The one that got away: tell us about a good deal that slipped through your fingers

Sounds similar to "ready, fire, aim".

Back in 1985 I was in the Beyer Watch store in Zurich and was talking to the salesman about one thing or the other. He said 'I have TWO Patek Philippe Ref 3450 Perpetual Calendars, would you be interested?'. I actually had that watch already so I said, 'no thanks'. The US dollar at the time was at its strongest point, about CHF2.5 = 1USD, net cost was somewhere in the $8,300 range. I've kicked myself many times for not scooping them up and just tucking them away.

2001, antique store in Baltimore before the rise of eBay and internet searches. I didn’t know much about expensive watches but the store had (in my 2001 brain) an old Rolex submariner that looked smaller than I had seen with no crown guards, beige text (gilt) instead of white and a bracelet with rivets. They wanted $400 and it was running- but I was 3 years out of college with student loan debt and maxed on my credit cards....so I passed wanting to be responsible. Kicking myself that night I went back the next day and it was gone.

I of course now know it was a 6536....ugh.

The day a guy brought me a 24-jewel Illinois Bunn Special, 18-size pocket watch in a 14-karat gold, open faced case. It was nice! He wanted the movement removed because he had sold the case to a scrapper. I offered him more for the watch than the scrapper offered for the case, but he had a hand shake deal with the scrapper, and he declined my offer. Several months later, he phoned me and offered the movement to me for $500 (Cdn.) I declined.

Here’s another- in 2012 I lost my job, 4 months later my retired boss and mentor (like a father figure), died at the age of 81. I was willed all of his photographic collections (lantern slides, stereographs, and antique equipment). He had always worn a 1961 Rolex GMT which he purchased new- it was his pride and joy. I bought my 16750 because I loved his so much. He had debts so the executor was assembling assets to sell and among them was his Rolex. It was offered to me at $800- but I was unemployed, and living on my savings- so I had to decline. The sting was not just losing a 1961 GMT, but my mentors watch- that’s what hurt most.
If you bought a GMT from a lawyer in Silver Spring MD back in 2012- PM me.

There was a house on the coast, ocean front in Newport, Oregon. It had not one but two light houses that could be seen from the living room. A realtor that had sold me another property was the listor. When I called her there was already an offer on the house. It was a bank owned property and my friend the realtor said she would put in a back up offer for me.

The people had another week to accept the bank's counter. We waited patiently. The realtor said the wife was nervous about a house on a bluff. The deadline was Sunday and the bank was on the East coast. Monday morning we awoke and the bank hadn't recieved a response. The realtor said it was ours.

Then later that day the first bidders decided they wanted it. Even though the bank didn't have to agree, they took their offer. We didn't get it.

The people bought the house for 260k and sold it two years later for 750k. The bastards didn't even use the same realtor but gave the sale to someone else.

Still not as bad as @Marsimaxam but maybe this will help.

(I've got more, unfortunately. )

I was financially challenged when I found this cal. 352rg on eBay and had to refrain from bidding. It went for 800€ 😵‍💫

A few times in my collecting life my heart almost stopped at the sight of something I never thought would come my way. An item that I may have only seen illustrated in reference books was suddenly there in front of me – and for sale.

There is a mixture of joy and disbelief when you are looking at a piece that encapsulates everything you love about collecting. At such times there is no sense of debate over whether you need it – the only debate is ‘how am I going to get the money together?’

I know this thread is meant to be about the ones that got away, but it is good to remember those other times when you said to yourself, 'I am going for it and to hell with the consequences'.

This happened to me in 1991 at an Antique Arms Fair. Just as the Fair opened my mate said to me “You should have a look at the pair of flintlocks on the Christie’s stand”. At that time Christie’s were conducting annual arms auctions in Melbourne, so they used to put selected items from forthcoming sales out for display. What had caught Phil's eye was a pair of silver mounted transitional duelling pistols being offered for sale under private treaty on behalf of a Christie’s client.

When I picked them up, I did not want to put them down again. The rule of antique fairs is simple and robust – either you hang on to the item and make a deal, or you put it back on the table. If someone else picks the piece up after you have put it back, all you can do is stand and watch, as the negotiation process is then in their hands.

Many a time I have seen a person debate with themselves over a piece and put it down on the table, only to see another buyer pounce on it. The second person would sometimes close the deal before the first guy had even blinked. (And how sweet it is when you are the one who does the pouncing!)

Someone up there was looking after me that day. I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if this pair had got away from me, so as soon as I established that Phil did not want to buy them the deal was done. I had to sell off a lot of other pieces to raise the money, but their departure was completely overshadowed by my delight in the new acquisition.

The objects of my desire were silver mounted duelling pistols made in 1776 by the man who was one of the leaders of early duelling pistol design, Robert Wogdon.



To cap this story, in 2019 a landmark reference book on Wogdon was published by Bonhams in London. I had been asked by one of the authors to submit photos of several of my pieces, and I knew they would appear somewhere in the book, but the excitement came when I looked at the dustcover. Three pairs of duelling pistols were illustrated on the back cover - the first two were from the Queen's Royal Collection, and the third were mine.

So you can guess the moral of my story - sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind, and go for it.