YN's and the way they are treated

I know this issue has been discussed many times here, so sorry for bringing it up again. Just a few thoughts on the subject.

It really saddens me to see the lack of attention youngsters are given in this business. I'm 23, and I still have a hard time getting a dealers attention sometime.

I'd like to share a story with all of you. I was recently in a shop, where there was a little boy with his father. The boy was waiting ever so patiently to speak with the dealer. I would estimate the childs age around 8 years old.

I was looking through all the coins in the under the glass, taking note of which ones I wanted to look at, which is normally what I do in order to minimize the amount of time I have to take up from the dealer. Finally the little boy spoke up, and the dealer grouchily responded something along the lines of "what do you want"

The boy said I'd like to sell or trade my coin please. Without looking at it, the dealer told him he did not have time. The father looked quite perturbed and proceeded to exit the shop with his son. I followed suit, as I don't want to put any money in the pocket of such an individual, and after we left I asked the boy if it would be alright if I could see his coin, in an effort to be nice, as I would hate to see someone so young lose interest due to some grouchy jerk.

I was handed a 2x2 flip in which there was a coin that had a dramatic error. I commented to the young boy it looks double struck. The young boy said sort of, and then in explicit detail described to me the difference between a double struck coin, and a saddle strike error, which his was (I didn't know that then of course).

I recommended a shop to take the coin to, and I told the boy he could pick any coin he wanted out of one of the two boxes of coins I had with me (one was a cheap box, and the other were the nicer coins) in exchange for teaching me something new. He was very excited, and asked what was in the other box. I proceeded to show him. The little boy was in absolute awe that he was able to teach someone with "awesome" (the way he described it) coins something new.

By giving him just a couple minutes of my time, not only was I extremely humbled and was able to learn something, I hopefully was able to undo any lasting negative effects the dealer may have had.

What I took out of the experience is no matter how young and or inexperienced someone is, you should never, ever, ever assume that they are not worth your time, or that you cannot learn anything from them.

I personally feel that there probably isn't a single person on this forum that couldn't teach everyone else something about coins they didn't know, regardless of whether or not they have been studying coins for a day, or for 60 years.

I apologize for going off on a tangent, and I'd like to personally thank everyone here for all of the wonderful input that helps make this what it is, a community in which to share knowledge. Also, if you ever witness anything similar to what happened to this little boy, and you can do something to make it better, please do.

And for those of you who personally experience such callousness, try not to let it get to you. Just remind yourself that you are the better person for letting it roll off your back, and know that you can take your business to an establishment where you get the respect you deserve.

 

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here-here!!!! if that is indeed how you spell it.. either way, a very nice deed u did zaneman, very nice!!!

 

I'm over 30 and I still get ignored at some places. It has a lot to do with the dealers attitude towards people as a whole than towards anyone age, sex, etc group.

 

wow I was going to say here-here before I saw your post

The dealers in my town aren't that great, one will only show me stuff if there is no one else even in the shop, and others won't even look at me. I think they think I have no money, but most of the time the people in their shops are only looking a worn nickels and ikes anyways!

 

Oh, and thanks for the contest once agian

 

GREAT story Zaneman!!! I was glued to the screen until the end! You are an asset to the coin collecting community!

swick

 

Thanks for sharing Zane. It truly is a shame how some dealers behave. I've noticed many of them that take no joy in their business whatsoever, like it ceased to be about anything but money years ago. And I've noticed some dealers that don't even speak to people under 40. At the last show I was at though, I saw a very freindly dealer give a crisp old star note to a little girl, making her promise not to spend it on candy. And another dealer giving unc state quarters to every kid who passed by his table.

 

That's nice of you !

I am only 13....but I take coin collecting pretty seriously (I have lots of 17th century pieces !)

 

I haven't seen too many dealers stick out in my mind for how they treat YN's(in a positive sense), except for Julian Leidman. I witnessed him being incredible patient, helpful and wonderful to 3-4 kids at a show.

 

im a YN who 14 and for me its eaither they ignore me complety or they spend extra time explaining stuff to me and other things

i was at the latest baltimore show and everyone was great to me I was a little surprised becuase some of these people had 30-50k coins in their cases

but the few that ignored me were a little surprised when i asked if they have a proof in the 400$ range

 

I took my son to a pretty well-known dealer here in Canada. (Prominent online shop, sells on ebay, very respectable). We were the only ones in the shop, as it happened to be a weekday when he only had a half day of school. (We always went to the coin shop on half days after this!)

The dealer got books of coins out for my son to look at, but of course he like the shiny hologram coins! Anyway - while we were looking, the dealer went in the back and grabbed about a dozen or so low-value circulated coins (including some *I* didn't even have yet!), and put them in a little bag and just gave them to my son. I have been visiting that shop ever since. In fact, I just received an order from them two days ago, and I will drop by next weekend when I am in that town. I never buy any expensive coins (not the kind I collect), but I am usually good for $20-60 worth of lower value coins each and every time I go there. It's dealers like this that I will support, it doesn't hurt that they have some of the best prices around either!

