Today I went to one of my favorite places, a flea market. This one has few coin dealers but there is this one person that somehow has access to large amounts of coins. He usually has large bins of foreign coins and een more bins of US coins. All coins are just thrown in these bins and his normal prices are basically $0.5 for any nickel, $1 for any time and usually $2 or $3 for quarters and halves regardless of grade, year, mint mark. Some of the dimes are Sitting Liberty, Liberty Heads, etc. He USED to be one of my biggest sourses for Mercury Dimes. In the past I've purchased anywhere from 10 to 40 Mercury Dimes for usually less than $1 each. The more you buy the cheaper they get. I've found a 42D/41, 26S, even a 21 in the past in those piles from him. For some time many people have been telling him that every time he turns his back certain individuals pocket some of his coins. So now comes the horror part. He finally realized what he might be loosing so he found somewhere many of those blue Whitman Folders for all US denominations. He put all Dimes in the ones made for Dimes regardless of the dates, grades, mint marks or even the type. To make sure no one would push them out and walk away with them he put strips of Scotch Tape accross all the coins. He told me to really make sure no one took any he also wetted the back of the slots to help glue the coins in place. He has now been doing this with all US coins. Today he mentioned for some reason he has hardly any buisness. I sure wonder what those coins will end up looking like.
Since he has been selling cheap, and is probably making a profit, I wonder what his source is? That would be the place to go!
Sure wish I could find out. He normally is there only on Fridays but he did so bad he stayed for Saturday this time. I tried to explain the reason he is loosing buisness is the tape and glue but he just doesn't seem to care. I just don't understand. His main buisness is and has been for many, many years COINS. So how could he be so dumb? He is known at the flea markers as Wisconsin Bob so I would assume he comes from there somewhere but he will never say. And for a person that has so many and his main buisness, I just don't even understand the just dumping into bins. And I mean DUMPING.
he might as well use a hammer and pound them in the folder so they stay in thier good and tight.:hammer::computer::desk::headbang:
he went from one extreme to another with how he sells. its one thing if you keep the bins behind the table and you just count off however many the customer wants, no pick of years, just a mix of dimes or quarters, whatever. but to do it this way it lunacy. i wouldnt be surprised if he lost 95% of his business because of this. with it behind the table you have 100% control. or if you let the customer pick out certain types years or mintmarks then deal with only that one customer until they are done. that way you can still control what is going on. i dont wanna get robbed blind but i also wouldnt just put out bins of everything and let you run your grubby hands through it. doesnt take a genius to realize someone with tape on their fingers can walk off with a nice hoard without trying.
he doesnt actually use glue. He said he wets the back of the spots, to help glue (verb) the coins into place. unless the OP did actually mean glue,
Hopefully he meant it in the verb sense of the word. Tape is bad enough...make PVC damage look like nice toning. :whistle:
Coins got the best of that guy. A few marbles short of a game. An amazing spot in a backwoods flea market where you actually got good deals turned into a horror story, lol. I'd still like to know his SOURCE for all that coinage.
