I have been shopping for coins to ad to my new collection and am fortunate to have 3 brick/mortar coin shops near me. I have found that I enjoy coins from the 1800's the most as well as Indian head cents. I was able to get some Indian heads. But when I asked if they had any 1860's coins since none were on display at any of the shops. All three dealers said they don't stock them because they don't sell. So what does do most people collect then if they don't collect older old coins? I thought that collecting these kinds of coins was common practice amongst collectors.
I can relate. I have three shops within an easy drive, and most of what they have is a lot of big silver - halves and dollars, and a truckload of 20th-century stuff. And there's always a smattering of gold for the well-heeled collector, but most of that is modern as well. Typically the selection of pre-Civil War coinage is minimal and decrepit. I'd love to sit down and pore over a set of Hard Times Tokens, but that's not going to happen, at least in my neighborhood. Now mind you, my youngest coin is 1600-years-old. If you think you've got it bad, try collecting ancients. Every time I've walked into a shop and asked to see their ancients, the owner has slumped is shoulders and shaken his head as if to say, "You poor soul." If it weren't for the internet, I'd have no coins.
The majority of coin shops stock only the most popular coins, that's it. And that is why there has always been mail order and buying from catalogs. Those options still exist today, but they have been added to with the internet. It is much, much, easier today to find whatever you want. When I was still collecting coins I lived in a city of a million and half people for 28 years, but there was only 4 coin shops. Rarely did I ever buy a coin from of those shops. In fact I can count on 1 hand the number of coins I ever bought from those shops combined, in all that time.
A lot of shops were really into the bullion stuff. The bullion ride was better than trying to move the collectible coins and more than a few lost touch with the collector community. Now that bullion is beginning to stabilize a bit lets see if they come back down to earth.
Unlike the internet, B&M's have overhead that requires them to move inventory as quickly as possible. Specific items like IHC's may not move fast enough for them to make it worthwhile to stock in any quantity. Chris
Honestly, most, (not all), brick and mortar coin shops nowadays make more money buying coins than selling. Btw OP, if you REALLY want some older coins, come on over to the ancient section. I consider a coin "pretty new" if its made past the 8th century.
Most brick and mortar shops offer for sale what they have in turn previously purchased. At this point in time, ebay has taken this two-way market of shop and collector and, in many cases, ripped it apart so that when collections are sold they are widely disbursed. Early IHCs do not sell well because most folks are not looking to put together a collection of them. This is especially true when you get to higher grades.
A wise man once said I make my money when I buy something for resale. Selling it is just part of the process, but the profit comes in buying it for a good deal. I already know what price I can sell it at.
Good dealers are aware of market trends (what's hot and what's not). So they only buy/stock what will sell quickly as others here have said. And I'm not limiting this to just B&M dealers; show dealers are included too. A Recent example: At the November Baltimore Whitman Show I was selling some Morgans. I had a PCGS slabbed 1894 Morgan in VF-35; nice mid-grade semi-key. I couldn't sell it. A dealer's comment was that there were too many on the market at that time.
