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 Replies: 26 / Views: 5,659 |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
Some of you may know I'm visiting my mom during her surgery and of course, before I came here, I searched to see if there were any coin shops. Where I live, the closest one is about 35 miles away. Here, there's one about 5 minutes away. Today, during some free time, I stopped in to see what it was like. This is the first time I've visited an LCS since I entered the hobby. This place also deals in buying PM scrap and guns but, had a decent display of coins and bullion. Unfortunately, I don't have enough knowledge to look at most coins in a case, see the price and know whether it's a good deal or not. I was mainly scanning and may go back but upon exiting, I noticed a good-sized "treasure chest" and two Rubbermaid bins full of random "junk" world coins. I looked glancingly and saw a 1912 Canadian penny on top. I asked how much and they said $8/lb. So I took that, converted to 453g and divided by 6g (a little heavier than the Canadian penny) and got a total of about 75 coins per pound. Does that sound like a decent deal?I really like identifying and sorting world coins and buying several pounds worth would keep me busy for a while. I know I'm trying to sell some world coins but, who knows, maybe there are some gems in there? Of course, there are way too many for me to set up camp and dig through the bins for anything I know is special.  This shop seems to be more concerned about silver and gold (had quite a bit of bullion) and had only a smattering of U.S. type coins. Sorry for the long story not made short but, I'm thinking that would be a lot more fun than trying to find the one ungraded Morgan that is problem free and not overpriced. What do you think?  In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
$8/lb may be a bit steep, but maybe there's some hidden silvers in there. Take a while looking thru, sometimes the older ones may pop out at ya. I'd pull ull up a chair and start digging, but then again I "had" a foreign coin collection and have worked at IDing coins. Sometimes there's some old US stuff in those, just lower grade crap. Think it may be worth the time of an hour. Offer him $7/lb or barter a bit. Wish my LCS had a junk bin!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2637 Posts |
$8/lb is pretty standard. They will sometimes also accept 5 or 6/$1.
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Pillar of the Community
Sweden
1078 Posts |
I had a LCS with a pick-and-mix junk bucket with coins for about $8/kg or $4/lb and I spent most of my time looking through that bucket. Often there were silvers, maybe one or two at a time but it really helped fill my world coin collection cheaply. It was restocked pretty much every other week so there was always something to look at. Since then the coin shop has closed down due to the owner's old age but that bucket was the key attraction all the time. If you every get a chance to pick out the coins you like and pay for weight, go ahead and don't be picky, remember that's probably the cheapest you can buy individual coins for.
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Moderator
 United States
34423 Posts |
Quote:
What do you think? I think that it sounds like pretty cheap entertainment while you are dealing with family stuff--a good way to keep your mind occupied. Go for it! "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Compared to the cost of other entertainment, it's just plain cheap. AND you pay no postage  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Seems like the LCS is sort of like mine where they don't care too much about the world coins. If that is the case, then there may be some nice coins in there. I don't buy bulk world coins, so honestly $8 for 75 coins doesn't seem like a bad deal at all, especially if you could find coins that would be worth even just .50 or $1 each. Hope your mom recovers quickly!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
You can get cheaper deals on ebay, but $0 in shipping isn't bad! If I am not hunting for anything in particular, I usually look for: 1. How much of the lot is post-WWII, pre-Euro junk? 2. Do I spy any coins that are legal tender? British decimal coinage, German marks, Swedish rappen or franks, Japanese yen. Quite often you will find valuable coins in mixed lots; particularly Japanese 100 yen and Swedish Frank coins are small and unassuming, but exchangeable for $1 each. 3. Do I see Victoria on any coins? 4. Do any coins appear to be older than ~1880? 5. Do any coins look to be silver? It takes time and patience to grow your comfort level to be able to make a judgement call on a random assortment of world coins, but $8 is not a bad price to get your feet wet! Most dealers can't even be bothered to sort through world coins, so there is a good chance that something was missed. Heck, maybe even a better chance than on ebay. Good luck in this tough time with your mom! |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
Thanks for the comments and well wishes! The only other thing I looked at that was interesting was a 1995 LMC DDO NGC MS67RD. It was marked $85 (which I'm not going to pay) but, maybe I can haggle a bit to get a few lbs of world coins thrown in. They did have some circulating world silver on display so maybe they just sort for PMs but, I know they don't have to be gold or silver to be valuable. I don't know about the 1995 DDO but, I'm pretty sure I can get them down to $6/lb if I get at least 5 lbs. I'm not sure my wife will be too excited about me coming home with hundreds of world coins but, you know...  In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Probably much happier than if you showed up with a case of whiskey |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Well, she may be happier (we shall see...) because I bought 5 lbs today. I only had about 45 minutes to pull up a chair and sort through the massive pile as fast as I could until I realized it was 5 minutes past closing. I managed to hand-pick about 2 lbs and then resorted to grabbing handfuls to get to 5 (what I had decided on). It was interesting that I started picking coins from countries I don't have whether they may be worth anything or not and some I could absolutely not read or recognize. I only just got a chance to scan everything a little earlier and there are numerous countries I didn't have and a good chunk of pre-'50s as well as some 19th Century. Yes, some have damage/major wear but some look uncirculated and I think I have a cameo proof in there too (can't remember what except it is Elizabeth II). I will try to get a complete count tomorrow to figure what I paid per coin. When I return home I want to get the actual weight of them all because I'm not sure whether this place was really being honest with me. More on that later.  In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Pillar of the Community
Sweden
1078 Posts |
See, this is what I mean. When it's a o pick-and-mix like this, don't be picky. If you don't recognize a coin - buy it! It's not going to cost you much. I've had some shops having the same system of buying for weight, but they have persisted on that they pick - not you. So consider yourself lucky!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
Okay, so when I went to the shop the second time to purchase, the owner (who was not there the first time) was going through a purchase of a bunch of Morgans with another fellow. I listened to them talk while I picked through the coin pile. It was a little interesting and a little disappointing as well. Anyway, after I realized it was closing time, I took what I had picked to be weighed. He took the bag to a scale and said 2 lbs. So, I went back and grabbed more until I thought I had about 5 lbs. I took it back to him, he put it on the scale and said 5 lbs. Either I'm really good at guessing weight or there was some nice rounding (up) going on! I couldn't see the scale readout because of where he was standing. I'll have to wait to weigh them when I get back home. Only then did I ask him how much and he said $9/lb. The first time there were two women there and one of them was the one who told me $8/lb. I wasn't going to get into an argument or anything and I hate haggling so I paid $45. It turns out that I ended up getting 475 coins from about 70 countries. So, by my calculation, I paid 9.47 cents per coin. I was thinking that around 10 cents per coin was reasonable, so the dollar price hike isn't a big deal. I'm not sure I liked the atmosphere that much but, it's probably because I was a stranger and interested in the cheap stuff. I have found one little gem so far and I'll be creating a new topic for what I find in this grab bag.  In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Moderator
United States
34423 Posts |
70 different countries? That sounds pretty good to me!
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2637 Posts |
Skip the LMC, buy the Morgans. Edited by Arkie
08/12/2017 10:02 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3327 Posts |
My LCS sells them 8 for a dollar. I've found encapsulated Canadian proof dollars and quarters, silver Mexican coins and a few pennies & half pennies from the '40s. Have fun with all those coins!
"Nummi rari mira sunt, si sumptus ferre potes." - Christophorus filius Scotiae
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Replies: 26 / Views: 5,659 |
Posted 08/10/2017 02:07 am
