To Littleton or not to Littleton?

I recently got involved with the littleton coin company when I responded to an ad for all the statehood quarters in uncir condition. I hadn't collected them previously because they seemed just too darned popular and everyone and their brother has a set. Now I'm considering their offer to buy Silver Eagles at a rate of one a month for about 24 bucks each.
Question: Are the prices they charge about average or better than average if I wanted to collect an entire set of Eagles? I was very satisfied with the condition of the statehood quarters and thought the price was O.K. for the books and the coins.

 

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Litteton is HIGH---I buy most Silver Eagles fro $12 or under.
On some coins I would think about buying because they do have a large lot of coins for sale but BEWARE of the prices...

The prices for the coin books and flips are alright...better than their prices for coins.

Speedy

 

You can get a complete 20-year set of Silver Eagles for about $220-250 from various dealers, which is half of what Littleton charges for the complete set.

 

My experience with Littleton has been that they are on the high side. But if they have what you want and you think the price is fair, it's your call. Not to advertise but in the latest Coin World there is an ad from Coast to Coast Coins for a complete set of Silver eagles for $265.00.

 

Thanks all. I think that you are correct. I wouldn't mind their prices so much except that I need three sets and I don't like waiting for things.

 

get out of it dude, they r a huge rip off, make sure they DONT put u on their list for auto mailing u coins every month

 

If you want them fast check out www.apmex.com . They are close to melt on a lot of bullion products. Complete set with Dansco album is $285.

 

Cost Accounting In A Hobby.

The first problem is that you asked for "opinions" but with usernames and avatars for our Identities, everyone's opinion is pretty much on the same level. How do you know whose opinion to take if two people differ?

Miker recommends Ken Pines. I have shopped there and not been dissatisfied. However, Ken Pines was expelled from the American Numismatic Association for selling whizzed coins. On the other hand, Littleton is sponsoring a lecture series at the San Francisco ANA Convention.

It is true that you can buy coins for less than Littleton charges. You need to factor in your time. We drive 30 minutes each way to a coin store and spend two hours looking at coins and save $2.50 on a $10 purchase and figure we made a killing. If you honestly tally the cost of a purchase, Littleton is fine. That said, this is a hobby, and we enjoy those hours wasted at the coin store. On the other hand, not everyone has a coin store near them. In Metro Detroit, you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a coin store. In Greater Cleveland, they are few and far between. So, as a mail order company, Littleton delivers a valuable service.

Also, when we make those "bargain buys" how often do we buy the coin with the rimnicks and "XF details at the VF price." Littleton does not buy problem coins. They go on buying tours, visiting dealers. They pay well. They do not buy problem coins. So, they do not sell problem coins. XF is XF, not an AU Slider with problems at the XF price, or a cleaned market VF with "XF details."

(I have been a Littleton customer in two periods of my life, 1975, and 1998. I am not a big collector. I just write about coins. If you are an ANA member, then you saw my article about Proof Double Eagles in Numismatist magazine.)

 

Littleton is terribly high priced. Also anything they send you has "I am a coin collector" pasted all over it. I have found that other companies are much more discreet in their packaging. Not so with Littleton.

 

Littleton is a little high, and I don't like the approvals they send you.

Have bought many coins from Coast to Coast, and always been satisfied.

 

I agree Littleton sent me thier catalog and everything seemed to be overpriced.
They also sent a silver eagle on aproval which i promptly returned, since i don't think 22$ for a 9-10$ bullion coin is a very good deal.
Recently i ordered a few things from Coast coins, and was happy with the prices as well as the quality.

 

www.brent-krueger.com

www.coinland.com

www.mintproducts.com

and dont forget the mint itself

 

I use Coast 2 Coast also. coastcoin dot com.

Btw...I heard that Littleton dips coins..........ANYONE?

 

Folks, lets be careful with posts and responses like these...

1. First, anyone asking an opinion about a particular dealer must recognize the fact that those that are displeased with the dealer, have had a bad personal experience in the past, or have heard second-hand from others about bad experiences, are substantially most likely to respond than those that may have been pleased with their business dealings.

2. If a reader unfamiliar with Littleton or any other dealer for that matter, were to read this post they would walk away assuming Littleton charges too much for their coins. Is this true? While it may be, but they would not have personal knowledge of this fact but instead only comments from a forum to back up their opinion. When they visited another coin forum and someone asked the same question, they might be inclined to respond that Littleton charges too much.

3. When recommending another dealer such as Coast to Coast, recognize that if a poster were to ask the same question about them, there would be a reasonable likelihood that a number of people might respond with comments similar to those posted here about Littleton.

4. Statements along the lines of "Littleton does not sell problem coins," "Littleton is terribly high priced," and "XF is XF, not an AU slider with problems at the XF price" are dangerous. They imply that Littleton's grading is always accurate and that you are never going to receive a problem coin from them.If your going to make statements along these lines they should be made from personal experience only and not be presented in such a broad fashion.

Although I am not sure that posts such as this are the most appropriate use of this forum (if they are possibly they deserve a separate section) I would suggest that in the future they be handled somewhat differently...

1. If you want to solicit opinions about a particular dealer you might want to consider doing so in the following fashion... "Has anyone purchased coins in the past from X dealer? If so, were you satisfied with the the coin, customer service, etc? Based on your experience, would you buy from them again?"

2. If you are going to respond to posts such as this I would encourage you to limit your responses to first-hand knowledge. If you purchased a dipped coin from the dealer than say so. If all of your coins were graded properly and priced right, then state the same.

3. If you are going to respond with negative information about the dealer that is not based on first-hand knowledge than please make it very clear that you have no personal knowledge or dealings with the dealer.

 

Good luck buying business strike Silver Eagles from the U.S. Mint !

 

I looked into being a dealer for the mint with ASE (as much as I could find) and they are picky...you would have to has a few million dollars in assets and a lot of other things....you have to have a good many reference from many people...and good background...no problem with police or anything.

Plus they only let a few dealers become dealers for the ASE for the mint and there are already that many and they didn't need a kid my age!!!

Speedy

 

having a million dollars in assets isn't the hard part... it's having a million dollars in assets without a million dollars in liability to offset it.

 

Well said rick! ;-)

 

Here we go again with the implication that some collectors opinions are “more equal” than others.

I added the “collecting since 2004” to my signature line so folks could take my opinion for what it’s worth, if anything. I’ve only been collecting for fifteen months. Discount, derate, or ignore my opinion accordingly.

 

NOT to Littleton

Thank you all. I value you opinions on this topic and have learned plenty. I just came from my local coin shop (10 mins. away and a nice guy too) and he has as many sets as I need for $12.00 per coin (except the 1986 for $15 and the 1996 for $35). They are good quality as you'd expect a coin that never circulates to be in and I can buy them NOW! I think that Littleton does have high quality coins without a doubt but I have learned that coins of equal quality are out there as well. Price is important because I always collect 3 sets of everything because I have 3 sons that will eventually inherit my entire collection. I guess as far as Littleton goes, it's NOT to Littleton.