I know some of you have found good buys at pawn shops, and there are some jewelry stores that also deal with coins. But I wonder how reliable they are. I've thought about going to a pawn shop but I'm still concerned about getting ripped off.
Just like any non-traditional source. You have to know what you are doing. If you cannot trust the dealer to ensure everything is fine, (which is why the EARN their profit), then you better darn well know your coins.
Funny you say that. Last week I was in a different town. A quick Google search showed me one coin outlet and the place was a pawn shop so I went. I perused the place and didn't see a coin one so I asked the proprietor. We struck up a conversation and he is a rabid coin guy but won't trade in coins at his business. He says folks that are selling expect ridiculous prices and most folks that are buying have no real knowledge of coins. He said he made the decision to do his coin business on line entirely separate from his pawn shop.... Dangit.
"Not very". The same shop where I picked up an 1895-O Morgan for one-eighth of its value later put out a bunch of spectacular gem 1901-P Morgans. Never seen anything like them. Each one would've been a six-figure coin, if they were real. Pawn shops sometimes catch fakes, sometimes not. When they do, they'll sometimes refuse to buy or sell them. I wish I could start dropping in on pawn shops again -- with the spike in PMs, they're probably getting more material in. Alas, my go-to shops were on the way-to work; the new way to work involves a commute down the hall.
Another note: I figure that the more reliable a pawn shop is on coins, the less use they are to me, because they're less likely to let a bargain slip through.
Only buy at pawn shops if you really know your coins, or are buying slabbed and verify on your phone etc...but still you need some basic knowledge.
generally speaking pawn shops will give 10% of value for everything they buy, and unless it's junk they will buy anything, even things they know nothing about. then they will do "pawns" where they loan against an item and the person has a set time to return for it, and they make errors in judgement there too. Now, real or counterfeit, they are going to sell it to you if you want to buy it, knowingly or unknowingly. that's what they do, buy things from desperate people and sell them to other people. they all claim to know what they are doing but none of them can be knowledgeable in all things. same thing goes for jewelry stores, they will buy precious metals, but they may not know if it's an altered date or a good fake in the right material. on the other hand though, they also may not know what they have..... So, you need to know your stuff, you need to be able to tell real from fake, or altered, or legit and misidentified. that all said. the rule of thumb is usually 10% of the items value is what they paid for it, then they have their costs and profit for markup. A lot of their stuff sits and sits, so HAGGLE! worst case,you can't get them to come down. When I was 19 I came across a 1973 rickenbacker 4001 Mapleglo bass guitar, they wanted $700 for it, I offered $450 and we settled on $525. it's a $2500-$3000 bass guitar, but he had no idea what he had and he still made money off it and whoever sold it to him likely didn't know the value or even really care and needed a couple hundred dollars more than he needed the guitar. I sold it in 1998 for $2300 to a player that wanted a "nice older electric bass" You have to know what you are looking at and not be afraid to haggle or walk away. if it fell through I would have sent a friend therewith $700 and ask if he can get it for $600 so I didn't have to go back and save face. Pawn shop shopping is a lot like cherrypicking at goodwill or salvation army, a lot of it is junk, but every once in a while you run into something unbelievable and not identified by the shop, but you have to know it when you see it and take advantage of the opportunity.
My old wise grand father from India used to tell me when a little boy "Anthony you must Look in the Book"! And I did and so must you all the time. If you rip your mind off of knowledge you will always be ripped off!
They know it's worth more than the amount the person who showed it to them is willing to accept for it. That's why they bought it. They have no idea of what the real value is, just they can sell it for a profit.
