Who here just buys what looks like a good buy? Or what looks like a bargain?

coinguy89

Do you go through the bargain bins or half offs looking for cheap stuff? Who looks for cheap slabs that are only a few bucks just to accumulate slabs? I used to sort of do this and probably will as long as the coin appeals to me. But I heard some dealers bread and butter comes from this stuff.

hookedoncoins

I remember I searched through every bargain bin at my first coin show. I came to one dealer who had a box marked $0.25 and I found 2 kennedy half dollars. If thats not a bargain, I don't know what is.

mirabela

I used to be a lot more opportunistic about stuff like that, but I came to grips with it sort of like this:

I'm not a dealer. When I resell these good buys, the margin I'm making in terms of dollars per hour is a small fraction of my professional wage, and I don't enjoy the work of imaging & listing and so on as much as I enjoy coins -- or spending that time with my family or gardening or whatever. I finally figured out that as a collector, I'd rather have a focused collection of things I really like. So I'm about 95% sworn off of that sort of thing. Lately I pretty much only buy what I'm looking for. I probably won't buy anything else at all until next year some time, and when I do I'll have formed a pretty exact idea of what I'm after.

Having said that, I do like digging through junk mercury bins & such, since every so often you find something with great eye appeal there -- beautiful album toning, that kind of thing -- for 75 cents.

clw54

<< <i>I remember I searched through every bargain bin at my first coin show. I came to one dealer who had a box marked $0.25 and I found 2 kennedy half dollars. If thats not a bargain, I don't know what is. >>


You could definitely do well buying like that in bulk.

UncleWiggly

Bargin hunting fun. I go through 20 websites and auctions pricing one coin. I picked up a NGCMS65PL 81S Morgan no tone for $100 less than the others I saw last week.


Jerry

Stuart

I have found that if I buy coins that I personally like, with very attractive eye-appeal, I enjoy owning them and have no problem selling them at prevailing market prices when the time comes to sell them when I have upgraded them to fund other purchases.

RGL

Cheap stuff? Me?

Scored at PCGS:

1967 MS-66 DCAM SMS Jeff
1967 MS-66 DCAM SMS JFK
1957 PR-67 CAM Jeff
1960 PR-68 DCAM Jeff
1962 PR-68 DCAM Jeff
1961 PR-69 CAM Jeff
1966 MS-68 CAM SMS Roosie

... and, sent in for grading recently (expected grades):

1955 PR-67/68 DCAM Jeff
1962 PR-69 DCAM Jeff
1967 MS-67 DCAM SMS Washington

Total spent on above raw coins: $76

sliderider

Bargain binned slabs are awesome. I never pass by a clearance table without at least a casual look. You gotta figure , it must be cheaper to buy a bargain slab, than pay the grading fee for a raw coin that comes back in the same condition.

coynclecter

<< <i>I'm not a dealer. When I resell these good buys, the margin I'm making in terms of dollars per hour is a small fraction of my professional wage, >>



The same applies for me but I still look to snap up any bargain I can get on ebay. It's not the money of the thrill of a"rip",I do make a few $$ and I have gotten a few good upgrades. Even though I buy and sell that which I do not hold or collect I still have it , in my possession , to look at, stare at, admire and learn from, for those few weeks or months that its mine. If I only bought what I could keep I would have only owned 10% of the coins that have sat here on my desk.