11:33 PM and December 30th, 2011 at 8:50 PM.
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,515 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Still deciding image
  • machoponchomachoponcho Posts: 355 ✭✭✭
    eBay auction. Right away pretty much. Just a couple minutes to decide what figure exactly to bid.
    I have existed since the creation of this world and will exist until its end. Only my form will change. For these 80 human life years, I have the benefit of having a functioning body and consciousness. I will not waste this opportunity.
  • OnlyGoldIsMoneyOnlyGoldIsMoney Posts: 3,414 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Heritage auction. I placed one early bid that represented the most I was willing to pay - it proved sufficient.
  • crazyhounddogcrazyhounddog Posts: 14,042 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not my priciest coin but one that was more than twice the book value. It took me 3 months to pull the trigger. I would close my eyes at night and all I would see was the most beautiful buffalo nickel I've ever seen for that date. Because it literally haunted me for sooo long I bought it and never looked back. Yes I still own it and will probably never sell it.

    This coin....

    image
    image
    The bitterness of "Poor Quality" is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
  • LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,445 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Direct - took a few days to decide since I had to part with some really cool coins to make it happen - still not sure it was a great idea.
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose, Cardinal.
  • seanqseanq Posts: 8,722 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Still deciding image >>



    I'm waiting for one to close right now. I set up a snipe, slept on it a couple of days, then went in today and bumped that up by almost 50%. This is the same coin I referred to in the "white whale" thread, I really want to make it mine. If I don't win it at least I'll sleep well knowing I took my very best shot at it.


    Sean Reynolds

    EDIT: Missed out by $18, less than one standard bid above my maximum, so the winner maxed out too. The coin looks way better in the photos than it did when I saw it in hand years ago, so there's a chance it may get returned, I will continue watching the sellers auctions in case it reappears.
    Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.

    "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
  • WingedLiberty1957WingedLiberty1957 Posts: 2,992 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This one ...

    image

    I needed it to fill the toughest hole of my PCGS-graded colorfully-toned Half Dollar Type Set ...
    (I am still looking for a better (colorful) Draped Bust Half)

    image

    It took me about 10 minutes to decide I needed to pony up and pull the trigger.
    It was a few hundred over PCGS Guide Price.




  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Purchased mine at a local show.
    Looked over it for awhile, negotiated
    back and forth, probably 10-15
    minutes !!! image
    Timbuk3
  • winkywinky Posts: 1,671
    As soon as my bid was accepted which was about 15 seconds. I cried for awhile because I really paid too much. Happy now tho. image
  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,656 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Direct purchase. Had been looking for a no problem AU Heraldic Eagle Bust $ for 8 years. My Heritage contact told me about it, sent it here, and it had original skin to boot. Once I saw the coin, it took a few minutes for me to buy it.
    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 9,670 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mine was an auction so I had weeks to decide.

    Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

  • dibdib Posts: 311
    1 minute on a BIN on eBay. Would have bought it faster but I had to quickly check my online bank account. I literally let out a shriek, but pulled the trigger anyway and then struggled to type in my paypal password correctly. Then proceeded to stare motionless at my 3-figure bank account for the next couple minutes.

    Totally worth it though, still have it today because I just can't let it go. ((I'm buried neck deep)).

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