Any "honest" raw coin dealers ?

Skipper53

I was taken to the cleaners as a novice collector by a mail-order dealer, can I say the name ? Coast to Coast. I'm learning that the best way to know for sure what you're getting is to buy graded coins.
My problem, besides price, is that I enjoy looking at ,OK holding my coins without them entombed in
a plastic slab. Can anyone direct me to an honest dealer who sells quality raw coins at a reasonable
price ? Thanks, I love this forum.

Russ

Skipper,

What do you collect? There are some dealers that do raw coins, JJ Teaparty for example, but I don't know if the material they carry is what you're looking for.

Edited to add: Have you checked the BST forum here? Many members sell raw coins and, generally speaking, this is a pretty trustworthy bunch.

Russ, NCNE

airplanenut

My local dealer has lots of raw... he's honest... mail order isn't as easy, as you can't see the coin up front.

coinlieutenant

The guy that I deal with in Monterey is honest to a fault, AND gives me dealer prices on coins. I can hook you up from time to time...

John

redcents

Amazingly enough, the slab nut that I am, I've NEVER had a problem with a raw coin I've bought. I have 4 GREAT dealers if you want to PM me.

K6AZ

If you go onto eBay, beware, some of these dealers use names that are far different than their company names:

Paul Sims - bestcrystal
Coast to Coast - coastcoins
Harold B. Weitz - saulwww

stman

I would check out Rare Coins Of New Hampshire. Tonelover, a member of this board works there. You will be happy with his coins as well as the service he provides. I believe they guarantee any raw coin they sell will certify to the grade or better. But just don't expect to get them for cheap and what some call "Deals" they get on eBay. His coins will be no problem coins.

Rare coins of NH

TommyB

I don't know if I would take this as a referral unless some others on here back it up, but I just got some quarters from the 30's and 40's in the mail from Great Lakes in Ohio and they look nice.

Tom

Oldtrader3

I have had good luck with RC of New Hamshire as well as VTcoins.com. As for most of the Coin World type dealer ads, two words: overgraded and overpriced.

ConstellatioCollector

To quote a dealer... "Knowledge is King!" Live by this rule and you should be OK. I have been screwed before.

ARCO

For Unc. coins that retail above $100 or more I wouldn't waste your time or money. There is just too much to lose for you and far too much to gain for any dealer or seller no matter how seemingly ethical.

Buy slabbed Uncirculated coins, break them out of the slab and save the sticker from the holder for a future day when you might sell them. You can enjoy them in the here and now, but can rest assured that you have minimized your chances at financial disaster and ending up with a fistful of AU coins masquerading as Uncs.

For circulated coins there are many fine dealers and the grades are much closer to reality.

Tyler

michael

,lol of the highest degree and magnitude of rarity

and if you find one honest dealer they are out there abet as per the above monster rare

just make sure you know what you are looking at when you look at a coin and can value the coin
price it yourself when you look at it


sincerely michael

TommyB

whatchoo talkin bout Willis?

lava

A Raw coin by definition is a problem coin waiting in the hands of a shark waiting for a sucker. So, your question really seems to be of the sharks waiting for a sucker, which ones are honest. Does it even matter? Save yourself the trouble and just flush the money down the toilet.

Don't buy raw. If you have to, set a limit for yourself of something very modest, like no more than $5 on any one coin, and no more than $100 total.

jamesfsm

There are honest raw coin dealers.

I just bought a Bust Half from Jade Coins (www.earlyus.com) raw as a MS coin.

PCGS just slabbed it during this "tight" period the exact grade that Jade Coin called it.

Why do they sell the coins raw? Bust Halves have lettered edges that people want to see. Plus those coins with great toning sell at a premium. Dealers don't want to argue EF45 sheet prices for an EF45 wildly album toned coin selling for $450. The coins are unique and some say the slabs make them seem generic.

I would give Jade Coin the thumbs up. They are honest and cool guys to deal with.

dorkkarl

utterly ridiculous to think you can't safely buy unc coins raw. some of you always blame the risk of buying overgradd coins on the dealers & claim that slabs are the messiah. that's a bunch of baloney! LEARN HOW TO GRADE YOURSELF (gee, actually take the time to learn something?), & the problem goes away.

