Is This A Good Bulk Deal?

$8 per ½ kilo sounds a bit expensive to me, actually. But that's probably because I've been spoiled with lower prices. Anyway, what I reckon is the case here is that you've got a gold mine on (in?) your hands. You mention how there were some late 19th century pieces and the people there mostly cared about higher-end stuff. From my experience, the less shopowners care about stuff the more likely there's going to be silver, as there are SO many coin types. Considering the value and apathy, many silvers must have slipped through. Beyond the interest for interesting designs, there are always the possibility to find coins below face value, but this requires quite a bit of knowledge in advance, and sifting through so many coins has to be overwhelming. For instance - the Norwegian horse 1 Krone - is not a legal tender coin anymore but if so would have a face value of about $0.12.

My personal best experiences with junk stuff is to find owners with gloomy-looking shops that have likely been around for quite some time. They don't even have to be designated coin shops. If the place is messy then you are likely to find good unsorted lots with plenty of silver in them, especially when buying bulk. If the shop is tidy and bright however, there won't be much, atleast for cheap.

The grime on your fingers is just to get used to. Sometimes when sifting through just about any junk bucket, I'm occasionally offered an empty bucket to put searched coins into. Perhaps ask for that next time in order to go deeper?

And of course - if you don't want to become a world coin collector I recommend you to immediately stop. That stuff is addictive, especially when sifting through the coins, looking them up and then returning with that knowledge in mind. It's a vicious cycle

The odds are astronomically small that you will get rich from picking through bulk buckets at your LCS. 95% of world coins minted after the 1880s are worth less than 50 cents in circulated grade, and probably 99.9% are worth less than $5, gold and silver excluded. There are collectors of Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, but not much else. Unlike US coins, a foreign coin must be in very high grade to be worth much, or must be an extremely rare key date in a series that more than just a few collectors actively collect.

Be wary of buying modern circulation coins at a flat price! How would you feel about a Canadian LCS selling circulated 1970s nickels for 20 cents each? Do watch out for British pound coins, Swiss francs, and Japanese 100 and 500 yen - those do sometimes end up in junk buckets and can be flipped for some good money on ebay, as they are the equivalent of $1-$5 coins. Just about my only success story came from cherrypicking those high denomination coins and selling them in lots as "vacation money", even below exchange rates. Just about everything else was a wash, except for having a bucket of cool coins to sift through with my daughters.

If you go back, I would love to see a snapshot of what the bucket is full of! We can give you some good tips on what to cherrypick. Also remember that old =/= valuable. I have ancient Greek and Roman coins that are worth less than many modern world coins.

I see phrases such as "what to look for", "crazy-desirable", and "the best stuff" followed by a declaration of "hav(ing) no intention of becoming a foreign coin collector" and then mentioning "flipper potential" and then seeking guidance in the foreign coin market. So, I am led to believe that your whole purpose and intent is to try to make money off this find.

Cherry-picking at 5/$1 is a feasible venture provided you know exactly what to look for. However, you would make much more by simply taking on a part-time job for the time you will spend.

At $8/lb, you have a slight chance of finding some pieces that may flip a small profit. But, again, for the time consumed, a job would produce more.

Dealing with bulk foreign coin is a lot like doing CRH. You take a chance that you might or might not actually find something worthwhile in your search. But, unlike CRH, with foreign coin, you cannot simply return what you don't want back to the bank and try again.

Even if you are able to obtain your foreign coin at wholesale (under $0.04 a piece or $4/lb) you still will not make much unless you are dealing in large quantities at a time. And, there will not be much relaxation and enjoyment involved in such a task.

I would say that most people purchase bulk foreign coin because they are foreign coin collectors. It is done to enjoy the coins and the learning involved. A time to relax and appreciate these works of art.

Coins are among the worse types of investments you can make. Unless you plan on becoming a dealer, I wouldn't consider spending the time or resources on such a venture.

If you actually have an interest in collecting those German and Canadian coins you mentioned, then go ahead and buy all day long at $8/lb and search through them to find what you are interested in. You should have little problem selling the leftovers on ebay and breaking even. You would simply have to calculate your sell pricing properly and make sure that the fees and shipping don't make you go in the red.

If you do that, I would also suggest offering to buy in larger quantity for less (say $5/lb for 25 lbs) and haggle it with him if you are able to spend that much. Getting as close to wholesale pricing as possible will allow you to "flip" the coins more easily (on say ebay) because you won't have to try to charge as much. Once you have sold your leftovers, you go back to the dealer and get more.

But, if this is only as a means of trying to make money...I would advise against it.

Oh my, yall are killing me, collectively affirming the wide variety of disparate voices in my head, from 'could be a gold mine,' to 'likely a big waste of time and money, and a bunch of valueless coins I'll have no idea what to do with.' HA!! And even with as little as I know so far, it does seem intuitive that the range of possibilities really is that wide.

