Flea market coins

I went to the flea market yesterday and went to a coin dealer... He seemed pretty nice and I bought a half dime from him for $10... it was in VG and was holed, but I was happy with my purchase. He also had a bunch of mercury dimes for $2.50 a piece. Went to another coin dealer and his was a much bigger more elaborate store. I asked his prices on a few dimes I needed and his prices were outrageous. Mercury dimes that usually go for melt. A 1941 d for $10, and a 1939 s for $14 and $11 for a 1937 d. I was expecting more like $3 for each. Left as soon as I saw those prices. And another thing, these coins grades were around VG to VF.

At least I got a nice half dime

 

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Flea markets tend to be either bargains or rip offs. Once again, the old saying, "It's worth what someone is willing to pay."
The guy with pricy coins could care less about the market and if he only sells a couple, he is still making money.

 

Did the seller with the low grade Mercury's have any worn out pennies that he was claiming were valuable error coins? Because I've been looking for one of those to overspend on!!!!

 

Haven't been to a flea market in years but I don't think I ever saw a reasonably priced coin at one.
I don't think too many of them are very knowledgeable when it comes to coins and those that are want to make a hefty profit on any they might sell.

We'd have these guys come into the shop at times to buy for resale.

You also have to consider that they are paying for the space. Gotta make money to cover that THEN you start to profit.

 

Nope. Although, I asked for a few dates I needed for my wheat cent book and he had none. He mostly had silver stuff.

 

Here is the half dime I got by the way

 

If I bought one of those 1/2 dimes. I’d have to get a book too for grand babies

 

You did good and when you feel prices aren’t too high, it’s time to walk away. Glad you did.

 

My experience has been that coins at flea markets, antique malls and the like are almost always grossly over-priced.

 

The flea market I go to had its space rent as $15 for the day/night. So I would make an offer or bundle a couple of coins right at $15 knowing the seller needed that to pay the space rent. Worked on numerous occasions.

 

The fact that he is not using flat staples or flattening the staples on the 2 x 2 tells me he is not a very knowledgeable dealer.

 

What does it do when you don't use flat staples? I never have and it's never been a problem.

 

You always want to flatten the back of the staple IF you dont have a stapler that flattens for you.
The reason is non flattened staples COULD scratch your other coins.

 

I used to buy a lot of coins (and other things) from a guy at our local flea market. There were always several vendors dealing in coins, most with inflated pricing. What I found with most of these sellers (not just those with coins) is they price high for haggling purposes, but go way overboard on those margins. The one guy I always turned to (Bob) was a retired mailman. His prices were always reasonable, I bought many coins from him over the years. He also knew I collected cigarette lighters, and would find me those he knew or thought I would be interested in. Great guy. I still go up and see him every once in while, just to chat, though the flea market itself has gotten stale and overpriced (too many of them watch shows like American Pickers).

Side note on Bob...this guy is the ultimate coin roll hunter. He goes to his local municipal building and buys the bags of coins collected from the town's parking meters. They would count them, bag them, then sell the bags to him.