Have you ever been disappointed with a coin you bought ?

A few times the auction house may manage to photograph a coin in such a way that it looks better in photo than in hand - that's disappointing, but not something I lose sleep over.

This lot from Leu 2 still haunts me to this day:



Looks like a massive lot of top-quality mid 3rd century antoninianii with a few scarcer types, and three of Macrianus, right?

What I failed to realize from the pictures is that almost all of the coins suffered from extremely weak dies on one side or the other, so my dreams of keeping the best ones for myself and making a cool thousand bucks turned into a nightmare of watching them hammer on eBay for an average of half of what I had paid. It was a painful and expensive lesson to learn - but now I know to always assume the worst when auction houses don't clearly show both sides of the coins in group lots.

 

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YES, SEVERAL TIMES, GREAT SOUTHERN COINS IS A CULPRIT, AND I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THEM AGAIN..I BUY ABOUT 1500-3,000 A MONTH, MOST OFF EBAY (GREAT REYRN AND BUYER PROTECTION), DISLIKE OTHER AUCTIONS BECAUSE OF THEIR EXHORBITANT BUYER FEES.. SOME OFF DEALER WEBSITES, I COLLECT ERRORS AND I GO WHERE THEY ARE...SOMETIMES SLABBED COINS ARE MISGRADED AS WELL, GOT A PF-70 HALF THAT LOOKED GREAT IN THE PIC, BUT WHEN I GOT HIM, HE HAD A COIN EDGE DING AND A SCRATCH, LOL SO..MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD RETURN POLICY WITH WHOEVER YOU BUY FROM...I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RETURN MOST I WAS DISSATISFIED WITH, KEPT THE KENNEDY BECAUSE THE DEALER HAS GOOD PRICING AND MAKES DEALS WHEN I OFFER..SO JUST ATE THAT ONE, (ONLY 42.00 SO NO BIG LOSS, LOL) HOPE THIS HELPS,,,

 

On many occasions I have received coins that have been quite a bit different from what I was expecting. Especially in regard to their color. I remember that in one auction I bought one coin that looked bright and shiny in the picture and got a rather dark coin The other coin was pictured as being dark and turned up bright and shiny. I learned early on to try to look at the details of the coin and decide on that basis alone how much I was willing to spend on that coin. Of late whenever possible I try to go to shows, view auctions, and use auction representation so that I have my eyes or someone who I trust look at the coin and tell me if I should bother. As an example
Carthage Ae Trishekel 220-215 BC. Obv Head of Tanit left wearing wreath of grain. RV. Horse standing in front of palm tree. CNP164a 19.48 grms 30 mm Photo by W. Hansen I had some concerns which were addressed and I bought the coin and I am happy with the result.

 

I think this is a great topic. Of course all longstanding collectors have experienced "buyers remorse". The question is why. I think it usually happens when you try to cut corners, make compromises or convince yourself that something is a great deal when it often isn't.
Most of my best buys are in fact coins that I initially had thought that I had over payed on, i.e. coins that attracted a lot of interest in an auction.

For that reason I am practically never interested in multiple lots, because I think that auction houses lump them together for a reason. I would never buy uncleaned coins and I live with many gaps in the collection because I cannot fill with with coins in the right quality (at a price that I can afford).

 

Ouch, I feel for you! I would absolutely have bid like crazy on those. I would be extremely interested in a bunch of those (I see quite a few "special" types I collect/look out for). I feel like most third cent Ants have much weaker rev's than obv's, but I hope that they weren't intentionally picking weaker-than-average ones to throw in together, and especially flipping the strong rev's to show -- that'd be really sick!

(BTW -- for future ref., in case you don't already know this from experience, those coins would've done very well as fixed-price/best offer listings on eBay, nicer but not super-high-demand coins like that tend to auction very low.)

 

Well I saw a rare Indian coin that had a rare variety. It was a double fanam
1804 with a circular dot belt buckle and it was empty without a clasp. I had never seen one of this variety so I had nothing to compare it too and couldn't find a picture so I put in a reasonable bid. It took a long time to receive it from India. It was packed improperly and when I examined it , it was too shiny for its age and it was probably shined .I am in USA and I have bought a few coins from India, but never again. The seller had 100% positive feedback
and said free returns. But the photo was taken in such a way to make it look ok, it must have been edited. Now I buy only from US sellers. I also buy from dealers that are proven to be straight forward. Also in the bidding I suspected a shill pumped up the price to my maximum bid. It was previously sold , when I researched it but the previous sale was never completed. The bottom line is to trust the dealer. When you find a good one stick with them. Once you find they can't be trustworthy and the deal is too good to be true, it probably is .

 

No.

 

Nearly every coin I've bought because it seemed to be a bargain, with a few exceptions when the seller simply didn't know what they had.

 

Something Verrry Karmic going on there, @Alegandron!

