Is there anyone out there that will locate a specified coin for a fee?
Mizzou
Posts: 529 ✭✭✭✭
There has to be someone that will locate a specified coin, charge a percentage of the sale price and collect if you make the purchase. Seems like there would be a good market for this service.
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
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Shopping for picky collectors is very time consuming and often not worth it unless it was a very big purchase. Are you talking about one specific coin that you’re looking to find, or just finding a nice example within your criteria?
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If you work with any traveling dealers ... and they know your interest, I would think there is little additional effort to look for the item or even a list. In the past I have share my hit list and on occasion they actually came across an example and they reached out to me before listing them for general public. The challenge, I would believe, if the piece is a unique piece that is not in high demand then they would risk getting stuck with it if does not meet your expectations. If it is a high value piece then I am sure there are several would consider taking you up on it .... gee, Bob Simpson did not put together his massive collection without dealer agents - same with Hanson/DLRC
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
If you are looking for 7, 8, or 9 figures, reach out to Ian at GreatCollections.
For lower priced materials, there are dealers who still advertise "want list" services.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Most show dealers will allow you to place a want list with them, the issue here is the one @DeplorableDan mentioned, for this to work the end customer and the dealer you place the want list with have to be in lockstep and understand what will appeal to you the end customer.
For example, I had been looking for several years with no luck trying to find a few of the tough to find (find nice) 20's SF Lincolns. So I asked Andy at Angel Dee's if he would keep an eye out for those dates/mm, the key here is that I had prior face to face dealings with Andy so he was very in tune with what I needed and could afford. It took a bit of time but Andy was able to locate two absolutely perfect coins which I needed to complete my 09-58 Lincoln set.
My advice, find a specialist in the area you are seeking, establish a relationship and trust with that person, place your want list and be very specific as to what you want and are willing to pay.
Edited to add: here is a photo of one of the coins that Andy located for me, I doubt that I could have found a more perfect MS64RB coin myself.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Sure, it's called a want list and folks have been doing it for decades.
However, with so many coins being offered on the internet these days, most collectors and dealers prefer to find their own pieces. If you need help finding a coin and the person whom you are working with finds it then the transaction becomes the next sticking point in that they better find something you like and you better be willing to pay. In my experience, even the most well-intentioned clients and dealers can have the wrong coin in the mix.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Poor @golden has been looking for an AU58 double eagle for well over 3 years now.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1036025/now-175-reward/p1
I doubt that you will find any luck with getting someone to search for you, your best bet is to scour E-Bay and go to shows.
Type collector, mainly into Seated. -formerly Ownerofawheatiehorde. Good BST transactions with: mirabela, OKCC, MICHAELDIXON, Gerard
I’ve given my want list to multiple dealers, in the past, and never had any results nor even any further communication. Found out that it’s much easier to do it, myself, and asking a dealer to do it for you only gives yourself unneeded competition.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I've worked with a few dealers in the past who attend all the major shows. It's nice to have a relationship with someone you trust, who has a great eye, and knows EXACTLY what you're looking for. Nothing beats seeing a coin in hand.
Dave
>
That's pretty much been my experience with a "want list".
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
Yeah, once I got an automatically generated email three years later from a dealer telling me they had a coin in their inventory that I was looking for lol. They weren’t actively trying to help me..they just happened to, by pure coincidence, obtain a coin that I was looking for lol It was ugly and in the wrong grade. 😜. After that-I said ‘enough is enough’. Besides, I have a lot of fun looking on my own.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I disagree.
I absolutely prefer seeing a photo of any quality on the internet instead of traveling somewhere to "see" a coin in hand.
Two things, first you should only give a want list to a single dealer, by spreading your list among many dealers you are asking for those dealers to compete with each other (and you if you are also bidding in the same auction) which will result in driving the price up. Second communication is key and it goes both ways, you have to tell the person you give a wish list to if you plan to bid on your want list coin in an auction, that way you are not bidding against yourself.
A want list works just fine, but you have to be involved for it to work.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Really?
I hope that comment was "tongue & cheek"
It's gotten to the point that I can't buy a coin online based on the photos presented! Now, I hope that the coin has a "true view" OR the coin has been in a recent auction so I can see the coin. So many times I'll buy a coin based on the dealers photos only to be surprised in a bad way when I receive it.
