Toronto Area Coin Shops

Canadian Coin and Currency... I've never been to their store, but I would imagine they're reputable dealers given their 25 years in the coin business.

I don't know about the raw at CC&C. Never seen anything out of an ICCS or PCGS holder there. Never dealt in person with Taylor, but hear from some others that he can be shifty. If you're in the west-end, just south of Bloor and Dundas (the Toronto Bloor and Dundas, not Etobicoke) there's a great little store there just south of Bloor. It's on the east side of Dundas in the bottom of a little office building. Great selection and prices, lots to look at. Can't remember the name. PM me a little later and I'll try to find the name for you.

Edit: I can't spell....I guess huked on foniks werked fer me

As to the high prices: you don't want to undervalue any industry as a whole. It's nice to get deals from time to time, but undervaluing stock puts everyone at risk. On the one hand it destroys your competition in the short-term, but in the long-run the public views the industry as "cheap" or low-end and will destroy the industry altogether. You don't want either because you need competition; it creates a smart consumer and specialization of categories. Start lumping everything together and on the cheap, and in the end there's nothing of value anymore. One dealer will pay more for a certain type of item because s/he's more knowledgable on the subject and can move it with ease. You can't know everything, and knowledge comes at a price.

(I hope that explains the issue.)

A friend was wanting to purchase some coins and sell some coins. Apparantly when they had worked out a deal, Mr. Taylor abruptly changed his price as the transaction went to the cash register. The value of the coins went down and the purchase price of the coins went up. Hence what I call "shifty" or in other words the price "shifted". My friend is not in town at the moment, so I cannot verify the details, nor would I name names and all that, but this is what happened.

And Libertad, my stance on what you are talking about with undervaluing goes both ways. I don't mind paying (well I do, but that's why I tend to buy nothing but raw coins) for a high end example of the coin I want, but it just seems as though coin shops will never, ever tell you that the coin in your hand sure is a nice looking MS coin. The negativity starts almost as soon as you take the coin out of your case and show it. I find this especially at the bigger stores. So, to undervalue the coins that come into the store for purchase, is the same as undervaluing the coins that you have for sale. The old adage "Buy low, sell high" is really true. I am no one to tell a business how to or what to do for their business. But I would do it a tad differently then what I've seen as far as what the stores are doing right now.

B&W Coins in Brampton is one of the better coin shops I have visited. Good lighting, tons of inventory, lots of big, well-sorted bins for cherry picking, lots of modern (post-1967) coins in their inventory and they always have boxes of brand new rolls of all denominations from the mint for sale. I brought one of my Ottawa friends there, who collects Twoonies, and he was amazed at all the Twoonies available to look through. My favourite thing about that store is that it has quite a selection of numismatic literature for sale. I picked up my copies of the Griffin reprints there.

Bloor and Dundas store which I will not name...probably not a good idea to go there.