Do you take advantage of your local Coin shop's Bid Board?

braddick

I remember growing up and the local coin shop bid boards and really getting a kick out of bidding and even ocassionally winning a coin off of it!
There are a couple of local shops around my area that still have the Bid Board, although one of them offers the coins for sale vs bidding
. The other one offers collectors a chance to place bids and wait, usually until the end of the week to see if they've bid high enough and won.

Are Bid Boards on the way out? Do you miss them? Have you ever "scored" off a bid board?

I think it's a part of coin collecting that's fun and even though I'm aware they take up space within the shop and I'm sure the profit margin is low, I wish they would remain.

shirohniichan

I use it to buy as often as I can. There's a lot less risk than buying on eBay. I haven't had too much luck selling on the bid board, though.

nwcs

I would say they are on the way out. Mostly because I've never seen one and wouldn't know what to do if I did see one!

mbbiker

I saw my first one in a shop about an hour and a half away from me. I bought a # (lasts forever) and put in a lowball bid for a nice peace dollar just to get use out of my # right away, went back later that day because that is when the bid board ended and found out i won it. I hope they stay around for a while yet i just bought my #.

baccaruda

funny you should ask!

i just got back from picking up my bid board winnings from marshall field's. nothing big but just cheap type set stuff that i can see first hand and eliminate shipping costs on. regular old jefferson nickels, a few cents, a few more washingtons.

then the cool dark-siders:

cacheman inpired me to get some half-crowns and florins so i bid on about 5-6 of those and was even there up until 15 mins of the close - and got outbid on all but 1! got a cool silver australian florin. doesn't even begin to hold a candle to cacheman's but it's still got the flavor. a 1940 canadian half with the same motif as the florin

2 other vatican city lire - very neat looking. a 1963 silver 500 lire vatican coin in beautiful condition - great lustre.

and finally a 1951 silver portugese 2-1/2 escudos coin - again beautiful condition and cool design.

baccaruda

oh, and a super-clean 1951d Jefferson with an awesome rainbow on each side for $2.

KlectorKid

I have never used one but I know where to find one if I wanted to.

baccaruda

it seems to me that the dealer would make more money if everyone placed a "blind" bid and the high bidder took it at the end.

for example i would have bid $10 on that jefferson to make sure i got it but since only 1 other person placed a bid all i had to do was hang around it like a vulture waiting for the board to end. so instead i got it for $2.

BillJones

There used to be a shop here in Boston that ran a bid wall, and it was truly unique. I purchased a lot of the major items for my colleciton from it in the 1980s. The founder had been in business since the 1930s, and his son ran it. Gradually over time he sold some of his "inventory." Here are a few of the items that I purchased though the years:

1793 Chain cent in F-VF
1797 half dime with 13 stars (a very scarce item) in VF
1796 dime (now a PCGS AU-50)
1796 quarter in VF

Sadly the ower died, and the estate had to be liquidated, most of which went in a Stacks' auction, but while it lasted, it was fun.

Woodwind

When I got into collecting 10 years ago, I was active on a bid board close to where I used to live.
I won a total of, I think 15 coins or so and I still have them all. It looks like some of the proofs I picked up could make PCGS 68 or 69, so we'll see if I scored.

On the flip side this particular board was a haven for cleaned and whizzed Morgan Dollars . I found out the hard way when ICG body bagged one of them. Fortunately each one just cost me under $12.00 each.

I'll have to get back into that. Hopefully I can find a bid board nearby.

LanLord

There are no bidboards in the coin stores near me
However, I'll be traveling to Salt Lake City in early April and there is a
store there with one, I plan to drop by and see what they have.

relayer

The Carlsbad Coin shop eliminated the bids and now just has a BIN board.

truthteller

Many years ago, there used to be a coin shop owned by Irene Hallet and her husband. It was located in Mar Vista, near Culver City, CA. I would ride my bike to their store. They truely had a collectors bid board. At age 12, I noticed the nicer quality coins. Irene shooooed me away from the boards believing I was an unworthy neophyte. I told her that a had a whole $20 to spend. Her eyes lit up, "well, we need to educate you", she said. The next time I came in, my father came with me and signed me up to the bid board with the caveat I wouldn't bid more that what I had saved. The start of spending bid money. $20 turned into $40 turned into $100. After three years, I began bidding in Bowers and Ruddy auctions in Hollywood on lots valued at over $1500 at the age of 15. That store was then bought out by the O'Carmodys who sold out several years later. They changed the name to Carmodys and strictly did shows. Ahhh, yes, the good ole days.

TRUTH

LucyBop

<< <i>BIN board. >>



I encountered this while Coin store shopping in Phoenix, I bin'd many a nice Frankies...

Tootawl

I would use my local coin shop's bid board but I have one problem with that. The nearest coin shop is up in Annapolis, a good hour plus away. My local coin club does have a monthly auction, mostly low end stuff.

FrattLaw

There's a shop here in the San Fernando Valley (Granada Hills) that I just found that has a great Bid-Board. I won my first 2 coins in my first auction @ this shop last week (1856 Seated Dime XF-45 for $37 and a 1804 Draped Bust 1/2 Cent VF-35 for $65). The bidding closes @ Friday @ 8pm and if you bid on a coin and are there you may even win credit towards future purchases. Last weeks prize was $100 in credit. Not bad just to show up for 5 minutes while the bidding closes. Last week there had to be at least 20-30 people there.

Overall, he's got some nice stuff. But there is a few pearls located in most of the circulated bid-board fodder. Last week there was a 1836 Toned Bust Half NGC AU-55 for $235, nice coin. Matter of fact, I'm going tomorrow to see what's new for this week.

I wouldn't be surprised if Greg also goes there. I think he lives in the area as well.

Michael

ARCO

The bid boards look fun, but in my neck of the woods They are chock full of just common date, run of the mill VG walkers, merc's and Wheat cents. The owners think just because the coin is old and made of silver it is worth a small fortune. Reserves are set high and they are so common as to wonder why people even bother.

I feel like whispering in their ear -"hey pal...just so you know about 80 billion coins just like yours exist and people sell them for chump change because that is all they are worth" LOL..just sheer nuttiness!

Tyler

Conder101

If you are allowed to put your coins up on the bid board that sounds like an ideal situation for you.

nucklehead

The Huntington Beach Coin Exchange in Huntington Beach, Cal. at Adams Ave and Brookhurst St. has a huge bid board.I don't have the exact address in front of me but they're listed in the phone book.It's a great coin shop,well worth checking out.