@davewesen said:
Do the Dansco people know what their stuff has been selling for on Ebay? like the gold type page going for over $100?
They knew it was going for high prices amongst collectors but I don't think they knew just how high. They were surprised to hear that they're for up to $180. I know it's that high, because that's how much I sold one for last month.
They've been hearing for years to reprint the gold page, but they can't justify the time it would cost. Their business model is working through wholesalers/distributors. Those guys would be getting most of the money from gold page sales, not Danaco. Just make more sense for Dansco to stick with making albums that's most in demand.
Don't forget the loupes.
The Bausch and lomb 3x-4x =7x. Has been dicontinued and is a great loupe used by some top dealers / authenticators.
There are still some on shelves of the B&M's. I use mine all the time. Keep going back to it for bourse dealer hunting.
There are better loupes but the large clear lenses are easier on the eyes and pull in more light, and let you observe a whole morgan dollar under 4x.
@BLUEJAYWAY said:
This is a very enjoyable read. Glad you have added to your collection. Do you have any, or collect them, error type holders? Misprints and the like.
I think I have a few misprints somewhere. I don't seek them out but they occasionally come into my collection.
I'm more into collecting variants and different versions. Like a Dansco Seated Liberty Seated Dollars album but branded for Littleton.
@seatedlib3991 said:
This is going to sound facetious but i am not joking. There should be a fund started so this guy could do tours of other parts of the Country. Who knew? Best thread on the site and it isn't about Seated coins. James
Ha! I've long argued the hobby would benefit from a television/YouTube travel show visiting coin shops and shows around the country.
A lot of smaller coin shops and shows would get exposure and it'll show the diverse backgrounds of collectors. Audience are pulled in thinking they'll learn how to cherry pick, but really they're subconsciously learning best practices like using ebay sold listing, damaged coins are not errors, Bicentennials aren't rare, etc.
There are so many niche numismatic experts whose decades of knowledge are only seen at ANA breakout session with 15 audience members.
We should be interviewing those experts and give them a platform to share their insights and grow a larger audience for their niche.
Spegtacular on YouTube does something similar where he interviews his local coin shop dealer, shows, and the occasional niche hobbyist like myself 😁. His focus tends to be more on bullion though. https://youtube.com/@spegtacular
After creating my Dansco Dude Instagram account and sharing my research, a bunch of folks messaged me saying they were inspired to grow their Dansco collection and full them with coins. It made it harder for me to find rare Danscos lol, but I'd rather the coin album community grow.
I wish I had the time to do such a travel series. I could fund it from sales of rare albums I find. The biggest expense besides buying inventory are hotels at $125 a night. But my game plan is focus much more on my AI world coin sorting robot when I get situated in Portland. My background is in technology and I'm making a career pivot into numismatics/dealing. I'm studying the operational headaches that dealers deal with and seeing if tech like AI can save them time.
I'm working on a prototype AI robot that can automatically sort world coins, staple them in 2x2s, label/catalog, and automatically list each coin on Ebay. The hope is to build a working prototype in time to show it off at the ANA Summer Seminar since I'll be attending the Session 2 Advanced Coin Dealing class.
@KiwiNumi said:
Interesting thread as always. Are you planning to attend the show back home on the 28th?
If by home you mean the Fort Collins Coin Club show, then sadly no. I'm moving to the Portland area. I did manage to get Dan Carr those Forney F-1 aluminum pieces for the coin club medal in time though! I fnally got the FAA documentation confirming that plane was indeed made by the Forney Aircraft Company in Fort Collins back in 1958! Hopefully ANACS can give a special designation.
I was not aware, as I haven't been in there for over a year, that Redmond Rare Coins switched hands.
It was started by Ralph and Chet, as partners.
They initially DID have a lot of actual coins PLUS the bullion but, over the years, have migrated to more bullion focus as they weren't getting the actual coins coming through and they stopped going to shows. Ralph used to take up multiple tables at the local shows. A lot of binder coins and fair share of slabbed but his buy prices were never that good (that I noticed) and he did talk down slabbed coin grades a lot...Ralph was a salesman by trade (outside of coins)
Great road trip report! I imagine Dansco doesn't get a lot of visitors given their somewhat remote location. Did you try any of Sumas' award-winning water while you were there?
@KiwiNumi said:
Interesting thread as always. Are you planning to attend the show back home on the 28th?
If by home you mean the Fort Collins Coin Club show, then sadly no. I'm moving to the Portland area. I did manage to get Dan Carr those Forney F-1 aluminum pieces for the coin club medal in time though! I fnally got the FAA documentation confirming that plane was indeed made by the Forney Aircraft Company in Fort Collins back in 1958! Hopefully ANACS can give a special designation.
Well that's a shame I always enjoyed talking with you at shows. I hope your move goes smoothly. I'm sure there's a great coin community in Portland.
I meant to post this update for the last day of my trip [3/22/2025]. Been sleeping in
Day 6 Update: Three Cities, 173 Miles, 3 Coin Shops, and Resting Up
Today, I wrapped up the last leg of my week-long coin road trip. It's been an incredible experience. I took a slower day and visited three coin shops within the same area. I made it to my buddy's place near Portland around 8 p.m.
