What's the most you ever spent on a single coin? What WOULD you spend if the "one coin" c
saintguru
Posts: 7,727 ✭✭✭
Be honest.
When I started collecting Saints I thought $10,000 was an insane price. Three years later I spent $184,000 on one coin. I'm glad I did.
When I started collecting Saints I thought $10,000 was an insane price. Three years later I spent $184,000 on one coin. I'm glad I did.
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Jay - A better question would be What was the most money you ever spent on a woman ?
I would venture to say you are about to spend more than you ever imagined.
I will further add Would you spend more if the right one came along ?
Stewart
I can't afford coins for my collection more than a few hundred dollars, but somehow I manage fairly well.
If the "one coin" came along, and I securely had the means to afford it, I may then push myself to go after it.
Two years ago, I did buy a 1909-S VDB in PCGS MS64RD for $2,400 and sold it a year later for $2,600.
Then this past Sunday, I bought this coin which now is my most expensive coin I have bought - paid $3,450 for it. This will be the only coin I have in my collection that is worth more than $1,000. I can't afford anything more.
<< <i>Jay - A better question would be What was the most money you ever spent on a woman ?
I would venture to say you are about to spend more than you ever imagined.
I will further add Would you spend more if the right one came along ?
Stewart >>
Ouch
and let the games begin
To answer the OP's question I have a $75k coin on my list but the most I've ever spent to date is $20K.
I've spent much more on the fairer sex for sure. Being the worlds most interesting man comes with a steep price tag
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Hmm. That might be a small fib. I think my record purchase was $1,015.00, actually.
I have sold a handful over the thousand-dollar mark (literally a handful, as in, you could count them on the fingers of one hand), with the highest selling for about $1,400.
That was back in better times, when I was gettin' close to 17 bucks an hour for a really easy job. (Don't laugh. I now make a mere ten bucks an hour since getting laid off from that easy job, and I'm happy for the work.)
Really, my operational ceiling on coin purchases (at the best of times) is about $500, with only occasional forays into the $600-700 range every two to three years... if I save up.
I once let one slip through my fingers that MIGHT be a $20-30K coin, but I got less than a hundred bucks for it.
You spent $184,000 on one coin? Congratulations. (No sneering sarcasm there.) I sometimes envy folks who have the means to do that, but that is so far beyond the realm of my imagination that it's like dreaming of becoming an A-list movie star or heir to the throne of England. The $184K you spent on that one coin is WAY beyond my total net financial worth... land, home, cars... everything.
OK, let's daydream. If I hit a $184,000 payoff in the lottery or something (or no- let's say I won more - enough to where I could afford to regularly buy coins like that and still eat), I don't know if I could spend that much money on a little round piece of metal.
A house, yeah, sure. A nice old stone manor somewhere where there were forests and fields and cold running streams.
Then again, I guess it's all relative. If you have millions, spending $184K on something like that might be OK. I just can't get my head around it. I suppose I would be tempted, but I also think about how far that much money would go towards an animal shelter or a school or a clinic or a library, or something more charitable or community oriented like that. Don't get me wrong- I'd still have fun with my millions, and I would probably collect Roman gold aureii, but I'd also spread the wealth around a little, and might feel a little guilty for blowing so much on a hobby when there are needier people and animals around.
I'm not laying a guilt trip on you- for all I know, you do plenty of charitable work with your obvious fortune. I just have no idea what it would be like to have a wallet the size of yours. I drive a ten year old vehicle and live in a singlewide mobile home in rural Georgia. If it weren't for my modest self-education gained from reading, I'd be what you call a redneck. I even look the part (teeth and all).
earlyAurum
That was a VERY healthy post. Thank you for putting things into perspective. Until the age of 35 I didn't have two nickels to rub together and getting a circulated quarter was high on my priority list. We had two young school aged children at the time and all of our meals centered around Kraft products. Kraft spaghetti in the box and the mac and chesse. Five or so years later I hit my stride career wise and now I have the means for a few things that I never dreamed off. While, I'm very happy the irony is I am no more happier then I was 13 years ago. I still like Kraft spaghetti............It seems to me that you are happy and rich already. I'd like to meet you one day.MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Right now I couldn't even think of spending more than $100 or so, and only then if I knew I could flip it for a profit. I'm riding out the last stages of some rough times financially but by next summer I should be on much sounder footing and able to at least think about adding some better pieces to my core collection again.
That all said, to answer your second question - if an affordable (<$1000) circulated 1909-S VDB clip came on the market, I'd beg borrow and steal to try and acquire it.
Sean Reynolds
"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
I am NOT a rich man by most standards. Successful, yes...but far from rich.
<< <i>Perhaps this is too personal a question.
I am NOT a rich man by most standards. Successful, yes...but far from rich. >>
By MY standards, buddy, you're Daddy Warbucks and Scrooge McDuck all rolled into one.
But hey- good on you, matey.
Yes, it is a personal question. But no, for some reason, I didn't mind answering it. I wondered if I was sharing a little too much of the pathetic details of my sordid little life, but eh, whatever. I'm poor and I know it. Rich in some of the nonmaterial things, though, I would like to think. I'm not ashamed of my feeble financial status until my daughter doesn't have school clothes or we can't pay the bills, and that hasn't quite happened yet. We're squeakin' by.
Sometimes I think I have no business collecting coins AT ALL, but I try to make sure that the coin money comes from coin sales only. Coins beget other coins. That's why my collections are an ever-revolving door, here one day and gone the next. I've had to learn to practice what I preach, about this hobby being enjoyable on any budget. And it is is, in its purest form.
(Edited to repair the usual typos).
$10,000,000
--Jerry
I paid $9K for an 1801 eagle back in 2004. Unc details but altered surfaces. I kept her for a few months then back into the stream she went. I flipped bust dollars in 2004 and 2005 using OPM and did reasonably well. But the costliest dollar was $3800.
Now with two in college and a third in HS, most coins are fantasy coins. If I had to choose the "one coin", it would be a 1795 eagle. The short list would include a Continental dollar and 1792 half dime. I wouldn't mind a platinum 1814 CBH either.
Edited to add that I have no idea what I would pay but would need plenty of disposable $$ above and beyond the price I would pay.
A short list, yeah, sure. Maybe even a top ten dream list.
But I couldn't pick just ONE to the exclusion of all others.
Today, with Social Security my only source of revenue, maybe 10,000 on the only date not yet in my Capped Bust half collection.
Sorry Jay, I will not be bidding on the Saints upcoming in January, but I am sure they will sell for good prices=-- to those that are still amassing fortunes in the business world.
And Stewart is right about the money spent on women. One of my law partners told me, some years after my divorce, that instead of ever re-marrying, just buy the girl a nice house, and give her half of my present net worth. That did it. I stayed single for 18 years.
I no longer have the appetite for expensive coins. I am happy buying modern gold near melt, old gold at a relatively small premium (up to 4x) to melt, and inexpensive circulated type coins.
<< <i>Jay - A better question would be What was the most money you ever spent on a woman ?
I would venture to say you are about to spend more than you ever imagined.
I will further add Would you spend more if the right one came along ?
Stewart >>
I like this! We need a collecting women forum.
My biggest purchase has been in the mid-6 figure area and if the right coin came along to complete my type set it may be in the low 7 figures.
Who is John Galt?
There are far more than a few coins out there for which I would exchange all of my assets.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i> What WOULD you spend if the "one coin" came along?
There are far more than a few coins out there for which I would exchange all of my assets. >>
Wow. This guy is 'all-in'.
<< <i>
<< <i> What WOULD you spend if the "one coin" came along?
There are far more than a few coins out there for which I would exchange all of my assets. >>
Wow. This guy is 'all-in'. >>
I don't know about Andy, but there are a LOT of coins out there that if I were able to purchase for all my assets I would then be able to immediately sell and drastically increase my net worth.
$1425 Saving for AU 1909-S VDB.
https://www.smallcopperguy.com
My current philosophy is to be diversified and not allow any one area of my assets to become too much of my net worth. When my coins approached $20M, I sold them down. When my stocks approached $15M, I sold them down. It's just safer that way.
Glad I collect cheap stuff.
Well... maybe I'm a ... small perch or bluegill.
I'm glad y'all are whales and not sharks, though. It would be hard on us smaller fry then.
PS- you know what's funny? I remember selling TDN one of the coins in my collection, once, though. How strange. It was one of my finest. He probably uses it to add bulk to his junkbox. Or he needed something modest as a cheap party favor for a YN.
Luckily, I enjoy the hobby because of my passion for coins versus my ability to buy the very finest examples.
I spent $6K on my 93-S Morgan, and though the sheet price has declined in the 3 years since I bought it, I still think it was an excellent deal.
As for how much would spend, it's all a matter of, as TDN suggests, resource allocation, though my resources are certainly not in the same class as his. I could imagine spending 6 or 7 figures on a coin if I had that kind of dough, but I'd think pretty hard about what else I could do with it to spread the benefit around a bit.
