Dealers from whom I purchased the most coins in 2020

I see. Yes , because I think you might be a experienced buyer in coin collecting , so I hope I can hear yours opinion.

Could I just ask , why does CNG’s auction won’t be one of your option for buying coins ?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Because, as I explained in my first post in this thread, I don't like to buy at auctions at all. All I can say is that other people here buy from CNG auctions all the time. I am not a good person for you to ask your questions. Could somebody else here please give this new member your opinion of CNG auctions?

 

I love their auctions/ their grades are very conservative/ many CNG CH-EFs turn into NGC MS-65s I bought 2 coins from their "Coin Shop" never had any regrets....
the topten auctions for highest grading standards
Kunker/ Germany
Elsen/ Belgium
Sincona/ Swiss
Morton & Eden/UK
CNG/USA/UK
Cayon/ Spain
Ranieri AG/ Italia
HD Rauch/ Austria
Baldwins of st. James/UK
Nomos/ Swiss

 

Thank you for a very informative thread, @DonnaML . I’m afraid that I didn’t purchase many coins in 2020. Most of my Judaean coins came from L. Alexander Wolf in Jerusalem.

 

My collection contains more coins from CNG than any other single dealer/auction house. I have coins that I bought from Victor England before he started CNG. In my opinion, CNG is the premiere US coin dealer. Their material is top-notch and they are honest and trustworthy. Their practice of highly detailed disclosures of anything that might be regarded as a defect is unparalleled in the industry. They are probably not for one who is searching for bargains. Their online retail prices are high, but a reasonable offer is usually accepted (only one of the coins in my collection was from their online retail shop in 2009). Their auction starting prices are low, so there is a lot of participation, but the reality is the whole world is watching so their coins invariably get the prices that they deserve.

 

[QUOTE="DonnaML] .... Plus, my concern is that if the cost of buying at auction continues to rise, retail dealers are going to start raising their own prices if they think the demand is there.[/QUOTE]

I would like to think that's not the case for reputable dealers. "Reputable Dealers" are those of us that purchase a coin add our reasonable percentage to cover cost of business and profit. Not so "Reputable"? Those dealers that INCREASE their profit to fleece the public. Of course, this is IMHO. Fred

 

Thanks for the reassurance. And I have to say that even though auction prices seem to have been steadily increasing throughout the past year, none of the retail dealers I listed have increased their prices for the coins they offer. In fact, many are willing to provide at least small discounts, especially for (but not necessarily limited to) existing customers. The one exception in my experience is the one nameless dealer I contacted recently about a coin for which he was asking double the very healthy auction sale price from only a year ago (including buyer's commission), and said he doesn't discount at all until a coin's been up for sale for six months. This was not one of the dealers I named, or one of the other 20 or so dealers from whom I made purchases in 2020.

 

What about someone that buys at someplace like Vcoins and then relists on someplace like eBay for more than twice the original price...and didn't even take their own photos? Is that reputable?

 

Ebay sellers of ancient coins -- especially in slabs -- regularly ask 5-10 times the standard asking price for coins at VCoins. Twice the original price is nothing!

 

IMO, the added fact of using the very same photographs is (a) at best questionable, (b) blatantly lazy for sure, (c) stealing in the sense of the effort/time/skills of the dealer who actually took the pictures -- especially if done without giving a lick of credit or having asked permission, and (d) possibly even copyright infringement.

The baseline definition of reputable is "having a good reputation". I can say that such a person would not have a good reputation in my mind.

 

I miss the coin shows because Robert and I would have long and interesting conversations. He is a real character and has strong opinions about many topics.

 

I will have to give London Ancient Coins a try, they often have nice looking ones but I have never bought from them.

Vast majority of my retail purchases this year were from Forum Ancient Coins and Marc Breitsprecher.

Vast majority of my auction wins were CNG, Savoca, and Pars Coins on VAuctions.

 

I often look for new venues, dealers and auction houses, as I’m a government employee and, by that, doomed to be a bargain hunter. I used to buy on ebay when ebay was new, but not any more. (The other day I bookmarked some modern word coins on ebay, and promptly got a discount offer from the seller. Checked with MA-shops, and concluded that it would be at least 20% cheaper to buy the same coins there.)
Struggling to keep up a lower middle class living standard while collecting coins has really improved my buying skills with regards to cross checking prices with other dealers and venues. I have turned into becoming rather frugal, and I find that a good trait. I have fond memories of a dealer in Oslo, who combined quite conservative grading with using the Sear books for setting prices. Those were the days. It has become much harder to find bargains lately, I think. So one of my new years resolutions coin-wise is to be less preoccupied with finding cheap buys, and rather focus on finding the coins that I really want and buy fewer and more expensive coins. I like auctions, and I think Savoca, Leu, Nomos, Rauch and CNG have been great to deal with in 2020. I think Savoca has a great operation, and have bought a lot of coins from them the last year, but my goal is to buy fewer of this segment of coins in 2021.

 

During the past year, which is more my starting point, I still have plenty to learn as to the who and what's. The dealers that I purchased most of my collection, were small places, one an Etsy vendor that has been fair and helpful and a second at a local antique mall. The Etsy vendor FuzzyCatsCoins, has supplied a number of my proof sets and some pennies, nickels and dimes. The vendor at the antique mall Cousins Collectible & Militaria, is convenient and keeps a good variety for my needs. I did make a couple of purchases that I feel were worthless transactions, but I have to learn what to look for. There is one place I have been watching and commenting on their posts, they are God's Money Gold and Silver in Marshall, TX and a little too far to just make a trip every time they have something I like (which is quite often).

I'll have to review this feed and check the sites listed, though I will probably not spend as much this year compared to the past year. Either way, I hope this is a good year for all. Thanks for everyone's input, it is appreciated.

 

To say nothing of exchange rates for overseas acquisitions.

The US dollar has been bouncing up and down like a yoyo, mainly due to super low interest rates from the Fed, plus international developments and the pandemic as well.

 

From Vcoins
Numiscorner
The Time Machine
Sphinx Numismatics
Incitatus Coins
Zurqieh
David Connors
Aegean Numismatics
Sebastian Sondermann
Praefectus Coins
Romanorum
CoinIndia
Biga Numismatics

From Ma-shops
"Denarius"
Poinsignon
Hoehn

A couple of private dealings from reddit, and alot from ebay!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this thread. As a newcomer to the hobby, I’ve been limited in my purchases by the concern of authenticity of products being offered and lack of knowledge of credible sources on my part. I was pleased to find the names of dealers that I have purchased from were listed in the original post, i.e. Aeternitas, London Ancient, and Ken Dorney. Gives me confidence that at least I might be on the right track.
Thank you all for sharing.
Bob

 

Numerically speaking, for 2020, the highest number of coins that I purchased was through Roma Numismatics, but this count is including some group lots, primarily of Byzantine bronzes. You can get some pretty nice coins in these group lots, but they need to be scrutinized closely, since there is little detailed information in the group lot description. Still, they provide a great opportunity for astute collectors.

My source in 2020 for the most single purchases was jerusalemhadaya2012, an eBay seller based in Israel. Over the past two to three years this seller has been the source of Roman Provincial and Greek coinage for me. He gets interesting coins from time to time, from hoard finds in the region and other sources.

Other sources in 2020 were Forum Ancients, cgb (France) and Marc Breitsprecher to name a few.