Where Do You Buy Your Coins?

I haven't purchased any coins yet. I stopped by a local coin shop for some supplies a few days ago, but didn't get any coins. I just re-started collecting so I'm sure this will change over time, especially once I tackle more difficult coins. I think my favorites will be garage/yard/estate sales and flea markets for the fun finds/searches and local coin shops for the more difficult key dates.

Can you guys list some online store links please?

I'm always on the lookout for coins from any source. I haven't bought from ebay, but see no reason not to do so under proper circumstances. You may pay a bit more buying from a dealer, but then again, you have the opportunity to closely examine a coin prior to purchasing. Coin shows can be excellent, though lighting at some shows leaves something to be desired...and if you're like me, and like to ponder a major purchase for a day or two or three, coin shows force you to make up your mind faster than you might find comfortable.

If your community has a coin club, then their auctions/swap meets, etc. can be an excellent way of picking up nice coins at a fair price.

I buy mostly on ebay. Since I mostly like military tokens that don't show up very often, (accept maybe the most common pieces) I really can't afford to pay much attention to feedback. If someone has something I want and a decent scan I'll bid on it. If I pass on something it most likely will be because of a bogus looking scan than feedback. But then also, I'm not really going to lose much if a seller turns out to be a puke. These tokens usually average between $8-15.

I've also bought a number of pieces from cash coin connection in mail bids.

I never had much luck at coin shows accept when they had the F.U.N show down here and the Money Show before that. But the locals shows were just a recycling game.

Oh yes, favorite dealer would be Paul Cunningham who I met at the F.U.N show and bought 13 tokens from. *Very* professional and very courteous.

I have never bought stuff on E-bay, because there are other and better sites available in the Netherlands where I live. Therefore I cannot give an reliable opinion about this subject.

www.colonialacres.com for all your Canadian coins. The prices on 2x2s are very good as well.

www.collectorssupplyhouse.com - Gardmaster albums. It's a shame the US ones don't have the dates imprinted like the Canadian ones do, with the exception of the State Quarter and Presidential dollar series. Both of these used to be local for me, but alas, now I'm about 1-1.5 hours away.

Add this one to the list:


http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/

Start with harlanjberk.com There's lots to look at there, in every price range, and most everything is photographed.

With that all I can say is AHHHHHHHH. That place is here in Chicago, downtown on Clark Street. I USED to go there a lot. Actually for so long now that it was a different name way, way back then. At first when they became Harlan J. Berk they were pretty good on coin types, grades and prices. Then for the last few years they changed to overpriced, poor grading, lots of cleaned coins, rude and ignorant people in the store. Being around there so much it used to be I would go there as much as a place for food until they got stupid. Lots of stories about junk coins, cleaned coins, overpriced, etc.
Now I cross the street so I don't have to be on the same side as them.
As to on line dealers the only ones I've tried is Miller's Mint, VT Coins and JMS coins. Miller's Mint is great, VT Coins is or was OK but never tried them in the last few years. JMSCoins is well into the very expensive stuff. With a multitude of coin shows, coin stores, flea markets, on line coin dealers are last on my list.