Littleton SCAM alert!

You should be looking at auction results.

 

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I'll just make a couple points here:

• Businesses exist to make money. Period. End of story. We have the option to choose to trade or not to trade with them. Every business is structured differently, but in the end they all exist to make money.
• Littleton is probably single-handedly responsible for bringing more new collectors in our hobby than anybody else.
• In the late 1970's when I was overseas in the Army and didn't have an enterweb to satisfy my coin cravings, Littleton saved the day for me. Those "coins-on-approval" envelopes were heaven sent to this kid serving overseas.

Businesses are like families. None are perfect. Yes, they may use heavy handed buy-sell tactics, but again... It is your choice to listen or hang up. Brother, let me tell you. I own a small business and am a few months shy of turning 65. My phone rings incessantly from heavy handed "retirement specialists"... I am a polite fellow. It is in my DNA, but I do not get tied into any of these callers spiel. And yes, I do often hang up on them mid-stream.... So anyway, debate all you want to. They are a long standing business and they will do what they have to to be profitable. They are not scammers. That esteemed title goes to the Beijing mint.

 

I am cursed with the affliction of curmudgeonly personality.
So, what exactly is the Scam?

 

When dealing with ANYBODY you should always familiarize yourself with the terms & conditions. You might not like the coins-on-approval practice, but it's disclosed and easy to cancel.

As Randy said, businesses are in business to make money and that means buying for less than than COGS+S&A.

You may not like their offers, you don't have to take them. Shop the same coins around to several local dealers and report back how generous the offers were.

Littleton is a large-scale wholesale buyer at many coin shows.

What do you think happens when a dealer buys a collection? They mark and sell the merch they know they can sell, there is some they might try to sell and the rest gets wholesaled up the chain to buyers like Littleton. I've seen them clean out a bourse to the point where several dealers packed up and went home.

 

Per ancients, I found one mention on numisforums. I swear I saw some relatively recent posts of some really crummy, common late Roman bronzes, with the Littleton tags. I had never heard of the place, so it stuck with me.

 

Yes and no. I'm in Florida which has a hot real estate market even in this economy of higher interest rates. I own two properties and I'm sick to death of spam cold callers trying to steal my property at ridiculously low prices. I'm not in the market to sell, they are not listed, no intention whatsoever of selling currently. They call incessantly unsolicited annoying the crap out of me several times a day all week. My patience is done with being polite to them. I just hang up.

The seller would do well to just use Ebay. Put low reserve on the item at auction, and pony up the 13% vig to them upon sale. There are deals on Ebay but really quality or rare coins still bring much better prices than a dealer will give you. There is risk that the item might not draw attention but making the expiration date on a weekend or midevening usually solves that issue.....providing the coins are exceptional and detailed photos are provided.

I have a friend who is semi retired and sells on auctions on Ebay and he make a lot of money off of it. Not coins, but most everything else under the sun.

 

Just wait until the calls from Mindy, "your medical benefits coordinator" start coming in.

Here is a screen shot from my cell phone over the last 48 hours or so. I've blocked each number, so there are few if any repeats.

Z

 

It seems like the Mint is really reputable, definitely not like Littleton in a way. I've never bought directly from the Mint, but I've heard good things about them.

It's not quite prooflike, but it's almost there. It's definitely something worth way more than $40, and a nice semi-prooflike at that.

Now after thinking about it, I wonder if they have to be quite high because of shipping charges. I remember the package I once got from them, and it was quite big despite not having very much in it.

Also, with the Beijing Mint, their website appears down, so I wasn't able to see their products. Do they take people's money and send them nothing, I wonder?

Uhhhh..... whAAAAAAAAAAt? How do you get so many spam calls a day? That's more than my grandma did per day when she had a landline phone. My mom often blocked them all by burping into the phone, and for some reason they didn't call back. I hope you're able to block all of the spam callers, though, because going through and blocking this many in 48 hours looks like a full-time job.

 

It's not possible to block most of the spam calls because you don't know the actual number they called from. They can make any number show up on your phone. Trust me.

 

No... Their costs are associated with advertising. Used to be when everybody purchased a TV Guide at the grocery store every week, Littleton would have an advertisement... "Get a genuine old west silver dollar for one dollar." Or something similar. Only commitment is to accept their coins-on-approval envelopes.... Whole point being that the up front offer was always a super-good deal. They were banking on a percentage of recipients to buy the over priced coins-on-approval..... I'm sure they still have a similar business model set up.... But it is just that. A business model.... And truly, Littleton was groundbreaking in the way they introduced so many to coin collecting. Like them or not.... They were a big part of what the hobby has become.

 

You don't have a clue about what you are talking about. Your 2 years in this hobby have not taught you well. Your first post in this thread has shown that. Try reading what others have posted.

 

Drop him a line and tell him you love and miss him

 

What is 80% proof like. Strange

 

Good speech. But you lost me on that one

 

I am cursed with the affliction of curmudgeonly personality.

So, what exactly is definitely not reputable in the Mint way?

 

You are so right. I remember there brown envelopes

 

Bravo. Nuff said!!!

 

Huh. They are US minted coins. Hey I’d pay a buck for any coin I like.

 

Much like 50% chance of rain the weather person forecasts.
Proof like in the eye of the beholder would look somewhat like a proof 80% of the time.

 

I do read what others have posted, but the "scam" that I am talking about is more of the misleading information. They say that they will give you a fair offer, but don't. Coin shops will give you more for the coins when they sell them for less. As for things like the coins on approval, I've heard mixed opinions, so I'll stay neutral on that.

I also feel, on the positive side, like they have brought many collectors into the hobby of coin collecting for life, getting them particularly interested in "starter kits" as I call them, like Indian cents and V nickels. If they prefer to buy from there, it would be for collecting purposes only, and to keep them the rest of their life instead of short-term.

There's not really anything unreputable about the Mint. It's mainly that I haven't bought from them before, so I haven't had firsthand experience with them.

Amen, Burton! I think those are the best words that have been said today.

Mainly a semi-prooflike Morgan that is almost PL. In my case, the 1881-S is not completely prooflike, but is still a nice coin.