Huge unload at LCS

So, at my local coin store a couple weeks ago and while I was there looking around, a woman came in with BUCKETS full of Morgans and Walking Liberty and other silver. I mean BUCKETS full. The guys at the coin shop were grabbing fist fulls and just flipping through to make sure and that nothing else as in there. But, literally, thousands of coins. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Huge collections are still out there. My guess is that someone she knew passed away and she was just dumping them. Amazing.

 

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Good for her that she took them to the LCS instead of a bank.

Good for the LCS that they probably got them for a song.

Good for the hobby to have material coming back onto the market.

I remember a teller who told a customer she should take her Morgans to a coin shop instead of cashing them in at face value, only to have her say "I don't trust coin shops". I... really don't know what to say to that.

 

Those evil coin shops paying less then face for coins...

 

Wow. That would be amazing to see buckets full of Morgans, Walking Libs, etc. I assume they were cull coins ?

 

Don't know. I am betting there was some nice stuff. Probably take a trip back to that shop next week....

 

To bad a coin collector didn't talk to her before she went to the shop. They probably gave melt value and she was amassed she made that much useless paper money.

 

I've given up losing sleep over thoughts like this.

Yes, she could've gotten a lot more selling direct to collectors. But there are plenty of dishonest collectors out there, too. Like many of us, I'd love the chance to personally go through a hoard like that (and I know that I'm honest) -- but I can't be on call to do it whenever someone chooses to walk through the door.

She could have gotten a Red Book and spent many hours looking up values. Then she would've had a ridiculously inflated view of how much her stuff was worth, priming her to join the "coin dealers are crooked" crowd when she eventually took it in.

She could've spent months learning her way around the hobby, learning about key dates, learning how to grade and how to recognize cleaning and other damage. But meanwhile, the rest of her life would be neglected, and she still wouldn't have any money for her coins -- in fact, if she bought books, flips and tubes, she'd be further in the hole.

I remember when I came back to the hobby. Even after I'd been a member here for months, I still made some spectacular errors of judgement. Mostly on the buying side, and fortunately nothing that I couldn't afford to lose -- but it made me a bit skeptical of the "spend a little time learning before you sell" approach.

If a dealer pays a bit under melt for a bucket full of coins, spends hours searching them carefully, and finds several treasures, I'd call that completely fair. If the dealer buys them a bit under melt, and sells them on at a bit over melt, that's completely fair, too.

If it's clearly a bucket full of MS Morgans, with a few CC mintmarks showing, that's another issue entirely.

 

Yeah, who knows what was in there. I was just amazed at the quantity. I see huge collections that dealers have at coin shows but this was the first time I have seen a private individual with that much.

 

If buyers weren't so greedy, there are many relative bargains to be had. I've offered for more than a decade on Craigslist to purchase/sell coins at a fair market price. I've purchased full date dollars at 18 x, culls @ 16 x face or better, as offered. I've had several 5 figure purchases from young people who inherited estates, investigating LCD buy offers in a multi-million metropolis, not believing my offers after better date coins were removed.

I had an "over-road" trucker who offered his fathers collection in a Dansco around the country to dealers advertising on Craigslist and publications. He wondered if I'd give him 18 x Face or better. I told him I'd give him Grey Sheet + 5% for the collection containing nice condition, and cc dated coins. We both were pleased by the outcome.

My sales prices for better condition scarce 90%, until recently, have been below the best offered internet price, selling many bags to satisfied return customers.

Believed unrealistic documents as the "Greysheet Et Al", Coinflation, other public documents/web-sites, TPG grrades, have generated generally unsupported attitudes/expectations.

JMHO

 

It's like selling houses, "Emotional values"!

 

I doubt the coin shop did not sell the coins for a few $'s over melt. THATS RARE

 

I can't tell what you're trying to say.

 

Misty & Sasha are at the keyboard.

 

Someone must have kicked the BUCKET.

 

I've paid less than face value for coins in the shop, of course that was for 1971 in 1972 mint sets. We bought mint sets of 10% back of bid, and the bid for those sets was low enough that 10% back was less than face value. And yes people did still sell them to us.

 

One time I had a cashier hand me change and ask, "is that correct?" ... Some people just can't add hundredths. It's like the decimal place is an alien code that doesn't make sense.

 

I remember having to use a hand truck to carry a load of silver into my local coin shop some years ago. I was helping out a new widow who found a very heavy, locked tool box in a closet. Nothing rare in there, the shop paid whatever they would normally pay, probably a bit under melt. I snagged all the Morgans at the same sort of price and everyone was happy.

 

I MEANT TO REPLY TO A QUOTE SAYING THE DEALER PAYED MELT PRICE ,BUT I AM SURE HE DINT SELL THE COINS FOR A LITTLE OVER MELT PRICE. HE PROBABLY SOLD THEM FOR MUCH HIGHER PRICE

 

It depends.

A bucket full of "average circulated" silver? Given opportunity costs and the cost of his own time, a dealer would likely to best to sell the stuff on as a lot. The longer he holds on to it, the longer his money is tied up, the greater the risk of theft, and the greater the risk that silver's price will drop.

Sorting through a giant lot is great if you view it as entertainment. If it's a job, though, you have to think about it in economic terms. At some point, it gets to be like roll searching; sure, sometimes you find treasure, but mostly you get what you pay for.

I base this not on my own experience, but on conversations I've had with dealers at local shows. I've watched them buy silver and then sell it on without searching it, at maybe 10% profit.

 

Yes, I will agree with all posts, but when I go to a coin show it seems the dealers are selling stuff way more than I have purchased from EBAY. I guess it's just the nature of things and must do homework before going to the show and know what you really want and willing to pay. I'm still a NEWBE and probably made many mistakes.