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Local Coin Shop Was BOOMING This Afternoon & I Guess I Made Someone's Day
TomB
Posts: 20,730 ✭✭✭✭✭
This afternoon I visited one of the local coin shops in my neck of the woods and while there the place became suddenly flooded with customers. As I spoke with the shop owner and his assistant, in came a couple with their two young sons followed by another man with his two young sons, a woman selling three large bags that constituted a collection, a man looking to fill out his State Quarter set, a couple wanting to buy bullion gold, an elderly gentleman looking to obtain a mix of bullion and numismatic gold, one man requesting a gold ring be resized and another man who wanted to look through the silver jewelry. All these folks entered the shop within ten minutes of one another and we were crammed from wall-to-wall.
The shop owner has had an extended run on his bullion pieces and had essentially nothing to sell to those folks who requested bullion. However, he was able to help the couple with the two young sons as the boys are nascent collectors putting together type set albums. This couple also had some pocket watches that they did not want to sell, but that they did want some information about in terms of date of manufacture and approximate value. Although he sold some coins to this couple and their sons, he talked the other father and his sons out of purchasing some pieces because the sons were truly novice collectors and could not give any reason for why they wanted to spend their (father's) money. For these folks he strongly recommended buying a Red Book and to think about the collection as a family before simply buying whatever looked odd without any thought.
Even with these interactions, he spent nearly all of the three hours I was in the shop with the woman who brought in her collection. The collection appeared to be from her late husband and was the typical array of modern US Mint proof sets and commemoratives that individually do not have that much value, but as a group can add up quite a bit. She had one more expensive piece and it was the Jackie Robinson gold coin in proof. The owner took his Greysheet out and went through everything several times while writing the bid prices down and then paid her the total, which was really quite generous for material that he may have a tough time selling in his shop.
I made myself useful by helping folks buy individual coins since his assistant does not know as much about coinage as I do and also since I have a bit of experience selling coins. The man putting together the State Quarter set had a handwritten list of quite a few P and D mint coins that he still needed. I asked the assitant for the boxes of rolls for these issues and the assistant opened up a roll and handed me a single coin to sell to the man. Immediately I noticed that while the coin was roll-fresh, it had a severe gouge on the reverse. I handed the coin back to the assistant and asked if he would give me all the rolls so I could go through the coins. The man collecting the quarters was ready to accept the first piece handed toward him, but I looked at him and asked if he minded if I went through each roll to make certain he received nice coins. He was quite happy to allow me to do that. After a bit, he had his coins, which came to approximately one-half of the set. He paid, turned to leave and then came over to me to thank me repeatedly for finding him such nice coins out of each roll. He was genuinely surprised that someone would take the time to find nice pieces for him even with this relatively small purchase in a busy store. I was delighted that he noticed the quality and appreciated it, but was somewhat saddened that folks may have such a low expectation of service.
I spent three hours there and bought nothing, but had a great time helping someone build a State Quarter set, noticed that every scrap of bullion material has been bought off the shelves and was quite happy to see the shop owner pay so well for the inherited collection that he will have a difficult time selling.
The shop owner has had an extended run on his bullion pieces and had essentially nothing to sell to those folks who requested bullion. However, he was able to help the couple with the two young sons as the boys are nascent collectors putting together type set albums. This couple also had some pocket watches that they did not want to sell, but that they did want some information about in terms of date of manufacture and approximate value. Although he sold some coins to this couple and their sons, he talked the other father and his sons out of purchasing some pieces because the sons were truly novice collectors and could not give any reason for why they wanted to spend their (father's) money. For these folks he strongly recommended buying a Red Book and to think about the collection as a family before simply buying whatever looked odd without any thought.
Even with these interactions, he spent nearly all of the three hours I was in the shop with the woman who brought in her collection. The collection appeared to be from her late husband and was the typical array of modern US Mint proof sets and commemoratives that individually do not have that much value, but as a group can add up quite a bit. She had one more expensive piece and it was the Jackie Robinson gold coin in proof. The owner took his Greysheet out and went through everything several times while writing the bid prices down and then paid her the total, which was really quite generous for material that he may have a tough time selling in his shop.
I made myself useful by helping folks buy individual coins since his assistant does not know as much about coinage as I do and also since I have a bit of experience selling coins. The man putting together the State Quarter set had a handwritten list of quite a few P and D mint coins that he still needed. I asked the assitant for the boxes of rolls for these issues and the assistant opened up a roll and handed me a single coin to sell to the man. Immediately I noticed that while the coin was roll-fresh, it had a severe gouge on the reverse. I handed the coin back to the assistant and asked if he would give me all the rolls so I could go through the coins. The man collecting the quarters was ready to accept the first piece handed toward him, but I looked at him and asked if he minded if I went through each roll to make certain he received nice coins. He was quite happy to allow me to do that. After a bit, he had his coins, which came to approximately one-half of the set. He paid, turned to leave and then came over to me to thank me repeatedly for finding him such nice coins out of each roll. He was genuinely surprised that someone would take the time to find nice pieces for him even with this relatively small purchase in a busy store. I was delighted that he noticed the quality and appreciated it, but was somewhat saddened that folks may have such a low expectation of service.
I spent three hours there and bought nothing, but had a great time helping someone build a State Quarter set, noticed that every scrap of bullion material has been bought off the shelves and was quite happy to see the shop owner pay so well for the inherited collection that he will have a difficult time selling.
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Comments
and your avatar is not at all like you TomB
So where is this shop.
If possible I would like to pay a visit to an HONEST one.
Are you in the running for the RYK award for the "most altruistic person in numismatics?"
Cool story!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
many times by people who are less than honest.
I think there's a name for what I'm talking about but can't think of it at the moment.
A large number of people enter a shop, usually jewelry, and some of them get the
attention of the employees working there and the rest pick up some valuable
merchandise and slip it in their pockets or purses.
Anyway, yours sounds totally legitimate. I hope so.
JT
I collect all 20th century series except gold including those series that ended there.
I don't think I've spent more than 30-40 minutes in a B&M, mostly because there's not a lot of B&M's with 30-40 minutes worth of material to look at!
<< <i>Nice to hear a positive story.
Are you in the running for the RYK award for the "most altruistic person in numismatics?" >>
Absolutely!
I think that the masses heard you were in the store, Tom, and were hoping to meet you.
I also bet the shop owner will reap the rewards of your courteous assistance to the collector.
Lane
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Thanks for sharing it.
My only question, was the dealer okay with you going through all the rolls and picking out the best coin of each roll? This customer was trying to fill a statehood quarter album, and even though he wants nice coins in it, I would almost think that the dealer doesn't want you cherry-picking the best coins for this type of transaction. Nothing against you, just make sure you don't overstep your bounds there.
bob
I too spent 3hrs in my local shop today (without working) with my 8 yr old. He had a great time and the owner always enjoys seeing him. He fished out a coin you would have liked TomB, an original 07 O VF Barber. He went for buff's and I helped him some there with 2 late date toners and a G6ish 24 S. I'm so happy he is taking to this hobby and I hope he continues. Few things are more fun than spending time with your kids on the weekend in a busy coin shop.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
We need MORE like this!
TC71
That's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
I'm sure the owner appreciated your help considering
his assistant wasn't very coin savy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
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