Can You Report PCGS Authorized Coin Dealers? And How?

and to add to that, if you are selling something that you have no idea of value, you should always get more than one opinion..

This is your second, almost identical thread on this subject. Please give us some specific examples of this alleged abuse so we can discuss it. Your vague accusations are no basis for an intelligent discussion.

Another thing to mention, you are not gonna get collector prices from a dealer. You could have the nice 1964 Kennedy half the dealers ever seen, but if its raw, most dealers will only pay about melt for them.

Okay so you want a play by play.

1. A guy comes in, There's an introduction, My Mother-IN-Law and I.

2. We show him to my office to view coins.


3. We made it clear that we didn't want to sell, we just wanted some advice and review our collection and get the ones he thought we should certify; certified.

4. He then proceeds started viciously going through all the coins dropping them on the hardwood floor, making two piles marked junk and the other I guess he wanted to buy.

5. I went to grab my phone, he tells my mom that he mainly buys from old ladies. Her response is, "Oh wow, you must get lucky sometimes," he replies "Yeah, sometimes." Then I return.

6. At the end said you can spend these, but these have silver value, so I'll give you $200 for this pile here, which was all of our 1950's quarters, Kennedy 1/2's, Franklin 1/2's and our Peace dollars.

7. We say No, we wanted information on grading and so forth, I told him I was interested in the process, it's truly a great hobby. there is so much to learn.

8. He then said I needed more education,(I'm a CPA) and that we wasted his time, but I should buy his book and attend a coin show.

Honestly you did waste his time if you had him come over to give what you wanted to be a free appraisal.

If someone asked you to come to their house at your own expense to look through their tax records and tell them what to do for free how would you feel or react? That's what you asked that dealer to do for you

I've also spent the last 15 months researching, a long with putting everything in flips, learning about the different verities, mint Mark's and so forth... I'm just in complete awe of some of the responses here, along with the PCGS dealer. It's truly amazing.

The best thing you can do is deny him your business; I'm sure many others already are doing the same. A "PCGS Certified" dealer is one who pays money to PCGS for submission privileges. Look instead for membership in the American Numismatic Association ( ANA) and Professional Numismatists' Guild (PNG); but most importantly, look for dealers who are as interested and excited about coins as you are. Unlike PCGS, the ANA and PNG actually take ethics complaints seriously.

Don't be discouraged by all of the people who seem to think it's okay to treat potential customers like garbage, make fun of them, mishandle their merchandise, and have absolutely zero interest in either sharing their knowledge nor helping bring new collectors into the wonderful world of coins. On behalf of all decent collectors (and businessmen) I'm quite ashamed for our hobby as a whole with how you were treated. If one of my employees did that to a customer they'd be written up (at least) if not outright terminated.

Yes, there are "two sides" or more to every story, but this particular tale is becoming more and more common here and on other forums as coin dealers fight a depressed market, a shrinking customer base, tight margins against Internet auctions, and exceptionally low bullion spot prices. Rather than remember their obligation to their business and to their customers, they take their anger and frustration out on anyone who walks in the door, making the problem even worse.

It sounds like you've already done a fair bit of research, so you should know what you have. Common date classic silver coins in average condition are unfortunately not worth much more than melt, excepting key/semi-key dates, major errors/varieties, or desirable mintmarks such as CC for Carson City on Morgan dollars.

The commercial market for coins made after 1964 is virtually non-existent with a few notable exceptions.

I would recommend that you buy a Red Book to start out with - the Red Book of United States coins. Go through your collection, and look for any coins that are in excellent shape, or that have higher than average prices in the Red Book. Next up, go to PCGS Photograde and learn how to begin grading your coins from the pictures there.

Once you have done that research, you should be able to decide what to do. If you have any more valuable coins - key dates/mintmarks, gold, etc -- those can be sold to a (different) dealer, preferably one that doesn't make our hobby look like it's full of thieves, jerks, and morons. The less valuable, common date coins can be kept in Whitman or Dansco albums to start a collection, or you can sell the worn/circulated common date silver coins for their value in silver -- but with silver being "in the toilet" right now I wouldn't advise doing so. I don't think silver is far from the spot price bottom, so if you hold onto those "melt" coins for a couple of years you might see a better price.

You might also enjoy going to a local coin show and chatting with the dealers -- MOST of whom LOVE new collectors, because that's their FUTURE customers for all of that stuff sitting in front of their noses at the tables. As long as you are polite, and treat them with respect, they will usually be glad to offer you an opinion on whether or not a few coins should be graded or "slabbed" - certified by a company such as PCGS. Just don't go up to them with a box of 300 common-date late classic and modern coins and ask for a detailed analysis of each one.

Nowadays, everything you ever wanted to know about most major American coin series is on the Internet for free -- grading, history, mintages, key dates, scarce varieties, etc. You can use Heritage Auctions and ebay to determine what coins have sold for in the past; sites such as NumisMedia FMV also provide free price guides for pretty much every American coin since 1793. This will help you obtain REALISTIC values for your collection when combined with learning the rudiments of grading.

Don't be discouraged, hang in there, and if you don't mind sharing where you live (nearest sizable town or city) someone might be able to help you locate a coin dealer that actually cares. This site is full of REALLY awesome and VERY smart people, and most of them would love to help you start a collection so that your family and kids (if you have any) have something to treasure in the future.