Today's Haul
No photos because I'm tired
1 x Vintage Whitman Album
1 x Dansco albums
Various Tokens & World Coins
Bunch of AirTites
Tacoma Mall Blvd Coin, Stamp & Jewelry
One of the store employees, Ryan, recognized me when I walked in and gave me a warm reception in his shop. It feels odd to interact with folks online and then suddenly in real life lol. They had an incredible selection of new modern Dansco albums on display. They also had a great selection of raw world coins that I dug through. The things that jumped out the most to me were bins with oddities like modals and Sales Tax Tokens. Ryan and his manager were kind enough to let me take some photos.
I also saw many bins with loose US coins, such as Buffalo Nickels, IHP, etc., at great prices. This is an excellent spot for kids to check out and try their hand at cherry picking. The other side of the store had stamp material, but I didn't check that side much. Overall, it's a great modern shop that would appeal more to the coin-collecting crowd.
B & I Coin Shop
No photo
The store was closed even though I visited during open hours
American Rare Coin, Gold & Jewelry
It technically qualifies as a coin shop, but barely. There were only four displays of coins and very little selection. It's more of a bullion shop. The dealer was friendly and shared some insights on the local coin shops in the area.
That's it—it's a wrap!
I'm dead tired, so I'll take the next few days to rest and recover. I have hundreds of albums, folders, and pages to sort through and catalog/list for sale.
I have more reflections to share, but I will say this: This trip has been one of the best experiences of my numismatic career.
Over six days:
Drove 44 Hours across 2,451 Miles
Visited 23 Coins across three states
Met a fantastic amount of coin dealers &collectors who shared an immense amount of wisdom and knowledge with me
Met with collectors in real life after talking with them online
I visited Dansco's offices and got run around like a kid nerding out on a hyper-specific niche and getting answers to questions the community and I have had for years.
Thank you all for joining me on the journey. Reading your responses, insights, and encouragement this past week brought me great joy and motivated me to provide these updates each night, even when I was dead tired.
The Whitman blue bookshelf for British Minors that is pictured in one of your shared photos, would that be 20th Century only and starting with 6d to farthings with the last page (4) featuring Maundy sets starting with Edward VII?
This is a serious question because the one I just described I thought had Twentieth Century on the cover. So are there two different album types that were perhaps made at different times that essentially house the same coins?
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
This has been a lot of fun to follow, and also, welcome to the PNW! I didn't realize you were moving here until later in the thread. If you're ready to come back up I-5, put the PNNA show in Tukwila on your calendar for mid-April. It (and the same show in October) is by far the biggest show in the region. I'm bummed to have a conflict this year, but if you've got time, it's definitely worth it to attend.
An interesting goal. Thanks for including all the facets of it. Judging by your hours driven and miles covered you stayed within the speed limit. No tickets I trust.
Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
Comments
Love this thread!
Dave
They knew it was going for high prices amongst collectors but I don't think they knew just how high. They were surprised to hear that they're for up to $180. I know it's that high, because that's how much I sold one for last month.
They've been hearing for years to reprint the gold page, but they can't justify the time it would cost. Their business model is working through wholesalers/distributors. Those guys would be getting most of the money from gold page sales, not Danaco. Just make more sense for Dansco to stick with making albums that's most in demand.
Great roadtrip, keep posting more
Mr_Spud
Great tremendous posting.
Don't forget the loupes.
The Bausch and lomb 3x-4x =7x. Has been dicontinued and is a great loupe used by some top dealers / authenticators.
There are still some on shelves of the B&M's. I use mine all the time. Keep going back to it for bourse dealer hunting.
There are better loupes but the large clear lenses are easier on the eyes and pull in more light, and let you observe a whole morgan dollar under 4x.
I collect coins and loupes
50 years of collecting
I think I have a few misprints somewhere. I don't seek them out but they occasionally come into my collection.
I'm more into collecting variants and different versions. Like a Dansco Seated Liberty Seated Dollars album but branded for Littleton.
Ha! I've long argued the hobby would benefit from a television/YouTube travel show visiting coin shops and shows around the country.
A lot of smaller coin shops and shows would get exposure and it'll show the diverse backgrounds of collectors. Audience are pulled in thinking they'll learn how to cherry pick, but really they're subconsciously learning best practices like using ebay sold listing, damaged coins are not errors, Bicentennials aren't rare, etc.
There are so many niche numismatic experts whose decades of knowledge are only seen at ANA breakout session with 15 audience members.
We should be interviewing those experts and give them a platform to share their insights and grow a larger audience for their niche.
Spegtacular on YouTube does something similar where he interviews his local coin shop dealer, shows, and the occasional niche hobbyist like myself 😁. His focus tends to be more on bullion though.
https://youtube.com/@spegtacular
After creating my Dansco Dude Instagram account and sharing my research, a bunch of folks messaged me saying they were inspired to grow their Dansco collection and full them with coins. It made it harder for me to find rare Danscos lol, but I'd rather the coin album community grow.
