Featured The End of the Local Coin Shop?

I have read a few comments above and will read all before I leave yet, here is my opinion of the "local coin shop":

They will always be a local coin shop but, I do see them slowly fading away but, not because of the pandemic or sheltering in place. On the contrary, their demise started some years ago when the online shopping began then, became more popular. Case in point, if you decide to buy or sell a specific coin and go to the local coin shop, you will receive about 60% of its value because the shop needs to make money when they sell it which could take days, weeks or months. Should you attempt to purchase that same coin from them, they rarely discount below 80%, again because they need to make money on the sale. This is not a very level playing field.

Along comes online retailing and shopping. That same coin could fetch nearly its value or in very rare cases...could go for more depending on the buyer and their motivation. the obverse of that is buying the same coin which in many cases you could possibly purchase for well below the value and maybe at 60% as I have done many times. Personally, I need equity in a coin otherwise, its not worth the value.

So, taking the above in consideration, the local coin shop needs to compete with online or begin the process of slowly dying because the deals (whether buying or selling) is not at the local coin shop. I agree with many that the interaction and neighborly fell is great in the local coin shop yet, online is catering to the need of buyers and sellers with value and discounts so, if the local coin shops don't accommodate, online will and they will soon go the way of video rental stores. Any thoughts?

 

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I agree. Basically it's the march of "progress", for better or worse. My original thought is that the pandemic is acting as an accelerant in hastening the demise of the coin shop, and a lot of other retailers, big and small.

The coin shop that I mentioned in my first post does post coins and other items on eBay, and I am sure this is a widespread practice. But if street traffic decreases and few people visit a shop, and fixed costs keep piling up, there seems, economically, little incentive to maintain a shop, and a much stronger incentive to sell via the Internet.

 

I can't wait for my coin club to start monthly meetings again, and the local coin show I go to each month. The interaction among fellow collectors is more valuable to me than anything I could ever get from any online coin shop. So my coin fund has been growing.

And when I can, I'm taking my money to my favorite coin shop!

 

But what about the point people have made that it's necessary for many dealers to maintain a brick and mortar presence because it facilitates their being able to buy coins from people looking to sell their own or a relative's collection? Apparently there's a view that an Internet-only presence makes it more difficult to build inventory. Even a big operation like Heritage maintains street-level showrooms not only at their headquarters in Dallas, but in Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Palm Beach, Chicago, New York City, and London -- not to sell, but to buy inventory. A few years ago, I consigned some memorabilia of minor value compared to what Heritage usually deals with (< $10,000; not coins) to them for auction, and it made things a whole lot easier to have a place where I could make an appointment to bring it in person than if I'd had to ship it off to Dallas! Same thing with the coins and medals I sold to Stack's Bowers during the same period. During the times I've been there, I was able to see that they get visits all the time from people looking to sell or consign their coins.

 

It's true that local shops get foot traffic and phone calls of people inquiring about that old coin collection left by Uncle Harry, but there has been a long-term trend of many people posting these coins on eBay. Often, they don't know what they have, but they need the cash.

But you have a point - it is far better to go somewhere with a coin or a collection and talk to someone who is knowledgeable and trustworthy and is willing to help you sell or to buy outright. It just seems to me that this option is dying off, and that's a shame.

 

I imagine it is still there if it was in 2017. I collect coins for only 3 months now so I haven't explored all the possibilities the city has to offer. Will definitely check it out when the crisis is over, thanks for telling me!

 

Unfortunately I have never really had a coin shop located near me. Living in the outer suburbs of a city the only places that sell coins are the Post Offices that stock commemorative and collectable coins by our national mint. In the centre of my city there is actually a really nice coin shop that stocks all sorts of coins with a major focus on ancient coins, but unfortunately the travel into the city is usually a nightmare so I have rarely gone. It is also one that a previous user described where you have to be buzzed in and the door locks behind you so it does not exactly feel too welcoming despite how kind the staff are (they have to protect themselves from thieves though I suppose).

The only place I can really talk and learn about coins is on sites like this one that always have an abundance of new stories and information that I am grateful for.

 

I can't say I've been to many coin shops, but in all cases I have always had to be buzzed in.

 

Yes, that has been a common security precaution for most places for some time now.

 

And I don't blame them. Buzzing a prospective customer in allows the dealer to evaluate the person at the door as to their intentions. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

I have been to a few coin shops but most of them did not sell what interests me. Mostly US coins. I couldn't tell you where one is in my area although I assume a city the size of Houston must have one somewhere. I like coin shows but even those are about 80/90% us coins with maybe one small area for miscellaneous.

 

But of course they will be handling mostly US coins. You just don't see many ancients attending coin shows! Except maybe Doug once in awhile.

 

If we have success at shows, it is by selecting shows carefully. Right now, all shows are cancelled so this thread is worthless but, if they start up again, look for a listing of dealers attending that show and see if any sell ancients. I live in Virginia, In 2019 I went to shows in Annandale, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Baltimore MD. These had between 2 and 20 dealers who specialized in ancients. John S. is right that most dealers only have US. Ignore them but be glad they are there. Their table fees make the shows possible.