"Question your assumptions."
"Intelligence is an evolutionary adaptation."
but on a smaller scale.
<< <i>$4.15M for the Eliasberg 1913 nickel. I doubt I'd spend that much for any coin right now - maybe $3M for exactly the right coin.
My current philosophy is to be diversified and not allow any one area of my assets to become too much of my net worth. When my coins approached $20M, I sold them down. When my stocks approached $15M, I sold them down. It's just safer that way. >>
Yaa, Tell me about it... I hear ya. Have NOOO idea what you're talking about.... but I hear ya.. (internally reevaluating my life choices)
<< <i>$4.15M for the Eliasberg 1913 nickel. I doubt I'd spend that much for any coin right now - maybe $3M for exactly the right coin.
My current philosophy is to be diversified and not allow any one area of my assets to become too much of my net worth. When my coins approached $20M, I sold them down. When my stocks approached $15M, I sold them down. It's just safer that way. >>
STOCKS?? How did you do in the stock market in the last year and a half? It was tough!
For the right coin, I might be willing to go as high as 0.18% of TDN's number!
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>
<< <i>$4.15M for the Eliasberg 1913 nickel. I doubt I'd spend that much for any coin right now - maybe $3M for exactly the right coin.
My current philosophy is to be diversified and not allow any one area of my assets to become too much of my net worth. When my coins approached $20M, I sold them down. When my stocks approached $15M, I sold them down. It's just safer that way. >>
STOCKS?? How did you do in the stock market in the last year and a half? It was tough! >>
Lol! As you well know, I HATED the stock market and had nothing but my 401k partially exposed to it until AFTER the crash. Since the timing was perfect, it was quite easy to make a bundle - the hard part was showing me stocks I was willing to bet my net worth wouldn't go broke even in a Depression. You did a great job on that!
If the right coin came along..... they keep coming and they always will
You have to know when to hold them and when to let them go
I bought a Lincoln cent from Laura Sperber in 1995 for $2,500 and just recently sold it for $62,500
I bought a Lincoln cent from Katy Duncan in 1997 for $11,000 and sold it last year for over $200,000
I bought a Lincoln cent from a Coin World ad in 1992 for $2,700 and sold it in 2005 for $102,000
I also bought a coin in 1997 from Laura Sperber for $35,000 on memo and sold it three hours later for $64,000
Where there is a will there is a way !
Stewart
<< <i>If the right coin came along..... they keep coming and they always will
You have to know when to hold them and when to let them go
I bought a Lincoln cent from Laura Sperber in 1995 for $2,500 and just recently sold it for $62,500
I bought a Lincoln cent from Katy Duncan in 1997 for $11,000 and sold it last year for over $200,000
I bought a Lincoln cent from a Coin World ad in 1992 for $2,700 and sold it in 2005 for $102,000
I also bought a coin in 1997 from Laura Sperber for $35,000 on memo and sold it three hours later for $64,000
Where there is a will there is a way !
Stewart >>
That 28% tax on coin gains sucks!
<< <i>You did a great job on that!
Did you make a good percentage gain in that VERY tricky market, TDN?
<< <i>
<< <i>You did a great job on that!
Did you make a good percentage gain in that VERY tricky market, TDN?
Yes, doubled my money - but then again who didn't that bought in AFTER the crash and held til now? Could have done better in any number of stocks [or $1M better if I hadn't bought MET or WYNN on the way down between Oct and Mar] but like I said - the stocks chosen had to be safe enough for me to bet my entire liquid net worth on. So no casino stocks which went up 5-6x, no bank stocks which went up 3-4x - something safer. In that respect, you recommended the perfect stocks.
<< <i>TDN--I'm SURE Stewart was only talking "hypothetical" transactions/gains...
That's cool - I was talking hypothetical taxes.
<< <i>I doubt I'd spend that much for any coin right now - maybe $3M for exactly the right coin. >>
I hear you! Times are tough...
I remember the first time I spent over $500 on a coin - about 6 years ago, I placed a winning bid for $545 in the final second of an Ebay auction for a raw 1914-D $10 Indian - the coin has since graded 63 across the street, so I think I did okay.
The most I think I ever would spend in the foreseeable future, is maybe $3.5K to get a nice UNC slightly better date $3 Princess, a coin this is brings together many of the themes in my collection and is thus essential, but has so far eluded me due to cost - still, if the *right* had-to-have example showed up, I might sell some of my other coins to get it.
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