So I go to the Parsippani show yesterday, there must be 50 tables. Not a single person there is interested in non PM coins. I had some Swiss Rappen that I would have been willing to sell well off book, as well as some BU rolls of halves still in mint wrappers, but I can't even get in the door, as the answer is "not silver, not interested". Am I just in the wrong place? Do these items only sell at national shows? What did I do wrong here? Thanks for your help.
Well, I've kind of noticed that too at my local coin shops. As far as selling goes, everybody wants to buy silver, but non-silver stuff they just don't seem interested in.
Weak economy means dealers do not want to be building or increasing inventory when sales are declining.
Dealers generally are going to buy only what they think they can sell. Or, if they just want to have it. But, the concept of being a dealer is to buy and sell, and what you buy is the key because you need to have a good plan for selling it or else its going to just sit there in inventory and that only hurts the dealer in the long run.
Yeah, our coin show this year was lame like that. I was looking to spend good money on non-PM stuff, but no one had any. If it wasn't junk silver or PM bullion, they all said "I didn't bring any". Lame. I sure left with a bunch of money. They didn't bring any of that home either.
The problem was the items themselves - as you said, nobody wants them. The market is very, very thin for items like Swiss Rappen and clad half dollars. About the only way to sell stuff like that is to use ebay.
Thank you to all those who responded. I get the Rappen (even though there were a number of dealers selling them), but if the halves have a "thin market", what are they actually worth? Face? And why is greysheet (seemingly) a bad indicator?
Unless the halves are in extraordinary super BU condition... then yes they are just worth face. They are just really slow movers (even in choice BU) and just like any other price guide... yes they have a price... but are people really paying those prices?
It sounds like two things. One, you were at a small local show in the US where most collectors only collect US coins. I have bought some good stuff at such shows, since dealers would get them in collections and not have a way to sell them, I have never had luck selling any foreign material at such places. Secondly, I have seen this before, in 1979 and the early 80's. You cannot blame dealers for concentrating on what is bringing them the most cash right now, but a lot of true collectors are getting pushed to the side somewhat by bullion deals. As long as bullion is hot with the general public you will see this. I don't think it was until about 84 or 85 that dealers where I grew up started bringing their "boring" coins to shows again and trying to again cultivate this business. There will be a few of course, (many good dealers on this board), but the majority of dealers will only be concentrating on bullion for some more time, and like I said business wise cannot blame them. Like others have said, try either Ebay or wait until a show specializing in world coins comes around. Local shows have historically not been a great place to sell non-US material.
