follow up from yesterdays post about $200 to spend at a coin show

JTMC

we got back a little while ago from the melville coin show in melville longisland. its a small show(about 30 dealers)
i was a little dissapointed with all the inventory there but my kids had a good time. this day definitely didnt go the way i thought it was . yesterday i posted "if you only had $200 to spend at a coin show what would you buy?"
i got alot of really great suggestions of what to get my kids. only problem was either they were overpriced for the grades they were listed as and the other thing was nothing really grabed me or the kids until we came up to a dealer who had ancient roman and greek coins. both my kids eyes lit up and we ended up buying 2 greek silver obols from 300 BC. for a total of $90. i was surprised that they went for the ancient coins. i thought for sure they were going to go for all the monster toned morgans we came across. next weekend there is another show that is really good and the kids did pretty well the last time we went because they raffle off coins . plus they have great fries. we usually pig out there. daddy is going to do a little shopping for himself plus the kids can use the $110 that was left over from today. it was good to see my kids on the computer when we got home looking up the ancient coins they got and to learn what they actually were.all in all not a bad day. i didnt really see to many people buying . the prices are really starting to get up there even on some common stuff. cant wait for next week

DaveG

If you live on Long Island and don't mind travelling a bit for a bigger coin show, then you might want to consider going to the White Plains coin show (80+ coin dealers) - the next one is Mar. 24-26 (go on Saturday if you can) - or the Parsippany, NJ show (also 80+ dealers) - the next one is Mar. 5 (this is a first-Sunday-of-the-month show).

There are also some reportedly good monthly coin shows in CT - I don't know if that's practical for you, though.

EJB

........Show them a 18th century bust Spanish dollar, tell them it's called a piece of eight, they might like it and they are not that expensive if they have chop marks ....(also a good story).....Good Luck...........

RedTiger

JTMC, you never mentioned how old the kids are. It sounds like they are just starting out in the hobby. I always tell new people whether they are 8 years old or 80, to "collect what they like." Having a good time and enjoying the hobby is more important than resale or investment. That said, ancients and other darkside material (foreign coins, topicals) tends to have higher spreads (lower resale) than U. S. coins because there are fewer dealers and a thinner market.

In the other thread, several people including myself mentioned gold. No one mentioned silver coins at melt or just above melt, even though when surveyed the majority, think silver will do better percentage-wise as an investment than gold. I suggest that as an option, if they can find interesting coins near melt value, that gives strong resale and possibly collector interest. There are a ton out there, foreign, U.S., old, new, proofs, big ones, small ones, shiny ones, grungy ones. At some local shows the markup over melt is quite steep, at other shows there are plenty of coins right at melt, sometimes even a tad below, if a local dealer just made a big buy.

rhedden

only problem was either they were overpriced for the grades they were listed

Welcome to the wonderful world of coin shows. The coins that are sitting on the tables are usually un-sold because they are either overpriced, or they are ugly for the grade, or both. Finding "fresh" material at a show is tough, unless you're at the dealer hour before it starts.

i thought for sure they were going to go for all the monster toned morgans we came across

Your kids have a good eye for value. It's funny how 10 years ago one would find that only 1% of Morgans seen at shows had "monster" toning, but all of a sudden, most every dealer's table you see has a killer toner of one sort or another... with a high price tag on it. It really makes you think about how all those coins got toned in the last 10 years.

clw54

<< <i>Your kids have a good eye for value. It's funny how 10 years ago one would find that only 1% of Morgans seen at shows had "monster" toning, but all of a sudden, most every dealer's table you see has a killer toner of one sort or another... with a high price tag on it. It really makes you think about how all those coins got toned in the last 10 years. >>


There will come a day when they're all toned and people will want the few white ones that are left.