Has anyone ever been to a flea market? Well i havent and im going to one tomorrow to meet up with someone that im selling some items too and my dad said that they usually have coins there. I know i should be weary of fakes and always stick to the rule "if it sounds too good to be true it usually is" have you guys gotten any good finds at fleas? Thanks for the advice! -Ryan
Ryan , a few years ago I went to a flea market and a guy had some coins. He had a box with some coins and tokens that were in envelopes and some that were in the plastic that mint coins are in. Most of it was aluminum tokens, game tokens and such. I looked through it and found a cardboard holder that very clearly described that the coin attached was a 1995 double die. It was a nice glossy professional piece that looked like something that you would have overpaid for on an infomercial. He sold it to me for $2 and I have it today slabbed as MS67 red in an ANACS holder. (just for the record, no it was not in a slab, I sent it in) So to answer your question, Yes it is possible. But keep in mind that it is also "possible" to win the lottery or to be struck by lightning. Have fun and buy what you enjoy collecting!
And if the weather is bad it is possible to get struck by lightning at the flea market. Good luck and I hope you find that hidden treasure.
One time I was at a flea market, and a dealer friend of mine was selling coins there. He had a Jefferson nickel album that was partially filled, and some guy was looking at it. My dealer friend said to the other guy "I'll sell you the coins and the album for $15". The guy said "I don't need the album, and I don't need all the nickels." So he picked out a few, and the price for those nickels alone came to about $20. So my dealer friend said "If you buy those nickels separately, they'll cost you $20, but if you buy the album with everything in it, it will only cost you $15". "That's all right", said the guy, "I only need these nickels I picked out." So he plunked a $20 down on the dealer's case and walked away with the nickels. Then my dealer friend turned around and sold me the album and the remaining nickels for $5.
When its hot out I usually get distracted by skimpy outfits, but I get over that and usually find something neat...
The good thing about a flea market is that if you don't find any coins to your liking, you can always go home with a vase. Chris
Collector 66 = I had the same thing happen at a car swap meet, Me and my brother were parting out a badly wrecked 1969 mustang. We were asking $400 but no one would take it and we sold $1200 worth of parts off it in 3 days. We finally gave it away to a guy that said he would haul it off.
I've had great luck at flea markets, but that was after learning the lessons of: *Bring a price guide (and don't be afraid to use it) *Learn your key dates and be able to recognize them if you see them (I lost out on a bunch of 1870's IHC that I was unsure of...so I left to go to my car to check my price guide (see #1) and when I came back someone had bought every single coin the person had for $1 each.) *Bring a loupe or magnifying glass (and definitely don't be afraid to use it) *Avoid most of the dealer's stuff - seems like they only bring their crap coins to the flea market. *Always look in the glass cases. *Always check out the booths of people who are auctioneers or buy estates. *Learn how to recognize foreign coins with silver content - you wouldn't believe how many still sell for a quarter each. *If you're unsure of something, but it's less than a dollar and you like the coin, go ahead. If it's expensive...pass and go look it up. *Someone on CoinTalk said this first, so I won't claim it as mine but I'll admit to using it now: Buy 3, keep 1. At this point everything in my collection is free. I'm always on the lookout at flea markets for coins that I can resell and pay for other coins I want. Last flea market I found $3 face in Canadian change that I paid a grand total of $15 for...and sold for silver melt. Paid for itself, lunch, and a 1927 P Lincoln Cent NGC MS64RB.
Last summer I went to a flea market and, for whatever reason, was inclined to walk through this massive barn that was the messiest, dingiest, dustiest place you could possibly imagine. At the back corner was another older gentleman set up with tons of coins and baseball stuff. Since then I've been back quite a few times and he has held on to and gotten ahold of some great coins for me. Flea Market Lesson - sometimes you've got to wade through garbage to get to awesome coins!
or, put another way.............. Sometimes you've got to kiss a lot of toads before you find a prince. Chris
