What's your "best" most uncertain purchase. How did you decide to pull the trigger?
Clio
Posts: 640 ✭✭✭✭✭
I want to know what purchase was a contested buy for you. Something that later you came around on, or the market caught up to. In 2021 I set the high-water mark buying a shilling and while happy with the purchase I was torn since it was well above comps. Today it's an absolute bargain in contrast.
I ask because sometimes I pass on a coin unable to make a fair judgement between price and condition. Next thing I know it's 3 years down the road and I regret not buying it. I think there's an idea that if you have any doubts on a potential purchase, you should pass but I am looking for a better way to make a determination.
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The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"
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Fun question. This coin comes to mind. Bought raw in 2015. Local seller was firm at $600. I hadn’t even tried to negotiate, but I remember clearly he told me I could “take any counter and stick it where the sun don’t shine”. I felt obliged to walk away, but the coin wouldn’t let me.
Sat in my 7070 album for 10 years until this past summer when I submitted it in Baltimore. Then Dave Kahn was nice enough to get the whole set to CAC for me.
XF 45 (CAC)
There is uncertainty... most of the time. I usually use an analysis that weighs factors such as quality for the grade and how it compares to other similarly situated coins; the frequency the coin appears on the market and the pricing history. The real question boils down to this question... Is this coin as good as it is going to get for me?
Okay- picture added
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
My “best most uncertain” purchases have not been about grading and value, but about attribution and/or authenticity. Regardless, the answer is still pretty much the same. They’re all calculated risks
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I recently bought ten raw AU-ish pillar dollars, I guess we’ll see how that goes. I’m feeling pretty uncertain at this point, I’ll let you know what our host says. So long as they’re all authentic and I can get about half to straight-grade, it could be very good. Otherwise…
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
Raw AU-ish Pillars are prime candidates to be fakes. More so if they came from eBay. Good luck with that!
Taking the post in @MrEureka 's direction, I won this cast Morelos 2r on Ebay a few years ago, for an extremely low price for the type. I guess I was the only one who thought it was genuine perhaps? It has since graded VF Details and remains one of my favorite coins. There have been other times where I haven't been so lucky, lol.
Exactly
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
Here's mine:
It's currently at PCGS being graded. Depending on the grade, I either made a solid purchase or should have just bought a graded coin... Seems to me, PCGS is hard on these...
Twenty years ago, I duked it out on E-Bay with somebody, and I won this one for about $200. I guess we both knew the variety, but because of a bad seller's photo, I was worried that it would not straight grade. It did. Newfoundland 1941-C cent with a doubled 1941, now in a MS-63RB holder, PCGS pop 1/0 and a $2,000 coin. In hand, it shows a lot more red color than in this old TV.
http://www.victoriancent.com
Well, I had to think about this coin as it came up for sale at a major venue. In way of background, I had a very nice specimen gotten from a dealer in England some 20 years ago with none really to match coming up since. This first coin was taken by my wife when she left. In the divorce decree we had the judge specifically order that it be returned but this was ignored - so coin lost.
Then comes this coin a short while ago:
Perhaps some recognise this one. I hesitated because I knew the price would be high for me at this point in time; I went back and forth in my mind before I "manned up" and pushed the button.
And I am so glad as that particular hole is now filled and fits with my long term goals, and besides don't know if I will be around long enough to get another.
Well, just Love coins, period.
Nice florin.
http://www.victoriancent.com
I kind of slipped it in there is this is an 1863 in graded MS which makes it a prohibitive rarity.
Well, just Love coins, period.
I was looking for Thale am Harz notgeld. The auction had some pretty rare silver pieces in other lots that looked good, but then they also listed an aluminum and zinc set from 3 Mark to 5 pfennig - 6 pieces total. They only showed one picture, and didn't list any condition. Here's the picture they showed:
The lot went for a couple hundred euros, so I didn't mind taking the risk. It was a really nice set when it showed up. Still probably not worth much, but a fun set (for Halloween!).
My current "Box of 20"