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 Replies: 31 / Views: 5,567 |
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New Member
United States
49 Posts |
I've collected for a good bit but I'm new to really paying close attention to the value of my collection and am only just now starting to sell. I'm trying to avoid making overly risky sales or purchases but I'm curious: What's the riskiest purchase, sale or trade you've ever made?
Are there any dumb or just overenthusiastic decisions you made when you were less experienced? Or maybe just a headstrong risky move you were entirely conscious of? I'm curious to hear stories like these especially from long time Numismatics and experts.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
Mine will be comparatively small to others, but the biggest in my meager collecting bubble. I've bought a couple multi-coin lots off heritage needing only 1 with the idea I can get my money back in selling off the other coins singly. I'm still waiting in a coin to sell for about $175-200 to cover myself.
Edited by Collects82
05/25/2017 3:57 pm
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
I suppose the riskiest thing I have ever done is buying two Ikes on ebay, which were my first ebay coin purchases ever. It was way too easy and I was completely satisfied. I will do it again.  I guess in hindsight the risk was imagined.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
The only thing I can think of is not buying enough when I was a lot younger.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Buying an expensive coin without telling my wife.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
That one time a few weeks ago where I tried to walk from one coin shop to another, supposedly half a mile away. Got lost, and stuck without a good road crossing. Ended up walking the entire half mile three times over, just to avoid having to cross a busy road without an official pedestrian crossing (still had to cross several other roads, after checking that there weren't any cars nearby). Oh, wait, you mean riskiest purchase, sale or trade... Well, there were a few that were less risky and more just dumb. Like that one time I paid $30 for a damaged common Walker and a common clad Ike, back in 2011. Less dumb, but still risky, was the 1923-S Peace dollar I bought as (far less common) 1921 for a "slightly under spot" $35 price (also 2011, duh). Many other random purchases from 2011 would probably also share this spot (but I bought lots of nice stuff back then too). Risky but probably justified: my biggest purchase of the last five years or so, a Liechtenstein 1904 krone for $25 that I bought last Saturday. Was supposed to be $40, but at the last moment (well after I made the decision) it turned out that the shop had a sale  Risky and maybe not justified (but not dumb): a Centenary of Grytviken Church £2 crown from South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, bought for $6 in my Numista 300 country quest, which turned out not to be listed on Numista (so it didn't actually add to my country count). Definitely risky, might or might not be dumb: every single Byzantine coin I bought from that one guy at Aurora coin fair. (And the other coins from the guy next to him, whom you might remember from the squashed nail thread. As soon as I get a half-decent camera I'll try to post the "Vandalic" AE minims I bought for crazy $7-ish money on the Ancients forum here to be sure whether they are actually Vandalic and not just a random barbarous copy.) Except the Cherson AE from the 9th century. That was entirely justified, those things don't exactly come up every day. Also handily covered up the 9th century in my One From Every century set attempt (I think I'm still looking for 10th century though, and 11th, and 14th, and my best 13th is the "squashed nail" one). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5822 Posts |
Bought a lot on ebay that I spend more money than what it is worth, paid more than twice the price for it. I tell myself I will not fall for another one of those BIN lot's again ads. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Quote:
Are there any dumb or just overenthusiastic decisions you made when you were less experienced? Oh my -- lots and lots of them. I went to my first coin show -- had never even heard of the Red Book, didn't own a loupe, bought a nasty, gouged Columbian Exposition half dollar for $30.  I also bought a Red Book at the show and met people from the local club....so it's okay. But the spot price of silver is going to have to get stupidly high for me to ever break even with that coin. Seriously, it doesn't bother me. I went to have fun and maybe learn a little and I did both. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1314 Posts |
Scarce VAM on ebay from blurry pictures. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Saw what was probably an ancient coin in a dealer's junk box, price? $5. With all of the encrustation on the coin, impossible to properly identify it.
Dealer suggested that it be dropped in acid for a minute or so.
My risk: The a 50/50 chance of the total destruction of the coin. At $5, I thought a risk well worth taking.
Some details emerged: Probably a silver tetradrachm of Ptolemy X11 (probably 1st reign, 80-58BC). He suggested it go back into the acid bath and watched closely. He pulled it out at exactly the right second and washed it thoroughly.
My suspicions were confirmed: It was indeed a tetradrachm of Ptolemy X11 ! in EF condition (obv.) VF (rev., downgraded by a weak strike).
Current value? approximately $150.
