Story time: Have you ever sold or traded a coin only years later to happen upon it again?
braddick
Posts: 24,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
if so, what were the circumstances? Have you allowed yourself a "second chance" at owning it? Was it in the same (graded) holder?
I'd love to read over this Christmas break neat little stories of such.
peacockcoins
1
Comments
Yes, a number of times - some of them, memorable. Here’s one...While running my own dealership, I bought and sold (if memory serves me correctly) the first PCGS MS67 Lafayette Dollar. Ten or more years later, while working for Pinnacle Rarities and looking over a wonderful commemorative collection belonging to one of their clients, I spotted it. And recognized it within seconds.
Then there’s one about the Proof 1838 Bust Quarter whose grade subsequently went up three points. And another about the 1877 Half Union $50 pattern which turned up more than 25 years later and sold for more than half a million more than the amount I‘d gotten for it.😮
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I bought this 35-D Mercury dime in a PCGS MS66FB holder circa 2010. I can't locate the sales record now, but I paid about $900 and may have snagged it in a greattoning eBay auction. The coin was even prettier in hand with superb luster, although a bit darker than it appears in the TrueView. A couple years after I bought it, I decided to submit it for a regrade, thinking it had an excellent chance at 67FB, but it failed to upgrade. A short while thereafter, I decided to move on from the coin as I wasn't going to pursue a full date set of Mercs, and had other priorities at the time. I asked a dealer friend to send it to CAC (it passed), and I basically broke even on the sale.
Fast forward to Oct 2019 and I'm perusing the Merc dime listings on GC when I come across the same coin in a PCGS MS67FB holder. The coin realized $3095 all-in. Not the first or last time I gave up on an upgrade too early!
Oct 2019 auction as a 67FB
In consulting the GC archives, I notice that it subsequently sold as a PCGS MS67+FB in Feb 2020 for $3237 all-in.
Feb 2020 auction as a 67+FB
The coin failed to sticker as a 67FB or 67+FB, assuming it was attempted, which seems rather likely.
I don't remember the exact numbers, but these are close. You know those 1960s proof Jefferson nickels with the neon toning? I saw on on eBay in the early 2000s with a terrible picture, but I could tell what kind of toning it had. I bought it for maybe $10. I then sold it on eBay with a better picture for $25. Some time later (a year?) I saw it was back on eBay, again with a bad photo. I bought it for around $15, then sold it for $30. Not a lot of net profit, but as a high schooler, money was money.
Since I do not sell coins, I have not had such an experience. That being said, I am contemplating selling some of my coins - not yet a decision.... Have a few that may go on the market soon. Cheers, RickO
RickO. What??? Selling???? Time for me to watch the 1951 classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still." LOL
Years ago I had a 1797, 16 star obverse dime in VF. I sent it for grading, but it came back as “damaged.” I sold it. A couple years later, I saw it in a dealer’s case in a VF-30 holder. I made money I sold it, so I wasn’t too disappointed.
I sold distinctive Canadian token to a dealer two or three years back. This past summer I was at a client's house and saw it on display in their wall-mounted showcase!
Dealing in Canadian and American coins and historical medals.
I traded this coin that is a NGC MS67*FT. Its a pop 5 in the NGC star with only 10 better to a highly motivated buyer for several other dimes and another replacement 47P. Several years later, I found it on ebay for sale at auction. I was able to get it for significantly less thanks to the horrible images from the seller. It is a tough coin to image thought, but you can see the luster and rainbow colors thanks to TomB!
No, but there are a few that I'd like back.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I originally picked up this Hawaii Quarter from a bad photo on eBay. A friend helped send it to CAC to get the sticker. I enjoyed it for several years before deciding to sell. Less than a year after selling, I saw it again on eBay. The price was in between my original purchase and sale price. I pulled the trigger (after a bit of negotiation) and was happy to have it back. It would not stay long as someone I knew was looking for this coin and I thought it would fit better in their collection.
I’m pretty sure I posted about this somewhere, years ago.
The dollar amounts might be a little bit off, but you’ll get the idea.
In 1981 (in a falling market,) I bought a gem 1877 Pattern $50 struck in copper, Judd-1549, from Martin Paul, for approximately $32,000. He’d paid $35,000 or more for it, which I believe also represented a loss to the seller from whom he’d acquired it.
The market continued to soften, I got cold feet and consigned the coin to Paramount’s session of “Auction 82”. It realized $26,000 to Stack’s, presumably acting as an agent for a client. I moved on.
Fast forward 26 years to late 2008, when I received a phone call from a cataloguer at Heritage, who’d been a co-worker at the time I owned the coin. He said to me something like “Mark, we just got a coin in for consignment, that I think you used to own.” After he told me it was an example of Judd-1549, I asked if it displayed “oil-slick rainbow iridescence” and whether it was virtually perfect. He said yes and I knew it had to be the same coin. I was able to fill in the gaps and provide some information regarding provenance.
Not long after that, I saw it in hand in the 2009 FUN sale in an NGC PR67BN holder. It did fairly well in the auction, too. 😉 Price realized $575,000.
Here’s a link to the lot:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/patterns/1877-50-fifty-dollar-judd-1549-pollock-1722-r7-pr67-brown-ngc-pcgs-61893-/a/1121-1888.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Bought a rim toned barber half years ago (2014?) from Bozarth Numismatics in ms65 for 3200. Loved the rim toning but eventually grew unhappy with a few hairlines I felt shouldn’t be on a 65. After owning it for a few years, sold to to a forum member for 2800. A couple of years later I ran across the same coin on Evan Gales website for 2000. Sick about giving up 400 on the coin but in hindsight........?
You got to be kidding me, I am speechless here.
I assure you, I wasn’t kidding. The “good news” is that if I hadn’t sold the coin in 1982, I’m sure I wouldn’t have kept it until 2009. I likely would have sold it much sooner than that and gotten a lot less than it brought, then.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
This has happened a few times to me. When I was a fairly new collector, I bought an 1830 CBH with what I thought was pretty cool toning. I showed it here and to a few people that I knew. One person here told me that it was almost certainly AT and told me he was familiar with the technique probably used. I fell out of love with it and sold it to a dealer for about what I paid for it.
A couple years later I found the same coin in the case of a dealer who specializes in CBH coins in a new PCGS holder a grade higher than when I sold it, now with a CAC sticker, and being offered at 2X the CU price guide due to the "spectacular toning."
Right around in there somewhere I figured out that grades were just grades, opinions were just opinions, and I'd be happier if I just bought and held coins I liked for sums that I could afford to lose.
A number of years ago when I was collecting colonial coins I purchased a Fugio N-15Y from Tom Wood. I paid $1,200 for it raw. It graded AU-50 at PCGS. I sold my collection at auction and the Fugio went for approx. $1,500. Little did I know that Tom had purchased it at the auction. I saw him at a show about a year later and he said he had something to show me. It was the Fugio, and even though I had stopped buying colonials I bought it from him again for $1,800. I ultimately sold it for a $100 profit.
carolinacollectorcoins.com
This has happened a couple of times, most recently, at a weak moment;
...I basically wound up paying a storage fee from the dealer I sold her to.
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, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...