When your at/or working a Coin Show....

TheFinn · Oct 29, 2017

C-B-D said: ↑

Lincoln Wheat Cent
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Huh, never heard that. Are Nickels JFCs or JNs (Jefferson Nickels), and Mercury Dimes MDs or WLDs, and Roosevelt Dimes RDs or FDRDs? I know WL Halves and SL Qs.

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C-B-D · Oct 29, 2017

TheFinn said: ↑

Huh, never heard that. Are Nickels JFCs or JNs (Jefferson Nickels), and Mercury Dimes MDs or WLDs, and Roosevelt Dimes RDs or FDRDs? I know WL Halves and SL Qs.
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JFC is what I say when my kid throws a fit in a public setting.

Kasia · Oct 29, 2017

If you are selling, just go ask dealers if they want to buy. They will let you know what they want to pay. You are under no obligation to accept. If you don't accept or they don't want to buy, ask if they know someone there that might. I got 45 dollars more for one coin because the guy I was first offering it to looked at a sheet and made an offer. It wasn't his specialty and I knew the particular coin should fetch more than that price for me. So I said no. But I asked who he might recommend at the show and he told me of a dealer that personally collected that series. That's where I went to and sold it to him.

Paddy54 · Oct 29, 2017

C-B-D said: ↑

JFC is what I say when my kid throws a fit in a public setting.
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At which time the kid pulls out a bar of soap and sez....daddy open wide you got a potty mouth.

C-B-D · Oct 29, 2017

Paddy54 said: ↑

At which time the kid pulls out a bar of soap and sez....daddy open wide you got a potty mouth.
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Well, actually I say it under my breath. It's a coping mechanism. Lol

ddddd · Oct 29, 2017

Sounds like a pretty successful show @Beefer518 ; congrats!

SilverMike · Oct 29, 2017

Thanks for the follow up information - glad it went well! Patience definitely wins in the end.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

ddddd said: ↑

Your experiences can vary greatly between shows and dealers. Some can be nice to deal with while others are flat out jerks. I have run into all kinds, but it is definitely worth it to make the rounds and test out as many dealers as possible. At my last show I must have shown a few coins to 10 people before the 11th finally bought them. Yes some talked down to me while others politely declined, but the fact that I was able to sell the coins made up for any hassles.

I would recommend taking a variety of items with you to sell/trade (basically all the items you no longer want to keep) since you never know who will be interested in something. For example, I brought a 5 oz ATB in PCGS SP 70 to my last show. A few dealers gave me a funny look but one of the bigger ones that normally pays under greysheet found a similar piece on eBay and bought the coin for a fair price.

Your burnished gold coin might be a similar case to the ATB. You’ll get some dealers offering melt or even under melt (yep even for a 70 non bullion coin). Don’t give up and seek out more offers. Eventually you’ll find the right offer.

And since you are willing to trade, I can see some being more willing to work with you. One dealer from whom I purchased a coin gave me a good offer on the Morgans and Washington quarters that I was selling.

In general have an idea of what your items are worth and don’t feel pressured to lower your expectations.

Most importantly, have fun looking at coins and remember to trust your instincts.
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Now THAT is some really sound - and rather thorough - advice.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

GDJMSP said: ↑

I think some have misconceptions about coin shows when it comes to why people, meaning dealers and collectors alike, attend them. With dealers, make no mistake they attend them to buy and sell. Coin shows are where dealers do most of their business. That's the only reason they are willing to pay travel expenses which are often quite high and table fees which are often also quite high. For a dealer to attend a 2-4 day (when you account for the early bird day) coin show it can easily cost him a couple thousand dollars or more. Just for that 1 show. So why is he willing to spend that much money ? Because that's where does most of his business !

Take early bird days for example. Typically only dealers attend them as specifically aside for the dealers, but collectors can sometimes attend if they are willing to pay the fees. And early bird days are usually a flurry of activity with a great deal of buying and selling being done. It is not unheard of for more buying and selling to occur on that 1 day than rest of the entire show. And 99+% of it takes place between dealers because as a general rule few collectors attend due to the fees.

