Littleton Coin Company "Approval Coins"

now I wouldn't but a dracma from them

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Stay away from any company that offers these types of programs.

 

That is what is referred to as the free market. You may think it is BS, but it has worked very well for a couple of centuries. Under Richard Nixon, we tried wage and price controls, but it doesn't fit in with a capitalist system. There are countries that do what you seem to suggest, control the amount of profit businesses can make, but it doesn't work very well here. The free market promotes competition, over-regulation stifles it. If you keep buying from the wrong place, that is indeed your mistake, although the victim mentality works much better by blaming someone else.

 

Do you really -- really -- think you're as good (accurate and consistent) at grading as someone who has done it full-time, eight hours a day, for years?

Do you think you can convince a stranger of this, when you put your coin up for auction against coins that are slabbed by PCGS or NGC?

Do you think your "as good as theirs" eyes are good enough to accurately grade a coin that you haven't held in your hands, based only on online photos?

My eyes and hands are as good as my doctor's, but when I'm sick, I go to the doctor. My mind is as good as most lawyers', but if I'm sued, I'll retain a lawyer. They aren't infallible; sometimes I'll get something right, and they'll get it wrong. But I'd be dumb to bet my health or my money against them on a regular basis.

 

This is a somewhat unfair assessment when taken in full context of what is being said.

If someone collected "through littleton for 20-30 years," (sic) that would mean they started buying from them between 1983-1993. PCGS started in 1985, and NGC started in 1987. That means the purchases were made while the industry, as a whole, was using adjectival scales and net grading, or just starting to accept the Sheldon scale on a wide basis. Also, I would assume that many of the purchases made by those individuals would have been made selectively during that period. If they bought circulated junk, yes, it'd be worth... well circulated junk. However, if they bought higher grade items, they're probably worth much more than 1/8 what they paid.

I bought from Littleton from 1989-1994, but focused my collection on silver eagles and Morgans. I have sold off 90% of what I bought at a tidy profit. Yes, I would have made more buying elsewhere, and yes, I made more from my Coca Cola shares that I bought with my Christmas money in 1986, but I still made a profit (doubled my money in 10-15 years) and got to keep eight coins in the process.

Littleton is overpriced. That's a given. They run a retail market based upon advertisements in national syndicated media. They don't focus on trade journals, so they pay a LOT more to market their products. However, they're generally accurate on their grading (for the graded stuff), and their "MS-60" pouched items are a nice way to pick up Unc coins at a decent price. I recently picked up a 1979p SBA MS60 Littleton, and PCGS graded it MS65 Wide Rim. Yes, the "slot" grade for SBAs seems to be MS67, but MS65 still beats MS60.

I firmly believe that Littleton must still use the old net grading system and looks to see if a coin would net grade as uncirculated. The coin then gets place in the appropriate "MS-60" or "Proof-63" pouch.

 

And 20 years from now the forum will have all of the threads about how the then older folks got robbed on the internet and got EF rather than the described MS, MDD coins that were "double (sic) dies", and "double-struck rarities" that were squeeze jobs, and someone will come on "Interplanetary CoinText " and describe why the internet companies are destroying old folks and civilization as a whole. Rinse, Repeat!

 

Hey, vam78. You are right, Littleton is ridiculously overpriced, especially for American coins. For foreign, they are a little better (I think) but are still not cheap. I have bought things from them in the past, but usually in conjunction with some "special" deal. The last thing I bought was about a year ago when, in order to become a member of their half-dollar club, I bought one walker, one Franklin and one 1964 Kennedy for $21.00 including shipping. Now of course they bothered me with a couple of shipments of 1980's Kennedys for ridiculous amounts which I returned and they gave up on me. One thing, in rural areas, Littleton used to be a big supplier for those who couldn't get to a coin shop. As far as grading, stick around and watch some of the fights on the forum.

 

Unfettered capitalism is just as bad as overfettered capitalism. The "free market" only works up to a certain point. The goal of the small business person may be to provide customers with a quality product and earn a living doing so, but over the years such people have been squeezed out of business by large corporations that increasingly seek not to provide customers with quality products, but to constantly find new ways to gain market share and maximize their profits to satisfy their big shareholders. Today, this often entails "laying off" (in other words, firing) thousands of employees, cutting the pay and benefits of remaining employees, and/or shifting production and services to low-wage, low-quality countries.

In the past, unfettered capitalism in the US resulted in terrible working conditions that included child labor, payment for work in company store scrip rather than actual money, various workplace disasters like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and environmental disasters like Love Canal and Times Beach.

Of course, this does not apply to Littleton, which is a different type of business. The coin market is not going to be monopolized by huge corporations, so competition will continue to work there. Nevertheless, there is a place for some regulation of the coin business as well.

 

I realize this is a bump of a little over two weeks, but today was finally a decent day (no rain) for imaging. Here's my Littleton "Uncirculated-60" Morgan. I opened it specifically to take these pictures, as I don't think this thread fairly represents what Littleton offers. Yes, they're overpriced, but I think they under-grade coins, for the most part. It seems that they don't actually grade coins beyond the basic: UNC/AU/XF/VF/F/VG/G/AG/FR/PR system. Personally, I see some bag marks, and I'd say MS62/63 for the grade. Not the greatest, but still under-graded at MS60.

 

Littleton is the worst and most expensive coin dealer that I have ever heard of. You would get a better deal from P.T. Barnum if he was still alive.

 

That's just the point: The original post wasn't targeted at Littleton's prices (which EVERYONE has said are high), but more over accusing Littleton of selling cleaned low AU coins as UNC. I posted an example of a Uncirculated-60 (which I had to remove from the envelope solely for the purpose of this thread) that I own. I still haven't seen the cleaned coin that was passed as an Uncirculated-60.

 

I've never purchased from Littleton, but I have seen many coins that others have purchased from Littleton and have also watched Littleton purchase coins at shows from dealers. The coins that others have purchased from Littleton have been, without exception, accurately graded and problem-free. They may have paid more for the coins, but they received what was advertised. At shows I have seen Littleton buy common coins such as G4 IHCs and have witnessed them go through bags of coins and kick out any marginal AG3/G4 coins to buy only those coins that are correctly graded. My opinion is that if you buy from Littleton you may pay more than you need to, but that you will likely get what is promised in return.

 

I have a great deal of respect for Littleton. It's rare to see an overgraded coin.
Many that post about them say they pay a fair to high price for no problem coins and sell high.
I don't buy from them but feel they have been good for the hobby.

 

Littleton coin company is not for the real collector its a scam box... im sorry you had to learn the hard way send it back call it quites, all there things are like this..

 

you will end up over paying for everthing

 

just received from them a 2009 Lincoln cent I keep the coin and the rest thru the shedder...

 

I would disagree with that. I was a Littleton customer for several years back when I started. Coins received, especially US coins were frequently overgraded. Yes when they are buying they pay strong prices and are strict on their grading. If they are buying as a VF it had better be a solid problem free VF and they will pay a good price for it, but it will go out to the approval buyer as an XF at strong XF money.

 

I received the same and did the same. :smile Littleton did get me started collecting more seriously though. Luckily I didn't buy any silver or high priced stuff, but did buy several new modern stuff like sac. dollar coins even a few colored ones. I did overpay but was a small lesson compared to what some have overpaid. I do still enjoy those coins but am happy I stopped buying from them fairly quick.

 

When I lived in NH I took a ride up to check them out it was like going to a used car place