I was taught many years ago by an unnamed dealer to only buy an upgrade if it's nicer (in eye appeal) than the coin it's replacing. As such, I've lost the temptation to focus only on the label on the grade of a PCGS coin with a CAC sticker, and instead to make sure when I receive the new coin, I get pleasure out of seeing that the new one is indeed nicer!
One of the financial mistakes I do make is buying coins in grades lower than my target grade for that slot, since I don't know how soon, or how long, it'll take for a nice one to come along. That's why I'm periodically upgrading. Mentally, if I lose money when I sell the coin that was upgraded, I consider the money lost as the "rent" I paid for that coin to occupy that slot while I waited for the nicer looking coin in my target grade to come along. Many people are smarter, and will have the patience to wait for the nice coin in their target grade.
Steve
A day without fine wine and working on your coin collection is like a day without sunshine!!!
They're very professional with bullion, buy/sell spreads are good, and they will send an ach out quickly when you ship to them with minimum buying amounts close to $3K. The stock photos on certified coins are not favorable to serious collectors who want to see what they are buying.
@logger7 said:
They're very professional with bullion, buy/sell spreads are good, and they will send an ach out quickly when you ship to them with minimum buying amounts close to $3K. The stock photos on certified coins are not favorable to serious collectors who want to see what they are buying.
In my experience, they will use a stock photo if they have more than one coin available. I will only buy certified coins from APMEX when I see this caption:
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, they have retrieved the cert number number for me when the above message was not present.
Not quite sure if this thread is dancing around Rule #2 or not but I'll play.
As someone stated earlier, APMEX is primarily a bullion trade; very seldom have I noticed actual pics of the item unless it is somehow special or unique to their inventory... more commonly traded items like Morgans, common pre-33 gold etc. are usually represented by stock photos, it seems. That being said, it really isn't that hard to answer a few questions or send a pic. I'm thinking you need to get past the first line of CS reps if you want such things though.
@telephoto1 said:
Not quite sure if this thread is dancing around Rule #2 or not but I'll play.
I'd say, confidently, no. Steve was kind enough to tell a story about his experience, and I don't see anything here that could be considered libelous accusatory, or attacking.
@telephoto1 said:
Not quite sure if this thread is dancing around Rule #2 or not but I'll play.
I'd say, confidently, no. Steve was kind enough to tell a story about his experience, and I don't see anything here that could be considered libelous accusatory, or attacking.
Libelous, accusatory I agree with "no". The last seems to be up to individual interpretation I suppose. I've seen threads get locked for less (and not locked with worse).
@SurfinxHI said:
I know it was said here, but APMEX is primarily bullion….and their customer service has always been impeccable for me, on the buy or sell side. My guess is if you want a full service coin dealer, then APMEX might not be for you. But if you need to buy or sell bullion, they might be a good match.
Surf
They buy and sell a TON of non-bullion coins. There were at least two purchasers on the floor at the TNA show in Conroe last weekend. Cleaning several dealers out.
Of course, they were at the OKC show in April (the only complaint I heard was the OKC banks were going to put 7-day holds on checks from them - and they're based in OKC!!!!).
Pretty sure they were in Tulsa. Not sure about Grapevine this weekend.
It's often easy to tell - they work in pairs, with APMEX lanyards and laptops with Cellular Network cards - no con-center wifi for them.
-----Burton ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
I had the same experience, I wanted to buy a Type 3 gold dollar and they wouldn't provide a picture or even give me the number, I ended up passing, I have no interest in buying something sight unseen.
They can't show an image if it's in another dealers inventory and they don't have images.
That's my main take away from this thread.
Nice images are a must. Even semi-nice. APMEX's images are so tiny I can't see any surfaces.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
Successful BST transactions with: Namvet Justindan Mattniss RWW olah_in_MA
Comments
I was taught many years ago by an unnamed dealer to only buy an upgrade if it's nicer (in eye appeal) than the coin it's replacing. As such, I've lost the temptation to focus only on the label on the grade of a PCGS coin with a CAC sticker, and instead to make sure when I receive the new coin, I get pleasure out of seeing that the new one is indeed nicer!
One of the financial mistakes I do make is buying coins in grades lower than my target grade for that slot, since I don't know how soon, or how long, it'll take for a nice one to come along. That's why I'm periodically upgrading. Mentally, if I lose money when I sell the coin that was upgraded, I consider the money lost as the "rent" I paid for that coin to occupy that slot while I waited for the nicer looking coin in my target grade to come along. Many people are smarter, and will have the patience to wait for the nice coin in their target grade.
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
They're very professional with bullion, buy/sell spreads are good, and they will send an ach out quickly when you ship to them with minimum buying amounts close to $3K. The stock photos on certified coins are not favorable to serious collectors who want to see what they are buying.
In my experience, they will use a stock photo if they have more than one coin available. I will only buy certified coins from APMEX when I see this caption:
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, they have retrieved the cert number number for me when the above message was not present.
Tim
Not quite sure if this thread is dancing around Rule #2 or not but I'll play.
As someone stated earlier, APMEX is primarily a bullion trade; very seldom have I noticed actual pics of the item unless it is somehow special or unique to their inventory... more commonly traded items like Morgans, common pre-33 gold etc. are usually represented by stock photos, it seems. That being said, it really isn't that hard to answer a few questions or send a pic. I'm thinking you need to get past the first line of CS reps if you want such things though.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
I'd say, confidently, no. Steve was kind enough to tell a story about his experience, and I don't see anything here that could be considered libelous accusatory, or attacking.
Founder- Peak Rarities
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This is a perfect example of why this forum is great! Bravo!
Libelous, accusatory I agree with "no". The last seems to be up to individual interpretation I suppose. I've seen threads get locked for less (and not locked with worse).
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
They buy and sell a TON of non-bullion coins. There were at least two purchasers on the floor at the TNA show in Conroe last weekend. Cleaning several dealers out.
Of course, they were at the OKC show in April (the only complaint I heard was the OKC banks were going to put 7-day holds on checks from them - and they're based in OKC!!!!).
Pretty sure they were in Tulsa. Not sure about Grapevine this weekend.
It's often easy to tell - they work in pairs, with APMEX lanyards and laptops with Cellular Network cards - no con-center wifi for them.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
By coincidence I just went through a bullion order from Apmex from several months ago to pull out a birthtyear Silver Eagle.
I've always had a good experience with them on bullion and a few non-bullion clearance items.
@winesteven
I had the same experience, I wanted to buy a Type 3 gold dollar and they wouldn't provide a picture or even give me the number, I ended up passing, I have no interest in buying something sight unseen.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
They can't show an image if it's in another dealers inventory and they don't have images.
That's my main take away from this thread.
Nice images are a must. Even semi-nice. APMEX's images are so tiny I can't see any surfaces.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
Successful BST transactions with: Namvet Justindan Mattniss RWW olah_in_MA