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Who are the Biggest Coin Dealers? Money Wise or Volume?
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I've wondered who are the biggest dalers in terms of value and volume.
Example by financial sales, I would think its ebay then the US Mint, maybe then Apmex etc.?
Volume wise, maybe also US Mint then Littleton?
What are your thoughts?
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This is a question many have wondered about over time. Unfortunately, no firm answer can be given since very few dealers are public corporations and have to publish such information.
eBay would not count since they are only a venue and not a coin dealer.
Should bullion sellers even be considered to be "coin dealers"?
The US Mint certainly has a very large volume but is only a "one way" market ... they don't buy any coins from the public ... all of theirs come via the treasury department.
Littleton is, so far as I know, still a privately held company.
I'd like to know the answer to your question but in the end the answer will just be speculation.
Odds are the biggest are not the ones you expect.
Also depends on if you consider the straight bullion guys or just coin dealers.
Ebay is not a dealer and carries no inventory, ships no products and eats no returns.
My guess as the largest is Heritage.
The U.S. Mint probably shouldn't count. Much of their actual volume is not retail coins: bullion and circulation coinage. They are certainly the largest producer, but in a field of one (domestically).
Ebay doesn't buy or sell any coins. They arethe landlord not the store.
Even auction companies probably should be in a separate category. They do buy and sell some. A lot of their volume, though, is really consignments.
As for the rest, I don't care. Lol. Bullion is its own category. And, size aside, where you go is different for different items.
The few dealers that are the suppliers of silver and gold eagles would have to be right up there.
Here are the minimum requirements for distributors.
https://usmint.gov/news/consumer-alerts/business-guidelines/authorized-purchaser-program
I would guess Heritage as #1 and Stacks Bowers #2.
Legend, while not in the top 2-3 has some high quality,
nifty coins.
If you are talking about volume then there are a lot of junk dealers out there that compete for the top spots. Especially the ones on TV. From a value perspective it's hard to tell.
Ebay and the Mint are not coin dealers in the true sense of the designation. As for the question 'Who is the largest?', I would say that may be known in some circles, but not generally public knowledge. Laura could probably give some good inputs here.... Cheers, RickO
Not me.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
What percentage of their sales are consignments? I'm not sure they even crack the top 10 if you only consider coins they bought and sold.
I think 95% of the coins Heritage sells aren't there own either. So, they really are closer to eBay than they are to Wondercoin or Apmex.
I don't know how you CANNOT count the U.S. Mint.
The Mint's collector coin and bullion coin sales skim off a whole lot of money every year, including a certain percentage from the serious, long-time collectors.
Look at all the people on this forum who just chunked out good money for the Palladium coin.
I agree I think some of the biggest dealers are wholesalers and market makers. They are names that are going to be familiar to dealers but not so much to collectors.
Heritage still handles the goods that they broker. They also do a substantial non auction business. Guess we need the OP to clarify whether bullion is included.
Also, should the Mint numbers include coinage for produced for circulation, or just the collector stuff that we scramble madly for a few times each year.
The Mint has to be in a separate category. You have to count them if you are trying to track coin sales - although they are the producer more than the "dealer". On the other hand, the U.S. Mint has zero influence on coin prices other than this year's sets. The coin market is made by the people who issue the bids and asks. The U.S. Mint has no bids out on anything.
Coin Dealers-NOT auctions houses:
Heritage they sell a ton wholedsale
CAC remember they make markets
Us coins
Rare Coin Wholesalers
DLRC ( he has Delloy)
Legend
Stuppler (he has some huge customers)
NFC
Rarcoa will be up there too soon now they have a new Prez. They probably do $50+ million in generic gold alone
AUCTION HOUSES
Heritage
Stacks
Legend
Goldberg
DLRC (selling Delloys dupes is a huge biz)
Great Collecctions
Kagins
I don't think I forgot any of the bigger dealers who do real numbers.But I will check later to see if I did
@jmlanzaf The pie of discretionary collector dollars is only so big, and there is really only one pie. Serious collector money that goes to the U.S. Mint doesn't go to the auction houses and dealers.
Which is how they indirectly affect the price of some collector coins. But even then, how many people buy proof seated dollars AND U.S. Mint annual Mint sets?
But they do not issue bids, so they do not directly affect the price of older coins on the secondary market.
Total numismatic sales by the Mint are a little under $400 million. Total U.S. numismatic sales in 2017 are estimated to be around $3.5 billion. That makes the Mint 10% of the total market, but with less impact on certain sectors than you think.
My first thought was Rare Coin Wholesalers. They have an insane inventory! NFC in Winter Springs (Orlando area) is also not too shabby...
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The OP stated VALUE and VOLUME. With that said
no company comes close to Heritage. They have weekly
and monthly auctions along with large shows ie. : ANA,
FUN and Long Beach to name a few. The few times I
have seen them at shows, they were doing very well
with retail sales. The U.S. Mint is nothing more Mike Mezac (sic.)
with a coining press. Stacks/Bowers is only in the top 5
because they handle many "old" collections ( Pogue, Anderson).
APMEX basically sells bullion. So in my basic understanding
of the OP I stand by the Heritage selection
Again, I just think auction companies belong in a different category. Heritage is easily the biggest auction company at roughly $200 million in coins per year. But there's a difference between brokering $200 million and actually buying/selling $200 million.
I would ask the source(s) that you are pulling your numbers from, especially the big number.
The numismatic sales number comes from the US Mint 2017 annual report. It does not include bullion, of course.
https://usmint.gov/about/reports
The total coin market number came from Numi News
numismaticnews.net/article/coin-market-got-smaller
A couple dealers in my town claim to be the biggest. But we're talking circumferences, now.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
The fattest Knight of all times was Sir Cumference.
He ate too much Pi.
biggest bullion dealer by far-A Mark. They do BILLIONS. At one time Forbes listed them as one of the largest grossing privately own businesses. Now they are owned by the same folks who own Stacks