1st year in the " coin biz"

Easy and Good advise Doug.....
The answer you most often get is " I'm not selling my coins, or I'll never sell".....

We'll, you might not, but your wife and kids might have to one day, that's a huge reason alone.

Also, just to test the waters selling coins ( you can take offers, you don't have to sell)and it will improve your perception of the market, point out things you missed, and WILL, without a doubt, make you a better buyer.

This advise by GD is absolutly and far and above the most solid thing you can do to improve yourself as a buyer of coins.

AZ Mark bought a raw Morgan in Tucson. He brought it to me, I said " OUCH", my Uncle Skip winced, Rick said " you got hosed "...... We then sent him out on the floor to sell it. Thank goodness it was a $20 lesson, not a 2K lesson. It applies up and down the scale, any coin at any price, you need to know where you REALLY stand........

 

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First of all Jack my belated congrats on a year in the business.

Now Y'all have to realize I "walked" a show with Jack. Hardly saw him actually LOL. He was traipsing all over looking for stuff he needed to turn.
I was there on one heck of a "vacation" as it were. Slow and relaxed and not a lot of disposable income. What I did have belonged to my boss and what he wanted was NOT available but there is a good point here folks.

What a lot of folks DO have to realize is that attending a major show with "business" in mind can indeed be very difficult. Heck it's hard for me at a local 10 table show because I AM a collector.
I went to this show knowing I did not have a lot of money to spend and spent a whopping $3 because what I saw and really wanted just wouldn't fit my budget at the time. In hindsight it was a wise move on my part but seeing the coin I wanted and passing up a decent price was NOT easy.

I went to a major show, saw two states I never had and met Jack and Acanthite. That was way cool and I'll never forget it.

Now for this piece of advice Jack got from Doug.

My boss "walked" a show last Friday. Rather large paper show in Chicago. Lots of "big dogs" there. It was the CPMX paper show actually and biggest in Chicago every year.
He brought some very nice material to sell to dealers. He got "snubbed" by quite a few. One guy did buy quite a few notes and has expressed interest in more. He's fairly local and said he'd come to the shop anytime.
Scary thing is I told my boss about this guy as I've dealt with him in the past. Down to earth and knows both parties want to make money.

The point here is my boss has been at it for 42 years. Certainly not a rookie and we do get some nice stuff. Don't be hurt or offended by the snubs. Move on and you'll find a dealer that is interested. I feel these two will be doing a lot of business in the future.

Finally, the brick and mortar angle. Yes Jack, we do see a lot of stuff walk in. Anyone behind a B&M counter can attest to that. However, a vast majority of what we see is "junk". Feel blessed for that. My boss has a tendency to buy it all whether or not we need it if it's cheap enough.
Example: Common proof sets. I spent a better part of an entire day last week organizing proof sets. Why? because we would have "landslides" when he bought another and I needed to put it away.

Finally, dealing in the "common". Not a great deal of money to be made there for sure. Especially if you're looking into making a true business.
I have been looking into perhaps doing the flea market thing on Sundays. I have a buddy that would do it with me. Both is about $15.
What would we have? Lots of common stuff in most cases but if I could cover the table, have some fun and maybe buy a few things I'd do it.
My biggest advantage being that I won't buy it unless I want it and/or can turn it. B&M has taught me that much.

Great thread Jack.

Dan

 

Wonderful thread!!! Jack, you deserve all of the applaud!! Hoping you have a great 2nd year.

Jim

 

here we go again its been centuries now :whistle: its been years for me

BTW if things work out u really will become immortal

 

Congrats AJ! :thumb:

I didn't realize the business was that young. I love the coins I got from you. Your website and pics are great. I haven't been buying much lately but you'll hear from me again some day. I'm sure of that.

Nice write up.

 

Way to go Jack!
Someday I'm going to have to come to a show so I can meet up with you and some of the other cointalkers!

Speedy

 

AJ, is your site down or do you need to renew the domain name?

 

the site is working if you go to MesaCoin.com manually.......all of my old redirects and forwards were SUPPOSED to be taken care of, lol.

I 'll get with tech support tonight and get it fixed I HOPE.

Thanks for the heads up !!

 

Whenever, I go to mesacoin.com or www.mesacoin.com I get a message for apachecoin.com that the domain has been deleted.
I will check in a while. Got to go eat dinner

Here is the message:
apachecoin.com expired on 03/06/2009 and is pending renewal or deletion.

 

Using you link above http://www.mesacoin.com, I got to the site without a problem. Since you say apachecoin.com has been deleted, are you using a bookmark? If so, you probably need to change the site from apachecoin to mesacoin.

 

Problem solved, dayuuuum I'm good

Peter fixed the site banner as well :hug:

 

Jack, I am honored to be your 94th order. According to the email I am awaiting your 94th shipment. My first order was received in the fastest time I have ever received an order from anyone. You have good prices, fast shipping and the coins were exactly as stated. I should receive the 7 IHCs tomorrow and am looking forward to it. I hope you have many years of success. Keep doing things like you are now and you will do well. Thanks. sonny(nam71)

 

Hey Jack, Great thread, thanks for sharing.
You are definitley one of the good guys, and rest assured you will receive more of my business. I window shop your site alot.
You asked for personal experience.
Ok.

For the last 2 months I have been self employed buying and selling. It's hard, but a freakin blast. I have been hoarding coins for the purpose of resale later and I have now been doing it for about 2 months. I have set up at the local antique show twice and another show is coming up in June.
Learning what actually "moves" around here is rather difficult.
The closest shop is about 450 miles, then 600 miles. So my table is usually the hotspot ( I am the only coin "dealer there) and the table only costs 45$
I generally keep to small coins. Common large cents, small cents, and Dollars, and a bargain bin for the young guys to fish through.
I have noticed supplies FLY off the shelf here, so that is somewhere I should focus on more next time.

Thanks Jack for your education and your generosity through sales and as a friend. I look forward to meeting you some day.
-Shawn

 

Since I'm new to the boards I've been checking out some of the older threads here. Great post Jack! The website looks great as well (and the coins do too of course)!!

Didn't know you made hot sauce too, will have to try that out someday!!! :eat:

:thumb:

 

Jack,

Congratulations! I just checked out your site for the first time. Very nice! I bought something too!

Pat

 

Thanks guys, this is both a nice refresher and a to the top as well, I'll take it

Sonny/ Nam. you were # 92 in March, I think I just shipped # 173 so the 1st 3 months of year 2 have been good. To be honest folks, I got bored with just Lincolns and have decided to revisit Morgans, 20th Century key dates, and I have always love my generic type coins, BUT, I will always specialize with the Abes....thats the bread and butter.

I do add, without CoinTalk, this would have never happened.

 

I think you should start brokering Jefferson Nickels, maybe the toned registry kind. I need a dealer. They are becoming exceedingly difficult to find.

 

Paul.
So funny you say that. Ask Illini420 and Charmy, I did really pull a coup and buy 2 total gem sets of Jeffys at the last SoCal sho, almost above me. I am at odds with myself on which ones to keep. They are that nice.

I have no clue as to the steps years, the strike dates, all the little " areas of specialization" that I know on the Lincolns...it is so very hard for me to cherry these sets......

 

Why keep any when you can probably just have them graded and sell them to me for a huge profit.

 

PS, I prefer NGC slabs.