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Sometimes the best deals are the ones which never get done
Boosibri
Posts: 11,916 ✭✭✭✭✭
Any stories of deals which didn't happen which turned out to be clearly the best result?
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Any stories of deals which didn't happen which turned out to be clearly the best result?
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I consigned this coin for sale at the ANA show in Chicago:
Several (maybe many?) barberites saw & examined it, but no taker.
A few months later the dealer (TRE) was able to upgrade it by our host & the coin sold at the higher grade:
I bought the coin from jjt at what was then a record price for the grade
My deals that did not happen were all great news for me..... Had money for something else.... Cheers, RickO
In the 2017 ANA SB sale, I made an offer for a 1857 $20 PCGS MS60 CAC (ex Dallas Bank collection) that did not meet the reserve. My reasonable offer was not accepted, so I decided to keep my 1857 $20 example, and have it regraded at PCGS. The coin shown below was previously in a PCGS AU58 CAC holder, and it upgraded to MS60. The Dallas Bank 1857 $20 PCGS MS60 CAC was subsequently relisted in two recent SB auctions with reserve amounts less than my offer and went unsold. I am happy to have my nice, original example.
You mean holding a coin until a check clears and then it doesn't?
Coin-wise, less often than I feel entitled to
Sometimes the best deals are the ones which never get done
I wholeheartedly agree with the title of this post
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
In my experience, the best deals are the ones that get done.
If it's not a good deal for you, then why are you even considering it?
Being successful in business means taking risk. Sometimes you don't know what is a good deal or a bad deal until after the fact. Also consider the dimension of time. The same deal one day is a very different deal 365 days later.
Latin American Collection
Deep thoughts, indeed!
I thrive on risk !!!!!!
If your in business, you should know before hand if it is a good deal or not.
Of course time can make a difference. Hindsight is awesome.
I posted this coin on BST years ago:
No interest.
Later, a CU member PM'd me he had a barberite friend that is interested in the coin.
After some back & forth negotiation, we agreed on a price.
I didn't feel comfortable sending him the coin first & he didn't want to send $$ first.
We decided it's best to get a dealer involved (jjt of course). I sent the coin to jjt & they sent me a check.
I'm sure jjt remembered the coin because I left their hand written sticker intact on the back of the holder.
The end.
Thanks for reading.
I bid extremely high on one lot of tokens at Stacks a year or two ago. I only wanted 1 or 2 tokens out of the group, but I thought it might be worth bidding strong to be able to resell the rest and recoup my investment.
It was already super high before live bidding even started. I mean really, really up there! Auction fever had me delirious and contemplating hitting the bid button one last time. But, for once in my life reason prevailed, and I let it go. That, as it turned out, was far better than getting the deal done.
I purchased higher grade examples of those two tokens I sought a few weeks later.
And someone got absolutely buried in this lot at about 3x retail.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
A few years back I won a couple of commemorative coins in a Heritage auction. After paying and waiting 3 weeks for notification of delivery, I called. The coins had been lost. How? I was never told. Heritage, of course, refunded my money. And I bought similar coins more recently for lower prices. If there was a thief involved with "losing" the earlier two coins, I owe him or her a vote of thanks.
Pretty sure I'm going to win this thread.
In 1989 or early 90, Eric Streiner purchased the Norman Stack type set of US coins, all graded by NGC. Some of the coins were off-the-charts amazing, like the 1796 Quarter in 67 - still the finest I've seen - and the gem 1869 $20, which Oreville later owned and used to show off on this forum. IIRC correctly, Eric wanted $7.4 million, which was real money back then. Can't say I had the money to buy it, but he was in a position to offer generous terms and I had first shot. So I figured the deal carefully, determined that I should offer (IIRC) $7 million, made the offer, and he passed. Honestly, I was relieved, but the deal was too cool to not at least try to buy it. Maybe a week or two later, the next guy in line paid the $7.4, in partnership with a few other dealers. Over the course of the next year, they sold the coins into a falling market and must have lost a fair amount of money, probably into seven figures. Too bad, but better them than me.
Fast forward a couple of years and Eric stopped by my place. Somehow, the conversation turned to the type set and he said he was surprised that I didn't get to $7.4 on the deal. He started asking me about how I figured some of the major coins, and my numbers were right in line with his. How did I not buy the deal? So I pulled out my records, which included photocopies of the coins with my prices written on each coin, and the tape I had run, which totaled maybe just a little over $7 million. Again, we couldn't figure where we were far enough apart that we didn't do the deal. That is - drumroll, please - until I noticed that the 1799 $1 that I figured at 375K was missing on the tape! Like they say, better lucky than smart!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Awesome story
Great story Andy...
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Ttt
Back when I first joined Heritage in 2005; I tried to buy this coin for $1650 via 'make an offer' after it failed to sell. I was rejected. It then went to auction again and I bid $2425 and was outbid by $11.50. That was a record price back then. Very glad as I put most of that money into my PCGS, all original, CAC stickered, MS 64 that I like MUCH better.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I bought a coin for 3k in ngc holder. I sent it to pcgs to cross but failed to cross. One month later I sold it for 8k. Met with price target. Lol
Back then? Something, something, something, "hobby of kings" I guess.
My story doesn't compare to previous posts from a $$$ standpoint, but I will forever consider myself lucky that this deal didn't happen.
Back in the late '90's, early 00's (I forget specific dates easily(, I had the opportunity to buy the one and only (still one and only) 1959 PCGS 69 Dcam Franklin. Those that collect these pieces recognize that ANY 1959 Dcam Franklin is a tough coin to find - much less in 69.
The dealer was a local Detroit dealer and not one of those guys who deals in great rarities on a regular basis. I was shown the coin at a little show in the southern Detroit suburbs and given an ask price of $9k which was not unreasonable for the time (today Coin Facts has $35k on this piece).
I looked it over carefully and decided that it just didn't look right. The normal "white" frost that should be on the coin was more like a pale grey and the "texture" of the frost wasn't right either. No question it was high grade - 68 or 69, but that frost bugged me. I'd never seen ANY Franklin with that grey frost so I declined. I decided in my mind that the coin was doctored - even though it was encased in PCGS plastic. (No CAC at that time).
Somebody bought that coin and is probably happy with it. I don't know where it landed. Of course PCGS will back the grade if determined it is altered but I didn't need all that drama.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
I couldn’t agree more with the OP.
I was once bidding on several coins in an auction for a client who asked me to get them for him. I bid feverishly and lost on all. After the auction when I reported this to him, he told me that he had given me the incorrect lot numbers! The Coins he had actually wanted were cheap trinkets compared to the 5 figure rarities I was bidding on. Some poor guy is buried in a bunch of Coins at 2x retail.
Great story, Andy.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
This is the piece I now have in my collection, but years ago I got caught up in some "auction fever" with an example of this 1864 Lincoln medalet. The winner out bid me at $2,800 which was way too high. Four years later I purchased this for quite a bit less. It is a rare piece, with perhaps no more than 15 or so known, but it is a token and not a coin. Therefore it sells for a lower price despite the rarity.
There have been many a time when a deal was failed to be reached, when a better coin down the street appears. Although, there are a couple I am still having third thoughts about...maybe after the holidays I will re-evaluate my situation.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...