Coin Brokers......

relicsncoins

There are lots of coin dealers around the country but who are top 3 coin brokers.......meaning that they broker major deals between major players in the hobby/business.

PerryHall

I imagine that all major coin dealers act as brokers on occasion.

WaterSport

I would think those who are specialist in a series would be in the top three as oppose to general coin wheelers and dealers….

WS

AMRC

Impossible to say because only the highest profile coins make it into the news, so I don't have enough data. I would venture that most of the familiar larger names have brokered many deals in the past.

Lancastercoin

Generally the "major players" don't use brokers or broker things themselves, and just directly buy deals either from the public or from other majors in order to retail/auction the material themselves. Brokers usually end up being smaller dealers (like me) that don't have the cash to buy huge deals/collections, and negotiate with the big boys on behalf of the owner of the collection/hoard. Everyone, at every step in the process, wants to cut out as many "brokers" (middlemen) as possible since everyone in the chain expects to be paid. Not that all brokered deals are totally parasitic, but they often can be. About the only way I've ever really earned my broker fee is when someone wants to walk a rare coin into a coin shop and take whatever they are paying. Then it's usually easy to get the client much more money and make myself a few bucks at the same time.

When I think of major players in high-end US coins the first three that come to mind are Heritage, Spectrum, and Carter. But that could be just because my go-to wholesaler uses those three the most on $20k+ singles. I'm more of a world coin guy so my view may be pretty different from others though.

RebelRon

I'm sure that I'm "broker"than you from buying expensive coins!

ColonelJessup

Is an auctioneer a parasite? I know there are some differences between straight-out brokers and auctioneers, but there are a lot of similarities too.

Is a dealer who negotiates on behalf of a customer while keeping the customer's identity secret a parasite?

If I have a customer who wants to sell his 1804 S$1 worth $2.5M and know a dealer who has a customer who wants one, are the middle-men "less than totally parasitic".

I can name 50 national dealers who might do that deal. Would they be more or less parasitic if they offered the owner $1.7M for an outright purchase? My guess is very few would stock it; they'd all be willing to work for $100K and often quite a bit less. It's a risk-reward play.

An honest broker works on a much smaller margin than someone who accepts the risks of ownership.

DaveE

Legend has brokered, bought, and sold outright more big deals than anyone in the past 2-3 years.

Remember they sold their partners MS Seated set two years ago-I saw the check, its on Laura door. That was in excess of $10 million!!!!! They just bought (laura confirmed to me it was not brokered) the 43D 1C for $1.7 million.

I can not think of any dealer or auction house that comes close to paying out the cash they have.

ColonelJessup

<< <i>Legend has brokered, bought, and sold outright more big deals than anyone in the past 2-3 years.

Remember they sold their partners MS Seated set two years ago-I saw the check, its on Laura door. That was in excess of $10 million!!!!! They just bought (laura confirmed to me it was not brokered) the 43D 1C for $1.7 million.

I can not think of any dealer or auction house that comes close to paying out the cash they have. >>

WTCG

<< <i>Legend has brokered, bought, and sold outright more big deals than anyone in the past 2-3 years.

Remember they sold their partners MS Seated set two years ago-I saw the check, its on Laura door. That was in excess of $10 million!!!!! They just bought (laura confirmed to me it was not brokered) the 43D 1C for $1.7 million.

I can not think of any dealer or auction house that comes close to paying out the cash they have. >>



Legend does a lot but they aren't the only ones who write big checks. There are others but let's stick with a few others for the sake of time...

Spectrum Group -- Including their subsidiaries including but not limited to Bowers and Merena, Spectrum and A-Mark, their annual revenue is in the ten figures.

Heritage -- Remember those $70 million FUN auctions? Remember the Trompetor collection? And that was a decade ago.

One prominent dealer from Montana also owns a bank. The Late Jack Lee was good for eight or nine figures.

There are others including Kevin Lipton and Kenny Duncan with whom I'd trust an eight figure check from.

DaveE

WTG: Its one thing to trust people to write an eight figure check, but only Kevin Lipton has stepped up and bought eight figure deals in the past few years. None of the others you have listed have actually written checks. Heritage has been dormant on the big deal front as has Spectrum. B+M has not purchased anything.

The number of big dealers who actually do the deals is extremely limited. You would also be surprised how few dealers really can write seven figure checks. The coins biz just does not have a lot of money for dealers to be that liquid.

ColonelJessup

<< <i>WTG: Its one thing to trust people to write an eight figure check, but only Kevin Lipton has stepped up and bought eight figure deals in the past few years. None of the others you have listed have actually written checks. Heritage has been dormant on the big deal front as has Spectrum. B+M has not purchased anything.

The number of big dealers who actually do the deals is extremely limited. You would also be surprised how few dealers really can write seven figure checks. The coins biz just does not have a lot of money for dealers to be that liquid. >>



Perhaps you might consider the existence of credit lines. Bruce surely is too sophisticated to leave $10M in cash lying around.

Did you get this information directly from Laura? She seems to be your only source of information. You can't be her alt; you spell too well. Perhaps her fan-boy?

While I don't have that many posts, MrEureka encouraged me to join here. I believe he wanted me to channel his dark side (double entendre intended). I have 30+ years in the biz to inform my observations.

What are the experiences that inform yours.

Other than purchasing a 39-D 10c.