I wish I had the time to do such a travel series. I could fund it from sales of rare albums I find. The biggest expense besides buying inventory are hotels at $125 a night. But my game plan is focus much more on my AI world coin sorting robot when I get situated in Portland. My background is in technology and I'm making a career pivot into numismatics/dealing. I'm studying the operational headaches that dealers deal with and seeing if tech like AI can save them time.
I'm working on a prototype AI robot that can automatically sort world coins, staple them in 2x2s, label/catalog, and automatically list each coin on Ebay. The hope is to build a working prototype in time to show it off at the ANA Summer Seminar since I'll be attending the Session 2 Advanced Coin Dealing class.
Dale is doing well. Does a lot of traveling, currently overseas.
Interesting thread as always. Are you planning to attend the show back home on the 28th?
If by home you mean the Fort Collins Coin Club show, then sadly no. I'm moving to the Portland area. I did manage to get Dan Carr those Forney F-1 aluminum pieces for the coin club medal in time though! I fnally got the FAA documentation confirming that plane was indeed made by the Forney Aircraft Company in Fort Collins back in 1958! Hopefully ANACS can give a special designation.
I was not aware, as I haven't been in there for over a year, that Redmond Rare Coins switched hands.
It was started by Ralph and Chet, as partners.
They initially DID have a lot of actual coins PLUS the bullion but, over the years, have migrated to more bullion focus as they weren't getting the actual coins coming through and they stopped going to shows. Ralph used to take up multiple tables at the local shows. A lot of binder coins and fair share of slabbed but his buy prices were never that good (that I noticed) and he did talk down slabbed coin grades a lot...Ralph was a salesman by trade (outside of coins)
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
AWWwww dang! I've been looking everywhere for a gold 7070 for the Dansco. Get a good deal??
This looks like so much fun!
https://imdb.com/name/nm1835107/
Great travelogue! Thanks for sharing!
Great road trip report! I imagine Dansco doesn't get a lot of visitors given their somewhat remote location. Did you try any of Sumas' award-winning water while you were there?
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Well that's a shame I always enjoyed talking with you at shows. I hope your move goes smoothly. I'm sure there's a great coin community in Portland.
I meant to post this update for the last day of my trip [3/22/2025]. Been sleeping in
Day 6 Update: Three Cities, 173 Miles, 3 Coin Shops, and Resting Up
Today, I wrapped up the last leg of my week-long coin road trip. It's been an incredible experience. I took a slower day and visited three coin shops within the same area. I made it to my buddy's place near Portland around 8 p.m.
Today's Haul
No photos because I'm tired
1 x Vintage Whitman Album
1 x Dansco albums
Various Tokens & World Coins
Bunch of AirTites
Tacoma Mall Blvd Coin, Stamp & Jewelry
One of the store employees, Ryan, recognized me when I walked in and gave me a warm reception in his shop. It feels odd to interact with folks online and then suddenly in real life lol. They had an incredible selection of new modern Dansco albums on display. They also had a great selection of raw world coins that I dug through. The things that jumped out the most to me were bins with oddities like modals and Sales Tax Tokens. Ryan and his manager were kind enough to let me take some photos.
I also saw many bins with loose US coins, such as Buffalo Nickels, IHP, etc., at great prices. This is an excellent spot for kids to check out and try their hand at cherry picking. The other side of the store had stamp material, but I didn't check that side much. Overall, it's a great modern shop that would appeal more to the coin-collecting crowd.
B & I Coin Shop
No photo
The store was closed even though I visited during open hours
American Rare Coin, Gold & Jewelry
It technically qualifies as a coin shop, but barely. There were only four displays of coins and very little selection. It's more of a bullion shop. The dealer was friendly and shared some insights on the local coin shops in the area.
That's it—it's a wrap!
I'm dead tired, so I'll take the next few days to rest and recover. I have hundreds of albums, folders, and pages to sort through and catalog/list for sale.
I have more reflections to share, but I will say this: This trip has been one of the best experiences of my numismatic career.
Over six days:
Thank you all for joining me on the journey. Reading your responses, insights, and encouragement this past week brought me great joy and motivated me to provide these updates each night, even when I was dead tired.
Cheers for now,
Justin
One if the great pleasures is traveling this country with a theme of some sort. Thanks for including us in your journey.
@AlbumNerd
The Whitman blue bookshelf for British Minors that is pictured in one of your shared photos, would that be 20th Century only and starting with 6d to farthings with the last page (4) featuring Maundy sets starting with Edward VII?
This is a serious question because the one I just described I thought had Twentieth Century on the cover. So are there two different album types that were perhaps made at different times that essentially house the same coins?
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
This has been a lot of fun to follow, and also, welcome to the PNW! I didn't realize you were moving here until later in the thread. If you're ready to come back up I-5, put the PNNA show in Tukwila on your calendar for mid-April. It (and the same show in October) is by far the biggest show in the region. I'm bummed to have a conflict this year, but if you've got time, it's definitely worth it to attend.
Thanks for sharing your journey.
Fantastic thread. I have been reading throughout and enjoyed it very much.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
An interesting goal. Thanks for including all the facets of it. Judging by your hours driven and miles covered you stayed within the speed limit.
No tickets I trust.