 

...Thank you, @Fugio1! To flip this over for a minute, especially where medievals are concerned (especially on European ebay; more occasionally --owing to the sheer supply-- the American version), the seller's ignorance can be a major opportunity. Mentioned this somewhere not long ago, but over the last 15 -20 years, that's how I wound up with the spine of my French feudal collection.
Where buyer's remorse is concerned, the most consistent thing I've run into is probably coins that were more ruthlessly (if 'competently') cleaned than I could, or bothered to notice from the pics. Meaning, Way too shiny, whether or not in direct contrast to the level of wear. ...It's easy to be charitable in the cases where the coin was likely (or explicitly) from a recent detecting find, but sometimes it just goes over the top.

 

I tend to buy in different «tiers». One can be coins that I consider possible to clean into a nice coin. Then I get disappointed if I discover that the encrustacion has grown totally into the coin. Another can be coins that I consider cheap, and can be held as a «savings account» until I find a good opportunity to sell them. Those coins rarely touch my heart, but if they do, it was lousy business because then I’m not going to make money on them as planned....
The tier most often disappointing me, is the «I should get this for my set»-tier. Sometimes it almost feels like an obligation to add a new emperor. That feeling took me out of the hobby and into the wild for a couple of years. Which was a good thing anyway.
The last tier is the great white whale tier. I’ve never been disappointed by one of those, but I can rarely afford them.

 

Very well put, @svessien, not to mention incisive. (...May I repeat the obvious, that your English is better than that of a lot of ostensible native speakers?)
You're probably the first one on this thread to note the fact that, from one coin to the next, we tend to collect from different motives. ...Right (my penchant for ellipticality is starting to make me nervous), on a preemptive basis.
I can second as much as that, more impressionistically (or at least pre-articulately), I have widely varying levels of emotional (and corresponding monetary) investment, from my first bid on something. Whether the auction is one of the 'big names,' or on ebay.
...Granted, I've always collected solely in the attitude, as well as the capacity of a collector.
(...See? To switch countries on you, I studied The Concluding Unscientific Postscript as an undergraduate. ...In a less than great English translation!!!)
But it's resonantly true that there are 'Great Whales' (liking it --a contemporary of Kierkegaard!), where you just Know. (...I like your metaphor more than 'Holy Grails' --unless they're different things....)

 

Thanks you VGO! That’s nice of you to say, even if I got at least hold/held wrong this time (duh)

I’m glad you mention Kirkegaard. He’s with me daily. I work in an emergency institution for juveniles that are placed there because of drugs and crime. (No, it’s not like juvenile hall). I’ve been into this kind of work for around 25 years now. The daily mantra is Kirkegaard:

If One Is Truly to Succeed in Leading a Person to a Specific Place, One Must First and Foremost Take Care to Find Him Where He is and Begin There.

This is the secret in the entire art of helping.

Anyone who cannot do this is himself under a delusion if he thinks he is able to help someone else. In order truly to help someone else, I must understand more than he–but certainly first and foremost understand what he understands.

If I do not do that, then my greater understanding does not help him at all. If I nevertheless want to assert my greater understanding, then it is because I am vain or proud, then basically instead of benefiting him I really want to be admired by him.

But all true helping begins with a humbling.

The helper must first humble himself under the person he wants to help and thereby understand that to help is not to dominate but to serve, that to help is a not to be the most dominating but the most patient, that to help is a willingness for the time being to put up with being in the wrong and not understanding what the other understands.

This can of course be applied to coin cleaning too..

 

@svessien, I'm still recovering from your punch line!!! :<}}}}
To get it out of the way, you noticed that sole, negligable, grammatical botch before I did. (Or else I immediately, prearticulately ignored it.)
But your citation of Kierkegaard, and its context, Really blows what's left of my hair back. ...Is this from, perhaps, what translates to 'Works of Love?' ...No, I can Google your source as easily as you ...Unless you have it, and were merely attempting to avoid the specious appearance of pretension. (Hypothetically, all I would have use for would be the title; for obvious reasons, any bibliographic info would go sailing over my head. --Wait, Unless, Oh No, you had an English translation!!!!)

 

'Have you ever been disappointed with a coin you bought?
Nope!....Just pleasantly surprised..

 

Here it is:
https://www.amazon.com/Point-View-Kierkegaards-Writings-Vol/dp/0691058555/

If we allow ourselves another little Kirkegaard quote, while getting back on topic:

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

We rarely ask ourselves «uh, why did I buy this coin» before we have it in hand and feel the wave of disappoinment wash over our embarrased selves, right? Until then, we have projected that this must be a wonderful purchase At least I do, I’m very human.

 

Thanks for that! About to look it up.
...Right, and the second one is Definite Concluding Unscientific Postscript....

 

You have a heart / working Life of Gold.

If we could all just pull some of these Truths into our lives, perhaps a lot of the "ME entitlement" behavior would change for the better...
Thank you and Namaste.

 

Absolutely. If it happens often, you might need to crack a book, go to your LCS for help or maybe even think about another hobby.

 

I would say I have buyer's remorse 6 times a year. But I have done it with many other collections I have, even comic books have many faults to look for that go easily unnoticed.

It's just part of being a collector.

Now the million-dollar question, does Clio ever experience remorse?.