Coins you bought that got lost in the mail/never arrived

[ValiantKnight]

I was thinking those coins lost to us during their journey to our collections deserve some recognition as well. Here’s a couple of mine (or rather, would have been mine):

Neapolis, Campania
AR nomos
Obv: Head of nymph right, wearing broad headband, triple-pendant earring, and pearl necklace
Rev: Man-headed bull walking right, head facing; above, Nike flying right, placing wreath on bull's head; NEOΠOΛITΩN in exergue
Mint: Neapolis
Date: Mid-late 4th century BC

(lost at the beginning of 2017)


 

Justinian I, Byzantine Empire
AE follis
Obv: D N IVSTINI-ANVS P P AVG, diademed, helmeted, cuirassed bust facing, holding globus cruciger and shield, cross to right
Rev. Large M, cross above, officina letter S below, ANNO to left, XIIIto right, mintmark CAR in ex
Mint: Carthage
Date: 539/540 AD (year 13)
Ref: SB 261
Size: 21.9 gr., 39 mm

(lost in Oct 2021)

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

Wow! Could you get a refund? I am sorry to hear that.

I did see where Michael Stolt had a RPC plate coin tetradrachm of Marc Antony get lost in mail recently…😟

Thankfully I haven’t had an issues to date. The worst that has happened is an overseas package take 3-4 months to arrive with no updates 

Edited May 29, 2022 by TheTrachyEnjoyer

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

 

Superb silver drachm of Khushru II (590-627 AD), Piruz Kert mint, 624/625 AD, Sassanian Empire

Crowned bust of Khushru II right, AZFUTAN KHUSHRUI in pahlavi script around / Fire altar and two attendants, regnal year (year 25 = 624/625 AD) and mint ("PR" = Piruz Kert mint). Large silver coin, measuring 32mm, 4.06 grams. MACW 1172-1173.

Struck on an immense flan, high quality.

Ex.Garth R. Drewry Collection; Ex-CNG.

(original 2009 description)

 

It was because of some mishap with sorting machines.  An order from Allen Berman (I ordered his 'junk box' 4 pack) ordered at the same time showed up mauled (coins were okay).  I guess I would have rather had the junk boxers lost.

[CPK]

Yikes, so far this has never happened to me. Sorry to all of you who've lost your coins!

[Helvius Pertinax]

One of my coins would almost have fit in this category, i waited for it to arrive for three months. This was my first online purchase too. Unfortunately the pictures of it are on my phone that i just lost. Its an early type III Siglos. Got me quite nervous, so I was very happy when i finally got it!

[Lhevae]

These poor pics are the sole things that remain of this Licinius from Ticinum (RIC 92, rated R5), sent registered from Portugal more than two years ago (I forgot when exactly), and lost in the Bruxelles airport... It was a cheap coin in not-so-great condition, but possibly the fifth known... A shame it got lost.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

A coin was gifted to me by Jamesicus on CoinTalk. He PM'd me and offered up a coin of Diocletian. When it arrived, with exquisite calligraphy on the envelope's address, I noticed the envelope was torn and the coin nowhere to be found. I told him of the misfortune and he insisted that he try again with another coin, this time of Maximianus Herculis. It arrived in good order, again with exquisite calligraphy. May Jamesicus rest in peace, and I will always remember his kind gesture....

[ValiantKnight]

On 5/29/2022 at 1:54 PM, TheTrachyEnjoyer said:

Wow! Could you get a refund? I am sorry to hear that.

The nomos I was allowed to get another coin from their online store that was equal or lesser value, and the Justinian follis I got a refund for (which I soon after put towards the Ptolemy XII/Cleopatra VII tetradrachm I got 😁)

Edited May 30, 2022 by ValiantKnight

[ValiantKnight]

Thanks everyone for sharing your lost coins. Maybe perhaps the energy from this thread can help light the way for these lost coins to eventually find their way to us 🥺 I'm tempted to call FedEx one last time about the Justinian follis to see if something more could be done to try to locate it, even though its been almost 8 months.

