Do Affordable Bust Dollars Still Exist?

That coin's a beauty, Andrew. Easy to see how you profited on that flip for such a respectable type coin

I totally agree with keeping the focus on collecting rather than investing. On the other hand, it can be a terrible feeling when I pull the trigger on a coin and later realize that it was overpriced. I've tried to buy coins for around their resale value so that I don't take a big hit if I want to "upgrade". I also try to use the 24 hour rule. I think this help me avoid buyers remorse. My thinking is much clearer the next morning. I've lost deals this way. But, I have also avoided some very poor impulsive decisions.

I like the HA idea. I am not registered. But, it sounds like I need to up my game. That 1800 is a really beautiful coin. I would have had a very difficult time parting with her even for a $500-600 profit. I'm inspired!

This was early in my HA experience and I was anxious about participating live. I also did not know how to set buy limits for an auction, so I put a bid in on two 1800 Bust dollars as a live proxy. The other one was even nicer. I ended up winning both. This one, I won 15% below greysheet bid so as the 2nd one, it was a little easier to part with it.

Yes. Consider the 17.5% premium as part of the "bid". The premium is included in all the prices realized you see on their website. The coin I paid $1,997 for I had put in a bid at $1,700. It is standard auction practice to consider the buyer premium when bidding as you will have to pay it. Similarly, the seller premium is ignored by bidders as they do not have to pay it.

The BP is the single, solitary reason why I do not do any purchasing business through HA (or any other auction house) and am left to scour ebay and local shops endlessly. They call it a "buyer's premium", but what it really amounts to is a privately-collected 17.5% sales tax. I'm not even sure I'd let them sell my coins on consignment, either, since they take a minimum 15% commission and the fees for appraisal, slabbing/reholder, photography, cataloging, etc. can be substantial.

As far as the "24 hour rule" etc I follow two simple guidelines. If I don't like it when I see it, I'm not going to like it 24 hours (or any number of hours) later, and I won't buy it. Also, the more money I'm about to spend, the more carefully I want to look at the coin. Sure, I've been tempted a couple of times on coins like Bust dollars that had sub-2-minute auction windows and were at very low, attractive prices, but not being an expert on that series, it's a fool's gamble to throw a couple thousand bucks at something in the heat of the moment and then 30 minutes later start seeing all the stuff your heart didn't let your eyes pick up, like scratches, cleaning, tooling, rim dings, hairlines, over/undergrade slabs, poor strikes, damage hidden in detail areas, corrosion under toning, etc. If it's a series I am really comfortable with - large cents, Half Cents, Morgan dollars, Washington quarters - I might "gamble" a bit more.

But it's easier to have a couple thousand bucks and be looking for a coin than to have a coin and be looking for a couple thousand bucks, and mistakes made in haste cannot always be undone in haste.

Coins at auction where there is a 17.5% BP sell for 17.5% less before the BP. It is nothing like a sales tax. Further, sellers premiums have nothing to do with you if you don't sell through the auction house and they can be negotiated down to 5% or even zero at times.

No one is advocating impulse bidding at auctions. It can be exciting, which is why I suggest you spend weeks doing your research and write your maximum bids (backing out the 17.5%) down and send them in as a live proxy in which a Heritage employee will execute them for you as if you were on the floor. Then you can sit back and watch the auction. Or not. The coin I won at $1997, I had a $2,300 maximum on.

That's a nice original coin, but you paid a retail price for it. That's fine; I respect your reasoning, but OP seemed to have different objectives.

I may put $100,000 into stocks that pay me a 9% dividend but I would hesitate to drop 20K into a coin that might or might not appreciate and definitely does not pay a dividend. Coin collecting for multi-millionaires is not my game.