The "what was I thinking" thread...
kryptonitecomics
Posts: 9,185 ✭
That's right...this is the admit your mistakes thread 
I am not talking about the time you paid $1000 bucks for a 1 oz Gold eagle when the spot price of Gold was $850 an oz but rather post a coin that you bought with say limited knowledge of the series and then later you realized it was a big mistake. This especially goes for those that specialize in a series and when they first began they were buying all the wrong coins and then years later they realized they threw a bunch of money away on dogs whether they be cleaned, damaged, overgraded, low end for the grade etc
Since I am a toning fanatic I will post 3 coins I just found in a box that were 3 of the first toned coins I ever bought. Not only were the coins cleaned, they were AT and I overpaid by a huge margain since they were essentially worth pocket change
Coin #1
1955 Washington quarter in AU.....dipped and stripped with no luster but NT album toning that can typically form on a dipped out coin. I paid $35 dollars for this coin and even had the nerve to show it off to David Hall at a show many many years ago cause I was so proud of my purchase. He took one look and said yeah so what it's a dipped AU? I don't think I got it then......
coin #2 & #3
I bought these at the same show as the other coin from a traveling merchant if you will....
I was at one dealer table looking at toners when a guy walked up with a few albums of coins and asked if I was interested in toners.....well of course I was but I didn't want to let the guy know that as I certainly didn't want to pay too much. Imagine my surprise when I talked hime down to $20 a piece for these winners I am just glad I never tried to send them in for certification back then....I am sure the graders would have gotten a real good chuckle 
Outside of being AT, ugly and probably lightly circulated I think they are very attractive coins
So now it's time to man up...or women up and show off how far you've come in your collecting adventure
I am not talking about the time you paid $1000 bucks for a 1 oz Gold eagle when the spot price of Gold was $850 an oz but rather post a coin that you bought with say limited knowledge of the series and then later you realized it was a big mistake. This especially goes for those that specialize in a series and when they first began they were buying all the wrong coins and then years later they realized they threw a bunch of money away on dogs whether they be cleaned, damaged, overgraded, low end for the grade etc
Since I am a toning fanatic I will post 3 coins I just found in a box that were 3 of the first toned coins I ever bought. Not only were the coins cleaned, they were AT and I overpaid by a huge margain since they were essentially worth pocket change
Coin #1
1955 Washington quarter in AU.....dipped and stripped with no luster but NT album toning that can typically form on a dipped out coin. I paid $35 dollars for this coin and even had the nerve to show it off to David Hall at a show many many years ago cause I was so proud of my purchase. He took one look and said yeah so what it's a dipped AU?
I don't think I got it then......coin #2 & #3
I bought these at the same show as the other coin from a traveling merchant if you will....
I was at one dealer table looking at toners when a guy walked up with a few albums of coins and asked if I was interested in toners.....well of course I was but I didn't want to let the guy know that as I certainly didn't want to pay too much. Imagine my surprise when I talked hime down to $20 a piece for these winners I am just glad I never tried to send them in for certification back then....I am sure the graders would have gotten a real good chuckle Outside of being AT, ugly and probably lightly circulated I think they are very attractive coins
So now it's time to man up...or women up and show off how far you've come in your collecting adventure
0
Comments
That said, Shane -- those be some NASTY coins!!!
rainbowroosie April 1, 2003
I collect Shield Nickels.
I knew nothing about nickels not to mention rub at the time but the dealer seemed honest and I'd never seen one before.
I ran out to double check the various price guides I was armed with (I'm cracking up now
Member seanq let me ride his coattails on a submission some time later and so I sent it in for grading and here it is in it's AU55 PCGS holder.................
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Hoard the keys.
In my defense though, I was like 10 or 12 years old though and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen
And it was only $9.
commoncents123, JrGMan2004, Coll3ctor (2), Dabigkahuna, BAJJERFAN, Boom, GRANDAM, newsman, cohodk, kklambo, seateddime, ajia, mirabela, Weather11am, keepdachange, gsa1fan, cone10
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For example, in 2005 I bought, via auction, a couple of toned Peace dollars that looked attractive AND were slabbed by NGC. I knew Peace dollars fairly well, having put together a white set in the late '80's, (and eventually sold most of it in the early '90's... I stopped collecting between 1991 - 2003 as I had kids by then), but I didn't know much about AT toning in 2005, and was naive enough to assume that if either PCGS or NGC slabbed a coin then, BY GOLLY, it MUST be NT. I proudly showed the coins to assorted members of the Toned Coin Collectors Society, TCCS, and was gently informed that both were probably AT. I put them up for auction and lost around 50% on both of them. To make things even worse, when I look through the catalogue of the auction I originally got them in, there were several stunning NT toned Franklins that I could have gotten if I hadn't spent the money on the Peace dollars. Nothing quite like going to school, bending over and saying, "Please sir, may I have another"...
Here are images of the dollars, they do not look as wild in hand as via these images, e.g. the images are a bit juiced.
U.S. Type Set
Lessons:
* some dealers are better at acquiring inventory than others. I believe this particular dealer went out of business not long after I bought my coin, probably in large part because he was paying way too much to acquire not so great coins.
* problem coins, even hard to find ones have limited audiences. This means most dealers will offer very low on them, even if they ask near a full price. Now, at some price the coin would have been a decent deal. At a lower price, perhaps even a good deal, but at the price I paid, it was a burial. Price does matter.
I also had about a dozen cents with "clips" in my date set which were actually damaged. One of the first coins I bought for the set from a dealer I thought was an expert was not a genuine error but suffered from rim damage. Because I trusted the dealer's attribution I repeated his mistake on several other coins until I traded a "duplicate" away and my trading partner set me straight. It took me years to replace all of the coins I pulled from the set after that lesson.
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
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......
<< <i>It was just one of those days and I did need a lift into town.......MJ
I just threw up a little bit......but I bet she is a good cook