Fun At The Pawn Shop

I was saying to myself that if you put a price tag on anything that means you are ready to part with it. I'm sure he would take $50 if someone offered.

My local pawn shop was full of coins last year. I bought a lot of stuff under spot. The last time I went the case was almost empty. The only thing I saw of interest was a Liberty nickel with XF details but had some kind of dirt covering half or more of the coin. I asked about it because I need a XF later date for my type set. $60 dollars for a 1911 dirty nickel. Guess the fun is over.

I went to an Antique Store where they had a case full of coins. Locked of course. I asked the guy at the counter if I could look at the coins. He replied "You gonna buy anything?". I told him I wouldn't know until I saw what he had and the conditions and prices. His answer was interesting. He said "You Coin guys, Can't you just find the date you want and buy it? I use the book, so I know the prices are fair". I asked how he graded, at which point he looked at me with a kinda deer in the headlights look and said " I don't have time to grade things, I have a really big store here and this is just one small case".

When we got to the case he wouldn't let me look at them myself, but insisted that I point and he hand them to me. I kinda understand that. But he is worried about coins valued, in many instances, at less than a dollar while he has other much more valuable merchandise just lying out for any potential thief!

I looked at four coins and as he handed me each one he asked "Are you going to buy that?". I was getting annoyed, he was already annoyed and I replied "How many coins do you sell a year?". "NONE". Just about that loud too. I was ready to leave when I saw some buried Peace dollars...all priced at 2008 Red Book XF prices. I bought them all.

His whole attitude changed. He called me Sir and asked me if there was anything else I wanted to look at, and then said that as I had just paid cash for the Dollars I could look through them myself ( with him standing there of course!). I ended up getting a number of Silver Halfs for $7 each, and a number of dimes for $1 each.

That was two months ago. I still don't know how I feel about it. Normally if they are that underpriced ( especially if it is a Mom and Pop operation) I let them know. But this guy was obnoxious. No wonder he did not do any business with us!

Non numismatically educated people think any coin they have is worth millions.

KK

There's a lot of very nice, mellow people in the coin / pawn /flea business. Then there are those with latent, untreated personality disorders.

As for the age thing it can be a benefit and a negative. I am 19 and some people have treated me really good and taught me many things, plus gave me good prices. Others just treat me as though I am a teenager who is just going to steal there coins and then sell them as scrap because I don't know anything.

Maybe not this one but what you say is really, really true in many such places. They basically want the place to look legit but would rather you just go away.
There is a restaurant by me that seams to never have any buisness and has been there for a long, long time. Myself and a friend tried to go in and get some service. We were basically told they are closed for remodeling.
Pawn shops by me are a lot like that too. I went into one not far away and saw coins in the case. I asked how much they were and was told they didn't sell coins there. Had a few nice cameras in a case too. I asked how much those were and again was told they didn't sell cameras.
When you find such places it is best to keep away. You never know if there are cameras pointing at the front door by the Feds, local police, etc.