Is NGC Bringing Down Coin Vault or is Coin Vault Bringing Down NGC?

LAWMAN

OK, I admit it. My guilty pleasure is to record on my Tivo a lot of the Coin Vault crapola shows, then fast forward through most of the garbage after hearing Chamber's openining pitch. He's got an old-time Country Preacher's fervor and, as a trial lawyer, I have studied the televangelists (and radio ones) for over 30 years now. They are the last of the real, dyed-in-the-wool American orators (something which made this country great from the 1700's through the 1900's and the advent of the TV soundbite.). Chambers is good and, since he's selling coins and not religion, it makes it so much more interesting to me (no diss to people who are religious).

Julie whatsherface is like Robin Quivers on Howard Stern-- 'hah, hah,' and 'yes, that's right,' all the time while Chambers is plowing away. The man needs to breathe.

Every now and then tho they offer interesting sets like the Eisenhower and Kennedy sets -- granted they are priced to the sky, but, it is hard to assemble those puppies because some of the coins have to be broken out of mint or proof sets, or can only be gotten from bags or at dealer's retail prices (to us collectors). I've had occasion recently to look closely at the Eisenhower Master Set and it contained very nice coins in a Dansco album, no less.

Interesting thing is that I can watch a four hour show in about 20 minutes at odd hours (when my family is not around -- usually early in the morning). It does keep you cracking the books to: 1) catch all the inaccuracies, 2) check prices against theirs. It also keeps me laughing.

Sure beats MTV. . . .

islemangu

Wish I could check that out, do you know what station carries it so could ask the local cable company here if have... before down and out and off?

Cladiator

I love that show...keeps me laughing all night long. It's on the Shop at Home Network.

LAWMAN

But, I get the Shop at Home Network on like 4 different satellite stations here in LA including 56, 58, 230 something and another one I can't think. You really have to check the listings between 1 and 4 am. Do you really think those clowns stay up all night to do it it or do they just film it whenever and pretend they are up all night? Julie and Chambers never have red eyes or look like they are on uppers or drinking too much coffee. What gives.

dbldie55

Many are live, some are recorded. You can watch the live broadcast on the internet (so you don't even need a tv).

LAWMAN

So the live ones are the ones where they time it and then somebody yells from on-camera that they have sold out of a particular item and the taped ones are the ones where they just go on and on? Yes, they have all of it on the internet, I've seen their website.

I'm just fascinated wondering who is buying all those AG and G buffalos at $1 apiece and the Morgans for like $40 when you can find them for half or less ANYWHERE.

A little knowledge goes a long way.

CaptainRon

I'm not trying to slam you here, however, your message has nothing to do with NGC like the thread description title.

After saying that, I have seen them hawk PCGS wares as well, does that imply that PCGS is bringing down coin vault or Coin vault is bringing down PCGS as well.

Ron

dbldie55

This network is the largest customer of NGC's. They spend millions a year there. You can talk all you want about grading, but when someone goes to the Mint and picks up millions of dollars worth of Eagles (they are one of the only groups that can) and then deliver them directly to NGC, some of the coins will be nice and be graded accordingly. They buy huge amounts of coins, and send tons to be graded. Simple statistics shows you will get nicer grades based on a much larger sample size.

I don't think this does anything to NGC other than make them profitable.

Weiss

I watch the vault every now and again when I'm on the treadmill in the morning. Seems like they used to sell overpriced crap several years ago, and it used to make me pretty mad. Bags of 20 indian cents for $40, g or vg v-nickels for $5 each.

But now it seems that most of the stuff I see isn't that overpriced. They hype the stuff, no doubt, but it is interesting to see how they dance around the issues (pardon the pun). For example, they talk about mintage figures of gold eagles compared to the original $20 St. Gaudens coins:

The 1915 saint had a mintage close to the 1996 $50 bullion coin (150,000 each, give or take). A certified MS65 1915 will run you $13,500, but we'll sell you the similiarly "rare" 1996 $50 eagle, certified in MS69 condition (4 full points higher in grade!) for $750 plus shipping. Today only!

That's accurate, it's factually correct. There is a significant difference in the two grades, with the AE being substantially higher in mint state condition. What the buyer doesn't know, or doesn't care about, is that people don't really collect the bullion coins, at least not on the scale that the saints are collected. Never mind the 80 year difference or that virtually all of the bullion coins are MS state vs. a fraction of the saints. And how many of the saints were lost or melted in the last 80 years? Top it off, the $50 eagle can be bought all day at spot plus $20 or maybe $500 if you need that one date in particular.

So people are buying the sizzle and not the steak. They're paying too much, sure. But at least they're getting real coins for their money. A steak at the grocery store will cost you $5. A steak in a restaurant will cost you $20. The Coin Vault is the restaurant.

Conder101

<< <i>A steak at the grocery store will cost you $5. A steak in a restaurant will cost you $20. The Coin Vault is the restaurant. >>


Beautiful!! Excellent analogy.

Dog97

<< A steak at the grocery store will cost you $5. A steak in a restaurant will cost you $20. The Coin Vault is the restaurant. >>
The end result is the same.....a stinking turd.

JohnZ

A steak at the grocery store will cost you $5. A steak in a restaurant will cost you $20. The Coin Vault is the restaurant.

Yeah, but do you get an evening out with your date for buying the overpriced coin?