Biggest Regrets
Coinlover101
Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
Clio's post about British shillings reminded me of two British shillings that I gave away for free, amongst some other coins, to a budding young new collector (a friend of my 14 year old son).
The shillings were in nice condition and one of them had nice dark toning. I sure wish that I had those shillings now.
I actually have so many regrets about coins that I sold that it's not funny. 
What are some of your biggest numismatic regrets?
Peace
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Not being more aggressive when the right coins were for sale.
Latin American Collection
Selling my Roman coin collection, but that was long ago.
When it comes to coin collecting I would say nothing I am happy to be were I am now. I guess if I have to say something then I wish I had known about Latin American coins earlier in life. Could have had added more coins at a lower cost.
I am glad I sold my coins from the past when I collected Canadian coins it has lead me to be much happier over here on the Latin American side.
As far as regrets as a collector it would be mostly with sports cards should have kept many (and sold at the peak) but it is what it is.
My biggest bonehead mistakes were either passing or just being the runner up on certain coins at auction.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I hope one of them wasn't a certain gold coin
I am fortunate to not have a lot of coin buying regrets. I certainly have missed some good deals, but I've rarely felt like other opportunities weren't just around the corner. If there's anything I regret, it's most likely just trying to branch out into other areas that ultimately didn't make me happy. Wasted resources on fruitless endeavors.
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The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
There are some coins I missed out on that I wish I had pounced on. Although, I rarely feel that bad about spending less on coins.
I somewhat regret selling my German Empire 1 Pfennig set. It took a lot of effort to put together and many of the coins were in MS grades. There are too many coins and too little time, so it was probably still a good decision to let it go. I have built more impressive sets since then. I have a soft spot for copper, but I really struggle to get good prices when it comes time to let it go.
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"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
My biggest regret is selling coins i liked (for a variety of reasons)
8 Reales Madness Collection
Being hesitant to buy a nice coin that I like when I see it. Over the last decade, my financial senses matured to always put bills and unexpected bills first. I almost feel guilty buying anything for myself now, and when I do I worry that the money spent would be needed for something else.
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Biggest regret- selling my collection of three GB 1958 1/2d VIP Proofs.
DPOTD-3
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Don
Not asking for an increase in my bidding limit. I'm sure the auction house would have granted it. Missed out on a very rare coin I needed for my collection.
There are so many I've lost count. One time I made a very aggressive proxy bid on a key coin in a Heritage auction, but then had to board a plane as the live session commenced. The plane internet was so poor I never got through, and never found out what happened until landing 3 hours later. Needless to say, I didn't win. It turned out the proxy bid, which was double the hammer price, didn't take. I probably would have won otherwise. Still furious about that 15 years later. 😡
Poor planning, poor planning.
I've never trusted proxy bidding since then.
Ah, do tell - what coin was that?
Well, just Love coins, period.
In this era of my collecting journey, it's become my policy never to name the coins that got away ("fish stories"). Sometimes, a second opportunity avails itself. If it does, I'll be there. I've been lucky before, so who knows?
I only have two coin regrets.
1) buying high premium silver, even if I like it i can't really sell it and I understand now that this was a mistake compared to buying coins at or near spot.
2) putting a finger print on a new coin i wanted graded. Quick little oof.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Acetone will take that off (the fingerprint, not the pain of buying high premium silver)
Latin American Collection
Noy buying the 1911 Short Ray Mexican peso that's the plate coin in Allan Schein's book. Years ago, I was offered that coin from a dealer in Minnesota. I can't remember his name. At the time it was priced around $900 dollars (I think). He had a 2x2 box of Caballito pesos.
I am still young, but there are a few descisions in my 1½ decade coin collecting career wich I regret:
I consigned my entire registry set of Canadian Victoria fifty cents, except for the 1890-H. I assembled the set without being too discerning on a lot of the pieces, which I don't miss, but I really screwed up by letting go the 1871 which was a beautiful AU53 example, as well as a decent 1894 graded VG10.
Ironically, two of the nicer coins in the set didn't sell - the 1872-H and the 1871-H, and so those two pieces and the 1890-H form the nucleus of my restarted set. I'm being much more careful to acquire pieces with better eye appeal than before but I sure do miss the the two I mentioned.
Also, I had a 1910-C Canadian sovereign in a PCGS AU58 holder which was absolutely perfect for the grade which I parted with in a trade for a coin that I no longer own. Oh well - gone is gone...
I will always regret a decision I made in the early 80's. A fellow student in some of my classes at college, who I had discovered was a fellow numismatist, called me one morning about 9AM and asked me if I wanted to meet him at one of the banks downtown to see something interesting. I had just finished a midnight to 8am shift at my job, it was pouring rain and my only transportation at the time was my Triumph motorcycle. Because I was tired, cold and I did not want to go out and get wet again, I passed.
A few weeks later I learned he meeting an armored car at the bank and taking the King of Siam presentation set out of his safe deposit box to be delivered to a major auction house to be sold. He said had I met with him I could have had a picture taken of myself holding the set which was still in the original case from 1834.
Wow!!
Latin American Collection
Taking stock market tips from Eddie Cantor
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
upon reflection, each coin I buy or sell has led to an increasingly worse regret
I do not regret paying "too much" for any coin acquired by auction, show, or private treaty, but do regret not paying "too much" for myriad coins I passed on.
I wanted to purchase and keep intact an entire hoard of English Anglo-Saxon styca coins discovered in 1695, and amazingly kept in the same family collection for over 300 years. Unfortunately the sale came at a terrible time for me financially and I had connectivity problems during the auction, so it was not to be. I did get a few coins from the hoard, but I regret the lost opportunity to keep it together, as the coins went pretty cheap overall.
Northstar, I think you're mistaking the 1911 Short Ray Caballito plate coin for another you saw. I bought that coin, the one on p.113 in Mexican Beauty, from Ken Tabachnick at Long Beach in February 2012. It was raw, and in an old flip for so long that it was literally juicy. It cleaned up nicely with just an acetone rinse but had a light pink toning. Subsequently the nick name of Pink Lady. It's in a PCGS MS-63 slab. I no longer own it.
Ken said he purchased it as part of a collection from a Rabbi in Mexico City some time in the 70's. He had it tucked away for decades but was gracious to bring it to the show for me knowing I was working on the book.
I
That is a fabulous coin and would hesitate to guess what it would go for. I haven't been able to get even a lesser acceptable version of this type. I did get a nice unc. details 1914.
I have not really regretted missing anything except for coins that went for crazy money. Some years ago I was offered ALL of the gold George V patterns of the silver coinage: 3d, 6d, shilling, florin, halfcrown and Jubilee crown...
Well, just Love coins, period.
Not collecting pillars as my primary interest earlier.
Buying a larger number of lower priced lower quality coins initially over a smaller number of higher quality higher preference coins.
Trying to collect a larger variety of types that weren't realistically within my budget.
At some point, I'd like to have more variety in my collection, but I can never find anything I'd actually prefer over my current collecting interest. I don't like that many designs that much either. Too many coin types also lack sufficient marketability where I'd ever put any significant (for me) money in it. I'm also definitely not using my coin budget on lower priority "sideline" collections.