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 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,320 |
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Valued Member
United States
475 Posts |
Growing up in the 60's and 70's, it was pretty much local coin shops and occasional coin shows for a middle school to high school aged kid. Now that I've taken up coin collecting again, the local coin shops are few and far between and it's mostly local coin shows, ebay, coin dealer sites and other auction sites. From my observations, local coin shows generally have good pricing, but offerings may be slim to none depending upon what you are looking for. Larger coin shows tend to attract more dealers and thus more chances to find coins on your want list. ebay can be a good option but you need to research the sellers. I avoid sellers with negative feedback and who won't accept returns. Buy it now prices can be all over the map as can be the quality for a similarly graded coin. Often a coin dealer selling on ebay will also have their own website and prices can be a little less than their listing price on ebay. A repeat customer often gets a little better treatment, from my experience. I have more recently gotten into some auction sites and placed bids and actually won some. Like anything else, in some cases you get a very favorable winning bid and other times you lose as the bids go beyond the price list prices. In those cases, I do more research to see if the price lists are not reflective of the market and adjust future bids accordingly. In other cases, I win the auction with a bid that comes close to the price list prices. There are various strategies out there for auction bidding. So, I won't get into that. I've had some work and other times they don't. A lot depends on the coin, number of bidders and series being targeted, I think. Waiting to find out the results on several auctions this week. Edited by txgolfer56
02/06/2019 12:40 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
475 Posts |
Auctions I have participated in include:
Heritage
GreatCollections
Stacks & Bowers
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2023 Posts |
All that matches my experience. I've been to only a few local shows. Didn't buy much, mainly because I've been looking for very specific things. But it's always fun to look around at what's available, even if there's no way I'd spend that much for the really high end stuff (or carry that much cash on me).
I've bid on and won a few things from David Lawrence. Generally satisfied with what I got but they don't often have anything I want to bid on.
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Valued Member
United States
475 Posts |
Wow, I just went 3 for 3 on a Stacks & Bowers auction for semi-key Franklin half dollars. All were won for less than the current price list prices including the buyer's premium. Woohoo! |
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
Quote: Wow, I just went 3 for 3 on a Stacks & Bowers auction for semi-key Franklin half dollars. All were won for less than the current price list prices including the buyer's premium. Woohoo! Excellent!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3170 Posts |
Just found out my favorite coin shop is closed.   They have an ebay store, but I will miss walking into that store.  www.hartvillecoin.com |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
It has been a long time since I went to an LCS. Coin shows have been my main source, but ebay has provided most of the Ikes for my PCGS set. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
834 Posts |
When I was a kid there were 4 full-time coin shops in my town, plus an antique mall with a few more part-time, weekend dealers. And that was a town with about 50,000 people! Now, every one of those dealers and the antique mall are gone. There are a couple of pawn shops that buy and sell coins at ridiculous margins, but no real shops in that old town. I have since moved to a much larger city but even then all of the dealers are gone - and we had a couple big names up here (JJ Teaparty, etc). So again, there's a couple pawn shops but nothing like when I was a kid.
I saw a thread on here about flea market finds. Can anyone name their favorite flea market for coin finds? I'm willing to go anywhere in the US.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Yes in my area virtually all the coin shops are gone . And if you should happen to find one, they deal mostly in bullion . Thanks for the small local shows that I attend frequently to feed my addiction . E-bay is a good source to buy or bid on coins but it's not for the inexperienced newbie .  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
Here in my city, Ottawa, Canada, we have 4 thriving stores (although less than years ago), but probably half their income is from bullion. We also have a monthly local show which has good stuff sometimes.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I too used to find a lot of coin stores or hobby stores that also had coins. Now mostly all gone. The internet has made coin shopping just to easy and people are basically rather lazy so it's now the internet. Even the days of the shopping malls are slowly vanishing. Hobby stores seldom deal in coins since they now specialize in lesser expensive hobbies. However, around where I live we have about 3 to 4 coin shows a Month. Those are my main and basically only place I buy coins.
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Valued Member
United States
59 Posts |
I have one local shop I have been dealing with for 10 years. Great older guy that I totally trust. However, he doesn't do much in current year coins, so I pick up the few I want on ebay. I think there is one show nearby a year, but I don't attend. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
And if you should happen to find one, they deal mostly in bullion This seems to be true. |
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Valued Member
United States
475 Posts |
For indian head pennies, I've used the following sites to purchase coins: thepennylady.com angeldee.com indiancent.com davidlawrence.com executivecoin.com rcnh.com ebay.com All were excellent transactions. Edited by txgolfer56
02/07/2019 5:53 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
When I started collecting as a teen I mostly patronized local coin dealers who had shops. The city where I attended college has a handful of brick and mortar stores and I gradually developed good relationships with several of the better dealers in the mid to late 2000s. Then the recession hit and many LCS had to liquidate their large inventories of type coins and shift to lean bullion buying/selling operations to stay afloat. My favorite LCS never did recover the inventory they once had and I've mostly been purchasing at coin shows these days since the coin shops don't have quality material and their prices are not as competitive as they once were.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
999 Posts |
I would like to support the LCS more, but they tend not to have the items I'm looking for. Select shows and ebay are the main sources now. However there are also a few good online dealers and I've had success from other CCF members. I have fond memories as a youngster spending time and making small but regular purchases of large cents and silver dimes at a LCS that has long since closed. |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 3,320 |
Posted 02/06/2019 1:08 pm
