Coeur d'Alene Coins Show Finds

Typically, prior to a coin show opening its doors, dealers have a certain amount of "set up" time. During this time, dealers typically peruse the inventories of other dealers in an effort to pick up additional inventory at dealer to dealer prices.

I find it very difficult to understand why this did not happen in this case? At the very minimum, the dealers to either side of this older lady should have informed her that her prices were simply too low and that she was leaving as much, if not more, money on the table than what she took in.

While I'd like to congratulate the OP on such a find, I'd feel much better about congratulations had this been a bank score at face value than in learning it was from an older lady who may or may not have known what she was doing.

Personally, I'd have informed her what the coins current bullion values were. If there were interesting varities in the lot, I'd have bought them at the higher, acceptable bullion price.

I just do not understand why it's so dreadfully sinful for a coin dealer to offer ridiculous buy prices to older ladies, knowing full well that they are ripping them off, yet its ok for someone to knowingly take advantage of that same lady simply because she set up at a coin show? from my standpoint, some casual conversation might have been appropriate to find at why she was there in the first place and then why her prices were so low.

As for the OP's question, I spend as little time as possible in the bargain bin box and have yet to attend a Coin Show this year.

 

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Hey, 19lyds: thanks for the feedback. as I said before, i didnt know whatthe price/value was before buying it. I found out once I got home. All I knew was that her prices were lower than the dealers next to her. I arrived only about an hour after the show opened and she was pricing items when I was browsing, she had been looking then up in a book.

 

Watch out Grandma could be a CT lurker. JK

 

My thoughts too.

 

Dealers often have asymmetrical knowledge about the coins that they are selling. After all, they have time to pull out reference books, go online, or ask experts about the coins before putting them up for sale. So, no, I wouldn't feel guilty about buying 90% silver half dollars for $3 a pop. In fact, I'd be happy to do that all day long. My only concern would be that if the deal seemed to good to be true, it might just be.

In my opinion, it's different if you spot an honest mistake (for example, a 90% silver coin that got misplaced into a bin of 40% silver coins). In my experience, some dealers are quite ethical about rewarding honesty, while others are prideful about making a mistake or just get greedy if they see any chance to move the price upward.

At a show last year, I found a French Piastre priced far below silver melt. If I remember correctly, it was a 1908 Piastre, which is 90% silver. The dealer had mislabeled the coin as a 50% silver piece and priced it slightly below that melt price. I asked if the price written on the coin was based on the current price of silver. When the dealer assented, I pointed out that the ASW seemed to be on the low end, and he said "If I messed up, my price is still firm." So, I reached for my wallet right away.

At another show, I found a Peruvian Sol that had been mis-priced the same way (a 0.3617 oz ASW piece priced at the melt of 0.2 oz ASW). I asked the dealer if that was the current melt price, he said yes. I made some comment like "Odd, I thought that Peru minted at a 90% purity" as I set the coin aside to buy. While I kept browsing, the dealer pulled out his Krause and changed the price on the coin. That left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

So, in the situation you found yourself in, I wouldn't have had any problem buying the coins for the price they were offered. Did you get the impression that seller wasn't a professional dealer (or that the coin show had a very low price for getting a table), or maybe that she had gotten the coins when silver was at a much lower price point?

 

Sounds like she may have been using an older coin book as her pricing basis. Silver has thrown a lot of those values wildly out of whack.

As for the separate topic of discount bins; I'm a big fan of digging through junk bins. For many of the medals, tax tokens, saloon tokens, and SCD's that I collect, the only place to find them is in a junk bin. Even fairly knowledgable dealers don't have the time to specialize in everything, so their lack of knowledge may be an opportunity to find something at what you both consider a fair value.

 

This is probably true, seeing as even a year or so ago silver was way lower.
Fact is, the coins were in 2x2s and holders, it was a booth at a show, not some little old lady on craigslist, and I'd buy what she had probably. It doesn't seem to be the buyers' job to speculate on whether they belonged to her late husband or whatever. I do imagine she was happy to clear the space, and you were happy to get the coins.
I'd probably have asked her two questions based on your findings.
1. Sight unseen, how much for everything?
and 2. Is there an ATM nearby?

 

Still, hard to believe the other dealers weren't jumping over their tables to get to this young ladys' offerings......