I've never bought a bag myself but I was wondering if anyone could share their experiences. I am interested to see how many coins were considered uncirculated. The reason I am asking is I have assembled a bag of halves that I am preparing to sell. However, I am not selling ever half I have. I have kept many rolls of coins that I consider to be in very nice shape. I have some that look like they are hot off the line. I am only going to sell the average circulated ones. My wife says whatever I sell is just going to get melted but think that the coins will get atleast a once over. She thinks I should sell it all. We are not in 1980. I don't think the furnaces are running 24 hours a day. I'm assuming a bag is a bag. If I make up a bag through my own efforts of roll searching it's worth just as much as one a bullion dealer is selling. Am I wrong here?
Maybe depending on the size of the coin shop/amount of business they get. I know if I was bored I wouldn't mind searching through some junk coins.
There is a local dealer in my town that will sit you down and go through every single coin no matter how long it takes to make sure he isn't ripping you off. Needless to say he is prospering far less than the others that just weigh the bags and offer a price.
In my opinion,& experiance - 95% don't have the time, don't really care & know that it is not worth their while.(Maybe I just reside in a different part of the dealer world if so) The small % that is left is the guy who gets not enough business coming in & has nothing better to do . At these prices it doesn't matter to most what the condition of- any Franklin (excluding AU/UNC 1948's 1949's & 1955's),any Kennedy, any Walkers under XF (excluding keys), Washington quarters under AU (sometimes UNC)post 1955,Standing Quarters under VF, any Roosevelt & any Mercury under AU (except 1921's & 1916-D's) & War Nickles under AU. They are valued for what they are made from. And these coins for the most part are NOT actually being melted - they just trade for their melt price. They are bagged & traded as a commodity. If ya'll dont believe me I'd be ecstatic to sell any of these coins at melt to anyone.
An Experienced Opinion. Based on your explanation, and my experience of "dealing" with "dealers" for more than 60 years, I suspect that your bag would probably be worth more to the individual receiving same, than that of a dealer. I've hardly met a dealer that wasn't interested in acquiring the additional cent from his product. If your coins are bullion, generally a half century in age, and better than good condition, they will command a premium from many buyers. To prove a theory about honesty, and it's value to the buyer, plus having a virtually flawless reputation, I placed a large lot of "culled" 90% in auction last evening, stating that they had been culled out of No Junk coin lots. Within several hours my minimum (less than bullion value bid) was realized, and in less than 12 hours, the bid exceeded bullion value. In my opinion, your better grade bullion coins can receive an additional premium in the future. :thumb:
Interesting you would reply because as you know I have been to plenty of shops across the United States and I would say that as far as elegance goes you guys are right up there with the best of them. I got a whole different feeling while there, Im not saying it was good or bad but it just felt different.With that said I would assume that your establishment would not take the time to look through them at all. I will say this though. I am sure you are well aware of Liberty coin in Lansing. I know of 5 local dealers that stay afloat by making weekly trips to them to sell off there silver junk. Now maybe I am misinformed but its my understanding that Liberty has direct ties with the smelter.
If your question is..... "will the dealers assume the bag has been searched when offering a price to buy?", then the answer is most assuredly yes. If you have better coins, especially high quality coins found through roll searches, I would hold those to sell individually or by roll depending upon what you have. They will have a numismatic value beyond junk prices.
The last dealer I went to had just received about a hundred Iindfian Head cents and had them in a bowl. I offered to buy them all for $2 bucks each and he said not yet because he hadn't looked thjrough them yet.
nah, I know dealers who do NOT check their coins. This weekend I was able to 'rescue' a number of Barber dimes & quarters from the melting pot. It included one VG 1912 quarter that I did not need, but couldn't see going to its death. Also a number of full good earlier dates. in the past many au to unc Mercs, and unc Washington quarters.
I was probably a bit over zelous when I said for the most part they are NOT , In my opinion it is about 40% the junk that actually goes to the smelter. I could be way off though I guess.
A Respectful Difference I believe that your observations are probably valid in your sphere of general experiences, whereas my mine are from poor environments, where B&M "dealers" had excess time to cull through coins between sporadic sales. I suspect that as you've stated, you/yours have little time to peruse through much of what is processed in your business activities. My response/perspective was one biased by past years when prices were low, as were sales transactions. I've also realized your observations concerning activity/efforts when elevated bullion prices are prevalent, having sold numerous rolls of VF-XF standing liberty quarters at bullion price to an investment group prior to the Hunt Brothers empire collapse. I respectfully acknowledge the truths in your differing sphere of knowledge, observations, and experiences. :bow:
My local guy keeps his junk silver in big jars sorted by type. If I say I want a roll of something he brings over the jar and lets me sort through to get what I want. However, he states ahead of time, that he has final say on the coins I picked if he thinks they are better than junk. 9 times out of 10 he does look them over. I don't care. He's there to run a business and I'm there to buy junk.
Not all dealers have time to cherrypick everything they get. There are periods of time where it's just too busy to go through sacks and sacks of stuff. It's much easier cherrypicking dates, as they are so obvious. Specialized die varieties, such as VAMs, Sheldons, Cohens, Overtons etc... it's not possible to attribute everything I see.
