Summary of my first experience as a real coin dealer

I promised I'd come back and relate my experiences to you. Thank you to everyone who offered me support and tips beforehand. It was all very helpful.

The show was slated to run from 10-4. I arrived a little before 8:30. I ended up splitting the table with another guy in my coin club. He's actually the one that suggested doing this a couple of months ago. Then he said he'd be out of town for work, but as it turns out he was able to make it. Cool! Of course, I was planning on having a full table, and I had enough stuff to cover it, but I was happy to cut back to half. Besides, it saved me half of the table fees (which, incidentally, this show is $45 for an 8-foot table.) There were about 40-50 dealers -- a sell out.

I sold a couple of grams of gold to another dealer before the show even started. I was surprised at the number of people coming through the show at 9:00-9:30, considering it wasn't supposed to open until 10:00. It then got very busy until noon or so, and then was dead until 2:30. Then it picked up again for the next half hour. Everybody at the show was packing up by 3:30.

I won't go into dollar figures, but I sold about what I figured I would. My gross was pretty good, and I made decent profit on the pieces I was able to sell. I paid for the table pretty quickly.

I didn't get the chance to walk around much to shop the other dealers, but I did pick up a 1950-D nickel and a 1921 Merc pretty cheaply.

I knew the dealers on either side of me, and it was a good place to be.

I even knew one of the customers. It was The Noost! Not only did he stop by to say hi, he went and purchased, and then gave to me, two 2009 log cabin cents (P&D)! How nice of him!!! I offered to pay him for them, but he wouldn't accept. He's really a great guy. I didn't so much as hold any of these cents in my hand before today, so I was really glad to get them.

My organization paid off. I knew what I paid for coins, I had them all priced, and my showcase organization was excellent. As I sold coins, I had more to put in their place.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I definitely plan to set up at shows more often.

 

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Sounds like you had a great show! Congrats...:thumb:

 

Sounds like a good first experience and you didn't get eaten alive. Did you make a profit after the rest of the expenses and lunch


Ruben

 

awesome! congrats on a good expirience

 

cool. It can be pretty scary when you first start to branch out away from purely collecting.

 

No doubt. It is a whole different thing...

Ruben

 

Congratulation Borgovan !

 

Congrats! Glad it all went well. I forgot my list at home so only got supplies and a couple duces. I'll get somethin' from ya next time.

 

Borg, I assume this was the Livonia show. Which table did you have? I was there for several hours, spent over an hour talking to Ken Potter about a book that somebody near and dear to me will be mentioned in. : )

 

Weird, what time did Ken get there? Everyone I talked to said he wasn't there. I wanted to ask him a question about the no FG halves. One other question, if you don't mind. Who were those 3 guys wearing suits walking around and talking to everyone?

 

Ruben: I did make a profit after paying for the table and stuff. Of course, if you consider everything else I invested in (trays, cases, etc.) I'm still way behind.

Jim: I was at the end table, back by the snack bar, closest to the exit door. There was another dark-haired fellow sharing my table (he had all the toned stuff). The table next to my right was Vern, if you know him. If you were talking to Ken Potter, you probably saw me, as he sat at the snack bar tables right across from my table for about two hours.

Noost: Ken was there a long time today. I don't remember you asking me about him. If you had, I surely would have pointed you his way. Or, perhaps you asked me before he got there. BTW, I have no idea who those guys in suits were. Weird, though, huh...

 

Glad to hear all turned out so good. Smart move to share a table. At most coin shows I've been to many dealers have told me they sure wish they had someone with them. One dealer once asked me to watch his table for him. I didn't although I maybe should have. Afraid if anything was missing, regardless of what, he might have thought it was me. If you don't know other dealers and have to hit the washroom, pays to have someone with you. Also, a favorite trick of some rather dishonest types is to have one person keep you busy and another pocket something.
Hopefully if you had to buy any food or drinks, it wasn't like some I've gone to where it cost more than the coins.
And as to people and the starting times. Most of the shows around me are supposed to start at 9AM. If I get there at 9AM the place is already over crowded. By 11 it is difficult to walk in the aisles.
Your lucky you didn't wander around to much. You could have ended up with more than you sold.
As to money. Regardless of how much you made for a first show, it is more important to find out what it's like, who goes there, how many customers, the age groups and primarily if you had a great time.
Fun is always more important than a few dollars.

 

I did have a blast.