During the rest of the show buying and selling between dealers continue to occur, but of course buying and selling also takes place between collectors and dealers, just not as much as is taking place between dealer and dealer. Overall, and I mean over the course of an entire year and encompassing all venues, meaning coin shows, his brick and mortar shop if he has one, online sales, mail sales, and auctions, 80% or more of a dealer's business is done with other dealers. Collectors only account for about 20% or less of a dealer's business. And this is true year after year.

You know without a doubt that dealers are more than willing to sell coins to collectors at shows, but are dealers willing to buy coins from collectors at coin shows ? Absolutely, they'll fall all over themselves to buy coins from you. Assuming of course that: 1- you have some coins they want to buy - however, most collectors don't. And 2 - assuming that you are willing to sell them at a realistic price.

So what do I mean by those two things ? It's pretty simple, coins they want to buy can be defined as coins that are hard to find or in great demand. What they don't want are common coins, they already have too many of those. They'll still buy them, but only at discounted prices because they know they are going to have a hard time selling them. Otherwise they would have sold the ones they already have. And since what most collectors have are common coins, that's why they think coin shows are bad places to try and sell their coins. In effect they are right, they just don't usually understand why they are right.

And that brings us to what I termed as realistic prices. So what exactly are realistic prices ? You can also call them fair prices or real world prices, but market prices is probably the most accurate. Simply put they are not what most collectors think they are. Collectors tend to think of market prices being what they paid for a coin, or at least in that neighborhood. But in reality that is not the case at all. market prices are, always have been, and probably always will be, determined by the electronic dealer markets. The electronic dealer markets are where any dealer who is a member, and most are member of at least 1 and some all of them, where a dealer can go and buy a given coin in any given grade from another dealer any day of the week - at the current price, the current low Ask.

Now you also have to understand that there are many Asks (asking prices) at any given time. Some may be quite high and they are usually just ignored, but there is always 1 low Ask. And, there is also 1 high Bid, and many lower bids. But the current market price is determined by that low Ask and that high Bid - always. And it can change from day to day. And all dealers know this.

So, given that, if you are a collector trying to sell a coin to a dealer and you are asking X dollars for your coin, but he knows he can go and buy that same coin same grade for 20-30-40% or more less any time he wants - why in the world would he want to buy it from you ? That would be like you going to the most expensive furniture store in town looking to buy a new TV and paying X dollars for it - when you know for a fact you can go across town and buy the same TV for 20-30-40% less. Who's gonna do that ? And that is why market prices are set, determined, by the electronic dealer market.

So no, when you go and try to sell a coin to a dealer, the dealer is not trying to rip you off, he's just not being stupid. He knows what the current market price is, the problem is, you the collector, usually don't. You think the coin is worth what you paid for it or at least somewhere around that. But it isn't, not in the real world. In the real world prices may have fallen by 50% since you bought that coin, or you may have simply paid too much for it. Or the reverse may be true and it may be worth a good bit more than what you paid, but that seldom happens.

In the real world, at any given time any given coin in any given grade is only worth whatever the lowest asking price is on the electronic dealer markets. Sure, you can pay more than that for a coin, but that doesn't mean it's worth that much, it just means you were willing to pay that much.

And that's why what happens at coin shows - happens. You, a collector, want to sell coins at a coin show - you can do it all day long at every show. But first, have something they want to buy, and be willing to sell it for a market price. That's the way the world works.

And yeah, before somebody says it, I know there are unscrupulous people out there, people/dealers who will try and rip you off. They exist in all walks of life. But I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about the good guys, the guys who will offer you a fair price for your coins. You just have to know what a fair price really is - that's your responsibility. And that's also how you can tell the good guys from the bad guys.
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A truly excellent tutorial on coin shows in that it covers virtually all the possible bases.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

TheFinn said: ↑

What is a 1930-D LWC? I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out the acronym.
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Ditto.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

Santinidollar said: ↑

If a dealer is poo-pooing your coins, he must be hard up for something to do.
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Or he's picky, snarky or grumpy, among a veritable myriad of other possibilities.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

C-B-D said: ↑

Lincoln Wheat Cent
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Thanks. Can stop wondering now.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

