Does the owner of a coin shop usually keep the best coins he has for his personal collection, or does he try to sell them? I'd hate to be looking for the best coin I could find knowing the shop owner has a better one he doesn't want to sell.
Most of the coin dealers I know will sell any coin they have, since it's not always easy to pay the bills if you don't put out good product. My feeling is that they love the hobby, but as a job, they can't fall in love with their merchandise. I do notice, however, that if they do really like a coin, they will put a premium price on it, which takes the sting out of seeing it leave the shop.
+1 ↑ I wish I could keep some coins, but even after 2 years of doing this full time (dealing online and at coin shows), I can't afford to collect again. Not yet, anyway.
Agreed. I would sell most every coin I own, assuming I could get them all listed, but I don't have the time for that. As you indicated, the ones I feel are special get special pricing.
I would say that most dealers don't even collect coins. And of those that do, they will often collect something that they don't normally sell or specialize in. This solves the problem of not mixing inventory with collection. There are exceptions of course.
I had a conversation with a dealer who told me that he collected coins for years until he bought a coin shop. It was tough for him to keep the two separate i.e. his personal coin collection vs. his store merchandise.
If you owned a coin shop and collected coins, you could end up as your own best customer. Unfortunately that's a hard way to run a business. You only make money when you sell something.
