Let's hear about the coin that got away from you, for whatever reason, that you still remember. I have two. One was a spectacular MS Seated Quarter that was completely missing the word LIBERTY due to a filled die. The coin was in an NGC holder, and I examined it myself, so I know it's MS. Unfortunately, I lacked the money to buy it at the time, and by the time I did have money and saw the dealer who had it, it had been sold. The other was just today, due to a goof of mine. I wanted to bid on this Merc, but didn't realize I wasn't signed in to eBay. DUH.
For me it was three 1962 proof sets. The seller at my coin club was asking $19 and I was looking to flip on eBay so I passed on it. However next meeting he came in and said that all three had the 1962 DDO Quarter and he just sent them out to NGC.
This!!! I lost it yesterday The 1942 Bombay mint no I. Been looking for one and this one was beautiful. It went for like $21, not that much especially in this condition. But I'm already at my budget and I'm a poor college student.
I fell like im saying this all the time but mine would still be that gobrecth dollar that I saw on ebay.
Several years ago, a good friend of mine had a listing for an 1883-CC Morgan toner graded NGC MS65. The obverse toning was gorgeous with magenta, red and blue. The bidding had already gone to $750 but came to a stop the last couple of days. So, I decided to place a max bid of $1200 to see what would happen. I remained the high bidder until the last few minutes, but I lost it to a bidder at $1250. I was pretty bummed about it, but that's the way it goes. A couple weeks later, my friend once again listed another 1883-CC Morgan toner very similar to the earlier listing. There was only very slight differences in the obverse toning, and it too was graded NGC MS65. I made up my mind that I wasn't going to lose this one. From the previous auction, I knew there was only one bidder that might go that high, but why would he/she bid on another that was almost identical. So, I set my max bid at $1250, hoping that it would hold up. When the auction finally ended, I was the winner at $511! You know, sometimes a good thing happens when you least expect it. Chris
Yep, I'm sure that by passing up those coins, I'll have more money to buy the next great coin to come along. If I had the resources to build the next Eliasberg collection, those coins wouldn't have gotten away from me. But, I'm in the (fortunate?) position of there being way more great coins out there in my general price range than I can afford to buy in my lifetime. Missing a couple coins is nothing in the scheme of things. But, I still wish I'd have been able to buy that Seated Quarter. I don't even know if there's another one out there like it.
Pre-posted in an earlier thread, but here goes. Back in the late 1970s I had a chance to trade my VF 1801 and EF-1815 halves for my choice of either a F 1796 or F 1797 half straight across. At the time replacement value for my two halves would have put me slightly behind on the swap so I didn't do it. Today that same swap would net me about 50K in value. And the 1796...1797 half is STILL the only hole in my half dollar set.
I had the chance, but not the funds, to buy a PR66 Cameo Morgan dollar for $16k. Saw it in hand. It sold at the last big New York show auction for $26k!
Recently looking at Indian coins at a flea-market dealer, he had a 50 Rupee piece that I liked and was considering when another lookie-loo asked if he could buy it. Since I hadn't made up my mind, I said sure, and he bought it. Weeks later I mentioned to the dealer that I regretted not buying it. He told me the guy had returned it, so I was actually able to get it. Looks kind of Proof to me.
