Hey Ya'll Today I tried something that I had never done and it went great! I set up at a coin show and sold a good many coins--I was the youngest "dealer" there--- It all started at 8AM and it closes at 8tonight but I shut up at 2:30PM because I needed to get home---I don't know if I made money or lost it....I know on a good many coins I made some money but on some I lost....but to me that doesn't really matter. At first I took a lost of $20 on a coin I knew I would because I overpaid when I first started---but then later on I sold a $10 bill that I found in change years ago for $30 so I made my $20 back! Another guy traded me some ASE for some silver dollars--I didn't have the ASE 5min and a guy offered me $20 each---I was thinking more like $14 so I took it! There were only 3 other coin dealers along with 2 knife dealers but there was a good many people showed up to buy and sell. One guy wanted help knowing what a Complete Dime set was worth from 1916-1945---it had all of the KEYS and would have graded from G-VF....with the 1916-D being VG. He had gotten the set years ago for almost nothing and thought it might be worth something----I along with another dealer both agreed that the 16-D needed to be slabbed but we both also agreed that we thought it was real...I had my counterfiet guide there and both looked at it really good---we both tried to buy it off of him but when he learned that it might be worth over $1,000 he decided to keep it. Another few people are going to call me and have me make offers on collections they have gotten years ago! Another guy who really just wanted to show off some of his coins and talk showed me some really cool coins that I had never seen before---then he showed me his 1914-D cent that he had gotten along with almost a complete set---and I'm 99% sure that it was fake...a 1944-D taken down to a 1914-D. Also saw a fake 1804 silver dollar---and alot more--some fake and Of the 3 coins I picked up the best one is a 1909-S IHC in VF30 ANACS. The coin is really good---hasn't been messed with and NGC might give it XF since its a KEY date but I don't thing I'll try! I took the photos in the same type of light but the back turned out lighter than it should have---its a really dark chocolate brown. Most of the people there were just glad to see a young person taking interest in coins enough to set up a table at a show. They are planing to do it again and I hope that I can also set up again as it was a fun learning time for me---other collectors willing to tell me what they knew and sit and just talk coins. I gave one collector the address to this forum and hope that he will join us here at CoinTalk! :whistle: Hope I haven't board anyone! Speedy
Great report Speedy. I think buying and selling like you did is just about the best way to really get a feel for what coins are worth in real life. You just can't get that all of the time from buying and selling on the internet. It also doesn't matter very much if you made or lost money. You turned coins you didn't want to keep into coins you wanted to own. That's a big accomplishment by itself. My prediction is that if you continue to do this, after a few shows you'll also be making some fairly good money from it. Practice makes perfect in everything, including buying and selling coins.
Speedy, Since you've just returned from actively trading at a coin show, you're probably in a good position to answer this question. I've always really liked circulated raw Morgan and Peace dollars, but I've just about stopped collecting them because I figure that it will be just about impossible for me or someone else to try to resell the coins someday just sitting in a 2x2 -- especially if it is a fairly common date. Did you get a sense of whether or not coins like these exchange hands at reasonable values? I know the old advice about collecting what you like, but there is also a part of me that doesn't like getting ripped off. So the past couple of years I've purchased more bullion coins and commemorative gold coins [that trade like bullion coins] instead of the older stuff I used to acquire [mostly circulated silver dollars, silver halves, and silver dimes]. Thanks.
Good on Ya To enter the world of business in such a manner is a great achievment. More young people took this road when I was a boy I think Roosevelt was president( Not Teddy ). I admire your courage ! The truth always works with a prospective buyer. Your personal knowledge can help them, and theirs you if you share.Never sell any thing, provide enough information for the prospective buyer to make an informed decision. Overwhelm a customer with to many facts, figures, and numbers, and they will usually not buy. It is a balanced approach, and knowing how to read a buyer will come in time. What ever you persue in life you will never forget this day ! The next show is not far away. Good job Floyd
Hey Cloud There was some dealing of Silver Dollars such as you state but I took about 200+ and only sold about 5....some thought my prices were out of range...but they were for the most part below Gray Sheet BID or right at BID....I was asking between $11-$15 on the coins---they weren't mine I was selling for another guy---I took some ASE in trade for some of them and made a heck of a deal. He gave me 4 ASE for 4 1921 Morgan Dollars---valued at about $11 each---then like I said above another guy offered me $20 each for 2 of the ASE so I got a great deal there. For the most part I think the things going the most were harder dates---I took 6 hard dates and came back with 2. Other than that it was mosting "collector coins"---silver dimes---proof sets---and just dates people were hunting. Nobody much was hunting such things as 1909-S VDB but more like a nice 1945 Dime--or Walking Liberty Halves---one guy wanted Barber coins but he was hoping for grades such as AU too MS. Rolls of and mintsets really didn't sell--coins such as 1964 Halves weren't selling much--where as a 1893 Half Dollar Comm sold pretty good. People were hunting the new State Quarter but nobody had any I had some paper money that I had found in change through the years and sold most of it pretty good---a $10 note went for $30 and a $5 RED Note went for $7-$8 I can't remember and another $10 went for $14..... I hope I some how helped with your question---I can't wait to try it again---they said that they would have another on soon and would let me know when. Speedy
The commem things went slower---things like a 1925 Peace Dollar sold more than a 1922 Peace dollar.. Things like Half Dimes and Large Cents....Half cents...gold....were few and far between---in fact I didn't see a single gold coin there.... Thanks Floyd---I would love to be a full time coin dealer---don't know what I'll do later in life but yes I will always remember this day. Speedy
The $11 to $15 you were asking for circulated common date silver dollars seems correct to me. You've basically confirmed my observation that SAEs have become more popular than silver dollars. This is one of the reasons why I started buying them, and Canadian maple leafs. It's very interesting that you exchanged 4 ASEs for 4 Morgans because I've always had a theory that the two coins should be worth about the same, with the age of the Morgans just about offsetting the extra silver in the ASEs. I have a second theory that in the distant future, the ASE will be though of in the same way the Morgan dollar is today, particularly if they discontinue the series. Your information was very helpful. Thanks. I'm mostly an internet collector. One of these days I really have to get to a show to find out what's really going on. You can't get a feel for it from the internet or even from visiting a coin shop. A day at a "coin market" with many buyers and sellers is the "real world" of collecting. How much were they asking for the 1893 commemorative half dollars, and in what condition? This is a coin I keep meaning to buy someday just to have one, but haven't gotten around to it.
I don't remember what all of the 1893 Comm's were going for...I sold mine for under $10 each and they were circulated grades...one I sold for $4 was something like VG....it had been a pocket piece I think. Speedy
Thanks---I really don't collect IHC and just have a few but this was one I just couldn't pass up! It was a key date---low mintage---and a nice grade for it! Speedy