[Dafydd]

I "lost" a consignment of coins thanks to UPS converting Polish Zloty to UK Pounds and then charging me 20% on the six figure sum that made the import duty charges much more than the value of the  relatively inexpensive consignment. They sat in a local UPS depot only 40 miles from me for 10 months and I repeatedly tried to speak to someone who cared , the first challenge being to navigate around their automated system. I must have made 50 calls until one day Fortuna smiled on me and I spoke to a charming lady who was clearly ready to accept the challenge. By this time I had actually dropped into the depot twice to be told they could only release the package if I paid the charges to their head office.  Two days later my coins arrived! So the moral @ValiantKnight is to persevere. The auction house in Poland were unhelpful and told me it would cost them to recover them so offered no assistance.

My latest challenge is a consignment I won at the inaugural auction of a new London Auction House who labelled my package with my full rural UK address BUT then finished the address with "United States" instead of "United Kingdom" and I last saw that they had left New York heading off into the West to a destination that does not exist!  I was so impressed that they were shipped the day after the auction but the elation disappeared as soon as I realised they were on the way to the USA.

Here are some of my lost coins for the sake of posterity.

 

 

 

 

 

I had particularly wanted the Sabinus as being an iconic coin and to buy one for less than $20 was doubly satisfying, it filled a "want" as well as not breaking the bank.

Let's see if Fortuna smiles the right way this time, all it needs is a postal employee who cares about what they do and have the interest to determine that there is no such place or zip code in the USA and send it back. My address is easily found on Google so hopefully as it clearly is a Welsh address it may pique someones interest to send it back. 

[robinjojo]

6 hours ago, Dafydd said:

I "lost" a consignment of coins thanks to UPS converting Polish Zloty to UK Pounds and then charging me 20% on the six figure sum that made the import duty charges much more than the value of the  relatively inexpensive consignment. They sat in a local UPS depot only 40 miles from me for 10 months and I repeatedly tried to speak to someone who cared , the first challenge being to navigate around their automated system. I must have made 50 calls until one day Fortuna smiled on me and I spoke to a charming lady who was clearly ready to accept the challenge. By this time I had actually dropped into the depot twice to be told they could only release the package if I paid the charges to their head office.  Two days later my coins arrived! So the moral @ValiantKnight is to persevere. The auction house in Poland were unhelpful and told me it would cost them to recover them so offered no assistance.

My latest challenge is a consignment I won at the inaugural auction of a new London Auction House who labelled my package with my full rural UK address BUT then finished the address with "United States" instead of "United Kingdom" and I last saw that they had left New York heading off into the West to a destination that does not exist!  I was so impressed that they were shipped the day after the auction but the elation disappeared as soon as I realised they were on the way to the USA.

Here are some of my lost coins for the sake of posterity.

 

 

 

 

 

I had particularly wanted the Sabinus as being an iconic coin and to buy one for less than $20 was doubly satisfying, it filled a "want" as well as not breaking the bank.

Let's see if Fortuna smiles the right way this time, all it needs is a postal employee who cares about what they do and have the interest to determine that there is no such place or zip code in the USA and send it back. My address is easily found on Google so hopefully as it clearly is a Welsh address it may pique someones interest to send it back. 

I had a package once shipped from Poland to my address in California, only to have it waylaid in Malawi!  I couldn't track the package, so after a couple of months I requested a refund, assuming that it was lost.  I got the refund and about two or three months later the package arrived!  The label was addressed to Malawi instead of the United States.  Everything ese was correct, including the zip code.  I notified the seller and send him the payment to offset the refund.

I think there is a chance that your coins might still arrive.  How long ago was this shipment?  Do you have a tracking number?  Does the tracking indicate where it is in the USPS system?

Sorry for the frustration you're going through and I hope there is a positive outcome with the eventual arrival of your coins.  At the very least you should get you money back.

 

[Dafydd]

9 hours ago, robinjojo said:

I had a package once shipped from Poland to my address in California, only to have it waylaid in Malawi!  I couldn't track the package, so after a couple of months I requested a refund, assuming that it was lost.  I got the refund and about two or three months later the package arrived!  The label was addressed to Malawi instead of the United States.  Everything ese was correct, including the zip code.  I notified the seller and send him the payment to offset the refund.

I think there is a chance that your coins might still arrive.  How long ago was this shipment?  Do you have a tracking number?  Does the tracking indicate where it is in the USPS system?

