When your at a coin shop or at a coins show, some dealers have have all their nicest coins in displays on the table. I like looking through folders or boxes of lower grade stuff. some dealers have stuff on their table, others keep it behind them. Is there a proper way to ask, if they have this, without asking "do you have crappy coins in folders, I could look through".
I would simply tell them you're looking for lower grade coins and ask if they have any you can look through. By the way, if you're interested in some really nice preowned wheaties I got a bunch from 1909 through the 60s.
Try this . . . Aside from the well-organized coins in your display, do you have other inventory I might search for something to buy?
I usually ask about some specific categories. I usually loook at their cases, but if I don't see anything I am looking for ask them "Do you have more X"?. Good point. Too many people just assume what is out on the table is all the dealer has with him. I was at a show yesterday, and a dealer I buy from had maybe 4 CASES of boxes of coins on the table behind him. All you had to do was ask.
I will take all the 1960s wheaties you've got. Wait.... And to the OP, I would just ask to see the lower-grade coins. When in doubt, just ask. It never hurts.
Thats usually what I do. It also works at coin shops, as what they have in the counters is nothing compared to what they have in back. I asked my local shop one time if they had any Morgans that weren't in the case I might look at and he came back with two 20 gallon buckets full of them.
Thats usually what I do. It also works at coin shops, as what they have in the counters is nothing compared to what they have in back. I asked my local shop one time if they had any Morgans that weren't in the case I might look at and he came back with two 20 gallon buckets full of them.
How did he move them? Rough calculations says a 20 gal container of Morgans should weigh on the high side of 900 pounds.
He had them on a handcart he used to bring them up front with whenever he needed to restock the counter. I had to go into their office to look through them as he wasn't about to wheel them out front, understandably. He had similar buckets full of silver dimes and wheat cents and said he just didn't have time to go through them all.
I'm forced to go to eBay and sell my wheats. So sad! I've never sold anything on eBay, but I have quite a large collection of circulated wheats. Too bad I didn't know when I was a kid what I know now. Oops ... we were talking about coins right?
LOL ... Hey, it's been a long day. I"m thinking 58 is the last year for wheat. I took all my pennies wheats up through maybe 60s or 70s and he wasn't interested. They are all circulated but in VG to AU grades. The problem is that I wasn't rich when I was collecting around 14 yo and the key dates were too expensive. I would have saved up my money and bought key dates if I knew enough to invest at the time. I had a buddy who had more money and he purchased at least one or two 55 ddo in nice grade for $125 each I think. I"m pretty sure they were AU and maybe higher. Not sure if he still has them or not.
I always ask if they have a box of "junk" coins I can search through. Most dealers have lots of coins they have no room to display and won't mind letting you look at those coins. One local dealer had a bucket of wheat cents which he let me search with the agreement that I could purchase any coin I found at 5 cents. I found about 20 coins I wanted and I paid him a dollar. He should have checked the coins I found....14-d, 31-s, 09s - 17s and an EF 09s vdb. His junk turned out to be my treasure.
That's an interesting point. Even dealers can get lazy and pretty nonchalant about their coins. It sounds like you may have found hundred's of dollars worth of his worthless pennies depending on condition. Was the 14D in mint condition.
I just ask the dealer if he has other Lincoln cents or other whatever. I'm sure he will pull them out if he feels it is worth his time at the time. At the time is the thing to remember. If he is really busy, he may not have the time to deal with it. It can be tough for a dealer to take care of every request when there are several customers. Great service sometimes takes second place to security. I will never hold that against a dealer.
i either say "lower grade coins" or "cheap coins" they usually don't care and let me see them if i say "cheap coins" because i am just a kid and cant afford these $500 coins, and most, if not all of the time they understand. just my opinion, i think just ask "lower grade coins" or if the people seem very friendly just say "cheap coins"