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Really! 100% prefer online ease and accessibility
I am a professional photographer by trade and can decipher most online coin photos in photoshop. The best deals are on the worst photos
I once had a dealer outbid me on a very hard to find coin because he knew i needed it (It was a dealer i knew fairly well, but i had not asked him to find it for me), and then offered it to me for sale not knowing I was the underbidder. He wanted to charge me what he paid +20%n and wasnt thrillef when I offered to buy it at my high bid. lol
I send a kind of want list to dealers I have worked with before. I will ask them if they have such and such coin in stock in this grade range and if so, let me know, with a picture and I'll make an offer. I have had very good luck, but only working with dealers that I have had a long relationship with and always have a fast check or credit card number. I can't know every coin in every dealers case, and coins come and go. If they happen to have one at the moment then they will probably have an easy sale. Most of what I'm looking for is not main stream high demand coins but things that are in my current interest (I like certain Masonic pennies, and elongated cents and some, when found, are not cheap)
Kind of why I like buy it now on Ebay (especially if they have "or make offer"). My want list is my favorite searches on ebay and they often as not turn up something neat that I'm looking for and I buy it.
The best and maybe only way to have a dealer find something for you is to build a relationship with them. That can be done by having the dealer represent you at auction, buy/sell coins with you or have a long term relationship that let's them know you're serious. Dealers are in the business of making money and if Joe Shmoe asks them to find something it'll require work, time and no guarantee of a sale. You won't get much help like that.
I think members here will tell their stories of having built a relationship with a dealer who then helps them in the manner you're hoping for. I have mine.
This is the absolutely true. Being a photographer opens doors that no one else is confident walking through.
Coin Photographer.
Servicing want lists is one thing; we do that for many customers... but I'd want to have a contract with specifics drawn up before signing on as someone's buying agent, which I believe is what the OP is describing. And- I'd want to know said buyer very well first. Otherwise, it's a way to get stuck with something when the guy finds a spot where a fly landed on it in 1904 and decides he doesn't want it.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
Excellent idea but not realistic.
I don't go to shows.....why?.. Because I hate walking in circles for hours, going from table to table looking for a specific coin with zero results! If the major shows had a want list buyers could log into, dealers could review it a couple of weeks before the show starts.
For Example: Wanted: 09-S-VDB, AU55, ANACS Soap Bar Slab. The dealer could respond, table number and estimated price....I'll be there! But that's probably not realistic either.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
Post what you're looking for? We know people
9 figures?!?!!? I would pay an entrance fee to see a $100,000,000 coin.
I still disagree. Just because you can look at the photo and see if it was photoshoped doesn't mean that you can say "why" it was photoshoped.
I'll continue to do it my way because the people out there (not all) continue to give you bad or photoshoped photos of the coins
Yes it is easier but not worth the risk
JMO
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Here is an example of a coin listed on Ebay
How could you buy this coin with these pics?
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
It would be interesting to ask the seller why he is hiding the slab label.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I'm a professional photographer which makes me psychic.
That’s an EXCELLENT idea. Would be simple to execute, especially for larger shows and would enhance attendance and sales. Hope some show organizers pick up on this. Our host could set this up as well, a Show BST. Estimated price could be optional, add cert number or show picture if raw (optional).
What coin are you looking for?
Are you definitely going to buy the coin?
Are you going to pay the person for searching for and finding it if you decide not to buy it?
Why can't you just search for this coin?
If its a hard to locate high dollar coin one may not hit the market for many years.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
Ira Stein was a "personal coin shopper" of sorts at one time. He had some well-heeled clients who gave him want lists. He would go to shows and use his very good eye to try and fill them. He did okay with this, but he did occasionally get "stuck" with coins that he had to sell elsewhere because the client refused them.
You can put your wantlist in Heritage and they will notify you if a coin on your wantlist comes around. As many have mentioned, other dealers do accept wantlists.
But, contrary to the OP's suggestions, there is really limited utility to this arrangement on both sides of the transaction. Most buyers are not going to buy just any coin offered to them. And most dealers aren't going to spend a lot of time looking for specific coins that the buyer may not purchase.