Deals That Passed You By

Have you ever had a deal on any type of PM, Numi coin etc. that passed you by, only to end up kicking yourself later? After reading through pages of threads, this is one subject I haven't seen posted yet. Failing to buy PM's 5+ years ago does not count. Last Sunday I found a man selling 60 sealed mint tubea of A.S.E's for 1920.00 cash only. I'm not the kind of person that keeps a cool 2,000 dollars on hand, so I waited and hoped come Monday maybe the offer would still be on the table. Two hours later it was not, I've been in a somber mood since. Does anyone else have stories and heartbreaks to share?

 

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I was set up at a coin show about a month ago. Guy brought in a 6"x6" box of OLD world coins, including quite a few silver coins, many from the 1800s. Guy next to me bought it for $100. Wish I had the cash, there was probably $300 worth of coin it that box.

 

somebody sold about 38 grand worth of silver for two grand?

 

I would have had a hard time looking myself in the mirror if I had bought 1200 ASE's for $1.60 each.

On the bright side, deals that sound too good to be true usually are...

 

That sounds way to good to be true.

 

I haven't been doing this as long as most of you, however every time I don't buy something I thought I really wanted, I am grateful later to have the funds to do something else. Sure, there are a few things I marginally regret, however certainly nothing to lose sleep over.

I know it's not a very romantic story, yet sleeping better at night is far more important!

 

I found an ebay auction for a roll of 20 $10 Gold Eagles from 1880's-1900's with a buy it now of about $8,000 just about a year ago... I could have pulled it off but was afraid it was a scam... woke up next morning and auction was sold... who knows~ $20K worth of gold for $8k just seemed to good to be true...

 

Sorry about that, I meant to say 3 sealed tubes, 60 a.s.e's in total.

 

I believed a local coin dealer when he talked me out of starting a collection of circulated $10 gold back when they sold for about $200 each.

 

I've had a few that makes the bile rise in my throat. One was a 1912 $5 Dominion of Canada "Train" banknote that I passed on. Asking price was $350. Actual value was $1,500 - at least that's what the buyer of the note flipped it for the next day to another dealer.

The other one was a woman who had called me because she had coins to sell. She had about a dozen small boxes with various coins in them. The first box had a price of $350 on it. I went through it and found about $50 in value. I thanked her for her time but I wasn't interested. I was in no mood to argue. My friend went to her place and bought everything she had. The $350 price wasn't for one box but everything plus more!

 

Man, that brings back a painful memory. I did similar. I had a chance to buy 1/5 ounce world gold coins, (various countries and types), for $65 each. I asked my favorite LCS dealer and he convinced me they were "junk, and always will be junk".

To be fair with some of that money I bought a few hundred face silver, but have always kicked myself for not buying the gold.

 

I go to a flea market in my town once in a while and buy junk silver from a guy. He always sells well under spot if I buy a decent amount of coins. One of the first times I bought from him he had 5 Morgans but I didn't really have the extra cash to throw down for them. I bought a decent amount of dimes quarters and halves from him for under spot. I think about it every once in a while and I know I probably could have got the Morgans for $20 each without and doubt.

 

In 2007, I could have purchased a beautiful Canadian 1937 brass pattern cent, from the Paris Mint, for $900 - less than 10 exist. All the ones I have seen subsequent to that one had lousy eye-appeal. This coin now sells for a cool $4500, much more so for one that looks like the one I could have had... sigh...

 

Back in the mids 70's had a guy offer me a BU roll of 1955 Lincolns with a stupid error on the coin.. I looked at them, nice shape but who in their right mind would pay a premium for a coin that the mint screwed up on. I passed on the roll.. Price $2,000 for the roll. And yes they were all 1955 DDO's.

 

That makes a lot more sense. I would have jumped on that!

 

I have always felt that deals that you lose out on are very similar to gains and losses in investments. You need to gain like $8 to feel as good as you feel bad when you lose $1. I think its the same with coin deals, you remember with regret much more those you don't get rather than the ones you did get.

I think psychologically is what drive a lot of collectors.

 

Well, it wasn't a complete loss because instead I started collecting some TPG graded modern gold commemorative coins that I like a lot and will probably never sell.

Edit: I'm probably the only person alive who believes the 1984 $10 olympic gold commemorative is a beautiful coin.

 

I inherited my grandmothers collection as a teenager in 1982, and took her best coin to a show in boston Ma with my father. A dealer offered to trade me a F12 Chain cent for my AU58 1856 flying eagle. At the time both were roughly worth $3-$4K, after thinking about my dad & I decided not to pull the trigger since the coin had been in our family for years.

Now that I'm almost 50, the 56 Eagle might be worth $15k on a good day at a good auction but the Chain is north of $30...


FYI: I'm glad I kept it....

 

Thanks for rubbing it in blaubart I can't say it makes it better to hear these stories,but atleast I know the pain is shared. Interesting reads everyone.

 

I don't know if this qualifies as a deal, but not getting in on the 2009 UHR's when they came out at $1200. I probably could've scraped the money together back then to get only one, but that single one would've been the highlight of my collection today. Maybe I would have been lucky enough to score a 70 Proof-Like. Yea right, one can only imagine!