Since a couple of people have mentioned it, I'll comment on the food. They had a small cafeteria set up that sold drinks and hot dogs. I saw some bottles of water over there, but it turns out they weren't actually selling water. Those belonged to the ladies that worked there. They gave me water from the tap for free, and offered to bring me refills if I just called out to them, so I did have to walk over there.

They had hot dogs and wraps that I noticed (I believe $1.25 and $3.75 respectively.) Coffee and a doughnut in the morning was $2.20. A bag of chips was 30 cents, so not too bad. With the purchase of a table, you were given a $4 credit to use at the snack bar. So, the food situation was just fine.

 

Oh! I just remembered more of what I wanted to share:

I thought I would be offered many more coins to purchase than I was. First, I always see guys selling at shows. Second, because of the down economy here in Michigan, and more locally in Detroit (Livonia, where the show was held, is only a few miles from the Detroit border.)

Anyway, I was offered a complete set of Mercury dimes, which I looked at. I'm pretty confident buying the 1916-D raw, but this one had a funny looking mintmark, so I declined. It just wasn't boxy, you know?

I was also offered a roll of 1922 Peace dollars in EF/AU for $300. I declined to purchase this as well. I might, maybe have been able to sell them at that price, but I wasn't going to buy them there.

Also, a guy showed me a Presidential dollar (don't remember which one) that had doubled edge inscription, with one of the inscriptions upside down. I had never heard of this variation before, but I asked around, and apparently a batch of these things was stamped, and then sent back through to be stamped again. Very, very strange. He didn't offer these for sale, but they were neat.

Also, the wildest story of the day: A guy came in with an old $2.50 gold piece that he FOUND IN A ROLL OF CENTS!!! That's insane! He tried to sell it to the guy sharing my table, and I was asked for an opinion of authenticity. I couldn't call it either way, and apparently neither could anyone else. Ken Potter weighed the thing and came to the conclusion it was real gold, so at least the guy has that working for him. It was an older gentleman, and his story was convincing, so I don't think it was a scam. Can you imagine finding that in a roll of cents??????

Okay. I think that's it for now.

 

I think I read a thread about that here at one time....

Ruben

 

Actually Borg, I sat and talked to you for a while. Looked at your toned Jefferson set. Remember the BHD guy? Your buddy is going to send me some pictures? You know.. The old Biker guy.. LOL.. Oh and your buddy had to show me his little pop gun he carries. Guess I should of showed him a real gun eh.. LOL..

 

I suspect you'll find out that there are lots and lots of stories of how someone came up with a certain coin or collection. Be real carefull of those. At one flea market by me a coin dealer tells me there is a guy that wanders around lots of times selling coins. They are from relatives, found on the street, found in rolls from the bank, dug up in his back yard, found under the seat of a car he just bought, in the wall of a building he is working on, etc., etc., etc. If your really observant, you may well see that same person at coin shows over and over and over. They usually are smart and change clothing, grow beards, change hair styles, etc.
Lots of times those are real since they were taken from a home robbery, coin store robbery or at another show, store or even from a coin dealer on his way home from a show.
As to food. Don't try the Coin shows at the Rosemont in Illinois. Usually $5 to get in, $11 to park and the last time I was there it was $2.50 for coffee. I would have bought some food but I would have had to sell my house to afford that. :eat:

 

I got there around 1 stayed until around 3:30 or so. He was there the whole time I was there. I seen the guys in suits wandering around. A lot of people were wondering the same thing. Actually was making more than one dealer I talked to nervous. Guess I should start wearing a cointalk shirt instead of my usual garb.. (Harley shirts) Had a black one on today with a big white Eagle on the back that I picked up a few weeks ago at Bike Week in Daytona..

 

That's ridiculous. I've been to dozens of different shows around here, and not a single one charges admission. They'd be closed in a week.

I know parking in Illinois is a problem, especially around the Chicago area, but I would never pay for parking for a coin show. Oh! Wait...that's a lie. I went to a show in Lansing (Michigan's capital) that was at one of Michigan State University's buildings, and I parked in the student parking structure. That cost me about $2 for the day, I think.)

$2.50 for coffee? Dude...I'd seriously consider MOVING if stuff cost that much where I lived.

 

I still don't recognize you, Jim. I chatted with quite a few fellows today wearing biker garb. I hope you were one of them, and I hope it was pleasant.