Places to buy coins - other than the obvious

Where are some places that I should be keeping an eye out for coins to buy? I mean the less obvious places, I'm aware of online, mail order, coin shows, etc. I live in an area where the closest coin shows are 1.5-2 hours away and the closest LCS is an hour away (and usually coins are a secondary thought, i.e. jewelry shops, etc). Of course my town is home to the Littleton Coin Company but that's not exactly a place you go and browse (plus a lot of their prices are high).

So what other places do coins show up for sale? Antique shops? We have about a million of those around here. Maybe pawn shops? although those are scarce around here too. Just wondering what places to look for if I want to browse and keep an eye out for some coins.

 

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I have pretty good luck local auctions (in person and online), flea markets, estate sales, and even antique shops.

 

I did this the other day and got a few wheat cents out of the deal. I happened to drive by a yard sale and while searching through the stuff for sale i saw cents tucked away in boxes and jars. Cost me 50 cents and walked away with about 15 coins

 

Oddly, I have found that gun and knife shows tend to have a surprising number of booths set up with guys selling coins.

 

Something else i thought about but haven't done yet. In the old days it was customary for good luck to put coins in new purses and such. I thought i would go to a local thrift shop and scour the purse section and see if i get lucky. Not sure how they would feel about that though.

 

I say Estate Sales and Pawn Shops - you can even try Gun Shows sometimes... people sell weird stuff at gun shows.

With Estate Sales, you often have to hit them early to get coins that are for sale, as they tend to go quick in my experience. As for Pawn Shops, they are hit-and-miss... sometimes you'll find a good deal.

 

Agreed - in your area, look for yard sales in older neighborhoods - always ask the sellers if they have old coins they'd like to swap for cash - most of the time, they'll not be displayed, but there may be some inside - can't hurt to ask

 

So.... i decided to take my own advice and went to a thrift store and go purse digging. Here is my haul: A rusty looking wheat cent, several crappy cents mixed in with a strikingly well preserved 1975 cent, 1990 off set error cent, 1982 d lg date cent with crooked mint mark, and a 1982 sm date cent DD obverse. (will post pics soon)

 

Some repeats here but I think it will be helpful none the less.

Antique shops- Most, from my experience have some form of coinage. Issue mainly that I’ve seen is it’s all overpriced and cleaned.

Pawn shops- If you’re looking for junk silver or bullion, this is the place to go. Deals are pretty reasonable from what I’ve seen.


Garage/yard sales- Very hit or miss here. Don’t expect to find any hole fillers here. But if you’re looking for a cool coin or a decent flip, this might be the place.

Post office- I know this isn’t what you really meant by “buying” but paying face for a coin ain’t that bad. I’ve had decent luck simply walking in and while I’m shipping something, simply asking if they have any odd or unusual coins/notes.


Estate sales- Most estate sales around me are run by an antique shop, so refer to that.

Hobby shops- This somewhat falls under LCS but still if you have any model train/plane or baseball card shop or really any type of hobby it’s worth stopping in to see if they have anything.

Thrift stores- I’ve never been to one, but over heard of people who have found some keepers there. I would check jacket pockets. And if you find something, I would buy whatever item the coin was found in, but that’s just me.

CoinTalk- I know you said the interent but there is some other places where you can find coins out there often cheaper then eBay. CoinTalk is one of them.

Instagram/Facebook- I somewhat owe my coin collecting hobby to Instagram. Great community with lots of great people and lots of different interests. I’ve also heard about coin collecting groups on Facebook if you want to check those out.

Local Flyer- Not sure if you’re town/county has this, but ever week I get a 20 page packet of classifieds. If you’re town has one, try and get a copy and read through it, or even better, post an ad saying you are buying coins.

Coin Clubs- All coin clubs are different, but the one I was a part of had a auction ever meeting. No fees for buyers or sellers. Doesn’t get much better then that.


Pretty much this is the whole list of places I’ve bought or sold coins at or heard about people who have. Best of luck!

 

Ok you’re in my neighborhood. Take a ride to Manchester to the show there this weekend. There’s some decent shops in southern nh and Maine too. I seldom find much in antique shops up here but the estate auctions can be good. Smiths in Plainfield gets some decent coins sometimes but it can be really hard to buy there. And of course there’s always on line. Ha and StacksBowers have got plenty of my money over the years

 

Antique stores for sure. Pawn shops, some out here have coins. I have wondered about placing Craigslist ad but figure with all the competition, I would not get any response. I have also had good luck at flea markets and gun shows.

 

I've picked up a few at garage sales, the people are looking for quick sales and if they have more than one or two I offer a price for all at a low price and they usually accept.

 

I have had good luck at estate sales. I always ask if they have any coins. One sale they said, "Na, just some old foreign coins." Turned out to be odd denomination US, 1 cent lg and 3 cent, mixed in with 40's foreign.

 

Good recommendation all. My only add would be jewelry shops in middle class neighborhoods. Have cash. They get all kinds of stuff and if someone walks in with a couple of thousand in cash, they are dealing.

 

Good suggestions here and I will check out a show at some point but it's not in the cards to drive 2 hours to Manchester this weekend. I have 3 kids and a wife that don't share the same interest, lol.

HA, couple thousand. Couple thousand cents maybe. Right now my expendable income is quite low so I'm shopping the cheap and easily attainable right now and of course doing lots of CRHing to keep me busy.

 

They would probably notice a Surge in business & increase inventory!

 

I just had a humorous thought about this, @Randy Abercrombie , I wonder how many of those gun show coins are intended to be thrown in the air for the likes of the Rifleman or Audie Murphy to shoot holes through them. Maybe those guys should have samples of coins with bullet holes through them.

 

I’m OK with that..... As long as they are useing cull coins!

 

Shooting a coin does not usually puncture it. It does usually it put a good size dent in them.