Sorry for the frustration you're going through and I hope there is a positive outcome with the eventual arrival of your coins.  At the very least you should get you money back.

 

Thanks for the support @robinjojo I actually checked my royal mail tracking number  just now following your post to find it has changed to a USPS tracking number and my package is back in the UK!

This is great news as the last time I checked it was in the USA somewhere having left New York. Fortuna smiled the right way and I feel quite confident now.

See

Your item departed a transfer airport in HEATHROW, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM on May 28, 2022 at 9:11 am. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Status

Departed

May 28, 2022 at 9:11 am

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

 

Get Updates 

 

 

 

In-Transit

 

 

[Ed Snible]

@Mat, I have had several coins from eBay Lanz appear to get lost in customs according to USPS tracking.  However, in those cases the USPS sent the coins back to Lanz!  Lanz then sent them again.

No clue why this would be.  My guess is that someone fumbled the hand-written address and decided it was undeliverable, so after clearing customs it went back to Germany.

Here is a Lanz coin that disappeared completely

It's an extremely rare bronze of Iconium, gorgoneion/Nike.

At least Lanz puts their return address on the envelopes.  Some "dealers" and "auction houses" do not.  Here is a nice coin from an auction house that does not put any return address on their shipments:

This is a very scarce large (AE35) bronze of Tarsos.  It never arrived.  This dealer, who still sells via Biddr, stopped responding to my emails when I started asking him about next steps for this lost coin.

A coin from a different auction, same house, arrived in an envelope with no return address.

I no longer bid with him.  Not because I wasn't refunded for a coin whose tracking shows it vanished.  It happens.  I won't deal with anyone who doesn't put their return address on the envelopes.  It feels shady.

[DonnaML]

Still waiting for the Roman Republican denarius of M. Aquillia I won in the Cayon Subastas auction in late February, which, after a month-long wait for an export permit, was sent to me in early April. Unfortunately, the USPS doesn't track coins from Spain. I'm not quite ready to consider it lost yet, but close. Which would make me sad, even though I assume that the package was insured, because it's a type I have wanted for a long time, and this was one of the best examples I've ever seen:

And this is a Faustina II denarius that I ordered from a Belgian dealer about three years ago that never arrived and was definitely lost in the mail. I really liked the portrait, so it was unfortunate.

[sand]

This is a sad thread, but I like it. It makes me wonder, what happened to these coins. Are the coins lost forever? Perhaps we'll never know. Still, it's nice to see the coins, that otherwise, perhaps no one would ever see.

This Antoninus Pius sestertius (145 AD to 161 AD, 29 mm diameter, 20.57 grams, RIC III 780, Cohen 753) never arrived. This loss still bothers me, sometimes.

This John II tetarteron (1118 AD to 1143 AD, 17 mm diameter) never arrived. I received a sealed, undamaged envelope, with an invoice, but there was no coin in the envelope, as far as I know. There is a remote possibility, that I somehow lost the coin, when I opened the envelope, but that seems very unlikely.

This Chinese Ban Liang (180 BC to 157 BC, 24 mm diameter, 2.41 grams) never arrived. I received the wrong coin instead. This loss bothered me, for a long time. It still bothers me, whenever I look at the seller photos, which is not very often. I'm a little bothered, right now.

This Chinese Tang Dynasty coin (732 AD to 907 AD, 25 mm diameter, 3.64 grams) never arrived. I received the wrong coin instead.

This Elagabalus antoninianus (219 AD to 220 AD, 22 mm diameter, 5.0 grams, RIC IV 129, BMCRE 155, RSC 243) never arrived. I received the wrong coin instead.

Edited May 31, 2022 by sand

[Dafydd]

To cheer up this thread, I returned home this evening to the following lost coins!

This envelope left London on the 3rd of May, travelled to New York and thence to somewhere in the Mid West and thankfully turned up today having made a round trip of at least 7000 miles in a month! Pretty amazing considering the the package was posted only 250 miles from my home. Clearly there were some intelligent and honest USPS workers that determined that this did not belong in the USA as there was no such address. USPS 10/10 Auction House 2/10 and the 2 score is because they spelt my name correctly and the right coins were in the envelope. Royal Mail should have picked this up but didn't as I would have assumed that they would check for a US numerical zip code and the code was clearly British. 