Edited by sel_69l
05/25/2017 8:46 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Oh, as far as overenthusiastic goes, there's another story from this month... I regularly visit one particular coin store in the Hobby Center mall. They have a 50 cent bargain "bin" that is just a huge pile of coins set up on the glass; over time, some of it had been picked out, but it is hard to estimate how much, and new material is added occasionally. The store is open on Saturdays and Sundays (it's a fairly new decision, it used to be open almost every day as recently as last month), and occasionally on other days as well (it's basically whenever the owner bothers to come). Now, for the last year or two, I've been trying to assemble a set (or as close as I can get to one) of Victorian bronze pennies. I have most of the 1860s and 1870s dates, but many dates in the 1880s and 1890s are still eluding me (they just don't come up very worn that often). Anyway, here I am, looking at the "bin", and there are a few worn pennies in there. I look at the dates... 1873... 1864... 1861... nah, I'd take some later dates if there were any (didn't I get an 1891 from there a few weeks ago?), but I probably have those early dates already. On Monday, I accidentally happen to recall that 1864 is a scarcer date, and that I did not, in fact, have one of those yet. ARGH!! So, come Saturday, in my first reasonable block of free time, I hurry down to the shop, hoping against all probability that the 1864 penny is somehow still there. Very overenthusiastic. ...After a few false starts, I find the penny, still in the pile. I immediately pay for it before someone else could take it away. (It's a Crosslet 4, in case you were wondering. It is quite worn, however.) I also buy a Zanzibar pysa from the same dealer (new country! up to 283), and take the opportunity to get the Liechtenstein coin I mentioned previously in this thread (from a different dealer). But that's another story entirely. |
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Moderator
United States
34395 Posts |
Quote:
I've bought a couple multi-coin lots off heritage needing only 1 with the idea I can get my money back in selling off the other coins singly. Me too. I once bought a roll of LWC of a particular date and mint to fill that hole in my coin folder. Now I have 49 others of them hanging around somewhere. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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New Member
 United States
49 Posts |
Quote:I suppose the riskiest thing I have ever done is buying two Ikes on ebay, which were my first ebay coin purchases ever. It was way too easy and I was completely satisfied. I will do it again. I guess in hindsight the risk was imagined. Did the risk ever exist at all if you never lost out? Quote:
The only thing I can think of is not buying enough when I was a lot younger. Sometimes I worry I've overspent! Quote:Me too. I once bought a roll of LWC of a particular date and mint to fill that hole in my coin folder. Now I have 49 others of them hanging around somewhere. Maybe its a common mistake if you've both done it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4468 Posts |
I spent about $5,000.00 buying raw Morgan's on ebay auctions without a clue on how to grade or price the coins. I wanted them white with clean cheeks. I went to the school of hard knocks as I sent the coins to NGC for grading and then sold all the coins, so I could buy better coins. I lost about 1K of my original 5K investment in grading, ebay, PayPal, and shipping fees. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
694 Posts |
Well I thought the risk was low-ish buying what I thought was and 1829 Russian rouble from an auction house via saleroom online . £340 was a magnetic fake. Auction house refused to refund my money . Auctioneer said he stands by his description "White metal Russian Coin bla-de bla de est £40-£80". Now I was a rookie then and didn't know all the Jargon white metal apart from meaning Non-silver also means unmarked silver. But the fact that the price was £40-£80 he knew full well it was a fake. So I am not the biggest fan of online auctions. With the greatest respect to those who are genuine good guys you are in the minority. Nearly all online auctions esp ebay are crammed full of cleaned over-priced rubbish that are photo-shopped to make them look authentic. I seriously do not know where these so called dealers get their prices from and for tradesmen they couldn't grade to save their lives. But in reflection it has grounded me and to ignore the voice of buy buy buy :) Rule of thumb if it looks too good too be true it 95% of the time isn't |
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New Member
United States
49 Posts |
Quote:I spent about $5,000.00 buying raw Morgan's on ebay auctions without a clue on how to grade or price the coins. I wanted them white with clean cheeks. I went to the school of hard knocks as I sent the coins to NGC for grading and then sold all the coins, so I could buy better coins. I lost about 1K of my original 5K investment in grading, ebay, PayPal, and shipping fees. Wow that sounds rough, at least you got about 4k back, I was expecting you to have lost all of it when the story began. The fees really do get you. Quote:Well I thought the risk was low-ish buying what I thought was and 1829 Russian rouble from an auction house via saleroom online . £340 was a magnetic fake. Auction house refused to refund my money . Auctioneer said he stands by his description "White metal Russian Coin bla-de bla de est £40-£80". Now I was a rookie then and didn't know all the Jargon white metal apart from meaning Non-silver also means unmarked silver. But the fact that the price was £40-£80 he knew full well it was a fake. So I am not the biggest fan of online auctions. With the greatest respect to those who are genuine good guys you are in the minority. Nearly all online auctions esp ebay are crammed full of cleaned over-priced rubbish that are photo-shopped to make them look authentic. I seriously do not know where these so called dealers get their prices from and for tradesmen they couldn't grade to save their lives. But in reflection it has grounded me and to ignore the voice of buy buy buy :) Rule of thumb if it looks too good too be true it 95% of the time isn't Yeah I'm very skeptical of online auctions although I still use them to sell sometimes. Even in person I prefer to deal with one of the two auctions I trust, with few exceptions. |
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Replies: 31 / Views: 5,567 |
Posted 05/25/2017 3:30 pm
