Joined for the skinny on investing in slabbed Morgans...

Gnomey: If you are truly interested in collecting Morgans then just spend some time "looking" at Morgans in hand.

DO NOT just buy the first pretty one that passes by.
DO NOT buy without comparing prices and shopping around.
DO NOT expect your investment to mature in 50 years.
DO NOT buy the "next big thing"! (Even in Morgans)
DO NOT expect your children to appreciate what you're doing or have done. Some folks, regardless of influence, simply do not nor ever will understand and appreciate coin collecting/collectors.

DO expect to lose money.
DO expect to learn how not to lose money but only after you've already lost some money.

The MOST you could ever hope for is perhaps a 10% loss on your "investment" because rarely do folks buy low and sell high. More often than not, folks buy high and sell low for whatever reasons.

The real "key" is to enjoy what you are doing and fully understand that coin collecting, even with Morgan Dollars, is simply not a good investment opportunity.

They are definitely fun to collect but can also be very humbling when it comes time to sell.

 

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Some of the comments here are excellent. I DO NOT agree that one will automatically lose money when selling Morgans. I HAVE NOT, and never will lose money, as my purchases have been sensible, and not emotionally driven.

 

The only time i lost money was when I was in a coin shop and I was going to look at his coins I was so fascinated then my mouth was wide open in awe at looking at all of the pretty coins and well one of his customers was trying to sell about 20-30 BU 1964 kenneday halfs, she was about to leave as he offered her not as much as se wanted, till I offered 15 $ for one of them to be my first coin buy (I was looking at redbook prices) and she agreed and I was ecstatic. All I remember after that was that the shop owner was in shock when I bought it and he really started being a jerk afterwards so I left the shop and never came back.

 

That is because you broke the cardinal rule of going into a coin shop... NEVER EVER TRY TO BUY FROM THE OTHER CUSTOMERS IN THE SHOP... No matter what.

I would have thrown you out immediately. If you want to buy coins from people... you spend the money, time, energy, and effort to open your own shop and try to pay the bills. When it comes to my shop... I am the only one doing the buying or selling.

I spend about $4,000 a MONTH on advertising... not to mention rent, bills, payroll, insurance... I'm not sure of his situation... but hopefully you can see why what you did made him mad.

You not only made the guy look bad (even if he was offering her a very fair price)... but you hosed yourself as well.

 

Your argument is flawed. The owner didn't want to buy them from her, so why not? I don't get it since you don't want to buy it, and I would want to. Geez. No need to get mad about it.

 

It's etiquette. You are in his business... And it's not an argument, It's a fact... you try that in any shop in the country... you will AT LEAST get the cold shoulder... if not asked to leave.

Who's to say that she wasn't going to bring them back and sell in a few days?

 

I understand it's poor ettiquitte, and I ruined his potential profit for 1 of his coin's that more than likely would have not come in his hands, but seriously your acting like I commited a crime. I was 8 years old. Do you think I knew better, even more so do you think you would know better when you were 8?

 

I was hanging around a coin shop at 8. Helping the owner sort coins and learning all I could. This was one of the first things I learned.

See the problem is... You potentially could have done much more than ruined the transaction for 1 coin...

Even if the dealer was making a fair offer of... lets say... $7 a coin... The average person is not as educated as you or me...when it comes to coins.

She thinks "He told me $7 a coin.. but this guy wants to pay me $15... this dealer must be trying to rip me off".

She goes home tells her friends and family... Leaves a review of the dealer on several websites... telling the world what a crook this guy is... This gets to be way more then just ruining a transaction for 1 coin.

Not saying that happened here... but there is the potential.

 

You asked--he answered. Dutchman is right, and you are wrong. There is a certain etiquette in this business, and it was a major breach of following it, by your actions. Coin dealers earn their living by mutual cooperation, and servicing the customer--imagine if someone barged in with your field of employment and tried to meddle in a transaction.

 

Well good for you. Most newbies don't necessarily follow the rules of sensibility and non0emotional purchases.

 

She might have come back after shopping around only to find that the offered price was more than reasonable.

You essentially undermine the shop owners credibility.

 

I liked the two threads I like best. I would collect because you like it, not to diversify any portfolio for a child. For my collection, I just assume I will lose some on each coin. Not always true, but then again I do not do the selling. Depending on the coin on the source I use to move it.

 

Your previous posts above gave the impression that you still haven't learned better. Rereading them, do you understand why we might have that impression?

 

If I could hit the "Like" button for LostDutchman's posts one hundred times I would do so. Alas, I can only do it once.

You may have been eight-years old when you committed one of the worst breaches of etiquette in that coin shop, but you are presumably older than eight-years old today and still have not learned exactly what you did wrong and why it was so bad. That is not so easy to give you a pass on. Others have commented upon why you were in the wrong and read these posts again until you understand how you might have harmed his business much more than regarding the profit of a single coin.

 

xGAJx, not trying to pile on, but let me explain it to you this way. WHY did you go to that particular location? There are millions of places you could have went, but you went to that man's coin shop because he spent the money to have a shop, pay employees, rent, and advertise. Same with the lady, she didn't go there by accident, the dealer spent a good deal of money attracting her to come there. THAT is why its wrong to interfere with any buy/sell transactions in the shop. Its not a random place, its a place paid for speficially so the dealer can attract people to both buy from and sell to.

Once, when I saw some coins a customer was wanting to sell, I privately talked to the dealer and said I would be interested in buying them, through him. So the dealer agreed to have the customer let me look at them, I told the dealer what I would pay the dealer for them, (privately), the dealer bought them and I bought them from him. I have no idea what the dealer paid, and I do not care. I hope he made a good profit to be able to continue to be a coin shop.

The main point is a dealer's store is not a random public swap meet. S/he is paying the bills, s/he is the only one who should be profiting.

 

Last time I was in a coin shop, someone walked in with a CC Morgan and took about 60% of the price guide value for it. When he left, I offered 80% price guide value, but he said no.
I supposed if the seller had declined, I could have met him outside and made an offer. I wouldn't feel bad about that one bit.

 

I don't really feel that bad about it. I did it once as a kid who didn't know any better, I don't know why everybody's posting like it's the end of the world. Yeesh.