Trading part of my collection for a high value coin.

I’ve always wanted a high relief saint but I don’t have an extra 10k+ laying around. So I think I’m going to try to trade a portion of my collection to get one.

Has anyone ever made a trade like this? I would love some opinions or feedback if you have any.

 

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If it's something you love, go for it.

I've given up a couple collections over the years to pursue other coins, and I haven't regretted the decisions. One was rather recent, to pick up an extraordinary collection of modern patterns assembled over several decades. It was something I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to pick up again.

 

I've usually come out on the bad end of trades with dealers. I would instead try to get top dollar for what you have, if the coins are NGC or PCGS and will cac sticker they or a good dealer could pay you well.

 

In my experience, dealers will not give you a dollar-for-dollar trade. They will instead let you trade for what they would pay for it as if they were buying. It’s doubly profit at the expense of the customer.

 

I'd be interested to see that! Were the US patterns or some other country/countries?

How do you figure? What's the difference between "I would like to sell you this coin for $X and then buy this other coin for $Y" and "I would like to trade this coin for $X in credit toward this coin you have listed for $Y and pay you $Y-X in cash"?

 

If I have a coin valued at $100, and the dealer has a coin marked as $100, it seems like an even trade. But more often than not, the dealer will offer $75 in trade. Total ripoff

 

No, it isn't. Could you sell your $100 coin to a dealer for $100? No, probably not, because the dealer buys at wholesale. So, either you sell your coin for $75 and kick in another $25 to buy the dealer's $100 coin, or you get $75 in credit and kick in the same $75. Same outcome: $25 bucks out of your pocket, and you swap coins with the dealer.

Do you really expect a coin dealer to swap you "(retail) dollar for dollar"? Where's the profit in it for them?

 

What? Why would it work any other way? What good does him swapping one $100 coin on his shelf for another do for his business?

 

The only reason I could see getting a better deal is if the 10-12 coins I’m trading in would be easier to unload then a 10k coin

 

I offer them blue sheet on trades

 

I generally got raw deals when trading at shows especially when I took a table a few times with sharp dealers walking up making low offers or trades. You have to have the right personality for such trades; clear eyed market valuations, try for as much as you can and be ready to walk away on any rip off situations.

 

There is a school of thought that subscribes to quality rather than quantity. I've toyed with the idea more than once, but I can't part with the 'junk' that I have.

Having high grade examples, as opposed to multiple multitudes, is tempting for me, but I need to grow older. Perhaps one day, but not now.

As for OP......If you feel the need to sell some of your collection to acquire something that you've dreamed of having, I say have at it.

 

Well it’s certainly not junk I’m looking to trade for this rarity. I try to find high quality coins to add to my collection.

 

Selling the traded coin for $100 nets the same profit. This isn’t rocket science.

In case you still aren’t seeing it, let me add more to the example.

Say the dealer paid $75 for the $100 coin in his inventory. A customer walks up and wants to trade a coin he would sell for $100 for the $100 coin he already has. If he makes the even swap and later sells the coin, he still has the $25 profit. But if he only gives a $75 credit for the coin, he is DOUBLING his profit for no other reason than to milk more money from the customer. This is what I found ludicrous, and I have never tried trading coins with a dealer again. I sell the coins I no longer want myself.

Now this would be understandable if the customer was wanting to trade a whole bunch of low-value stuff for a singular coin. It is far easier to make the profit on the single coin than with a whole bunch of lower value coins, so the time required for the cheaper stuff would result in a lower credit. But for two coins of the same value which would be just as easy to sell, offering a lower credit is nothing short of cheap.

 

Exactly. You get it. The dealer makes no more profit selling their coin for $100 than they do trading your $100 coin for theirs and selling your former coin. So, what's the incentive for the dealer to do a swap at retail price, again?

It's not cheap, it's business. A transaction a dealer can't make a profit on is a waste of time, unless they get some kind of other benefit out of it (_e.g._ maybe you're a longtime customer, and they'd do it just because you've been buying from them for a lot of years).

Surely you understand this, don't you? It definitely isn't rocket science.

 

My dealing philosophy is to not rip my customers off. That’s what I fundamentally understand. As such my customers keep coming back. The customer requests a trade because they want the price for their coin to go further than outright selling it to a dealer. Otherwise why even bother trying to trade?

If the retail values are the same and both are just as easy to sell, then I make the trade. I see it as moving unsold inventory.

 

We have different definitions of ripping a customer off it seems. There's plenty of ripping off of people in this hobby more than enough to go around. Your example just isn't close to one of those cases - it's a dealer providing a service and rightfully so trying to profit from it.

 

Very well put. And this is exactly correct. The dealer has expenses that must be paid. It is not a rip off. It is business..... Think about this. Have you ever traded your car in when you purchased a new car and were astounded at the low value offered for your trade in? Each transaction that takes occurs in a place of business has to translate to the good on the shopkeepers bottom line. Otherwise he won’t be there very long.

 

Something not mentioned yet, if the coin the dealer has is outside of his specialty, he may very well want to trade it for an equal value coin that he specializes in. Especially if he readily has customers for that other coin.

 

I go for quality over quantity but that's just me.

What grade of HR Saint are you looking at ? Total price range you would stretch for ?