Having had a package delayed by 10 months previously this is a great outcome for me , but I take a sanguine view about such events so normally don't stress past the point that I wonder how some people justify their salary when t  hey exude apathy and lack of common sense. 

I was pleased with the Manuel 1 Commenus (1143-1180) BI Aspron Trachy in this envelope which was very inexpensive but not as inexpensive as the 15 I bought from Numismatik Naumann for around $3 each which will give me hours of research fun trying to provenance.

 

 

 

[DonnaML]

Wow, @Dafydd. All's well, etc. Did the auction house write "United States" on the envelope? Even though they're in the UK themselves? I hope they at least refunded what you paid for shipping!

Edited June 1, 2022 by DonnaML

[Ryro]

The most frustrating thing about never receiving this coin was that the bridge that the seller sold me in Brooklyn is already owned apparently!? He assured me that wasn't so and they both must be lost in the mail, while he was packing his belongings. 

What a goof. Who does that?

[Dafydd]

They offered to refund me the whole auction price @DonnaML but I said I would prefer to wait to see what the outcome was as I had some great buys.

They told me the problem was caused by  a new member of staff and actually sent me a image of the original envelope which must be something they do as some kind of verification that envelopes enter the mail. They are based in London but from the email exchanges I do not believe English is their first language , but yes they wrote "United States" even though my postal address is clearly UK. I reckon they shipped a fair number of packages to the USA and someone simply got into "the zone" of writing United States. Perhaps if the label had been generated by computer this would not have happened. I don't believe I have ever received a package from the rest of Europe that was handwritten before.

My bids were placed on Biddr which clearly showed the correct address when they generated an invoice. 

[UkrainiiVityaz]

I've made three purchases from sellers in Ukraine in the past few months, even with the war everything has come through securely but slowly.

[Dafydd]

3 minutes ago, Ryro said:

The most frustrating thing about never receiving this coin was that the bridge that the seller sold me in Brooklyn is already owned apparently!? He assured me that wasn't so and they both must be lost in the mail, while he was packing his belongings. 

What a goof. Who does that?

I hope the coin cost you less than $3 million @Ryro because I would be suspicious that if he didn't address the bridge correctly he may not be that astute so possibly your coin was a forgery anyway? 

[Dafydd]

4 minutes ago, UkrainiiVityaz said:

I've made three purchases from sellers in Ukraine in the past few months, even with the war everything has come through securely but slowly.

I think it's all down to a "can do" attitude @UkrainiiVityaz, and great to hear your good experiences.

[Valentinian]

I bought two denarii from Silicua in Spain Feb. 12, 2022. I live in the US Northwest. Unfortunately, the address they wrote on the envelope omitted my city and ZIP code--it had only my street address and state. My street address has 5 digits so that was apparently treated as my postal code. Tracking never admitted it was anywhere. Anyway, after I had given up hope and corresponded with Silicua several times, the envelope showed up 4 days ago, May 27. The Post Office or someone wrote in marker my city and postal code. It took three months and 15 days. 

Here they are, VOTA types of Caracalla:

The first one has the sacrificial bull behind the altar.
The first one has VOTA SOLVT DEC COS III, so vows for ten years paid, in 208. Caracalla became Augustus in 198, 

The second one has VOT SVSC DEC PON TRP V COS, struck in 202
this time with vows for ten years taken, possibly at the occasion when Septimius Severus paid his vows for ten years. 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by Valentinian
omitted "it" by accident

[Egry]

 I tried keeping an eye out for it, supposedly it did make it to my neighbourhood. Hopefully it will fall in the hands of someone that will appreciate it.

[Zimm]

Here‘s one that got lost quite recently

A decently rare trachy of Andronicus III that‘s actually in pretty nice condition for the issue (Sear 2482)

I bought the coin (along with some more common types I really didn‘t care that much about in the first place) in early April. After a week of moving around in Germany (where the seller is located) it was, for some unknown reason, sent to France instead of Finland. Then in early May it supposedly left France and arrived in Finland. After that the tracking went silent and I still haven‘t heard anything about it since the supposed arrival in Finland.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Zimm