best coin you ever lost...

[kaiser613]

a place to tell the worst story of a coin collectors life, the one that got away. I felt like starting this after todays horror story that happened to me, so I walk 3 miles to the bank to pick up a couple boxes of pennies, on the way back I stop by the coin shop next door to pick up some more 2x2s and I wound up with an extra $10 in my pocket, as im standing there perusing the coin bins I see it, an 1832 large cent in good, almost very good condition. and what luck they only wanted $10 for it, it was the first one ive ever come across in person and the price was right. I buy it and drag it along with $50 in pennies the rest of the way home and start unpacking the boxes, when my dad got home I show him the large cent, he carries it inside, in the 5 minutes it takes him to get from the truck to the kitchen the coin disappears, he doesn't know where he put it and I cant find it, I have since torn the house apart and the garage, and the truck, as well as gone over the yard with a fine tooth comb, ive just about given up hope, I'll get back to yall tomorrow if I find it but I don't think so. it isn't a particularly valuable coin but its the oldest one ive ever had in my collection and the only large cent ive ever came across

 

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[cudamark]

Decades ago I had the chance to buy a 1916D merc in XF45 condition for $200 and I passed on it. Not that I couldn't have scraped it up but I was concentrating on Lincoln cents at the time and used all my spare money on that set. It's about a $6000 coin right now.

 

[SCDigginWithAK]

I lost a 1900 O Morgan dollar . Still can't find it!

 

[kaiser613]

oh jeez that's terrible, hope you find it, may your hammer be mighty

 

[BC1969]

Well I once lost a 1909s vdb wheatie and it was my own fault to boot, had a few of my favorite finds on my desk, ( I guess if I had actually bothered to buy coin holders it never would have happened ) anyway wifey wanted to go to grocery store, well to make a long story short she was rounding up change from around the house to, dump into the coinstar machine, and along with my nice finds that I had left carelessly sitting on my desk with a bunch of pocket change nearby, well when we got back home and I went into my computer room, I was like call the cops we have been robbed!!!, wife comes running, What! where!, I said my coins were missing....right at that point all the color drained out of her face, then I remembered the coinstar! GAH@#!$!$!$!

 

[McKinney_5900]

My oldest and first Seated dime, an 1887. I found it when hunting with friends so it's a fact I did find it. I thought I would slip it into a sleeve in my wallet so there was zero chance it would get scraped up or lost. The first place I stopped about an hour later to show it off to a detecting friend...it was gone. There was a slice in the webbing in the bottom of the pocket. Oh well. Spilled milk. martin

 

[SCDigginWithAK]

I lost a 1900 O Morgan dollar . Still can't find it!

I JUST FOUND IT!!!!! I'm so happy lol. I made that post about losing it 69 days ago!

 

[snakeyes]

I lost a 1853 1/2dime and danged if I know what happened to it.

 

[Army of 1]

I lost a $20 Golden Eagle , can't remember what year it was or in which State i lost it , but if you find it PM me and i will gladly pay postage . .. cheers Mick

 

[sharpshooter#1]

I lost a $20 Golden Eagle , can't remember what year it was or in which State i lost it , but if you find it PM me and i will gladly pay postage . .. cheers Mick

Yea that's like the 1943 copper penny I lost if you find it I really need it back....Thanx

 

[smittyman]

I have two losses - I lost the oldest piece of silver that I've found MDing - it was only a worn 1917 Merc. While I don't normally send a text of my finds to my wife for some reason this time I decided to. I was in my truck - placed the dime on my knee - took the pic and hit send. That's the last that I saw of that coin. I must have left it there on my knee - got out and it slid off my knee at my next stop, tho I went back I couldn't find it again.
The other loss hurt worse. It was a 1881S $5 gold piece. Paid $40 for it around 1980. We had a relative staying with us that I was sure would steal the coin at the first chance. I took into my garage which had been insulated and had a clear plastic vapor barrier but no sheetrock. I slit the vapor barrier and slid the coin and its plastic holder behind the insulation. Some months later after the relative was gone I went back for the coin. The vapor barrier wasn't even slit! 15 years later I still haven't figured out if he somehow took down the vapor barrier and replaced the whole thing or if I lost my memory and maybe my mind - I guess that makes it four losses!

 

[cudamark]

I JUST FOUND IT!!!!! I'm so happy lol. I made that post about losing it 69 days ago! View attachment 899958 View attachment 899959

Where'd you find it?

 

[smittyman]

Congrats!!!!SCDigginWithAK

 

[BigWaveDave]

There is a family story that my great grandmother paid the paper boy w/ a roll of 55 doubled dies, but you know how stories go, probably bs. But truth is in 1988 my house got robbed, lost everything valuable, I was a senior in HS., anyways my entire coin and stamp collections are a memory, the 1808 half dollar that my favorite Uncle Bill gave me haunts me to this day. Now that I have gotten older, I find myself not dwelling on the value of coins, but the joy in being the "favorite Uncle" to the young ones in my extended family.

 

[SCDigginWithAK]

I found it in a box that we used during a move from houses haha! It was there with a 1996 proof set and 1963 red seal $2 bill. Thanks!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

1945 wheat before I could check it out. Have no clue where it went.

BWD. I've also lost 2 gold replica coins and a lighter in the shape of a small gold ingot marked as such taken in a break in.

 

[smittyman]

Msbeepbeep-at least maybe you can take pleasure imagining the disappointment of the thieves when they discovered the gold wasn't real.

 

[Mackaydon]

Lost is one thing; stolen is another. I had a three-legged buf and two US $2.50 gold ripped off of me.
Even more upsetting since they were gifts over years from my parents. So much for storing stuff in a hall safe.
As for being 'lost'...when I was a kid, I dropped a BU 46 Rosy behind a desk area that was totally inaccessible. If if happened today, I wouldn't think much of it, but then--it was a big deal.
Don...

 

[roaddust66]

About 1978 or so I was coin hunting the old historic courthouse in Kingston Tennessee. I found a 1922 wheat penny. that night I threw it in a box with other coins found detecting. A month later i was looking thru a coin price guide for another coin when I decided to look up the wheat penny. I fell out of my chair ! It was worth a hundred bucks ! I rushed to the coin box , it was no where to be found. Today its worth $200 bucks and I still have never seen it !

 

[xrunndonex]

I lost 50 cents to a pop machine on break. That was a devastating