I was in South Bend, Indiana for a wedding, and I had some time so I decided to Google coin shops in the area. I was shocked to see there are at least four coin shops in the area, with a few other places that claim to sell coins, but probably don't qualify as coin shops. I was able to visit one the first day. They didn't have many world coins, but what they did have was 10 cents each for their junk bin, and for silver he said it was just spot plus a little extra. The guy told me he couldn't sell them on eBay so he didn't really care if they had extra value. That's what I like to hear. Besides the junk bin stuff (66 coins, but nothing special) I got these nine silvers for $12. I feel like I got a great deal on these and I don't know if it's even the silver value. Most of the shillings are in great shape. Today when I was leaving I picked one more shop to visit, which was a disappointment. The guy didn't have any foreign coins (he said they don't put them out on Saturdays). You could buy them by the pound but not cherrypick. He also said sometimes he takes on out that looks interesting to "save it from the melter" but everything else gets melted, and he doesn't buy better foreign coins because no one wants them. He told me my best bet is eBay for foreign coins (as if I'd never thought of this). A few things about this: 1) Many people seem to think that silver foreign is the only foreign coins worth worrying about. 2) It's sad to think how many coins might be getting melted because dealers just don't care. 3) It's also sad to me that legitimate coin dealers have no regard at all for foreign coins. I know the U.S. stuff is way more popular, but it's a big world and there's still a lot of foreign interest out there. Unfortunately I didn't get to check out any of the other ones. I'm curious if any of them were any better.
That is a shame but not surprising that many get melted. Some world I do get sick of seeing but no different then darn Morgans. Those should be melted all day long. Nice coins u got from the looks of it.
Twelve bucks for that group is a very good deal, gratz It's really sad how many small shops just don't care about foreign coins. On the one hand there are some gems that get trashed, on the other there are some great buys to be had.
The great buys is why I visit the shops instead of eBay. I always dream of going into a coin shop in some small town and finding a 25 cent bin full of treasures.
Side note: I stopped at Wendy's when I got to town and got a Mercury dime in my change. I'd love to see if there was anything else in that change drawer.
I have noticed some places don’t do world coins at all. I know of a place that likely melts them as well. I wonder if you can’t worn a deal to buy a little over what the melters pay and search them first?
First of all, great finds there! As for the melting issue, I would not be all too worried about that. Mints and other "official institutions" do that themselves. For example, coins issued in this country (Federal Republic of Germany) before the euro will indeed be destroyed when somebody returns them to a Bundesbank branch office. Usually they are "decoined" and then sold as scrap metal, but from a collector's POV they are gone. The GDR (East G. 1949-1990) melted many collector coins so today's population figures for those pieces are way below the production figures. The Monnaie de Paris (French mint) also does that with coins they have not been able to sell. Most probably others too. Don't know what happened to pre-decimal British coins (such as the ones you just got) that were returned to banks when they ceased to be legal tender. But I have a hunch they were not sold to coin dealers. So all in all, a single dealer who decides to have coins melted down will probably not have a great impact on population figures. Would be great if we had more information about how many pieces of a certain type are actually still around. Ah well, one can dream ... Christian
That's interesting. I'm sure they're not melting anything that's super, super rare, but the fact is that you don't know because I get the impression that they just take out things that "look interesting" as opposed to actually being knowledgeable on the subject. And if they're melting them it means I can't buy them. Like I said, my dream is to visit these little shops and find some treasure that the dealer overlooked that I can get a great deal on. You can't do that if they melted them all.
I've been to more than one coin store that said they didn't have any world coins, or maybe one tray with a few silvers on it. If I can I email/call ahead of time before visiting a new place to see if it's worth my time. When people come into these places to sell their coins and they don't want them, I wonder what they end up doing with them? For awhile there were signs around my town on the corners saying "I buy old coins." It's not a bad idea. I wonder if that guy got many calls?
World moderns are still getting destroyed in huge numbers. It used to be a customer would walk into the coin shop to sell coins including a roll of '83-P quarters and the dealer would figure the roll at $10 and it would end up in the till. Now days they'll at least check Greysheet before it goes in the cash register. But if someone walked in with a roll of nice pristine 1956 aluminum Chinese coins it would get dumped right into the bucket of junk foreign. Of course such rolls were always scarce so it didn't happen often. But the attrition on scarce moderns is extremely high. Until 1965 scarcity always protected coins from being spent or otherwise abused. It doesn't help any longer because people have the idea all base metal moderns are junk.
What also bugs me is the attitude that most dealers have that world coins are "fun for the kids to play with." By definition it's not a real collectible, just something that five-year-olds like to poke through a little bit once in awhile. That's why they think all they need is a little tray with a few Mexican centavos and British pennies on the counter and their bases are covered.
Well...true, it's a shame that many coin shops don't care about world coins, don't know anything about them, or don't care to invest any time/effort into learning more about them... ...but you could also see that as an area of opportunity. You just have to have good enough timing (or persistence, I suppose) that you get there before they melt a bucket full of coins. This is why I try to make a point of always showing up at the flea market, coin shows, shops...they know I'm into world coins and they save them for me. Not all of them do, but enough that it keeps me busy. (This reminds me - I need to start also reminding people that I'm into world non-silver coins too.)