K S

dorkkarl

<< <i>Why I don't have issues with grading the coins I collect, did you ever consider that not everyone might have the time to commit to coins that you or others might? Should that preclude them from wanting to collect properly graded material? >>

no, it should preclude them from collecting coins. oh sob, sob, sniffle sniffle, you know, i have 2 kids, they do gymnastics, run track, play soccer, take dance lessons, participate in after-school activities, do karate, basically we run around like chickens. i have a mother-in-law that i have to support, 2 other in-laws, my own family, my JOB that sucks more like 60 hours per week out of me, etc etc etc. SOB SOB SNIFFLE! we all got it tough, now don't we?

but you know what? i still find make time to learn about my hobby

so, what are you saying? sounds to me like what your really saying is hey, don't bother actually spending time learning how to grade coins, which gee, that's actually a huge part of oh, i don't know, ENJOYING coins? no, much better to take the easy way out & pay somebody else.

yes, i am a total jerk about it, 100% self-centered, & self-serving: IF YOU CAN'T LEARN HOW TO GRADE COINS, GET A DIFFERENT HOBBY. grading just really isn't all that hard! you mean to tell me that people are so stupid they can't learn how to grade a freaking $100 coin???

it's that simple - get a different hooby! why not collect beenie babies? ASE's? mint set? beer cans? i don't know, i don't care! but christ, if you can't "find time to commit to coins", why in freezing he11 did you choose this hobby? GET A DIFFERENT ONE!

sorry, but as you can see i totally disagree w/ you.



<< <i>We can all talk about how we are ONLY collectors, but the MONEY DOES MATTER >>

that's all fine & dandy, but then the MONEY matters more than YOUR ENJOYMENT of the hobby, sorry, but you should leave the hobby & get a different 1.

that's just my self-centered, greedy way of looking at it, sorry to be blunt.

K S

jonesy

Harumph!! Harumph!!

paigowjohnny

I agree with dorkkarl...to a point. The problem is...I "thought" I knew how to grade before I started some buying from the "mail order machines"...turned out I didn't know as much as I should. Sometimes learning to grade is an expensive proposition...we all make mistakes...it's just too bad that some are a lot more costly than others.

LincolnCentMan

Coast to Coast uses "inhouse" standards. I bought one coin from them, sent it back, and have never bought another from them...

I can direct you to a couple of online raw cent dealers that I trust to buy raw from. If you're collecting in anything else, cant help. PM me if you want that list... it's pretty short.

David

northcoin

What about the Beverly Hill Coin Club. They offer a guarantee to buy back that provides some confidence. Anyone here have an opinion as to whether their raw coins are fairly graded?

callawayc7

Not to take sides but, I agree with Baseball. Grading is subjective and takes years to learn. Of course you should learn to grade but in the mean time you should stick with slabbed for the more expensive coins(expensive is relative of course, for some a $200 coin is expensive for others only coins $5,000 or more are considered expensive...). As to it being a part of the hobby and if you don't learn to grade then get another hobby, well, hobbies are supposed to be fun and relaxing. For some, learning to grade is fun and "easy" for others it's a nightmare. I'm somewhere in between myself but just because some people don't enjoy grading doesn't mean they can't enjoy the history and art of coins and hence our hobby.

coinkat

Collectors should buy coins that enhances their confidence in collecting. It may be that certain collectors will buy slabs and others will shun them. That does not make one position right and the other wrong.

I will say that whoever plans on spending big bucks on coins should make the effort to learn to grade coins, handle dealers, have a coin reference library and attend coin shows when possible. Buying site unseen coins through the mail is usually not a confidence building exercise... Good luck Skipper53

newsman

"I was taken to the cleaners as a novice collector by a mail-order dealer, can I say the name ? Coast to Coast."

Join the club. Apparently, Coast to Coast's "inhouse" standards for Gem BU coins allow things like whizzing, cleaning, AT and even wear. Their "Rare Coin Monthly" goes straight from my mailbox into the trash can. As a rule, I try to stay away from any dealer I don't know who sells raw coins in big ads in the coin mags -- at least until those publications do a better job of policing their advertisers.

Veep

I had one experience with Beverly Hills Coin Club. I won't have another. From an ad in back of Coin World, I ordered a roll of XF/AU Walkers to give to my kids. There were perhaps two XFs. The majority of them were fines.