Coin shows lies - add yours

ANACONDA · May 10, 2003 9:26PM

The topic is well worn. They do 49 shows a year, which of course completely precludes shopping for new shoes and getting hair cuts.

Here are a few of their lines and what you might want to say:

"Well known and conservative Joe over there, just offered me $6,000 for the piece already and i'm just needing a pinch more."

.................If i were you, I'd reconsider Joe's offer.

"A coin like this doesn't have to be in a holder to sell."

.................Really? Why do you still have it then?

"I paid $12,000 for it and want to make $200."

................Wow, you paid $12,000 for that? I should be offering YOU coins.

adrian

byergo · May 10, 2003 9:31PM

This (and every coin in my case) is PQ.

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a LQ (low quality) coin from a dealer at a coin show.

VonZipper · May 10, 2003 9:38PM

Sorry I've never been to a show, no lie.

cosmicdebris · May 10, 2003 9:38PM

Hmmmmmm? Well let's see ..... 2 X 2 says $25.00 I can let you have it for $20.00.

.................. So you actually paid $2.00 for it?

..................

Singapore · May 10, 2003 9:48PM

I've heard some variation of the "while PCGS called it an MS61, several other dealers felt this coin could easily be in an MS62 or even a 63 holder" sales pitch about 82 times in the last 3 years.

ANACONDA · May 10, 2003 9:54PM

In all seriousness, distinguishing between 61 and 62....that's a fine slice.

I quess it boils down to "is it closer to a 60 or a 63?"

boiler78 · May 10, 2003 10:01PM

This coin will be in a 65 holder someday.

This coin is a joke in a 63 holder! I cracked it out of a 64 holder looking for a 65 grade.

We are tempted to try it ourselves but we don't play the grading game. The coin should upgrade easily!

I am into it for $1000 but my loss is your gain. I'll let you have it for $750!

The best crack out guy in the business tried this coin 54 times.

etc.........

roadrunner · May 10, 2003 10:21PM

Sometimes those "lies" just might be the truth. Such an occurence happened to me at one of the 1988 Long Beach shows years back.
I had bought a nice solid 64+ 1838-0 dime out of Stack's auction raw. NGC graded it 64. I felt it was closer to 65 than 64. Figured I could make $500 on the coin but wanted to try one time at PCGS for 65. It was returned to me in a 63 holder at the LB show. I was crushed. Since I was sort of cash strapped I really had expected to sell it at the show. You can imagine the "insults" I got as I showed this to several very big dealers looking for MS64 money at 10% under what I paid just to get out from under it. Since no one offered to pay more than 1/2 of what I had into it I was forced to resubmit it to NGC again and hope it got back to a 64.

Voila. The coin came back as the first MS65 ever graded. I sold the coin within a week for twice what I paid. This was one time where it really was in a higher holder just a week earlier, no "lie."

roadrunner

IrishMike · May 10, 2003 10:29PM

Yes, I know this bust half has been lightly cleaned but it was a long time ago and look how nicely it has toned. I guarantee that the grading services will slab it now. Guess what, wrong!!

Endocrinologist · May 10, 2003 10:58PM

Roadrunner, now imagine that guy who paid 65 money who tries to cross it back to a PCGS holder.

coinguy1 · May 11, 2003 12:03AM

"You're getting first shot at this coin" (that is if you don't count the other 10 people it has already been shown/offered to).

"I wouldn't sell this for a penny less" (maybe hundreds of dollars less, but not a penny less).

"You'll never see a better one" (that is, if you don't look for one).

"I haven't tried this for an upgrade yet" (if you don't count the first 5 times I tried it).

mnmcoin · May 11, 2003 12:11AM

How about...I am just going to be breaking even. My dad uses that alot on me.

My favorite is...would you like to buy this nice Iraqi rifle, it has never been fired and only dropped once.

morris <><

Bear · May 11, 2003 12:32AM

You are all very cynical people. To even entertain the thought ,that people would

misrepresent the truth at a coin show, is just appalling.

WWW · May 11, 2003 12:45AM

"A totally original coin. I had it slabbed myself from an old time collection that I bought at an estate sale."
(I bought it off eBay last month.)

nwcs · May 11, 2003 12:53AM

The tallest tale I heard was actually several together in one sentence. The dealer said that he thought NTC and PCI were the best certifiers out there but they only overgraded a bit on toned coins. He said PCGS and NGC were OK, but were too inconsistent (more than PCI and NTC). Then his justification for the NTC and PCI opinion was that they generally matched his opinions of the coin's grade. He was telling this to a collector standing next to me.

rainbowroosie · May 11, 2003 12:56AM

"Sure it is original, that pretty purple color on the 61 Franklin came from the original cardboard mint set holder."

homerunhall · May 11, 2003 1:01AM

1. You're getting first shot.

2. I paid _______.

3. It's never been sent in to try and cross.

homerunhall · May 11, 2003 1:02AM

And then there's the coin show 30-30-30 guarantee...

