Mistakes You Have Made

Like everyone I've regretted not buying coins when I had the chance. I remember seeing a gorgeous Victoria Young Head Crown in VF+ condition in the window of an antique shop when I was about 18. I went in and asked the price, expecting the dealer to quote something ridiculous (it wasn't a coin shop) but the elderly lady behind the counter said "£9". Unfortunately I didn't have the cash on me, and when I returned a few days later, the coin had been sold.

I purchased several BU French coin sets from the Monnaie de Paris in the 1970s and 1980s but then stopped, as they were getting a bit expensive and I reckoned that in time they would become cheaper on the secondary market. In fact, there was an explosion of coin collecting in France during the run-up to the Euro in 1999-2002 and sets that had sold for the equivalent of 30 euros soared in value to several hundred euros, and prices remain sky-high.

When I was in my late 20s I received a J S Fforde £20 note with an 'A01' prefix - the very first £20 Bank of England note prefix - as part of a float from my employer. I saved it for several months, but £20 was a lot of money in those days and I eventually spent it when I needed some money at the end of the month. Today it would probably be worth about £150, but I suppose with adjustment for inflation I didn't really lose that much money.

And this should perhaps go in the stamp forum, but I wish I'd bought a few gold or silver coins instead of buying first day covers for every issue of UK commemorative stamps from the early 1970s until 2006...

I haven't made any big mistakes, but I also haven't bought/sold any really expensive coins either. Perhaps that's just a matter of time.

While it's terrible to hear about others' mistakes, hopefully everyone reading them will be able to learn from them and avoid making their own.

These are all hard to read...

Having been in the game less than three years, I haven't really had any huge mistakes. My first was cleaning my first Morgan dollar (we've all done it), and purchasing a proof merc that I will have to take a $10-$20 loss on.

I buy my coins to great prices so if something is wrong, then I can still resell it for more.

If I had known when I first started collecting that I'd be purchasing higher end coins, I would have avoided purchasing lower grade, beginner class coins. I will probably start selling some of those off slowly to buy some more early bust halves. Lower grade type coins are cool and all, but they don't satisfy my bust half fever.

Many years ago bought a 1909-1940 Whitman cent folder about 90% full. Coins in the folder had dates which were buffed-up rather harshly--didn't show that badly in the photos. Fortunately, I didn't pay and over-the-top sum.

A couple of years ago I went into my safe deposit box to "visit/commune" with my coins. When I was ready to leave I failed to check the floor under the desk I was working at. As a result, I'm pretty sure I lost a gold 2017 American Liberty coin. That's about $2,400 to replace nowadays. I know because I just replaced it. Ouch.

Mistake #1: Start buying coins without doing in-depth background research and making a realistic budget first.
Mistake #2: Being impatient and wanting to buy coins, even though they might look cleaned or are not up to my standards.

Not collecting pre 1932 Australian gold standard banknotes when I was able to do that, in the period of 1965 to 1975. I remember that it would be a 'no brainer' to collect them at the time, because I knew the potential was there.
That proved to be very true.

From 1975, I was paying off a mortgage.

If I had collected and kept them, they would be worth a motza now.
My problem? is that I an not an investor, but I AM a collector, so I would have kept them from then until now, with no intention of making a profit in the intervening period.

In 1992 I was in a coin shop when the owner opened a roll of Silver Eagles. Of the coins in the roll, eight had a large deep strike through in the same location on the obverse with a slight change in shape and size on each coin. They sent six to ANACS and put the other two away. When the coins came back from grading, I bought one certified and one raw example. I should have bought all eight of the coins just because they were so out of the ordinary. I've had some really nice offers on the pair, but I'm just not ready to part with them yet.

The coin that was slabbed started toning almost immediately and has developed more and more color over the years while the raw coin has remained almost white. I wonder if the other coins toned like mine, and I would love to know if the substance that caused the strike through also caused the coin to tone.

Click on either photo for a larger image