Got a collection of the mistake coins you’ve purchased? You know the coins I mean. Coins that were dogs. Coins of questionable origin. The “too good to be true” coins that turn out to be not so good? Not really a set you want to talk about, is it?
I’m not talking about the elusive and popular mint error coins. We all love finding those while searching through roll after roll of coins until our eyes blur and fingers turn coppery colors and smell funny. No, I’m talking about coins you never should have bought.
Where do you keep that collection? In an old mason jar with the lid screwed on tightly? Or are they stored in an old shoebox, shoved back in a dark corner of a closet so no one can see them?
Don’t get all embarrassed and start shuffling your feet. It’s ok. We’ve all done it. Bought coins that we know we shouldn’t have. But the money was in our pockets, the coin was in front of us, and we just had to have it. That coin was literally crying out, “Buy Me!”
You know the signs as well as I do. Your breath quickens, eyesight narrows, and the palms of your hands become sweaty.
Later, when we get home, we have a serious case of buyer's remorse. I’ve done it and odds are, if you haven’t yet, you will.
My First Mistake Coin
Not long after I started collecting coins as a young boy, I was on a roll. Buying everything in sight. Scraping for pennies, nickels, and dimes to plunk down on the local coin shop’s counter.
Some of those coins fit the goals I had, but many didn’t.
One of the coins I just had to have is the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent. Who doesn’t want one? But I wanted a nice one! It had to be red, lustrous and shine brightly.
In all my explorations of the coin shops in our area, I hadn’t found one I could afford. I don’t remember the year exactly, sometime in the early 1960s. Way before the Internet and all the buying choices we have today.
Anything over $5 was a lot of money in the early 1960s to an almost teenage kid. Coins the price of a 1909-S VDB Lincoln in mint state condition, even then, took giving up a lot of Saturday afternoon matinée movies to afford.
I tried sticking to my guns to find one at a price I could, in my young mind, afford. But as the search went on for most of the summer, I became frustrated and disillusioned. I was never going to find one!
So, what did I do? I settled for a coin I knew was not right. I just wanted to fill that hole in the binder and move on.
As soon as I got home and placed it next to the other bright, shiny Lincoln Cents filling that binder, I knew it was a mistake. That dirty, pathetic, heavily worn coin didn’t come anywhere close to matching the coins that surrounded it.
To say I was disappointed is an understatement. But a deal is a deal, right? The coin dealer I purchased it from tried to encourage me to wait. I wasn’t having any of that, though. That money was burning a hole in my pocket and the coin was calling my name!
It’s not like I had been misled in any way. I knew what I was buying. I just didn’t have the patience to wait for the right coin.
Hindsight is 20/20. It was a lesson I needed to learn. It’s an avoidable mistake I see countless beginning coin collectors make and then become disillusioned with the hobby.
No one likes to make mistakes, but they happen. We all get in that buying mood at times and end up with coins we wouldn’t have given a glance at otherwise.
It’s like we get coin “red-eye” at times. We’re bound and determined to buy the next coin that comes along.
Do we continue down that path? I hope not. There’s a name for the continued repetition of a behavior despite bad consequences. I’ll let you imagine what it is!
Over the years, other coins have made their way into my collection of mistake coins. I don’t know how many, I’ve never counted them. Slowly, I’ve learned from them, I hope.
Keep Mistake Coins
We’ve all bought mistake coins. It happens to the best of us. You can minimize the errors by following a few simple guidelines like above.
Yes, I keep a few of those mistake coins around to remind me from time-to-time of lessons learned. Perhaps I won’t be so hasty in my decision-making the next time!
As I peruse those coins, I also pull out a few of the coins I’m most proud of, too. That’s to remind me of the good decisions I made. It serves to remind me of what’s important in the hobby, and the collections I've assembled.
It also reminds me of why I love this great hobby. For me, that’s the art and history of the coins themselves. To learn more about this great hobby, read Quick Guide to Coin Collecting, 2nd Edition.
Keep the mistake coins to a minimum…
