Worst Coin Investments/Purchases In Your Opinion

It's a good idea for a topic, with the following caveat: We're going to be expressing, in many cases, personal opinions here and as such they could be construed as argumentative by some with differing opinions. Hopefully, we can do this without contention.

Poor investments:

1) Coins you do not have specific personal knowledge of, or haven't subjected to due diligence before contemplating purchase. Never follow your nose with a coin purchase. Follow your head.

2) (Contentious opinion) Moderns. Aside some few known rarities, most of the Modern market is speculative and how the numbers will hold up in the long term is entirely unproven.

quick question, not to thread jack... I've learned a lot about grading, but where do you get your prices from? I want to sell coins out of my shop, but where do I figure out the best price to put on them?

There are a number of places to get pricing figures but one for example is numismedia.com

Well, for starters, if you are buying simply for enjoyment then you cannot do much harm.
However, if you wish to recoup some if not all of your purchase price the most important thing to consider is this:
"Is a particular coin in a particular condition difficult to find today?" If so, these are the coins that will continue to be difficult to locate
in the future. And as eagerly sought as today.
I just bought several coins last Sunday. A particular, common date, coin with a gorgeous mint state look I bought for pleasure. But, I paid MORE
for a coin in a lesser condition which is uncommonly seen in the high grade XF-45. A common date [1910) and a rare date and mint [1904-S].
Both dimes.
The better investment potential: the 1904-S! Just not seen on the market today in any quantity in XF.

And yes, 10,000 'modern' coins offered today as an 'investment' will disappoint, as all 10,000 will be available in the future.
A production coin with a mintage of 800,000 [the 04-S], more than 100 years old and used heavily over the years, just does not survive in high grades.

This lesson applies to any series of coins.
Of any country.

Oh, and I bury my mistakes as soon as I rid myself of the offending purchase. So I have no stories to tell.
One timely comment: this month marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A 1964 proof set was bought by my mom for $9.95. Contains the Kennedy half dollar. Is worth LESS today, 50 years later! What a bummer.

LOL!

I rather agree with SsuperDdave. When I first started out I got enthusiastic about coins on ebay I'd not seen before and paid well over the odds. I still have a few that even though prices have risen over the last ten years, I imagine I will struggle to get back even what I paid!

Knowledge about your coins is worth perhaps as much as the coins themselves!

And modern NCLT just doesn't do it for me. I simply cannot see why someone would want to buy a chunk of silver at a sometimes huge mark-up, just because it looks a bit like a coin. You can't spend them, they're as rare as beanie babies ...

... but then, I'm sure there are those here who look at the banged-up things I buy and wonder "but WHY?" That's fine. Less competition for me!

Some of the worst purchases I've made were buying "slider" Morgan dollars instead of paying $50 or so more for a nice MS63 or 64. Also buying low grade or corroded or real dinged up Large Cents instead of saving some more money and buying nice examples.....Now I buy one real nice coin instead of 10 crappy coins.

Like Mullen Said, a great resource for coin values is Numismedia, it is updated often and many collectors use it as their main price guide.

The best way to determine the value of something though, is completed ebay listings.

A caveat to this is buying cleaned coins. This is a learning experience
in itself. With a slobberd coin you know. Buying one raw for possibly investment you need to know what you are doing.IMHO
Thank you VT, now go and eat a pepper