I was tooling around in an undisclosed town today and my wife said, "Oooh, there's a coin store!" So we go in, and it's basically a pawn shop, but he did have a set of BU Buffaloes in a Capitol holder, dates 34-37 all mint marks. The set was stunning - I know a little about grading these nickels from years past, and I can tell you they were gorgeous, dripping with luster - maybe 64's at least, and most were beautifully toned - the kind of toning you guys posted in the Buffalo thread. He was asking 425. Is that reasonable? I wish I could post pics. Or are those late-date issues not worth as much? I was thinking of sending them to PCGS and unloading all but one, to fund my Kennedy's. What say you?
I say dicker or haggle but never pay asking price in a pawn shop. Start at half and quit before 75%. Unless you know more about the item than they do, which does happen.
It's definitely not a shop for coin collectors. I asked him if he had any Kennedy halves and he brought out a 5-gallon jug of forty-percenters, all junk.
Unless you can accurately grade and identify problem coins, were I you, I would stay away unless you can get them for a spanking price. These are not tough coins, so there is little reason to settle unless you are sure of what you're buying.
If they're all MS60, they'd retail for around $500, if they're all MS64's, a lot more. But definitely offer a lot less.
you may want to see what he wants for the 40% kennedy halves as i think they are worth about 4.50 to 4.80 each at spot.
She likes bullion - she can spend as much time poring over bullion as I can over coins, so going to an LHC together is actually fun. And this place had plenty of jewelry as well.
Well I went back today, took a long hard look at the set, and decided to pass. I didn't have time to really examine the collection yesterday since we dropped in 15 minutes before closing. Although the coins are definitely all BU, I did find a number of weak strikes and a few hard hits. The colors are lovely though. I think it would be a great set for a Buffalo date collector looking to fill an album, but I don't think the coins are worth trying to slab and turn for a profit. I'll leave it for someone else to enjoy.