30 seconds, 30 steps, or 30 per cent.

nwcs · May 11, 2003 1:13AM

I have $____ in that coin, so I can't sell it below $_____

keets · May 11, 2003 1:13AM

hey roadrunner

your story is very telling. while the line "buy the coin and not the holder" is routinely trumpeted around here by collectors and dealers, it's a rock solid fact by my experience that the holder is always what gets priced even when the coin is the same. guaran-dam-teed!!

the big lie i hear at shows whenever i offer a coin for sale is whatever comes out of the offering dealers mouth. i always seem to be offered lowball for the grade or else one grade down with the disclaimer that "anything more and i won't be able to turn a profit" when selling the coin. the twist is that when i show the same coins to dealers or collectors, just to show and not to sell, the coins are nice and solid for the grade. there are exceptions, of course, but you get the picture.

the funniest one was my "Anna Morgan" dollar. in a 66DMPL holder i get offered 65 money. the coin gets regraded to a 65DMPL and..........that's right, i get offered 64 money!! same coin, different holder. it's all in knowing how the games played.

so to summarize

-------why is it when buying coins are always PQ but when selling they are always LQ?

al h.

tradedollarnut · May 11, 2003 1:32AM

OH, I just heard it yesterday at a little local show. I'm looking at a few coins and the dealer says he has an MS66, would I like to look. I say ok and he hands me an ICG dollar. I hand it right back and say "No thanks, don't want ICG". He proceeds to say that ICG is tougher than PCGS and NGC. I just laughed and walked away.

Clankeye · May 11, 2003 1:52AM

"Nobody collects those Carvers"

Wait a minute... that might be true.

09sVDB · May 11, 2003 2:31AM

At a large local show: Dealers case is full of all raw, mostly problem coins. I asked: Do you ever sell certified coins? Dealers answer: "OH No, Never!" Just moved on.

braddick · May 11, 2003 2:34AM

"Hey, I don't make them, I just sell them."

TheNumish · May 11, 2003 9:35AM

The grade doewsn't matter. All that matters is if the price makes sense.

RYK · May 11, 2003 10:08AM

This is fun with the pros (Coinguy, HRH, and TDN) contributing.

What is 30-30-30?

Nic · May 11, 2003 11:37AM

"We got this fabulous old time collection in at the beginning of the month, all in an original coin cabinet. Got screwed on the slabbing. Knew you would want this coin and set it aside for you."
Happened this April, coin is in a first generation blue PCGS holder, and I've seen it at auction twice before.
I could only laugh and say no thanks. K

dorkkarl · May 11, 2003 8:37PM

my favorite lie is: you can trust the grade because it's in the (ngc or pcgs) plastic

K S

ANACONDA · May 11, 2003 8:57PM

"...ICG is tougher than PCGS and NGC."

Actually that is true. I broke a tooth on an ICG coin. That's never happened with PCGS or NGC.

ANACONDA · May 11, 2003 9:02PM

I'm actually not sure if it is a lie or not but one fellow who I happen to like quite a bit said "we lose money on about 15% of the coins we
buy, break even on another 20% and make our money on the last 65% (or some similar approximation of numbers.)".

It's the brilliance of the implication that I thought was so good, that being of course that they are aggresive buyers and/or sellers and that
if they buy or sell from/to you, that they keep their margins pretty tight, ergo, you get good deals there.

(It is my opinion that they are not in fact aggressive buyers.)

adrian

Conder101 · May 11, 2003 10:09PM

<< <i>. I'm looking at a few coins and the dealer says he has an MS66, would I like to look. I say ok and he hands me an ICG dollar. I hand it right back and say "No thanks, don't want ICG". He proceeds to say that ICG is tougher than PCGS and NGC. >>

I'd tell him "Ok I'll buy it. . . as soon as you can get it back in a PCGS slab at that grade. Since ICG grades tougher you shouldn't have any problem doing that."

And Nic, I like yours. I'd like hear what he had to say when I asked him how he just got it into a slab that hasn't been produced in four years.

docday2003 · May 11, 2003 10:35PM

<< <i>And then there's the coin show 30-30-30 guarantee...

30 seconds, 30 steps, or 30 per cent. >>

What does the guarantee mean? It runs out after thirty seconds? Or when you are 30 feet away? Or the dealer will buy it back at 30% less? Am I right?

AbesNeighbor · May 11, 2003 11:25PM

"What have you got for me to buy, I'll give you a fair price?" ---- Translated "I'll give you 50% of wholesale"

Nysoto · May 12, 2003 1:25AM

Selling a coin to a dealer: "How much do you want for it?" "$100" "I sell them for that price!" He has an identical coin in his case for $175.

Buying a coin: "I can't go any lower in price because I paid $xxx for it"

"She's a real beauty" - Dealer is thinking of the topless bar he visited the night before.

"My grading is honest" - Probably the biggest lie of all.

Coin shows lies - add yours

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