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Less Purchases from USMint - Cheaper elsewhere

tneigtneig Posts: 1,505 ✭✭✭
in Precious Metals
I had been buying the standard annual sets from the mint, and partly because they are more expensive on the aftermarket sites later..

However, I know what to look for now and seeing cheaper private deals. So, I'm cancelling my yearlys, and if I have to wait a year to two+ to find the items at the pawn shop, flea markets, craigs,.. thats ok w me.

There's a lot of good deals out there if you're patient and ready to buy when you find it. This weekend I found a flea market seller just moving his stuff for quick cheap cash which was ok for him and me, but hardly anyone else was buying - odd.

Last week a local B&M dealer sold a handfull of morgans to a flea market dealer for $20 each, which confused the heck of me.
Then you see the guys with the same way-overpriced proofs week after week, that never moves, but it costs them $30 a table.

All good learning observations for me.
COA

Comments

  • OPAOPA Posts: 17,119 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I had been buying the standard annual sets from the mint, and partly because they are more expensive on the aftermarket sites later..

    However, I know what to look for now and seeing cheaper private deals. So, I'm cancelling my yearlys, and if I have to wait a year to two+ to find the items at the pawn shop, flea markets, craigs,.. thats ok w me.

    There's a lot of good deals out there if you're patient and ready to buy when you find it. This weekend I found a flea market seller just moving his stuff for quick cheap cash which was ok for him and me, but hardly anyone else was buying - odd.

    Last week a local B&M dealer sold a handfull of morgans to a flea market dealer for $20 each, which confused the heck of me.
    Then you see the guys with the same way-overpriced proofs week after week, that never moves, but it costs them $30 a table.

    All good learning observations for me. >>



    So that's where all the Chinese counterfeits are ending up. image As the saying goes: Caveat Emptor. Personally, Craigs List would be the last place I'd be buying coins from...second: Flea Markets. Good luck with your adventure in coin collecting.
    "Bongo drive 1984 Lincoln that looks like old coin dug from ground."
  • jmski52jmski52 Posts: 22,820 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Any Modern coin that you didn't buy directly from the Mint has already had its value extracted by the original purchaser, and this is reflected in the price differentials between 70 graded coins, 69 graded coins, unopened OGP coins, and raw coins.

    Finding a diamond in the rough is always possible, but in my experience even buying graded coins off ebay or BST has yielded coins that I would rate in the lower half of the grade bracket. Again, finding a bargain is always possible if you know how to evaluate the grading in your series but I'd give it a fairly low probability in most cases.
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
  • Mission16Mission16 Posts: 1,413 ✭✭✭
    This post makes me wonder where the flea market seller gets his stuff from.
  • tneigtneig Posts: 1,505 ✭✭✭
    Mission16: "The weekly flea market coin dealers sell basic silver bars for $31, and I see they have customers, and see them buy as well." But it would have to be something unique for me to buy at that price. I see their magnets, scales, and acid behind their tables. They don't look rich to me, but they seem to have turnaround.

    I put in a lot of work, and look for folks that just come to sell their coins for day, or some that happen to have some coins with their other stuff. Most casual collectors have a different outlook on the value of their offerings are are there to sell and need cash. I'll buy something and talk to them and they seem to come up with more stuff or I get their number. An older gentlemen this weekend had a bag of goodies behind the table and at the end of the day gave me fantastic deals on 18 mint sets, threw in coin folders and airtites and tubes.

    Yesterday, buying was dry at the pawn shop and I noticed a craigs ad for 2 dozen merc dimes. Correct aging, small amount, right sound and weight, so I bought them for spot, meeting on the way home. Got my addiction fix, a small price paid, and still have the money in silver form. I also have a growing list of these private people and they call me or I look for their ads.

    I wouldn't bother if the ad said "Multiple tubes of unchecked Morgans, meet on the turnpike"...
    COA
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