As you guys know I have over 200 wheat pennies that I had purchased recently and I'm looking to sell the ones I don't want. I don't want to sell on
ebay and I don't have 250 posts to sell on CCF yet so I decided to take them to a dealer instead. Today I went with my mom to three "coin shops" and I have to say I am appalled at the incompetence of these so called "coin dealers". All they see is a 17 year old kid walk into their store and think "He's not going to spend a lot".
Out of all the places I've bought coins at there was only one that gave me the time of day and treated me like a human being. I wound up spending $400 in his shop. He was very nice, actually talked to me, and educated me about grading. The funniest part about that is he wasn't a coin dealer he was just a pawn shop! Unfortunately he was a place we stopped at on a road trip so he's not close enough to go back to again.
Every other coin dealer that I have been to acts like they know everything but then aren't willing to share that knowledge with a young coin collector who is interested in the hobby. I'm eager to learn as much as I can about coins and the only way I can is through books and CCF. I'd much rather talk to someone in person about a passion we both share and learn from them.
I bore my mom all the time about coins but unfortunately she just doesn't have the same passion as I do so it's really just a one sided conversation. Going into a coin shop there's a part of me that wishes they would talk to me and continue the conversation so I could learn more. I'm thinking that's too much to ask for. I'm tired of coin dealers treating me like an idiot and telling me that my coins aren't worth anything.
They don't even give me a chance.
I have had so many bad experiences with coin dealers and today added two more to the list
First shop: Oyster Bay coin Galleries
I should have realized immediately that this was a bad idea because they specialized in jewelry.
We go inside and I set my coins on the counter and I tell the women I have wheat pennies to sell. The moment I said "wheat pennies" she became uninterested and starting flipping through the 2x2s. I put them in chronological order to make them easier to look at (starting with 1909 VDB) she says "If this was an S this would be valuable these coins aren't worth anything I can give you 2¢ a piece" I was so disgusted. She didn't even look at them. Are you kidding me? I must have idiot tattooed on my face or something, because your telling me 1910s,1912s, 1913s, and 1914s are all worth 2¢?
The best part about this was that I had put a 1914 d penny(fair condition) in with the other 1914 coins to see if they noticed it, the year was written on the bottom of the 2x2 instead of the top. Neither coin place noticed it!! I wasn't planning on selling it I just wanted to see if they would actually look. It just proves my point that many coin dealers don't pay attention to young collectors.
Second shop: Another Oyster Bay Coin Galleries
This shop said it specialized in "collectibles" so I thought maybe they would have more knowledgeable coin dealers. Unfortunately this place was a bust because the "coin guy" was on vacation and wouldn't be back until Saturday. So we will see what happens when I go back on Saturday. They had a foreign coin bowl and I picked out 3 Great Britain pennies 1872,1900,1919 and one that I can't identify(I'll post that later) I know they aren't worth anything but I thought they would be nice to have.
Third shop: Numismatic Assets
This "coin dealer" did the same thing as the first and got turned off when I said "wheat pennies" he flips through them (not noticing the 1914d) and says "these coins are not worth anything they made 100s of millions of them." I didn't realize they made 100s of millions of 1910s, 1912s 1913s or 1914s pennies. Last time I checked they all had mintages of less than 10 million. Did that number just magically grow? He told me he was not interested in them but said if I needed any coins to complete my set to "give him a call" the only three coins I need in my set are the 1909 s VDB, 1909s and 1931s
And I can promise you I wouldn't buy them from him. Why would I want to buy them from someone who tells me that wheat pennies aren't worth anything?
The only other place that I have been to that has told me my coins are not worthless is Premier coin Galleries I went to them with 8 wheat pennies and they bought them for $207 for $262 worth of coins(that's what they went for in the
Red Book). He was not a very friendly guy but he took the time to look at each coin with a loupe and used the grey sheet for pricing. I'm a little hesitant to go back there because the last time I was there I had 30 coins and he wanted $180 for over $700 worth of coins. In his defense some of the coins had problems so when I went home I put all the problem coins into a box labeled "junk".
Adding up the prices on the 2x2s equals $2500 but I know I would never get that much for them. Considering that some may be over graded and they have to make money I could understand them offering $1000 for them, which is a lot more than I paid for them all.
I just wanted to share my experiences at these coin shops today with you guys.
Do you guys have similar issues with coin dealers?
Does anybody know of a reputable coin dealer on Long Island besides the ones mentioned?
Posted 08/28/2017 4:11 pm
