Is This Typical at a Coin Show?

Warman

I realized today that I am a total noob when it comes to dealing with Coin Dealers at a coin show. Questions I have:

I bought some raw BU coins - the price that the dealer was quoting were from the Greysheet for MS63 coins. Is this a standard practice by dealers? Does it represent an average possible grade and therefore a fair price?

I saw some dealers priced much higher for the same or similar quality items at the show. For instance, I bought a Millennium Coinage and Currency Set from one dealer, while another dealer had the same thing (actually it wasn't even with the original mint seal) for $25 more. Don't the dealers compare to each other?If they do go by the Greysheet, why such a big difference?
Anyway, I realize that these are basic questions, but being a noob, I just wondered about these things.
Things I learned:
Walk the entire Bourse, then go back to buy, don't buy from the first dealer you see.
Know your prices or at least compare the same item at as many dealers as possible to see who has the best deal.
I did have fun though and picked up some great coins - at a fair price.

CarlWohlforth

Not only should you know your prices you need to know your coins. Not all coins are the same. If someone says their coin is 63 and another says theirs is a 63 but the coins are priced differently, perhaps the coins are different? You need to know...

BillJones

Your question is too general for me to give you a decent answer. I'd need to see the coins and know what series you are talking about.

kranky

If I understand your question, you are asking if quoting an MS63 price for a raw uncirculated coin is the normal practice. I don't know if it's normal, but it could get you in big trouble as a buyer. Some coins are worth much more in MS63 than they are even one point lower. The "average grade" isn't relevant, since you are buying only one coin. What matters is the grade of that one.

What coins, and what did you pay?

On the question about the Millennium C&C set, it's not unusual for prices to differ a bit for Mint products at a show. Each dealer has to decide what his selling price is going to be and some of them don't care what anyone else is charging. The Greysheet is only a guide and not the rulebook. You're right that it's smart to compare prices, especially for Mint products which are essentially generic.

DaveG

You've learned some good coin show lessons so far!

From what I can tell, every dealer prices his inventory differently - it depends on how much he paid, how long he's had the item and how eager he is to sell it. If a dealer is asking way too little for an item, the other dealers will line up to buy him out!

Dealers will, indeed, charge different prices for their raw BU coins - if they grade the coin at MS-63, they'll ask MS-63 money for it; if they grade it MS-65, they'll ask MS-65 money for it. Some of these dealers will be expert graders and very accurate, some are lousy graders and will ask MS-65 money for an MS-63 coin. If you're going to buy raw BU coins, you should know how to grade the coins yourself.

Warman

Thanks very much for the insight. Those answers were just what I was looking for...In my particular case, this dealer had an original roll (not put-together) of 1942 Walking Liberty halves he bought from the original collector, which I could verify because I also bought 5 rolls of 1947-S Wheat Cents in Original bank rolls from 1947 from the same collection. I paid $600 for the roll of Walkers (20) which he priced looking at the Greysheets bid for ms63 grade per coin. Most looked better than MS63 to me at a quick glance so I felt pretty good about what I paid. He didn't go through every coin in the roll and say "this looks like ms65 so greysheet bid is......, etc". He just sold the whole roll based on an MS63 bid price, so that's why it seemed like the "average grade" to me. Thats why I asked the question, because I thought most dealers would go through each coin, guess at the grade and charge based on that "per-coin" price instead of pricing for the whole roll with a middle of the road grade.