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 Replies: 34 / Views: 4,207 |
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Valued Member
United States
140 Posts |
I just thought I would share what a local pawn shop thought of some coins I brought in for appraisal a couple days ago. I was driving down the street here in town when I saw a pawn shop that said in their window that they did coin appraisals. Well curiosity killed the cat and I went home and grabbed a few coins to test their abilities. Here are the coins I brought in to have them look at, just to see what they wanted for them. (Prepare to laugh because that's what I did when they told me these things.) Denmark 1933 25 Ore Key Date: Couldn't find the value and were not aware of the term "key date" therefore did not attempt to make an offer on it. Germany 1874 1 pfennig mintmark H: 1 dollar because they could not confirm the mintmark was "authentic". I told them it was from Darmstadt mint and they thought I made the location up. 3 silver War Nickels and a Silver Quarter: Did not make an offer on any of the nickels because the silver content was only 35% in them, therefore they were deemed worth as much as any other Jefferson nickel. Offered 3 dollars for the quarter, clearly didn't want to pay melt value as they stated they would. Reunion Island 1 Franc 1948 mule error: Again didn't make an offer because they told me "You should do some more research before attempting to claim it's such an error. Some authentication may help." You have to remember these guys were the ones doing the appraisal. Apparently they had no clue what the term mule error even meant, the guy even asked if that was something I made up  . U.S. 1849 Large Cent: 10 dollars, this was about the only good deal they gave me, but still not very much since the value for the same grade of coin was set at $16 on NGC Coin's website. I told the guy this and he said I shouldn't trust everything I read on the internet. Of course he said this as a Google search came up on his monitor for my previous coin. I ended up just taking my coins and walking out eventually, I knew better than to have taken them to a pawn shop I found while driving down the street. If they seriously want to advertise that they appraise coins, then the least they can do is invest in the proper research sources. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
Pawn shops are out there to fleece the unfortunate.
The best you will get at these venues is 10% of the item value.
You have to remember that these shops tend to deal in a bit of dodgy items, Hence the low buying prices.
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Valued Member
United States
320 Posts |
might be a good place to go back to later & cherrypick.
Just sayin'!
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Free appraisals seldom are.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
That is the very reason I frequent one particular are pawn shop. I can usually pick up some very nice finds for -$2 to +$1 of melt value on silver and large U.S. at $10 each all day long.
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Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Seems to me they just said they do "coin appraisals". They never stated that they would do it coorrectly. LOL.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
When customers ask if we do appraisals, the first thing I ask is if it's for an estate or insurance purposes. Almost always, they just want an offer, not an appraisal.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
Did you really expect them to be able to appraise foreign coins? They're ultimately in business to make $$$ so the coins that the did appraise really weren't out of line price wise, as biggfredd said most customers just want an offer.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Well...now you know!  Like others said...show foreign key dates to a pawnbroker, and they have no clue. These guys are just looking for a quick turnaround.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
Also consider that the prices on the NGC site are retail prices. The dealer wants to make some profit - i.e., buy for $10, sell for $16. Buy for $16, sell for $16 is not a viable business model.
Edited by KenKat
11/25/2011 11:41 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Yes as a general rule no coin dealer on the planet pays a collector anywhere near fair value. Not only won't they pay Red Book value but, usually, they will not even come close to Gray Sheet value. For non-key date nickels, pennies, etc... not unusual for them to offer 5 to 10 cents on the dollar v/ Red Book and, more often than not, they just tell the collector they have no interest in those coins. Good for roll hunters since some/many of those find their way back into circulation. |
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Valued Member
United States
466 Posts |
I think the foreign stuff was a bit of a reach for you to take in, but them offering you so little for the silver quarter and american coins was a bit cheap.
pawn shops though. Gotta make some money and some people will do it in a dishonest way. Thats just life
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Most US coin dealers trade in US coins. Why should a coin dealer have hundreds of dollars in reference books handy in case someone walks in with some obscure/key forn coin that it's unlikely anyone would ever ask for? Those hundreds will buy some nice inventory in a familiar product. This applies in spades for a pawnbroker, most of whom have a little knowledge about a lot of stuff. Expecting him to know more than the average coin dealer, when coins might be 1% or less of sales is really reaching. |
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Valued Member
United States
75 Posts |
i agree with the above posts about pawn brokers probably wont know anything about foreign coins.........i think they (the pawn shop) should take the "coin appraisal" sign out of their window. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The price on the silver quarter was low but the offer on the larger cent was probably about right. Quote:
as a general rule no coin dealer on the planet pays a collector anywhere near fair value. Whoa hold on, what do you call "fair value"? I find that a lot of collectors have no clue what "fair value" is. Many of them expect the price shown in a retail price guide and a small percentage back of that retail value no matter what the coin is. It doesn't work that way. The scarcer a coin is the smaller the percentage discount. Most coins are not that scarce so they have a large discount. COMMON coins can have a LARGE discount. Lrge cents as a rulle do not move as quickly as silver dollars do so they will tend to have a larger discount. (I know some of you understand these facts of life but more people need to learn them.) |
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Valued Member
United States
118 Posts |
I have two coin shops in my area that I go to neither one of them sell foreign coins in the flips or graded.Both have them a few steps into the store in treasure boxes.I'm sure if I knew anything about foreign coins Icould find some GEMS
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Replies: 34 / Views: 4,207 |
Posted 11/25/2011 07:41 am
