How knowledgable are dealers?

Longacre

I know that there are probably differnt levels of expertise among dealers, but in general how knowledgable are the "third tier" dealers (I don't mean to be disrespectful; I just mean dealers not as big as Legend, ANR, Heritage, etc.). Speaking to one dealer today at the NYC show, he was saying things about the coin that just didn't seem right. For example, when I asked him what he meant when he said "this is a better date", he couldn't really explain coherently what he meant in the context of the series we were speaking about. At another dealer, I asked if he had an 18XX eagle, and his response was "you mean a silver dollar?". I know I was speaking pretty clearly and he heard my question. It was strange.

lordmarcovan

That is way too general a question for anyone to answer.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to knowledge.

Some are geniuses in a wide array of areas. Others are complete morons.

Theop

Sounds like a cherrypicker's dream dealer...

I would think dealer knowledge in general would be alot higher than the examples you gave.
However, many if not most dealers will have a few areas of expertise where they have alot of knowledge and it will be shallow in the other areas.
I would also guess that most dealers started as collectors so you would expect them to know a good bit about the hobby.

But since it doesn't require any testing to become a coin dealer, you never know.
I would think knowing the "market" and knowing about the coins would have alot of overlap but not necessarily be the same.

airplanenut

Some dealers are brilliant, others are people who make you wonder if they earn a living. It really depends on who you talk to... at the NY show, I did see a few people who didn't know what they were doing, but I also saw some of the best names in the coin industry who surely know what they're doing... there's no way to generalize it.

Jeremy

dorkkarl

virtually every coin dealer i know is quite knowledgeable. coin-dealer-wannabe's are ususally idiots, though. in fact, that's how you can tell a dealer from a wannabe.

K S

razorface1027

Some are geniuses in a wide array of areas. Others are complete morons.

I concur. However, you forgot to mention that some are thieves.

ms70

There's a difference between a coin dealer & a coin seller. Anyone can sell coins. I'd call someone a dealer who helps "place" a coin in the
hands of a collector filling a want list, finishing a series, or even working to find a particular coin that meets the collector's personal standard.
Knowledge & respect of coins and collectors is what a dealer should be IMO.

BillJones

Dealers at least have to know the coin market to survive. That means that they need to be able to grade coins and know something about what coins are selling for within the areas where they deal. They can get away with knowing very little about history, and slabbing has released them from the need to know how to spot counterfeits to some degree.

Years ago I knew of a dealer who didn't know anything about coins. He just bought slabs at Gray Sheet "bid" and tried to re-sell them. One day I was in a dealer's shop who also ran coin shows when he got a call from the this dealer. The dealer informed the show promoter that he was going out of business immediately. I guess he was losing a lot of money needed to stop the bleeding.

To answer you question, dealers who work the coin show circuit and who run successful shops need to know the market. I'm sure that there are some boiler room operations and some of the "Shop at Home" types who don't know that much and are mostly good con men. It's hard to say how long they last in the business, but if they have a good "line of bull" they can keep their head about water long enough to rip off some beginning or non collectors who are poorly informed enough to buy from them.

MICHAELDIXON

I asked if he had an 18XX eagle, and his response was "you mean a silver dollar?".
.
Dealers are usually as knowledgable as the person asking the questions. You need to work the dealer's side of the table to believe some of the questions that come from "informed" collectors. Collectors refer to Morgan dollars as any number of names, and I've been asked for an eagle and the person meant a Morgan dollar. The last show I did I was asked for a gold princess. What would you think the person meant? They didn't mean a gold piece! They wanted to look at Sacagawea dollars! Let's start a thread about strange collector requests.

Shamika

I once had to explain to a dealer that wheat backed Lincoln cents were discontinued in 1959, not 1960. And he had more early Lincoln cents in his case than all other coin types combined.

I once had a dealer tell me that a 1918-P Lincoln was a "key date".

I once had a dealer tell me that the green label PCGS slabs were for cleaned coins and the blue label PCGS slabs were for uncleaned coins.

I once had a dealer swear that my PCGS MS63 1924-D Buffalo nickel was gray sheet bid $70.

I once had a dealer tell me that NGC would grade whizzed coins with the word "whizzed" written on the slap.

There are many unknowledgable dealers out there, though I can't imagine they last very long.

JadeRareCoin

At a local coin club meeting, a collector showed a large copper coin to a local dealer. I was sitting right next to the dealer so I listened in to the conversation. The coin was corroded, but still easily identifiable, even from 3 feet away. The dealer stated with great confidence that the coin was an ancient bronze piece, though he could not state the exact origin of the coin without the aid of his ancient coin reference. "Bring the coin into my shop tomorrow and I will tell you where it is from", he stated.

The coin was a U.S. Matron Head Large Cent.

P.S. That happened 3 years ago. The dealer went out of business 1 year ago.

kranky

<< <i>At a local coin club meeting, a collector showed a large copper coin to a local dealer. I was sitting right next to the dealer so I listened in to the conversation. The coin was corroded, but still easily identifiable, even from 3 feet away. The dealer stated with great confidence that the coin was an ancient bronze piece, though he could not state the exact origin of the coin without the aid of his ancient coin reference. "Bring the coin into my shop tomorrow and I will tell you where it is from", he stated.

The coin was a U.S. Matron Head Large Cent.

P.S. That happened 3 years ago. The dealer went out of business 1 year ago. >>



HAHAHAHAHA! <gasping for breath> HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that's unbelievable!

lathmach

Maybe he thought the 1800's were ancient times.

Ray

topstuf

<< <i>At another dealer, I asked if he had an 18XX eagle, and his response was "you mean a silver dollar?". I know I was speaking pretty clearly and he heard my question. It was strange. >>



POSSIBLE meanings.

a. Customer was confused on date and wanted a 19XX ten dollar gold piece.

b. Dealer has NOTHING but modern coins and silver Eagles in case and request "seems" strange.

c. Customer is looking for an 18XX coin that has ....any.....eagle on it.

d. Dealer sells ONLY Morgans and Peace dollars and wonders if customer is asking for one of WHAT HE STOCKS but doesn't know that the dates don't go back that far.


Too hard to tell. At shows (or in shop) you can get ANY question. The dearth of dates in Peace dollars from 1928-34 stymies THOUSANDS of people searching to get gramps a birthdate dollar.

And too, there is a TYPE of customer who ONLY asks for what is NOT on the table or in the case. It is some sort of game.

Not that this is the case here. It is just that coin questions range from the highly experienced to completely alien language. MOST people do not know ANYTHING about coins.

MacCoin

the worth kind of deal is the guy who is very knowledgable and an azz hole because he gives you good advice, be is an azz doing it. so you don't take it and lose $$$

Steve27

At a local coin show (50 tables), I attend twice a month, there are some very knowledgeable dealers and others who only know how to read a gray sheet.