What's your worst coin mistake?

Let's hear it.

 

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overpaid a bit for a raw uncirculated fb mercury dime a few years ago. thought it would be a higher grade than what pcgs slabbed it. But I still made a few dollars on it.

 

I bought a 1946D half with an ANACS certificate as 63/65 in 1983 or 84. The seller's price list said he thought it was really a 65/65 but if the buyer disagreed then send it back. Well I thought it was 65/65 too and kept it. Paid close to $300 for it. Later on I had PCGS slab it and it still resides in a rattler as MS64. And not even close to being worth $300. I call it my Mongo coin.

 

I paid $950 for an 1875-P PCGS XF40 Trade dollar. After 3 months, I auctioned it and it sold on eBay for $650. Ouch.

 

Buying my first one...I've had little to no disposable income since.

 

Oh no, Tim! Did you screw up again?

I've never made a mistake that I couldn't live with.

Chris

 

I got a bag of wheat pennies and found a few indian heads and steels in there; but I couldn't see them very well so I used brass-o on them. That was before I learned not to clean coins. I also passed up a 1895-0 Morgan dollar for fifty dollars at an auction. oops

 

You want my mistake?

How about yours first?

 

I thought he posted something about mercury dimes but I must have been reading Josh's post. That's two mistakes.

 

Which one?

Chris

 

Good gosh, I have no idea what my worst mistake was. There has been many of course. Anyone saying they have never made a mistake in coin collecting either hasn't collected very long or I am suspicious of. Its part of the hobby. Plenty of mistakes, a few killer deals I lucked in to, and a few instances of real knowledge helping me out. All of this is part of the hobby IMHO.

No one should beat themselves up about a mistake granted on thing; Did you learn better because of it? If you did, no big deal.

 

My worst mistake was when my dad found a xf 1834 capped bust dime while metal detecting and cleaned the dirt off with a toothbrush. However I was only 6 at the time, and didn't know a great deal about coins. I alwsys wish I could go back in time and stop him from cleaning it.

I've had mini mistakes.. Such as overpaying for coins by getting caught up in local auctions.

 

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Six? That doesn't count.

 

Sold a handful of coins on GC and lost a few hundred. They all sold for about 50% of market value. My luck.

 

GC?

 

I don't buy that as your biggest coin mistake. And if you made a few dollars then it wasn't such a bad deal.

 

http://www.greatcollections.com

 

In the late 90's I bought an AU 1834 Classic Head Half Cent which I decided to send into PCGS for grading. The coin came back in a body bag because apparently I had imparted a large staple scratch across the obverse of the coin while removing it from the 2x2. My only solace is that I don't have photographic evidence of my blunder. I certainly have lost more money on other coins, but that was by far my most egregious mistake.

 

I unfortunately learned that one too Paul.

For others who haven't done this, please listen. When removing a coin from a 2x2, please use a piece of plastic to puncture the plastic and remove the coin. Do NOT, EVER, open the two pieces of cardboard, thereby exposing the staples. You think you can stop it, you think its not a big deal, but one of these days that staple will scratch a coin. Please listen to us old farts and not have the same sad story as us. If you MUST open the cardboard, only due so after all staples have been pulled from it and moved away from the coin. Its just way too easy to seriously scratch a coin with those dang things.