A heads up - numismatist integrity

Integrity & trust, Parity and just treatment appear to be
relics of our past. It is within our power however, to
demand the restoration of these cherished values.
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I understand your concern.

However... is it really fair to make such a sweeping condemnation based upon this one incident ? It's clear there have been hustlers and charlatans since the dawn of time.

Overall, I think many things are actually getting better. There are many rock-solid people around with a great deal of integrity and character.

Some folks say I'm quite a character.

 

Yeah, I've shied away from Littleton since I realized they charge well over RedBook for most of their coins. I once bought some "BU" state quarters from them a few years back. Aside from being overpriced, most were AU at best.

I don't have a problem with making a profit, coin dealers need to pay for overhead and take home a little as well. But in my opinion, they're in it to make a sizeable profit at the consumer's expense. Buyer beware. I'd put them a notch above "Coin Vault" and some of the other coin sales outfits on TV. Apparently somone's buying from them though, they're still in business.

 

That's a new one. I have never bought from Littleton (everyone knows their prices are HIGH) but I have never heard anyone say the overpriced coins they bought from Littleton were overgraded. Everything I have heard about Littleton (up to now) is that their coins are accurately graded (albeit overpriced).

 

Littleton is actually quite picky in their buying. If you ever try to sell to them, they will reject some of the items you send, even if they look perfectly normal.

 

I would have thought that their quarters come straight from the mint. Considering the volume Littleton does, they probably buy them in the $50,000 bags of 200,000 quarters.

 

I have heard the same thing...accurately/conservatively graded but overpriced. However, I have never purchased from them. TC

 

So what exactly is his beef? Is it that they are offering him $600 for a coin they currently sell for $1,739? If so, then I'm not sure I'd call that a lack of integrity or even dishonest, but I would say it's probably not the best place to do business unless unless this is a outlier exception.

 

I see your point but not sure if I agree with you. From my limited knowledge of Littleton, it seems they target the elderly and the new collectors. You can't tell me they don't know that the colorized and "special sets" they sell are crap. They take advantage of people. Sure nobody forces them to buy it, but people expect a certain kind of integrity and fairness when they buy or sell something. Not only is this a problem with the big advertisers but the fact that not many people speak out against it still shocks me. David Bowers talks about what a good company Littleton is in a couple of books of his, the Littleton President gets interviewed by PCGS and posted on their website, and every magazine allows them to advertize. It’s no wonder people trust them and therefore pay ridicules prices for their coins. I personally see this as detrimental to the hobby and just as bad as the coin doctors and the fakes.

 

It seems that Littleton basically offered him Bullion price for his two coin set, It would be a good profit for him if he bought them at original mint prices. I do not know what those go for, I think Numismedia has them for somewhat more than bullion prices, if they are slabbed it may be different.


Another poster gave his opinion of a fair offer for the set at 1150, but I do not know if that is what he would be willing to buy them for or if that is what he has seen them wholesaling for.

So is Littleton lowballing the op? I am sure I do not know, I recently bought a columbus commemorative set from a fellow coin talk member for a small premium above bullion, and showed it to a few of my local dealers who basically buy such things for spot minus 20%, but our local area is really hard hit by the recession, so they may have to rely on selling it to other dealers at wholesale to make a profit.

I have seen some crazy high prices for some modern commems, like the Jackie Robinson set. My local dealers do not put much gold out there, so I do not have much to compare prices with.

I do know that Littleton does tons of advertising and that might make some of their coins a little pricier to help pay for the marketing. but that seems like a ton of spread, offering a little more than a third of what they sell it for.

 

I would agree with Peter on this one. Plus on this set if your not happy with what they offered try a few other dealers. You might be suprised that a lot of dealers will treat these like bullion. I wonder how hard it is to move a set like this?

 

Littleton is out to make money for littleton, end of discussion. Whether or not their profit margins or their buying strategies are "dishonest" is not issue because as a private business they can buy at whatever prices they deem acceptable and sell at the same. If you do not like it then shop your wares elsewhere. What if littleton had said sorry we have a lot of those, not interested, would they be accused of dishonesty. In these times a lot of collectors are scaling back their buying and that hits places like littleton a bit. So they may need more profit for fewer items to continue at their expected profits for each quarter. I walked into a dealer the other day to sell/trade a coin and was turned down because he already had too many in stock. He offered to take it anyways for a greatly reduced price if I was desperate, which I was not, and I declined and we proceeded to have a great conversation and I even bought a nice medal. You can't take business deals to personally.

 

One more thing Littleton own Coinstar . so must of the unc coins they sell, most likely came from someones coin jar they cash in at a Coinstar machine

 

I sometimes do not represent all of my thoughts in what I type and sometimes people just disagree, not sure which this is yet. I was not saying or implying that Littleton is doing anything illegal. They have the right to sell their coins and products at any price they choose and I would not have it any other way. I am saying that they and company’s like them are bad for the hobby/business. I have heard many people compare coin dealers to “used car salesmen” or crooks. Some of that stems from people being cheated, lied to or taken advantage of by unscrupulous dealers and some from people just thinking they were cheated or lied to. I honestly do not know but 2 dealers that I would classify as crooks, but I would say that some of the big companies take advantage of customers who do not know better. Nobody works for free and everyone has a right to make a profit, even a generous profit, but it’s the specifically going after people who don’t know any better that bothers me. I agree that people should check around before they purchase something but the fact is that a lot of people don’t. With every transaction there are at least 2 parties involved. How can you say the buyer is to blame and not the seller? Both parties are to blame and I would put a lot more blame on the more informed party which in this case is usually Littleton Coins.

 

Maybe some of it through directors or third party, but it is a public company. $1.54B (CSTR) , $48.44 up $1.09.

Jim