Anyone know where to buy old US Coins at a good price?

Maybe in bulk?
I don't even bother with eBay anymore because literally every coin I've purchased has been a disappointment.
I use Proxibid sometimes and love it but there are only live auctions at certain times.
Looking for a trusted site! and of course looking for a good deal.
Thanks!

 

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ebay is where I do. Just make sure they have good pics.

 

You might watch for coin shows in your area.

 

Yes, Proxibid is where I have access to the live coin shows and they are wonderful. Just hoping there is somewhere else on the web.

 

It sounds like you probably don't want to go down this path again, but truthfully, I've bought hundreds of coins on eBay and with the right amount of skepticism and diligence looking at photos you can do really well.

Look for sellers who have less than 500 feedbacks, but more than 50. That's what I do. People who just have a few odd things listed every now and then aren't the types who know how to mess with photos and manipulate selling factors.

I've bought from other auction sites too.....usually finding no better than eBay.

 

eBay is by far the largest market place, there's some junk there but giving up on it entirely shuts you off from a huge segment

 

Since noone has actually answered your question, i will say apmex is worth checking out. They are 1 of the 800 lb gorillas in the industry. Do i buy there? No, but it may suit your needs. Its always refreshing to see a young pretty female interested in numismatics.
(Militiary crawls out of room, before accused of flirting)

 

He meant an actual coin show. A place where they have dealer tables, booths and displays. Usually held at a church hall, school gym or convention center.

 

I abandoned Proxibid years ago for the same reasons you don't like Ebay, and a majority of my purchasing happens on Ebay these days. The key lies in learning how to evaluate what you're seeing. Whether intentional or not, most images of coins online have "spin" attached - they present the coin in imperfect fashion and it's up to the buyer to figure out what they're getting based on the limited information they're getting.

This isn't a skill you're going to develop overnight, and until you hone it you're going to be regularly disappointed by anything you purchase without holding it in your hands first. It would be stupid of me to tell you not to buy online at all, but if you're going to be making online purchases it's imperative to develop that second set of skills. There's a difference between evaluating coins, and evaluating coins from online images. Sometimes the methods disagree with each other.

 

Thank you! You always have a great informative response and I appreciate that very much. I guess I'll just have to learn by trial and error.

 

Got it!

 

If you're always disappointed, forget online sites.

I'm guessing you need to see your coins in-hand before you buy.

-- coin shops
-- coin shows
-- coin clubs (and their local shows)

You can also roam estate sales & garage sales & swap meets & local craigslist. But for all the effort, I've had little success with these. My highlight is an 1842 XF40 Seated Dollar for $280 from a CL ad.

Enjoy the hunt!

 

Honestly, yeah, just that. You can eliminate a whole lot of the "error" by actively participating in a community like this - it's the great advantage of modern numismatics over how it used to be done - but there will still be "trials." Few among us bat 1.000 with purchases, despite long experience. Here's a case in point:

At the Baltimore numismatic show earlier this year, I found a New Brunswick Penny Token which really appealed to me. It was in a mylar flip (obviously, etiquette says you don't remove it from the flip to inspect) and looked pretty nice even under my loupe. It showed a little bit of "crud," but not bad for a circulated coin minted 163 years ago, and the price was fair, so I snagged it.

1854Obv1 by SuperDave posted Apr 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM

1854Rev1 by SuperDave posted Apr 5, 2017 at 7:01 PM

That's about what I saw in hand at the show. Part of my imagery process is to shoot each coin under differing lighting, because despite our best efforts digital imagery tends to "spin" the appearance of a coin in one direction or the other, and this is what I saw under a different lighting arrangement:

1854alternate by SuperDave posted Jun 6, 2017 at 12:12 PM

That was disturbing, and despite careful inspection I hadn't seen it at the show. It's my normal practice to rinse every raw coin I purchase in acetone anyways - after the initial round of images - and with that interesting evidence in hand I gave this one the full acetone soak-rinse-repeat cycle. This was the end result:

1854Obv2 by SuperDave posted Apr 5, 2017 at 7:02 PM

1854Rev2 by SuperDave posted Apr 5, 2017 at 7:03 PM

The coin had been oiled to hide verdigris. The oil had soaked into the green, altering its' appearance to that of more-acceptable "crud" (for lack of a better word). The dealer from whom I bought it had been similarly deceived - the flip was not in his handwriting, and the coin was obviously purchased in the flip for resale, so I hold him blameless.

 

For live auctions near you, check out www.auctionzip.com. In the proper fields, enter your ZIP code, the maximum distance you might travel, and put the word "coin" in the "Keywords" search term field. If you live near me, it'll bring up an embarrassment of riches. Your mileage may vary.

 

And for me, living in an urban region with close to a million residents, it brings up... a million "online lot" listings, and maybe a half-dozen auctions for the ENTIRE MONTH, most with online bidding.

If only I'd been clued in while living in Lancaster. Nah -- I didn't know nearly enough then to stay out of trouble, and I was broke anyhow.

 

For old US gold I use Apmex or Provident. You can get them in XF, AU, cleaned, slabbed. Prices are pretty good for the condition.

Also the coin shows i've been too usually has a lot but I haven't bought gold from one yet.

 

My ZIP code shows me more than 15 just the rest of this WEEK, and none of them have online bidding! Auctions are just that key a cultural element here. Gee, I wonder why I'm so negative on the Internet as a way of buying coins. Hmm, could it be I have so many local auctions around me that I can't possibly cover them all? Do you think that could be it? I won't speak to Chicago or Denver, but I KNOW important material will surface for ANA 2018 in Philly next year. 5 and 6-figure coins, RAW, will walk into the place. Just in 2017, I have seen four different 1856 proof Flying Eagle cents offered at local only auctions. Only one met it's reserve though. It went for $23,000. It was a sweetie.

 

Proxibid, auctionzip and ebay are collaborations of many sellers. These sites are merely an internet portal for individuals. You will find a wide variety of options ranging from highly ethical to complete scams, with everything in between. The only way to really get a feel for these is to go out get your feet wet- buy some coins; see the results. Internet forums can be a useful way to get other's opinions on these sellers, but nothing will replace real life experience.

 

I bet that is far more to do with the cost of setting up online bidding vs the return a small place would get over cultural

 

Not a so much a trusted site, but there plenty of trustworthy individuals on Instagram. I'm only there for the numismatic community - @ClarityCoins if you want to connect.