Local Coin Shops, Coin Shows, Auctions, Etc

Excellent!

It has been a long time since I went to an LCS. Coin shows have been my main source, but ebay has provided most of the Ikes for my PCGS set.

Yes in my area virtually all the coin shops are gone . And if you should happen to find one, they deal mostly in bullion . Thanks for the small local shows that I attend frequently to feed my addiction . E-bay is a good source to buy or bid on coins but it's not for the inexperienced newbie .

I too used to find a lot of coin stores or hobby stores that also had coins. Now mostly all gone. The internet has made coin shopping just to easy and people are basically rather lazy so it's now the internet. Even the days of the shopping malls are slowly vanishing. Hobby stores seldom deal in coins since they now specialize in lesser expensive hobbies. However, around where I live we have about 3 to 4 coin shows a Month. Those are my main and basically only place I buy coins.

This seems to be true.

When I started collecting as a teen I mostly patronized local coin dealers who had shops. The city where I attended college has a handful of brick and mortar stores and I gradually developed good relationships with several of the better dealers in the mid to late 2000s. Then the recession hit and many LCS had to liquidate their large inventories of type coins and shift to lean bullion buying/selling operations to stay afloat. My favorite LCS never did recover the inventory they once had and I've mostly been purchasing at coin shows these days since the coin shops don't have quality material and their prices are not as competitive as they once were.

There is one LCS in my area that also buys and sells jewelry. I find their prices are high and selection is limited. But I buy some supplies like plastic pages. I also buy large copper pennies and foreign coins from their junk bin. ebay and other auction sites are my go to place for inexpensive coins.

I live in the sticks, but Tucson is only an hour's drive. There're several excellent coin shops there, of which I mainly patronize two with national reputations. I get all kinds of coins from both, including ancients, plus some non-numismatic things like watches, sterling spoons, and so forth. One big advantage to shopping locally is that in Arizona, there's no sale s tax on coins, currency, and bullion. Another benefit is on account of the personal relationships hence developed, I get to cherrypick a lot of material they purchase.

The coin club puts on a show twice a year. There used to be some other shows as well, but they've gone away at this point. I always attend, and on occasion have scored some great items for next to nothing.

For ancients, I've used Vcoins vendors with a high degree of satisfaction. But I've slowly transitioned to counting on the aforementioned shops as my main source for such.

I find ebay to be excellent for supplies like Airtites and currency sleeves, but I haven't utilized ebay for coins per se (other than elongateds} for several years now.

Swap meets and flea markets have been for me pretty much of a wasteland for coins and currency. Lots of fakes with much of the genuine material being ridiculously overpriced, mostly on account of sellers at such venues often having a complete disregard for condition.

Yard and estate sales on the other hand can be treasure troves, but in most instances you'll have to ask. Often what's then brought out and put in front of you will turn out to be so much trash, but occasionally some pretty amazing things sqirreled away over the years will be offered up, often on the cheap.