If Time Goes Back, Would You Repeat The Same Mistakes?

That's a very interesting question, Amr. It's not something that I've really thought about extensively. In general, I've regretted not buying more gold when it was trending between $500-$800 an ounce for years, and for my parents for not buying proof coins from the classic era (1858-1916) when they were ridiculously cheap in the 1950's & '60, or complete sets of uncirculated gold when it was legal to own again in 1974. In their defense, they were a young couple who had neither the time nor the money to sock away coins with a young family to support, hedging against inflation was not their highest priority, putting food on the table was. I feel very fortunate to be in the place I am today, with the ability to do what they couldn't, to enjoy buying and possessing rare coins. I think I turned your question on its head, even on my bad purchases I am grateful for, as I learn something new about numismatics or about myself. So in that regard there's nothing I truly and utterly regret doing or buying, an if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing! There is a rhyme and reason why things happen the way they do. Good question!

The mistake I made when I was young was to focus on quantity instead of quality. I wanted to fill the holes and move on. Later in life I have found myself replacing the lower grade purchases with acceptable grades for me now. I now accept holes in my album if the grade requirements are superseded by finances. I am proud of my collection of 40+ years and will continue to acquire that next "new" coin for the hoard.

in 2008, silver was hovering around $12/oz. I got a feeling, a nagging feeling that we needed to buy some. I just knew. My wife and I went to the library & checked out books and everything--- but in the end "we" decided both our jobs were in shaky industries and it was likely better to keep cash on hand in the emergency fund. After all, silver had fairly recently been down to $5/oz for years.

And then there is the fact that certain family members collected, and I "kind of" knew about it but never shared the hobby with them... and after they passed I saw their collections and the passion they had for it and wished I would have been able to connect on that level. Unfortunately it is easyto hide this hobby for security reasons-- but this also deprives you and those you love.

Oh, speaking of theft I had a lot of stuff stolen a few years back... incl a full set of franklins. That is a big regret.

Other than those couple of things it is similar to the above posters, I just wish I would have known... lots of good deals on good coins have slipped through my hands over the years because of my own ignorance.. butthat's part of the fun. This is such a big topic that no one can know everything about every coin, and you are constantly learning.

I would have ignored all the US coins I bought back in my early years and started buy my Conder tokens MUCH earlier. By the time I got into them seriously in the 90's Mint State pieces cost around $20 to $25 apiece. Back in 72 when I started collecting MS pieces were $2 each and Mint Red pieces were $3. Today it is hard to find even the most common MS pieces for less than $150 each. That's a minimum of 12% compounded annual growth for 40 years for the COMMONS. My collection right now is impressive, but if I had started back in 72 today it would be AWESOME!

Okay, this is hard to admit here but...I was never a real collector because I never learned anything. I just saved old coins -- lots and lots of them.

When my husband found coins in boxes and jars at his late father's house we both got interested..but I was a bit over-anxious and started looking and sorting until I came upon 6 Kennedy halves with green goo on them. I grabbed a rag -- take a breath -- and wiped it off. I truly didn't even think about anything except that green goo is bad and getting it off the coins was good. I had no idea what the stuff was and I acted on impulse. I can only say that I am glad that I didn't ruin anything ancient or historically valuable.

Instead of going to Alaska to dig for gold 1986/87 I should have bought gold. Lost my shirt and my jeep in Alaska.

I would have bought the coins I was interested years ago when they were so much cheaper. Wait - I was broke and didn't have any spare cash years ago so I guess it really doesn't matter. Never mind.

I wish I had know the real value of silver coins way back when, (5 years) I only knew they were "worth keeping".

I also very much wish I had been able to tell whether or not a coin had been cleaned. Since I was on a pretty low budget, I didnt buy many anyway. But I did buy a few cleaned ones for uncleaned price not so long ago (before I knew 'bout CCF) and wish I hadnt.