Collecting in a small town

I don't think location is much of a handicap. With CT I am just a post away from most of my coin friends and the web has 100 times as many coins for sale as most local shops. I began before the internet and then local shops or long trips to coin shows were far more significant than they are now. I had no (zero) local coin friends and collected alone. Believe me, it was harder then than now. Your small town is really not a problem.

 

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I agree, but there are also a whole lot more fakes and crooked sellers on the net too. This is why I tend to buy from trusted forum members when I can, as you have experienced.

 

The closest "coin shop" (a jewelry store that says they buy/sell coins) is a bit over a half hour drive to Ludington. The one time I went there (on the way back from having a delightful root canal) they were closed. On vacation, I think.

If I drive for about an hour to Muskegon, there's probably a shop or two, never checked. I go there to the two lousy, awful, horrible hospitals where I have all my major surgeries. It also has a bigtime "GTA"-ambiance ghetto, replete with gun-toting "youthful offenders" who regularly give some other resident his Grand Sendoff to his doubtless just reward. Probably where any coin shops are located (under the "We Buy Gold" sign behind the iron grate).

The smaller hospital, about 20 min. away, where I take all my ambulance rides and ER drives (and have my minor surgeries) is in a town with a hockshop that may or may not have coins. The one time I stopped in to look around, I wasn't interested in coins, and was sucking air through my teeth at the nosebleed prices for cheap crap that they sold (tried to sell?) in addition to whatever things they may have taken in pawn. Not much traffic. If they have coins, I'd expect a lousy selection and insane prices.

There's a hockshop in Ludington, too. Sort of like a "white people's Sanford and Son" flavor to it -- everything from overpriced yard implements to overpriced wide screen Trinitron TV (just as the CRT was having taps played for it). That, and a feeling like I ought to count my change as I left, even though I didn't buy anything.

I've been seriously considering buying a cheap coin counting "thing" on amazon (assuming I can find one there -- or anywhere), and running a classified saying that I buy jars and boxes of pocket change that clutter up your house, fast in-out, automatic and accurate coin counting, payment in cash on the spot.

If I do that, I hope my "coin-roll-hunter-dar" (or "-fu"?) is in full working order. I don't want to be some coin-scavenger's "house-call making no-fee human coinstar machine."

 

How can people trust that you are paying them there full moneys worth?

 

Probably because of the readout on the machine.

 

I live in the Denver Area. Yes I have plenty of shops to haunt but my favorite is 1 hour away from me. I am a regular and they appreciate me driving an hour to get there. "Local" for me is the state of Colorado. I drive to shows 1-2 hours away and it is part of the fun having adventures along the way. I am a member of a coin club and it is great to have friends going to those coin shows too. My point is, it's your hobby, you love it, figure out how to get to those Shops and Shows!

 

I live in a decent sized metro area (around 750k), and there are only two small shops here in this area. There are a couple of pawn shops that carry stuff, but not anything you'd want. The problem, as some have mentioned, isn't the size of the area but the demand in the area - if I lived in Florida in a city of this size, there'd be at least a half dozen shops within a half hour drive.

The best option for people in coin deserts is to go to shows. There should be a decent sized coin show within a couple of hours drive at least a couple of times a year, and I highly encourage you to go to those. If you can travel to a big show, it's totally worth it.

Otherwise, I do most of my buying on Ebay, Heritage, and other online auctions.

 

Once a collector becomes sure of the ability to grade and evaluate damage, the elephant is gone, then they can learn varieties, forgeries, counterfeits, etc. and where to get information they need to do so.
Coin clubs that have auctions, CT dealers with good references, shows, and occasionally pawn or gold/silver places.

 

If you are in Missouri, are you fairly close to Kansas City? There's a few shops up that way, although I've never been to any of them.

 

That sounds like it's tough. But try living in a no-stoplight town. For three years I lived in a small town in NC. The nearest stoplight was close to 60 miles up the road. The nearest hospital was 115 miles away. Another time I lived in even more of a rural place.

 

Being from a hometown of 2,000-3,000 I enjoy living in a larger "venue". The town I am in now is about 70,000 but is only an hour away from LA (and about 1.5 hours from Long Beach - talking about shows...)

 

Your town is an interesting one, because of it's location... provides access in a few directions to different types of locales.