Littleton Coin Garbage

I had ordered three sets of statehood quarters 1999-2004 from Littleton Coin Company a couple months back and they came with 3 free "archive quality" folders. I wasn't collecting the statehood quarters but my kids wanted a set so I thought I'd start them off with the first 6 releases and let them collect the rest as they came out.
I noticed that the quarters began to tone from the edges inward on almost every coin after about two months. I called Littleton and said that I believed that something in the "archive quality" folders was causing the coins to prematurely tone and that I wanted them assessed for possible replacement. So I mailed them all back and they called me today and said that there was nothing wrong with the folders and they had been checked for chemicals and glues that may have caused toning. I explained that even the coins I had added were now toning and the coins that I had collected at the same time that were not inserted in the folders hadn't toned at all. As a matter of fact, the coins just sitting on the shelf hadn't tone even slightly.
They acknowledged the coins had toned pretty rapidly but were unwilling to replace them and they were going to mail them back to me as is. I said thank you and please remove me from your mailing lists and unsubscribe me from your email chain since I am sure that I am never buying anything from your company again. I told them that I sometimes don't mind paying top dollar for a good coin or two but that I hated paying top dollar for utter c***.
I will never buy from Little coins again. High prices, garbage products.

 

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You know I've always wondered why no one I know uses their albums. At coin shows I go to no one carries their products. At very large coin shops and department stores around here, also no one carries their products. Whitman and Dansco are all I ever see. And lately at coin shows it is becoming all Dansco. Don't know if your reason is one of the reasons why but possibly Littleton is becoming known as a dangerous product for our coins. Thanks for your information. Now just in case I run across one of their products I too will shy away from whatever it is.

 

Also, if you want to have some fun watch the views column of this forum where you posted this thread. If it becomes a substantial number, recontact that company and tell them to check out this forum and note your thread and the amount of coin collectors looking at their product's report.

 

To Big To Care?

Moen1305, your story doesn't surprise me that much. Even though I've bought some Littleton stuff, I can't get over how they can charge 2x-3x the retail price for coins and sleep well at night. Now I know that some collectors live in areas that have no coin dealers for hundreds of miles and that dealing with a company like Littleton must be better then nothing.

On the other hand I have collected a few items that where assembled by Littleton that I've purchased at a fair price from someone else. What I am talking about is this. I have a 1964 year set that is in a Littleton display that really impresses young new collectors including myself because it explains some much about the Presidents and why they are on these coins. I also have a PDS steel penny set that is in a wonderful display with supporting documentation. The coins in these sets are mint state and I can't imagine what Littleton would have asked for them but I do know it was way too much.

I get their catalogs and it makes me laugh and laugh. The only time to buy from them is when they're trying to promote something, but as some as you get the deal cancel the promo. I've done this twice now and I still done think they have kept up with my name and address or they done care.

 

i have the same problem with dansco silver eagle album,pulled it out to add 2006 and all are toning

 

That's just an excellent idea Just Carl! I wasn't hoping to put pressure on them with this thread but rather to let other collectors know about their faulty products and their unwillingness to live up to their guarantee. I think spreading the word is the best option at this point.

 

When I first started collecting in the early '80s, I signed up for a program with them. They would send me a certain number of coins, and I could pay for whichever ones I wanted to keep. All I would have to do was send back the ones I didn't want (at my expense!). After a few months, that overwhelmed me (I was then in my early teens). They gave me some grief about stopping, and my mother wrote them a very nasty letter. Haven't dealt with them since.

 

Actually this is the kind of thread I wish many others would reply to and then have that organization contacted to let them be aware of what they are thought of by coin collectors. Occationally there are people in these organizations that still care.

 

I've tried a couple of Littleton's special offers. The coins were very good quality. The regular prices were about double what I wanted to pay. If the prices were more in line, I'd probably have purchased a number of coins from them because they have a good selection and the coins seemed well-graded.

The folders are a puzzle. Does it say where they were made anywhere on it? Littleton might have been tricked by their supplier regarding the materials, or they might have picked up some sort of contamination in shipment. It's something they should investigate.

 

The prices are what gets me. How can they charge so much and who is buying it? Now people are online and there are many dealers who have just internet stores.

 

I think there is a little leeway in "archival". They may not be absolutely neutral. Also, coule be the fancy printing, etc. that is to blame.

The annoying thing is, book stores where I am overwhelmingly carry Littleton folders. Whitman is the best though. They have the "lock in" feature, but Littletons do not - the coins can just drop out of the holes if they are not sized properly (or worn).