Beefer518 said: ↑

I really thought everyone would know that! Sorry about the headache!
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Nope, never saw that acronym before.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

H8_modern said: ↑

Just made me feel dumb. Not the first time today
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You're not alone in that.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

TheFinn said: ↑

Huh, never heard that. Are Nickels JFCs or JNs (Jefferson Nickels), and Mercury Dimes MDs or WLDs, and Roosevelt Dimes RDs or FDRDs? I know WL Halves and SL Qs.
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Nope, nope, nope and yep and yep.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

C-B-D said: ↑

JFC is what I say when my kid throws a fit in a public setting.
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Good one.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

Kasia said: ↑

If you are selling, just go ask dealers if they want to buy. They will let you know what they want to pay. You are under no obligation to accept. If you don't accept or they don't want to buy, ask if they know someone there that might. I got 45 dollars more for one coin because the guy I was first offering it to looked at a sheet and made an offer. It wasn't his specialty and I knew the particular coin should fetch more than that price for me. So I said no. But I asked who he might recommend at the show and he told me of a dealer that personally collected that series. That's where I went to and sold it to him.
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Nice that he would do that.

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

Paddy54 said: ↑

At which time the kid pulls out a bar of soap and sez....daddy open wide you got a potty mouth.
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That's like when you order a Poo Poo (Pu Pu) Platter in front of your kids. Oh, Daddy!

Lemme Caution · Oct 31, 2017

Beefer518 said: ↑

Well, it went pretty ok.

I got there about 1.5 hours before they closed (had kid stuff to deal with in the AM), and about 3/4 of the dealers had already left.

First table at the door was a very nice dealer. He told me had been trying to give away a silver dollar to someone, but nobody could answer his trivia question. "How many pennies has the US Mint produced in it's 225 year history?" At first, I made a face, and made that "p-shaw" sound cartoon characters make, but then I realized what he was asking, and said - "Zero". He swore I was the first person to get it right today, including the dealers he asked. Next thing, he's handing me an 1885 (P) Morgan (VF I'd say)! That paid for my gas and tolls, so I was happy.

Got to talking to him, and asked if he was looking for anything, and showed him what I brought. He liked my 2016-W Burnished $50 Eagle, and felt my asking price was fair, and next thing I knew, I had a nice chunk of cash in my hand (with a small profit).

Unfortunately, he didn't have any coins I was there for (trying to finish my Early Silver Commemorative set), and because it was getting late, I politely shook his hand, and excused myself to hit the rest of the dealers.

With crisp bills in my hand, I went hunting for any of my 9 missing CSC (Commemorative Silver Coins, I think).

There were 3 dealers that had coins I needed. One was the Antietam, but it was a raw lesser grade (about high VF to Low XF), marked as AU. While the price was fair, and correct for what I felt it graded, I passed.

Next up was a PCGS Hawaiian, graded MS Details - Cleaned. While cleaned slabbed coins are not what I am looking for for my set, the Hawaiian would be the exception due to price. Trouble was, the reverse looked like it was cleaned in a metal-working shop in a high school. It was sad to see what some people do in attempts to 'improve' a coin. It didn't help that this dealer was one of the aforementioned "I'm going to poo-poo on all your coins you want to sell or trade" types, and not to mentioned he kept trying to tell me how impossible it is to find a coin as old as the Hawaiian (1928) that hasn't been cleaned. I was embarrassed for him to say the least.

Last was the dealer tucked away in the corner, packing up his stuff. Nice guy, showed me his wares (even though he had packed most of it up already), and I ended up buying his NGC 1928 Hawaiian.

Now, if you're wanting to know the grade, and see the coin, you have to check out my other thread - GTG: 1928 Hawaiian Commemorative.

Overall, I was happy with the day, and now own something I didn't expect to when I woke up!
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Congrats on your last-minute find.

CircCam · Oct 31, 2017

My best luck with trading thus far has been going to the dealer with certified coins, a raw coin I want in mind and saying "what's your price on these if I turn around and put the money back in your hand and then some for this other coin in two minutes?"

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When your at/or working a Coin Show....

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