I believe I will buy a few pounds (from at least the middle of the bins, if not lower). I know for a fact I will enjoy at least the first several hours, just nerding out at my table, making stacks according to nation, denomination and year, and "traveling" through time and space via my laptop. Learning new things is priceless to me and it really "sticks" a lot more when it starts with something palpable (such as a coin), rather than just opening a book on page one, or going to Wikipedia. The small collection of foreign coins I already have ( inherited) is a good example. Like how the Filipino ones told me "You had a sense the Philippines was a complicated place? Let me tell you something....." LOL.

After having a blast just sorting and learning, I could then see if I have anything worth selling. Maybe this is a silly idea, but I had this idea of putting together lot offers not just according to savvy collector appeal but by gift/amateur appeal, like 'Animal Worls Coins,' 'Coins With Holes,' etc. You know, categories kids would like, or friends/family members of collectors might buy, thinking they'll love it as a gift (thought they'll probably roll their eyes when their backs are turned). But no, I wouldn't try to gouge anybody, not even necessarily make a profit, just get a little something for the effort, and not necessarily on ebay (I'm already planning to have a yard sale this spring).

Quick (specific) question: Are errors/varieties "a thing" with foreign collectors? I know, I'm already looking at endless hours researching through time and space. But if you just know of any particulars, I would be glad to know what to watch for. --I do already know about the Canadian Elizabeth 'shoulder fold' thing, and Reich discrepancies that can be found in German coins.

yellow88 I hope you see this, because I'm dying to know why you bring up Cuba. --Do you mention it because there's something particularly desirable about Cuban coins, or because you (somehow) know I live in Mobile, sister city to Havana? As a matter of fact, a Cuban immigrant couple lived in my house from 1967 to right before I moved in, in 2014. Coincidentally I was looking at some of their old stuff last night (immigration and naturalization documents, passports, legal documents about the alcoholic redneck next door neighbor who harassed and assaulted them for years; there's even a 1972 Polaroid of him peeing on their garage). Incidentally, part of why I haven't already run to buy some pounds of coins is I can't decide whether to that first, or buy a metal detector. The long history of this port city/Civil War key area is bound to have amazing treasures hiding in the ground. And my first detecting spot would by my own yard, to see if ol' Louis and Zorida buried any jars of silver.

From a recent similar foray ... (not I was THAT strapped for cash ... was just curious the same way you are)...
Bugaria 1 Lev 1960 and 1962 both 1 year types) and Argentina 1 peso 1959




I've sold these kinds of coins previously, and know I will net at least a few hundred percent over my 20 cent investment if I'm patient(Repeated 30 day BIN listings on ebay). But that won;t even be a week's beer money. I also grabbed a couple of nice looking British coppers from early QEII, but see I'll probably never be able to sell those

Maybe I WILL become a world coin collector, just because yall are so fun and encouraging! My experience over in Ye Olde US forums has not been as morale-boosting.

Anyway I did go and get 3 pounds today!! I individually picked the first two pounds (took about two hours) and then blindly grabbed the third pound, just so I'd have some surprises to discover at home. I can't wait to post pictures. But for now I'll just go ahead and say I got a whole bunch of pre-1960 Canadian pennies, including six pre-1937 (one is a 1924--only 1.6 million minted!!) I got several US wheat pennies too, but haven't even had a chance to look at them. I have to go to work, which suuuucks!!

Cool! WIth a little luck, that pays for the first pound!

Because of the incredible amount of start-to-finish steps it takes to photograph and upload coins here, I think what I will do is make 2-3 videos (by region) just quickly showing which nations/years I got Wednesday, post them to Youtube and then link here, for anyone who's interested and/or could offer me any information.

yellow88 Thanks for replying. I was surprised not to find a lot of Cuban coins, but no telling how many I just missed. It's one thing to look at coins one at a time, but just pawing through mountains of them (seeing only one side of each coin for the most part) is just mind-boggling. I kept finding myself getting in "habits," like say I'd find a Canadian George V penny, get excited, then my eyes would start seeking more of those specifically. Paw, paw, paw...WAIT! --Did I just paw over a __________ (something else I meant to watch for)? And then pawing to try to find that. And the cuban coins especially blended in unfortunately, though I did manage to find 5 of them (1-centavo and 5-centavo, from 1920-1946, so pre-Castro I guess). When you say there is no shortage of buyers, is that more true of Cuban than of other Southern Western hemisphere nations' coins? Why? What I find interesting about them is that their weights are displayed (and check out, according to my scale). Also I noticed an interesting discrepancy in the three nickels I found: the 1920 and 1946 are both silver colored (are they actually silver, nickel, or what?) but the 1943 one appears brassy. I wonder why the temporary change? Maybe like the 1943 Lincoln pennies where it was just not economical to mint in copper?