 

I dont have any expirience with the albums, but Littleton company yes... I purchased some 2004 SAEs from them and as part of that order had to sign up for thier program as described by KJL above with one small diference, when I did it there was a postage paid return envolope so canceling and sending those back was no problem. I came across a great deal for 2006 SAEs for $8.95 a piece and jumped on it. This resigned me up for the monthly program. When I get the package ill probably pack them up and send them off with a cancelation order. A small inconvenience to get SAEs at less then silver spot.

-Bobby

 

Littleton does something remarkably well which keeps them in business. They market their company rather than their coins. This unfortunately also requires a lot of capital which results in ridiculously high prices. Nearly anyone who has done a little comparison shopping will see the folly in purchasing from them despite the fact that their coins are (generally) of pretty good quality. But I imagine they do a pretty brisk business with people who don't bother to comparison shop. And there are a surprising number of people purchasing just about anything who don't do their homework. I remember when Radio Shack adopted this marketing method in the 1960's. they sent out voluminous catalogs and circulars and opened stores in tiny little towns. Each advertisement they mailed contained stories about how large their company had grown and how many stores they boasted. I bought electronic odd and ends from them, resistors and capacitors and other components I couldn't find locally but I wouldnt buy an amplifier or a speaker from them because the prices always seemed a bit high for the quality. And they had to be just to pay for all of the hype. I still feel that way about them. And about Littleton. Littleton fills a niche. It just ain't my niche.

 

little ASE

I did the same thing to get an 06 ASE each for my daughter and I. I am sending their "coin on approval" ASE back this morning. The 02 ASE they sent is pretty, but I can't see $23 for it, so back it goes!

 

Littleton circa 1970 ish..

I was just getting into collecting and pulling coins from change etc like most kids back then filling my Blue Whitmans at a fast and furious pace. There were some coins that I could not find obviously in circulation. I seen an ad in a magazine and decided to start purchasing coins in the mail to fill those holes. How cool was that! Well, I did keep the coins that I had purchased some 35 years ago. Looking back, I know that I overpaid (correction "grossly overpaid") for all of them. But, as a kid I was fullfilling something that to this day I still look at and enjoy. I remember one 1841 large cent, $5.00. nothing in todays market for sure, but to a preteen, WOW... I still have that coin. Was it worth 5 bucks? Naaa, not then and not now. So in one sense I agree, Littleton is way overpriced, other hand, there are alot of memories here from saving hard earned paperroute money to buy coins from them. Good investments? Not a chance. Do I feel like I was taken advantage of. To a degee yes. Have I ordered from them in the last 25+ years? Not a chance, I grew up and got smart! My guess is with the internet the way it is, They are doomed. I just went to their website for the first time. I wonder if they are in need of a 1841 large cent that they sold many years ago that was harshley cleaned? BUT SHINEY!!!

 

It appears that coin albums are abundant by brand name in certain areas from what I've seen. Here in the Mid West it has always been in the past Whitman. In the West Dansco appears more. Not sure where on Earth Littleton is popular. At coin shows in this area lately I've noticed the switch to the Dansco brand. I began asking the dealers why. Don't know how much truth there is to the answers, but what I've been told is Whitman WAS popular in the past in the Mid West because they were made locally in Wisconsin. Now they, like many other items, are made in China and the quality and type of material went down the drain also. Also, on the cheaper push into slot types the glue goes across the entire page that holds the slotted section meaning it also is in the slot where the coins go. This leaves contamination on the reverse of the coins. No one I can find knows where the Littleton Albums are made. The recent reports by many collectors of spots forming on thier coins in Littletone Albums leads me to believe that the glue, cardboard, plastic and paper being used to produce these albums may not be what a coin collector really wants. It would be of interest to find out exactly where Littleton has their albums made. Possibly this kind of post should be also added to the PCGS web site forum for greater exposure in order to help others.

 

I think Littleton folders are made in the USA. Also, by law, foreign made stuff is supposed to say where it was made.

 

A week or so ago I sent some of my duplicate coins in to sell to them, and they called me back saying that my coins wheren't up to their standards. The coins where just as they had been advertised in their advertisement. Littleton wanted coins that where probably better than advertised. They wouldn't buy any of the coins, so they sent them all back.

That got me angry.

 

JBK: I'm glad you said SUPPOSED TO. Just because something is supposed to does not mean it is for real. Also, remember that if all the products are made in a foreign country and then assembled in the US, it could legally say Made in the USA. GM for example likes to say thier cars are made in the USA when all they mean is they are assembled in the USA and all the parts are made elsewhere. Note many countries also do not have that agreement so they produce things with someone else's name on the item or no name at all.

 

Many years ago when Japan was the third world country producing junk merchandise, there was a town called "Usa". Three guesses what "Made in ..." label they attached to their products (and the first two don't count).