thedeadpoint Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Hi guys, I'm sure there are a few interesting stories among you about this topic. Recently I found my way to a coin show with a great assortment of coins and notes. I'm starved for such an awesome variety. So, I bought a few notes and coins. This was a few weeks before a big ski trip (read: $$$ lost) and Christmas (read: more $$ lost). I didn't tell my mom for a few days that I used my earnings on coins instead of preparing for the trip in x-mas. Whoops. You ever "accidentally" made an acquisition that the significant other or parents didn't fully approve of? Ever spent your retirement fund on a stella? Ever made a casual bid on a lot and won it when you were hoping to lose it (once you realized you didn't have the funds)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Ever made a casual bid on a lot and won it when you were hoping to lose it (once you realized you didn't have the funds)? I've done that many a time! "I'll put in a bid of $250, someone will outbid me. *Checks PayPal account...* They'd better!" So over the years I've ended up with some very nice coins but coin collecting does cause me to cut-back on other things, I worked out I could live on a loaf of bread a week and so by saving $30 a week I can therefore buy an Edward I Long-cross penny every week!!! (Joking by the way...) All of my coins have stories, due to their long and sometimes turbulent history, admittedly an Uncirculated hammered coin from 1250 doesn't appear to have much history, but an ordinary coin has been passed from market trader to peasant to merchant etc... and that makes those coins, to me, more valuable than its monetary value. Would love to hear some of your stories Ladies and Gentlemen! Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Think parents are bad? Try a penny pinching wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreasureGirl Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Even harder when I'M the penny-pinching wife. :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Even harder when I'M the penny-pinching wife. :roll: You buy coins and have a hobby that costs money. That is not penny pinching possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I have specialized on one series of Celtic coins with the inscription PIXTILOS. Esoteric, but its one of my things. The series includes 10 different types (and one could add two related coins if one really wanted to). I have seven of the 10 types. Two of the remaining types are going to be difficult, but they will be doable (I lost one by under estimating what it would take to win in a French auction 2 years ago.) The tenth is damn near impossible, maybe 4 or 5 known. I've never tracked down the sale of one. I was reading another list thread this morning that included a reference to a web site and some coins the writer had to have after reading about them on the web site. So, I wandered off to see what attracted them to the coins. Not much of interest to me, but I clicked on the site's Celtic heading before I left. They only had a few common Celtic coins and ...... the rarest coin of the series I am collecting! Its not a pretty example, but it is recognizable. Its not a sleeper, they know how rare it is and mention it in the description. There are not many who specialize in such things and even I would prefer to have a beautiful example of the type, but who knows when that might happen. The price was not cheap for the poor quality of the coin, but cheap for its rarity. Of the seven pieces I have now, one is poor and I spent about half what this one would cost me. The other six pieces are nicer and cost twice or more what this one was priced. I hadn't budgeted for it, but I clicked buy. I've been bad for Christmas and need to eat more salads for the next two months anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numismatic nut Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I'm on a small ( $20 a month) budget so any stories I have are from finding good coins in junk bins. But you can't beat one tenth of the book listing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I think when I bought my 25-S Saint, it was sort of out of the blue, I had called a dealer on another more common coin, and before I knew it I'd bought it and spent about $2,000 more than I had planned! Of course, now that I have it I'm glad, as it's a date that doesn't come around as much as the common date I'd originally sought. And of course, I have no one to question my purchases except me, so that's never an issue! And if I could use my 401(K) money to buy a stella, I'd do it in a heartbeat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I really wanted to see an Act of Union £2 coin. I had yet to see one 8 months after it was released. So I decided to pay up and buy one on eBay. The next day my brother gets one in his change Put it to good use though, its off to do some sightseeing in the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I really wanted to see an Act of Union £2 coin. I had yet to see one 8 months after it was released. So I decided to pay up and buy one on eBay. The next day my brother gets one in his change Put it to good use though, its off to do some sightseeing in the USA. I always get loads in my change! Got loads of slave trades, act of union etc... Must be my local banks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 One of the dealers nearby has a bid board. I placed bids on several coins thinking I'd be outbid. Well I won 3 of the gold coins. Just the sales tax alone wiped out my monthly budget! Had to make a serious withdrawl from my savings account. This was just prior to the price of gold hitting $700. So actually I'm glad I picked them up when I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 When I purchased my draped bust dime, I wasn't really all that happy after-the-fact, but now I couldn't touch one for what I paid so I made out in the long run. That seems to be a trend actually, even when I buy something I am not totally pleased with, it can still make