 

Thats a very good thing you did for that little boy Zane. I remember when I first started collecting, I was 12 years old going to coin shows for the first time and recall standing in front of a dealers table while he had a conversation with the dealer beside him and totally ignored me. After a while you learn to spot those types of dealers before you even approach their table and just pass them by. If I saw a dealer treat a YN that way, I wouldnt give him my business either. I was at a coin show today and now, being 42 years old, every dealers table I walked by asked if there was something I wanted to see. Its just really sad that the YNs are treated that way, they're greatly underestimated by the majority of the dealers out there. My hat is off to you Zane.

 

Zane
I also see that happen some around here---most of the time the dealers want to see the green of the money before they will do much with you. I have a great dealer who pretty much knows what I need and what I like to look at. I have only run into a handful of dealers that don't want to do business with me. And them some take another look and even might say something about being glad to see a young face. Last year (and coming up again this year) I set up at a small coin show. While there are only a handful of dealers they treat me just like the others. And we all share info and such! Last year I was the only one that had gotten the new copy of the Gray Sheet so one of the dealers kept coming over looking up prices!!!

As you said--it is a shame the way the younger people are treated---I hope to be a "dealer/collector" that can help change that.

 

I've walked up to a dealer's table, looked over his merchandise, selected the items I wished to purchase, laid them in the center of his table, pulled out a roll of $20's and $100's that would choke a horse, peeled off the amount due, laid it on top of the merchandise, and still got ignored.

I'm nearly 47, and been collecting coins for over 40 years, so I can't imagine being mistaken for a beginning collector.
The bottom line is, I have no problem taking my money to someone who wants to do business.
I just don't appreciate being lead to believe that a merchant is "open for business", and then, after spending my time shopping with him, finding out that he isn't interested in me, or my money.

Anyway, I just try to learn from my experiences, so that I don't make the same mistakes twice.

 

coin collector should be nice to each others

 

I found a dealer in town that finally is a good one, great prices and good service. They actually ackiwladge my exsistance!

 

i've only seen 1 bad dealer. i am 14, and spend at least $50 on coins every time i see a dealer. one time i went to a town gathering thing on main street with my mom. i told my mom i was going to look at the coin booths. i walked up to this older man that was talking to a 40 or so year old man. i wanted to look through his box of buffalo nickels, and just stood there untill the man stopped. i asked him and he said "i don't like to sell coins to kids, because they just spend or steal them" i said i was interested in buying some coins from him, but he didn't even get up to let me see. so i just stood there, looking at the coins, and then walked off. as i was walking, i noticed another coin booth right next to the one i just walked off from. he was talking to another man in his 50's, and he stopped and said, "do you want to look at anything? i said yes and pointed to some indian head cents. i bought a bunch of coins from him. i'm guessing $40 worth. the crabby guy was suprised when i pulled out a 50 and gave it to the dealer to pay for my coins. when i got done, i walked past the crabby coin dealer and gave him a dirty look. if he would have just been nice to me, he would have gotton my business. but he had to think kids my age spend and steal old coins. well, every year that same coin dealer is up there. i just keep walking.

 

That was nice of what you did Zane. :thumb: I used to go to a coin dealer in a flea market, well two dealers I guess you could say. One of them is really nice to me and will talk with me and show me some stuff, while the other basically ignores me, or if no one else is around will go "need anything?" In a mumbled voice. I used to buy from them, but now decided not to put up with the other guys attitude. One day maybe I'll go back one last time and spend maybe $100, just to see his face. But oday I went to a new guy, walked in, and immediatly asked "Can I help you?" in a friendly tone. I said yeah, and asked if they had a few things. They did, and I looked at him. He asked me how and when I got started, what coins do I collect, etc. And do I have a list of anything I want. I was really surprised. The best part of it all is he is open 6 days a week, unlike the flea market guy, who is only open on weekends. So that makes it even more convenient. He shoewd me a few things, and traded some stuff, about $20 worth I would say, and I am happy. Thanks for looking out for the YN's out there Zane.

Phoenix

 

Coin dealers who don't care to wait on me in their shops will never see any of the money I am willing to spend. At a coin show, I purposely walked by a coin dealer who earlier didn't find the time to wait on me and I went to a table across from him and bought a PCGS MS 63 1885-CC Morgan dollar. The dealer across from me looked at me and I looked right back at him, then walked away with my purchase. Both dealers sold morgans, one had a chance earlier to work with me and didn't. I did not reward his behavior.
Having said all of this, I will not tell someone how to run their business. If they want to wait on their customers fine, if not fine also. If they don't want to wait on me or act like I am not even there...I am out the door.
Thank goodness, I don't see a lot of coin dealers who act that way., but there are some brick and mortar dealers who just want the quick sale without doing anything. In my opinion. they should consider only selling to other dealers or e-bay.

 

Its my opinion that if they want to act that way, miserable and rude, then maybe they're in the wrong line of work.