Past, present and future for the brick & mortar coin dealer

zski123

I could have posted this in any forum but since I'm primarily dealing in foreign issues, this seemed most appropriate. I'm wondering if some of the more seasoned collectors would care to offer up observations on how their interactions with the local coin dealer has changed over the years? I'm a relative newby to the hobby meaning less than 10 years. LOL.

Here are my observations/experiences from South Florida... a 100% true interaction with a large dealer.

Me: Hello. I was on your website and it seems you guys work with Ancients and foreign issues.

Dealer: Yes. I deal in foreign issues. If you're selling any, I buy them by the pound.

Me: I'm not necessarily just looking to sell. I would like to know what you have that I might be looking to purchase or trade.

Dealer: Well, what do you have you might be interested in selling?

Me: Selling? I do have a Zeugitana Carthage AV Stater AU NGC slabbed. I'm looking to sell or trade that coin.

Dealer: Is it silver or gold?

Me: It's gold. That's what "AV" means.

Dealer: What do you want for it?

Me: Looking for $4,500 in cash or equivalent wholesale trade.

Dealer: I can buy those all day for a couple hundred bucks.

Me: Ok. I'll give you my contact information and I'll take as many as you get. Feel free to charge me $600 so you can triple your investment.

Dealer: [silence]

That really happened. It's one of several like experiences. I find nearly all of the dealers in my area seem to be in business to exchange precious metals or hope that the widow brings in their spouse's collection. It is the same with US issues as well but far more prevalent with foreign or ancients. It has me wondering.

1. The past surely could not have been like this otherwise the hobby would not be to this scale.
2. What is the future for this hobby if these places no longer exist?
3. As your expertise increased, did you have less interaction with dealers in the "old days"?

Just curious about your collective thoughts on the topic.

TomB

I read your post and the conversation (to me) reads as though you spoke with a lower end telemarketer whose job is merely to move product and not necessarily to be a numismatist.

My opinion, based upon 40-years or so of being in this hobby-industry is that the local, full service, brick-and-mortar coin shop has largely gone the way of the local, independent bookseller. That is, everyone buys their books online (digital or paper), few want to discuss the author or title with someone who might be knowledgeable or who could give them insight, and everyone is looking for the cheapest option in purchase (the common denominator to so many things in our society).

While I find that the local, brick-and-mortar has largely disappeared, I have also found that there are many coin dealers online who are quite happy to provide specialized, boutiques services to clients, but that these dealers tend not to be the largest or spend the most on advertising. As an example, I provide a lot of value to collectors, but few want that value (a great eye, steering folks away from bad coins, tons of information) because they want to spend the lowest dollar amount for what is oftentimes the worst coin.

Four decades ago most areas had a local coin dealer or two, most collectors bought a fair bit through coin magazine mail order ads and often were fleeced with wildly overgraded material and/or cleaned pieces of junk, most communities had a local coin club that met once a month or so at a school, library or VFW, the inner workings of the numismatic industry were a black box that no one could penetrate from the outside, wholesale information was unavailable to the public, counterfeits and otherwise altered coins were common, common, common and when you purchased a coin from a dealer you generally went back to that dealer when it was time to sell so that the coins were always churned locally. Today the collecting community has it far better (except for local access to neighborhood shops) and with only the most basic amount of work one can avoid lower end telemarketers.