The Coin Vault

First strike labels can carry a premium depending on the series, being unfamiliar with their pricing I cant comment on whether their premium is worth it

Yes, the Coin Vault is 99% overpriced. But they will have a real good deal every once & a while.

I have found many shows like this and all of them are overpriced, probably to pay for the TV time.

However, these shows are a great source of information for numismatists, but be prepared to listen to these guys ramble on and on. I'll use the info I have learned and find better deals elsewhere.

The Coin Vault is one of the funniest sitcoms on TV, and "First Strikes" are among their funniest skits.

Yes, I sometimes wonder why some dealers won't just cut the price a little in the interest of more volume, but I'm no business expert.

Example, here years ago they built a toll bridge to nowhere, nowhere except to a politician's land investment. The excuse was to relieve traffic through a bottleneck city called "Gulf Breeze", one way in, one way out. Since the toll started at $2 very few used the bridge except government vehicles.

Since the bridge wasn't making enough money with the $2 toll (because it was too high)to pay the bonds the powers that be raised the toll to $2.50. With even less public traffic using the bridge because of the higher toll they still weren't making enough to pay the bonds so guess what they did?

I think the toll is now around $4 and only the very wealthy and government vehicles are using the bridge. So like all government waste projects the taxpayer will eventually own this bridge to nowhere because nobody had the foresight start the toll at $1 and they would have had plenty of people using it.

The businesses that are prospering are the ones doing volume sales at discount prices. The high end businesses with high overhead, high prices and limited products not so much.

Rick

I often watch The Coin Vault to see what's going on with modern releases and Barry to see if I can learn anything, he can be informative at times. I also DVR "The Coin Collector with Mike Mezack" and "Coin Shoppe" with whoever is on HSN, which I turn on when I am almost ready to fall asleep and they do the trick. If you think Barry and the Coin Vault is high, the Coin Collector and Coin Shoppe are out of this world. I have never bought anything from tv and don't see it ever being realistic.

I guess paying high premiums on bullions isn't a good idea. A decent mark up on the spot price works well but anything bizarre will take you time to break-even. To me grading bullion coins is a waste of money. Just keep the coin in its government-issued packaging and the coin will be fine for years.

What they do is buy a box of coins from the mint.

They send them for bulk grading (see http://www.pcgs.com/services/bulksubmissions.html) at a minimum grade of 68 or 69.

• If 60% of the coins submitted meet or exceed the minimum grade, each holdered coin will be charged $12. The coins that do not meet your minimum grade will be returned to you unholdered with no charge.


• If less than 60% of the coins submitted meet or exceed the minimum grade, each holdered coin will be charged $12 while the unholdered coins will be charged $5 each.

They then SELL SELL SELL the holdered coins - and dump the junk.

They have to cover the cost of the coins, the grading service and their sales costs (the TV show, salaries, etc.) so you can get some guess as to the markups...

If by some chance you DO see something of interest on The Coin vault you would consider buying, go the Silvertowne's web site and buy it there. Silvertowne IS The Coin Vault and they are usually cheaper on the Silvertowne website.