I brought coins to sell, four US $5 Libs, XF/AU common dates and mints and 20 AU Slider pre-1922 Morgan Dollars. From bids of $1 over melt to $1040 and $1075 per coin, four dealers declined to look at them: no interest. Robbie Jenkins from Reeded Edge Coins in Cumberland, Maryland, also declined, but seeing my badge (Exhibit Judge similar to Dealer), he stopped to give me a one-minute thumbnail rundown on who, what, and where, within a ballpark range. It was the best answer I got. I sold to Liberty Coins of Lansing, Michigan, a dealer with whom I have a long history. Their comment: "There are more common gold coins than retail customers for them." I took that to be a general comment on the economy: Retail customers who can buy, do; dealers are reluctant to buy right now. Thanks, Mike M. AuH2O in 64
I took some graded fractional proof AGE's to a local coin show and all the dealers low-balled me, I'll never do that again.
I've never had good luck selling at a coin show only low ballers, that said I've come out on top trading so you never know!
I took it as a symptom of a general problem with our economic health. No one is doing well. Everyone wants to sell and no one wants to buy (unless they need to). In other words, there are impassioned collectors (us) who buy retail because of all the reasons that we do this. The dealers buy when they know that they have active customers. So, they buy a rarity from one of us and therefore for one of us as their customer and pass on the commons that anyone can get anywhere. As a writer, among my collectibles are world banknotes such as Iceland 50 kronur and Bulgaria 50 leva which show printing presses. Even if the serial numbers or signatures were nominally "rare" no dealer will offer on them; to sell them, I must find another printer's devil. So, these are mine forever. The same is true of my Antoine de Saint-Exupéry error note which I bought when I was learning to fly: wrong accent over the è - the French hate that. What's it worth? Gold, silver, palladium, argon,... only so much to go around... So, they hold their value while the dollar and other fiats lose value. That's the best you can do with fixed assets, unless you want to actively buy and sell. Then, you are in a different social context. FIOT and MYOB, Mike M.