me money down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dockwalliper Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I was 22, single ,living alone and working midnights. A co-worker was reading Howard Ruffs "How to survive the coming bad times". One night while he was snoozing I picked it up and started to read. A few weeks later I found myself at my coin store spending more money than I ever had on 3 coins....1 oz Krugerands. They set me back $1000. In less than a year I doubled my money. I wish I had bought more but at the time of purchase I couldn't believe I had spent $1000 on coins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I always get loads in my change! Got loads of slave trades, act of union etc... Must be my local banks! I think they deliberately withheld them from circulation in Scotland. They where released around the time of the Scottish Elections and the SNP where running a campaign asking people to donate any Act of Union £2 to their campaign. http://www.snp.org/press-releases/2006/snp...onations-drive/ Can't find the poster now though, but you get the idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just carl Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I hate coin shows. We have aabout 3 every Month around here. I go to them all. I keep telling myself, SELF, go there and look. Don't spend money, just look. Somehow I always come home with less money than the price of a cup of coffee. A few times I've said take the check book just in case. Now I'll never do that again since I ended up buying something that I wanted but didn't need. Sure wish those shows weren't so close. Now here is my horror story. At a local flea market for many years there was this guy with bins full of US and another bin of foreign coins. He also sold CD's, DVD's and other just stuff. Not sure where he got all his coins but regardless of what they were, dates, mint marks, material, etc., they were just dumped into those bins. And I mean dumped. Example was all Mercury Dimes were $1 each but the more you bought, the cheaper the price. I usually bought 15 to 40 so the price was usually less than $0.85 ro $0.90 each. Some of them were like a 38S in MS grade, 21, 26S and the best was a 42/41. I finally pointed out to him what he was loosing out on by not looking up values. He listened and acquired the Grey Sheet. Now when I ask the price of a coin, he pulls out that sheet and quotes from there. NO MORE cheap prices. The moral of the above is when there are coin shows around, stay home. When you find someone selling coins cheap, keep mouth shut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 The moral of the above is when there are coin shows around, stay home. When you find someone selling coins cheap, keep mouth shut. Haha... damn you and that countryside show. Good thing I can't go for the next 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreasureGirl Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 You buy coins and have a hobby that costs money. That is not penny pinching possible. But the thing is, it takes a lot to convince me to actually buy something. Even when my father-in-law gave us $100 for Christmas to spend only on fun things, I'm thinking and planning a lot for it. I probably won't get around to actually spending it for months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I've never been to a coin show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I've only ever been to two and they were bloomin' expensive!! Bought myself some lovely Anglo-Saxon coins and, like most CPers do, went through huge junk trays and picked up a few bargains. I'm really jealous of you Americans as your coinage seems to date back to early 20th Century whereas us Brits have to make do with the earliest of about 1980... Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 We still find some great stuff now and then. Old stuff too, I myself have found several indian heads, and a civil war token, and a friend of mine found a seated quarter mid-late 1800's in some rolls back in the early 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 We still find some great stuff now and then. Old stuff too, I myself have found several indian heads, and a civil war token, and a friend of mine found a seated quarter mid-late 1800's in some rolls back in the early 90's. And I just have to do with rare Medieval coins... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted January 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 I've never been to a coin show. Don't you live in Pa.? Well, next time I'm around for the baltimore show, I'm forcing you to come to it. Then I'll tell you what I'm looking for and make you go search the bourse while I sip on a coke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 Don't you live in Pa.? Well, next time I'm around for the baltimore show, I'm forcing you to come to it. Then I'll tell you what I'm looking for and make you go search the bourse while I sip on a coke. I do live in PA, but I hate going to Baltimore, 95 and 695 are the devils' roads, haha. I hear they have them in Harrisburg now and then, but I never know when they are, which stinks because I'm like half an hour from there.....but like an hour twenty minutes from Baltimore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stilson Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 I do live in PA, but I hate going to Baltimore, 95 and 695 are the devils' roads, haha. I hear they have them in Harrisburg now and then, but I never know when they are, which stinks because I'm like half an hour from there.....but like an hour twenty minutes from Baltimore. Here Ya go. There should be something near you. Or here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 Here Ya go. There should be something near you. Or here. Thanks much, those sites will come in handy.......and how the heck I never knew of a coin show in York I'll never know, lived here 24 years and never seen a sign for it?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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