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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 21192, member: 57463&quot;]The Latin is CAVEAT EMPTOR.&nbsp; (From the ruins of Pompeii is a mosaic with a snarling dog that says: CAVE CANEM (Beware of Dog).)</p><p><br /></p><p>More to the point, you KNEW to go to Heritage.&nbsp; That knowledge cost you time and money to earn.&nbsp; You reaped the reward.&nbsp; People who buy what they do not understand -- what they have not invested effort in understanding -- pay more for the goods, but nothing for the knowledge they lack.&nbsp; We might say they pay only the correct price for the goods and they reimburse the seller for the time invested in knowledge.&nbsp; There are a lot of ways to look at it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin dealers subscribe to information services not open to collectors.&nbsp; I would bet that your $650 Double Eagle sells for $550 between dealers because the price of gold is a floor.&nbsp; With a true collector coin, say a $750 Seated Quarter slabbed MS 62 from 1843, 1847, 1852, etc., the dealer-to-dealer price is probably half of that, a 100% mark-up.</p><p><br /></p><p>About ten years ago, for an interview with the Wall Street Journal over the &quot;Athena Fund&quot; debacle, Harlan J. Berk said that these coins were all overpriced in the portfolio because dealers usually take only (quote - only) a 100% mark-up over wholesale. That caused a furor, but no one refuted him.&nbsp; I had one dealer declare that he can sell any coin at a 10% markup... as long as it was a nice example of a high-demand coin, such as a denarius of Nero.&nbsp; (Well, yes, of course...)</p><p><br /></p><p>Collectors do not count the true cost of shopping for a bargain.&nbsp; The time spent online, the time spent in coin shops, at club meetings, reading the weekly newspapers, and so on are all overhead costs.&nbsp; It is a hobby, after all, but the fact remains.&nbsp; I believe that if collectors saved their money and attended conventions, they would pay many of the same overheads measured in travel expenses.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>At a convention, you have 100 to 300 registered dealers, not anonymous usernames. You can see the coins live, not scanned.&nbsp; You bargain directly with the seller, rather than bidding against other buyers.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Furthermore, at conventions, there are indeed auctions.&nbsp; You get a catalog (free).&nbsp; You can inspect the lots.&nbsp; Auctions are all different and I have only been to a few, but the ones I sat in on were attended overwhelmingly by dealers.&nbsp; I went only as a reporter, not a buyer, but when I saw the hammer prices, I started fishing in my briefcase for my number before the light of reason went on and I recognized a conflict of interest.&nbsp; Would you rather &quot;win&quot; a retail $750 coin for $550 from an online username or from Heritage?</p><p><br /></p><p>Education time is a key example of the benefits to going to conventions.&nbsp; At the ANA in Pittsburgh, Michael Fey gave a Numismatic Theater presentation on trends in the Morgan Dollar Markets.&nbsp; You can pay to go to an ANA convention, or you can pay more for that Morgan Dollar a year or two from now when the person who sat where you did not reaps their profits.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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