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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,893 |
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Valued Member
United States
411 Posts |
went to Panamas City fl. yesterday to help my daughter with her dog fence. but that's another story. went by a pawn shop to look at coins, they were sold out. went around the corner to a coin shop. it had closed. went back to the pawn and ask him if there were any coin shops around. he told me of 3 in the area. went to Daves, open. noticed that he had coins and guns. all he had out was old pennys, quarters, few silver eagles and Morgan dollars. also had silver bullion in many shapes. after talking with him , I ask . Be honest with me, how is coin sales doing. with a sheepish smile he said I'm closing in mid summer. I ask what he was going to do with his coins. He said that a coin dealer a few miles down the road was going to get them. Then I went to the coin shop down the road. have never been anywhere like this. He is in a old bank. noticed a few coins out and about. Lady ask me what I was looking for. I said silver eagles and Ikes. She said just a minute. Came back with a older man who ask what I was really interested in. told him, he took me back in a room that looked to be his office, coins everywhere. pulled out some boxes full of eagles and ikes. after looking and talking I could tell I was in the wrong coin shop. way to high. went next to a different coin shop. coins and comic books. the one thing I noticed from all these shops is they were high in there prices. even supplies. this coin comic shop said somewhere in our talks that if summer does not get better they will close when school starts. went by book store to get supplies |
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
Ouch. That is depressing.  I have not been to a proper coin shop in over ten years. I was dismayed by the selection and prices. Coin shows, on the other hand, are much more productive visits. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2843 Posts |
I personally find just the opposite from what Jbuck said to be true. I have gone to numerous shows, and all I get is an opportunity to see items that I would otherwise only see in photo. The asking prices are so ripoff and they bargain down to a 30% discount that is still higher than going ebay prices. This past Sunday I saw a bin of 50% coins that every coin was priced at 200-250% of normal selling prices. I have found coin shows to be a place to go if you wnat to be told that everything you have is worthless, common, and in horrible condition. Everything that they have to offer is perfect. Coin shops on the other hand have been kind to me. Not all, but the old fashioned shops have great deals and respectful workers. Best of all are the pawn shops- where they profess to know everything about everything- and know only a minute amount about everything. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1188 Posts |
I think the reason places go under isn't because the hobby is dead.. I think it's just the prices. I don't have a LCS near me but in the past I have been to a few while on vacation. Aside from a nice junk box find here or there, the prices are almost always higher than ebay. Same thing happened to a lot of retail stores when online shopping got big. Either adjust your prices to compete or you will go out of business. Maybe it's just not profitable to own a B&M coin shop anymore due to overhead costs. |
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
Last time I really checked, there were a few LCS in my area (DFW Metroplex) and I have had a range of experiences with them. One the one hand, there are those similar to what Jbuck described - coin dealers who had a very limited amount of stuff sitting out at ridiculous prices, who didn't seem to care if I bought anything from them or not. On the other hand, there is one shop here that I know of that is very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful staff, with a fairly good selection for purchase. In addition, they sell a lot of things that other coin dealers apparently don't want to mess with, such as current proof/uncirculated sets as well as the current years' halves, Presidential/Native American dollars, ATB Quarters, etc - all from both P and D mints and also the S-mint uncirculated quarters. Current stuff like that are packaged in 2X2 cardboard flips and sold for just a small amount over face. Great for keeping up with modern stuff that's hard to find in the wild. They also have lots of individual proof coins from the last few decades in various denominations, and a lot of various oddities. They have a bowl of common-date IHCs as well. They also sell a good selection of new and used Danscos as well as used coin albums and folders from various companies. Overall, it's a good mix of catering to older established collectors as well as appealing to younger folks. Prices seem to be very competitive with online sales as far as I can tell. Maybe I'm just lucky but there are still a few good shops out there. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Maybe we can get billjones ,retired coin dealer to comment on this .  |
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Valued Member
 United States
411 Posts |
reading the above post something else came to my mind, Dave had a lot of Presidential/Native American Dollars out to show, I being in the collecting end did not no that these were real dollars.
Dave said that he would go to the bank and get rolls to sale in his shop , at $1.50 each.
now he uses them to tip waiters .
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Valued Member
United States
343 Posts |
Good idea on the tips, I love the looks when they think its a few quarters. I try to get dollar coins from the toll booths whenever I can. As for our (wife and I) LCS, I think we're lucky. He's really nice and knowledgable, and he knows we only go there as opposed to the 4 or 5 other coin shops, let alone any of the pawn places around here. I kind of feel like I should check out the other ones since there are so many, but our guy always has something we're interested enough in to take home. That's mostly bullion though, I don't have any high priced coins. Pretty sure the most I've paid for a coin was 30 or so off ebay. |
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Valued Member
United States
124 Posts |
My local coin shop pays only bullion for coins,even proof silver eagles or prrof gold eagles are still just bullion to my LCS.he will pay you spot for any PF70 gold eagle etc. no premiums at all for graded 70 coins, he says thats dumb.
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Valued Member
United States
303 Posts |
I guess I'm lucky to have 3 decent shops nearby... My favorite shop has a super friendly guy, nice selection, and good prices. I've watched him call other bigger shops to see what they would offer for a customer's coins if he thought they would offer more than he could! I do most of my shopping there...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1119 Posts |
Quote:
My local coin shop pays only bullion for coins,even proof silver eagles or prrof gold eagles are still just bullion to my LCS.he will pay you spot for any PF70 gold eagle etc. no premiums at all for graded 70 coins, he says thats dumb. Find a better shop |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,893 |
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Posted 05/18/2016 11:57 am
