Ok i was counting days to my local coin show in Raleigh NC. I went in there first day hoping to get a coin or two and it was hugely disappointing . I collect world crowns and had a budget of $300 from my ebay sales over couple of months. So out of close to 150 tables only about 20 had some sort of world coins. Out of them only two was specialized in world coins and others mostly had few boxes of modern or minors. Two dealers who had most of the world coins had mostly raw coins and were way too over priced compared to even ebay. I could buy raw coins from German auctions and had them graded here for less. Graded coins were insanely over priced some times over $100 of what i can get from Heritage/Stacks/Goldberg. When i spoke with the dealers, they were mostly unconcerned and was only willing to discount about 5%. Even the modern and minors were overpriced as i was hoping to buy few cheaply and sell them on ebay. Obviously i didn't buy and spend my money on Heritage weekly world coin auction. I am surprised the price and attitude of the local coin show dealers and was wondering if this is same across all US ?
I think this is true of a few dealers I've come across. They charge those prices because someone is paying them.
So you expected to buy from dealers @ a show at a price low enough to sell for MORE on the world's largest wholesale marketplace?
I think what the OP is saying is that the cost of the coin is $100 more than what it would cost him to buy on said online marketplace.
Is there a big market for those world coins? I think it depends on what you get at a local coin show and from whom. I bought a coin from a show and sold it for double on Ebay. Low grade coins and coins they think are "ugly" are priced low. The prices I can get at a local PM shop can be sold at a profit. That is if I buy in bulk.
Yeah, it often is. It's not unusual at all for smaller shows with 40-50 tables to not have anybody selling world coins except for the oddball and junk bin coins. And to tell you the truth I'm surprised a show with 150 tables even had 20 with world coins. Based on my experience it's only been the big shows that have numerous world coin dealers present, and even then many of them had what I considered over-priced offerings. But there was always a few that had reasonably priced coins. Other than the big show in New York every January, the coin show circuit usually doesn't have a whole lot to offer when it comes to world coins. And it's not so much that the market for them in the US is small, it's more that there's just not that many US dealers who specialize in world coins. And of those that do, they seem to do most of their selling through their action venues or via their own web sites.
it all depends on how rare the coin is ? if it has a high grade some coins will be off the the charts higher. if it is a common coin I would point that out to the dealer and ask for a lower price. I always ask for a discount. I ask "what's the lowest price you will take for this coin ?" but do not go so low as to insult them.
Every year I attend the Chicago International Coin Fair, which is all world coins, and I feel everything is overpriced there too. So often people on this site will say how they'd rather buy at shows than on eBay, but I don't get it. Common coins at shows are priced at several times what you can buy them for online. You just have to hope to find one or two good dealers with fair prices. Most of them I don't even look at.
I love it... just love it! Are show dealers not supposed to know about eBay? Is it your "little secret"? This certainly is not to say that buying from a show for online resale does not happen and happen regularly, but you seem to be bothered by the fact these coins didn't simply fall into your lap at the prices you desired. I find it sadly ironic that in the same rant you complain about prices too high for you as a collector AND too high for you to buy and resell at (I assume) equally high prices to other collectors; are you the only one allowed to make any money?
I know i sounded bitter, that's why i called it a rant Seriously i dont have a problem with others making money, i pay top dollar per current market values on auctions. I know i will not be able to sell higher on ebay than the current market values.
It all depends on what you're looking for. I collect world crowns too, but last week I was looking for lesser coins to fill my British Empire collection, and found several nice ones at competitive prices over three days. Several dealers had lots to choose from, including half crowns. Admittedly I didn't see many crowns, but then I wasn't looking for them. All things considered, it was about as good a show as you're going to get in market of this size, so you simply may have been looking in the wrong place for what you want.
I have had the same experience here in Calif. at the large coin shows. I mostly collect pre-1860 Italian and Sicilian coins and it's rare for me to find any and the few I do see are way over-priced. Ebay is by far the best place for me to find what I need.
I think shows are good for the person who is looking for that one special coin and money is no object if it's the perfect one. You want it graded and want to inspect every little detail. If you want to buy $1 or $5 coins it's not a very good place. Most dealers don't bring them to the show or if they do that $1 valued coin is marked at $12.
True, there is a local PM shop that has tables at shows. He has stuff at his shop they never bring like his large bin of V nickels or Buffalo nickels. I bet he has got foreign coins and sells them at close to melt since he buys them below that.
World crowns? Well, it seems that's not exactly a "niche" that someone can really cherrypick from anymore. You can still cherrypick the arcane and unusual. I just has to be coins that you know more about than 99% of the dealers out there and that the dealers aren't concerned about.
I agree with your comment. Why is EVERYONE so quick to pass judgement on the nice folks of these forums. It's like, they sit there in their chairs and wait until someone makes an honest mistake or error and they are there to POUNCE on them. Whoever reads this and they feel its directed to them...that's the point of my response. Gee Wheez...give people the benefit of the doubt. JMHO. BTW...hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I had a blast.
I see a growing gap between nice yet commonly available coin prices (flat or downward trends) vs. appealing scarcer coins. With the Internet being prevalent to access auctions, shops and auction records, no bargains left for great stuff while common coins are widely available hurting prices.
Its the same here in Tennessee and the rest of the south. Whenever i ask for world coins i get looks, and everybody only sells the exact same things, nearly identical inventory of US Coins that everyone already has usually. It seems that nobody cares about anything other than US Coins in most places. Pennsylvania I found a few good european coin dealers but thats about it. it can be frustrating as a world coin collector but thats why i resort to online buying/bidding.
