I called a coin dealer that lives around 50 miles from my house, because there are no coin dealers in my town, and I asked him if he deals with error coins. I just thought it would be nice to have someone who could actually inspect coins in person. He actually said to me, "I don't acknowledge error coins at all". Can you believe that?!! I can't even imagine someone saying they have been collecting all their life, as he does that's why I called him, and not being intrigued by error coins!
There are a lot of dealers who don't care about errors. Keep in mind that a lot of errors are minor despite what others may tell you. After you have been a member of these forums for a few years, you will realize that we have seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of supposed error coins that the OP thought was valuable. The majority aren't worth more than face value, and the rest are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Given this, I can understand why some dealers don't want to waste their time with them. Chris
I can. Error Coin Collecting is a specialized field which simply does not appeal to every coin collector. Couple that with the fact that "errors" can be major and/or extremely minor (and common) and I could understand why a coin dealer might not want to fill his store with items that are difficult to sell and which require more knowledge of the minting process that the typical coin collectors cares to acquire.
I agree with Chris. Yes, errors can be fascinating and lucrative -- but if the traffic here is any indication, a dealer would spend 99% of his/her time dealing with zinc rot, parking-lot coins, and the like.
Leah I am not nor have I ever been a dealer. But I started collecting coins in 1960. And I have helped teach people about coins for 30 years or more, helped run this forum for going on 15 years, and been a numismatic author for almost 20 years. And in that entire time I have never had even tiniest bit of interest in error coins of any kind. Or varieties for that matter. The point being, there's a whole lot of people that are very involved in the hobby and they don't any interest in them either. It's quite common actually.
To have a dealer not even want to take a look or discuss or even acknowledge a whole area of coins is weird. I would not be too interested in visiting his shop.
I took my 1982 sm date zinc DDR to a local dealer that has been in business for 45+ years. he took a brief look and said "Yeah, those are a dime a dozen". After being published in all the numismatic periodicals i eventually sold it for $4000
Yes it's true! I think I told you this in a past thread if I am not mistaken. I noticed British coin collectors don't care much for Mint errors also!
I only care about the ones that are generally agreed upon as being something one wants in their collection --- 55 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent, 1869/69 Indian Head Cent, etc. Otherwise, I'm not interested in the others. I'm not interested in "toned" coins either. I feel like they detract from the coin rather than enhance it. I've gotten too old to spend that much time looking for them anyway. Probably why I just moved on to stacking silver. To each his own.
There's a whole other thread debating just that! https://www.cointalk.com/threads/why-are-toned-coins-so-popular.293948/
Eventually? How long is eventually? Maybe you've read about my account of the 2005-S Silver Proof KS SQ that I "eventually" sold for $1,000. Yeah, I had that coin for about 8 years. How many dealers do you think want to hold onto their inventory that long? I'm glad that you were able to sell your coin for $4K, but dealers need to turn over their inventory quickly in order to pay their bills and put food on the table. Chris
I don't find that the least bit hard to believe. Look at people here that deal ONLY in United States coins...ONLY in "foreign" coins...ONLY in Ancient coins...not to mention the VAMpires lurking in the basement.
Yes, but most of us are collectors, not dealers. Collectors focus on certain areas, most dealers should at least have somewhat of a variety.
That's kind of what I thought. He didn't even want to know what I was talking about. And he's been collecting coins his whole life? What if I had a 1943 copper cent? For a dealer to not even ask....
I guess it's like if you like broccoli, you can't imagine why people would not also like broccoli. I'll have to keep this in mind. I've seen some toned coins on here that I love, but I guess some people really look down on them. So yes, another thing learned along the way...