 

Probably "Coins and Medals", run by Emil Szauer - just off O'Connell St. We have an annual Emil Szauer Memorial Lecture at the Numismatic Society of Ireland, where he was a founder member. Sadly, there are no real coin shops in Dublin today - Emil Szauer passed away about 20 years ago. Tony Schormann, who had a small shop selling some modern world coins and proofs in the George's Arcade died recently - I'm not sure if his shop will reopen after the current virus-related closures. In fact, the "Coin and Medals" premises hosted a coin shop until a few years back, but they moved out of the city centre some time back. The only ancient coins I ever bought in a shop in Dublin were a couple of sestertii from a French antiques dealer who had a few coins in a cabinet

Every September, we have a "show and tell" night to mark the resumption of the NSI meetings and one year a member brought his medal notebook to show and read from. The member is an accomplished artist who remains active at ninety years of age and has designed a number of Irish circulating and NCLT coins - including the "Antarctic Explorers" coins, the £1 circulating coin and the 1988 Millennium 50p (Dublin's Millennium - Galway had a Quincentennial, Cork an "800", so Dublin had to outdo them and found some reference to Dublin doing something in 988). Anyway, his medal notebook had sketches of medals he'd designed or bought and also notes from when he'd bought the medals. The price, the haggling, who was in the shop at the time, what they spoke about, and so on. A world far removed from the sniping and clicking of today!

Anyway, to some extent, without shops, at least we have the societies and forums like this for some community - collecting as a solitary exercise isn't so interesting!

ATB,
Aidan.

 

An interesting discussion. I had a funny coin shop experience 30+ years ago when I was in college. Back then I was going through a punk rock/New Wave phase and my appearance was a bit...ridiculous? Scary? Anyway, first time I went to this shop, the owner, a burly Greek guy, casually pulled out a massive automatic pistol (a .45 Colt, I believe) and laid it on the safe behind the counter. He was friendly, but, you know, he didn't know me.

I bought from him fairly regularly and we got along fine - and after that first visit, he did not bring out the .45. At the time I was somewhat alarmed, but I think it is funny now.

In more recent coin shop experiences, I just made my first COVID-19-era visit to my local coin shop yesterday. Quite frankly, I don't buy much from them lately - eBay has ruined me when it comes to pricing (as several others have noted above). But years before the Internet, he was my go-to guy for coins, including my first ancient. I'm very fond of the place. They know me, even in a COVID mask, so no pistols.

Anyway, when I do buy something local, I tend to pay far more than I normally do for similar material on eBay, but I really like knowing he is there. Yesterday the clerk told me they have been busy since reopening, although mostly with people buying - people selling have been scarce. He speculated that the stimulus check might be keeping some away.

So here they are. The Macedonian AE of Alexander looks better than my photos, which bleached it out some - it was $35, which, again, is a bit high given the surfaces. But it is better than others in my collections, so I'm happy with it.

The other two...I have no excuse except they were $1 and $0.50 in his junk bin and I just felt sorry for them. That is, I am pretty sure, an As of Marcus Aurelius, Victory walking with trophy reverse, and Constantius I follis of the SACRA MONET AVGG ET CAESS NOSTR type, not sure what mint. It took me an hour or so of hunting and squinting to get that far, which is fun, for me.




Macedon Æ 18
Alexander III
(c. 336-323 B.C.)
Uncertain Macedon Mint
Head of Herakles right, with lionskin head-dress / [A]ΛEΞANΔΡOY, between bow and case above, club below; K below.
Price 301.
(6.07 grams / 18 x 16 mm)

 

For ancients, I visit Harlan Berk in Chicago from time to time

 

I hear from colleagues that it's still going, although it's getting smaller and smaller in terms of exhibitors.

 

That's funny! And I thought I was the only one who had recurring dreams about forgetting my passport prior to travel! Sadly, I haven't had opportunity to travel in some years, but I still have the forgotten passport dreams from time to time.

 

I really hope they survive. Unfortunately I live in Springfield MO ant the only two coin shops (term used facetiously) that exist here are in it for the business of separating the unsuspecting from their possessions. We had one individual that due to health reasons had to retire. I miss being able to go to a shop and chat about the coins, seek info and make HONEST trades or purchases. Sure he was in business to make money, but at least he would do it in a manner that was fair to both sides. The only thing we have now is a coin club that meets once a month and due to Corona virus we have not been able to meet.
I hope each of you are in a town that has a local coin shop and they do not mind you dropping in for a chat.
Enjoy the activities available to you.
Semper Fi

 

I have always thought of dreams as windows on the subconscious, mixed with current events in one's life, perhaps even some elements of a Marx Brothers movie thrown in for good measure.

For myself, the passport dreams are almost always visiting London to see my sister. Why is it always London? I've visited other cities in Europe and elsewhere. I wish Douglas Adams was still with us. Arthur Dent, who had insights into childhood might have some reasonable explanation. After all, he did have this to say in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

“You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Or maybe the dreams have some link to something to the world we live in:

“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
"What?"
"I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
"I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
Ford shrugged again.
"Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."
"But that's terrible," said Arthur.
"Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.”
― Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish