Featured Recycled Article No. 1: Coin Show Etiquette

Well, you're not quite there, but you do win "closest to the pin". Old time traditional camera store with a C-41 and E-6 chrome lab. We were the very very first One-Hour photo lab in the USA. We had direct non-distributor direct dealerships with Kodak, Fuji, Nikon, Leica, Canon, and Olympus, among others. Our biggest client was Penske Racing (Indy Car side) for whom we made tens of thousands of prints per year.​

 

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Just a reference point. My main retail price guide I use now is Numismedia's FMV, then apply the discount off of that I'll pay. For more common stuff, that discount is stout, for key dates, less. I wrote a script for my HP calculator where the inputs are retail list, discount wanted, and buyer's premium, if any, and it spits out my maximum hammer price bid. I NEVER EVER go over that price. Not for ANY coin. I don't care if Q. David and CAC's owner signed it personally in longhand and stuck gold stars on it.

It is utterly amazing how many raw early cameo proofs I've won with this method at local auctions. At coin shows, all I hear is prices 2x-3x what I typically can get great fresh new-to-the-circuit material for. If there's that kind of air in their initial asking price, that's too much work - my time is more valuable than to play haggling games all day.

I send a fair bit in for slabbing, and I usually get higher grades than I thought. In my entire time in this hobby (51 yrs.) I have only ever gotten ONE coin back as ungradable - an allegedly cleaned old Mexican peso, back in the old small slab ANACS era. I still disagree with that assessment, BTW.

 

The watch industry is actually stronger than ever. And I'm talking about mechanical watches, not quartz.

 

Good to know dear fellow. I always like a good watch. Never without one in fact..........

 

Vic,
I agree with much of what you have stated in this thread. The coin industry is changing. Because of the internet, people are buying more and more coins without ever talking to or stepping into a dealer/B&M store. Those dealers that don't adapt will wither and die.

However, that being said, I think it is also WISE to try to develop a relationship with a dealer. Someone you can trust. Someone that is connected. Someone who has access to coins that you want that may never hit the internet (eBay, HA, Legend, DLRC, etc...). I hope to find one for myself.

IMO, it's smart to use all the tools available to acquire coins for your collection. I've bought almost all my coins via the internet. But, I'd still like to find a trusted dealer who's out there searching for coins that he/she knows I might like. IMO, it's an additional set of eyes. That good, trusted dealer will likely have his own network in which you can draw upon. I want them to open up avenues to coin in which I don't have access to or the time to access.

I'm not sure if the dealer will be eliminated, or whether the coin show will fade into the sunset, but while they are available, I'm want to use that tool.

 

To each his own. Just something to chew on. When I go to the casino and ask the valet to park my car I have to tip the guy. When i go out to eat and want someone to bring food to my table, I have to tip the guy.

So just look over your coin collection and just ask yourself how wonderful will it be to buy the coins you already own but to have paid 20% more then you did. Because guess what, if you want that guy looking out for coins you want, and If you want him chasing down coins for you then you will have to tip him too.

I love eating out and always tip 20%. Ironically that is roughly the take by the dealer give or take.

When it comes to coins however I am more of a self serve guy. But if really makes you happy and you don't mind tipping be my guest. For me a large part of the thrill is the hunt. But hey it's all just my
Nonprofessional opinion.

 

Just for the record, I believe several discussions indicated that GDJMSP stopped collecting and sold off his collection 7 to 8 years ago. I'm wondering if his views on the subject are not from around 8 to 10 years ago?

 

My honest view is that whether one's collecting endeavors require the services of a traditional B&M dealer depends on a couple of variables. What the specialty is, availability of convenient alternatives, how advanced the collection has become, among a few others. When my son adds Soviet pieces, most of it comes from dealer 2x2 boxes. If I wanted to pick up Nazi coins, those things show up around me in estate sales all the time, and not all from WW2 GI's either. There were some big time Nazi sympathizers in my neck of the woods, including the founding family of one then-major industry. They were majorly German.

I have a coin club buddy who is probably in the top 2 or 3 specialized early Matte Proof Lincoln Cents collectors. ANA show exhibit winner, the whole enchilada. One of his coins once had its own page in an ANA show official auction catalog. Finest known, etc. Bought an SUV with his profit on that one piece. He wouldn't THINK of picking up a new piece now without the imprimatur of Angel Dee's. One of the greatest "solids" he ever has done me is taking me by the hand to have me observe his interactions with that dealer. Yes, in his situation, I would probably deal exclusively with Angel Dee's too. But I'm not in his collecting category, .... yet.

For now, I just overpay for foreign pieces I pick out of bargain bins. I also paid a pretty dear price for a dealer-supplied Buffalo nickel lately. I'm down to the very hairy, rare and scary Buffalos, that are usually the empty holes in those old collector folders from the 1940's that pop up all the time here.

 

Oh, ok, even further back.

 

Based on my dealings with him...GD has a pretty good grasp on where the hobby is today. Now, he might disagree with some of it...but that does not mean he lacks the knowledge.

 

That could very well be so, and I think it probably is, but I can't shake the very strong impression that the changes about to come will dwarf what has already been seen. Again, my thesis is based on the UTTER disdain that the under-30 crowd has for the values of us old guys. And it's not an angry disdain like during my youth, it's a dismissive "whatever".

 

I can tell you I'm nowhere near being under thirty and I've already heard enough senior citizen rhetoric in my lifetime, to fill two lifetimes. I have no problem giving up my seat to an elder on the subway or opening a door for them, but please, do not make me listen to life lessons, stories and opinions that no longer pertain to today's world, especially if we're not related. You can have a smile, a seat and a brief helpful hand, but please, no small talk.

You're right, it's not angry, just uncomfortable and internally painful to endure. It really gets out of hand when you encounter a know-nothing know-it-all who is starved for attention. Let's not even discuss the potential for such an individual to end up in a pretend position of authority somewhere on the "interwebz".

At one point in time, the senior population had a lot more to offer, teach, pass on to future generations. I believe those roles are now reversing or already reversed. Few exceptions exist.

Focusing on rebellious teenagers for this discussion and thesis, might not be appropriate. It's best to wait for the rebellion and hormones to subside. The under 30 crowd is a good start for a frank and eye-opening discussion.

 

I don't know...I'm a member of the "under-30 crowd" (barely...I'm 29 and been collecting for about 20 years now). I think that the hobby is certainly changing and like everything else, seems to be changing faster each day. I think the "old guys" want to hang onto "old days" a little more than the younger people, but I don't think that results in disdain. Just more variety.

I also think younger people in general (and I am just as guilty as anyone) think they know everything. I am just now starting to realize that what I know is just a tiny speck compared to what I don't know. The last 5-6 years of my life have been quite eye opening (not just with coins...but my life in general) and I think a lot of these "younger" people haven't realized that yet.

 

And I say THAT just might be the single most astute post I've yet read here on CT. I may just have to post a "like" on that baby. By the way, I am posting from a newly iOS 8'ed iPad 2. Not so bad for a 59 year old dinosaur, huh?

 

Whew! Then I used it correctly.

 

Most of MY generation's counterculturalists got stupid Chinese peasant blues and carried around Mao's Little Red Book, and wore out Maggie May all the way to the flip side.

So I guess I'll just collect my stuff and get on back to school ...