Monthly acquisition programs ever popular?

Moldnut

Where you paid a dealer a monthly fee to send you coins in a chosen category. Were these ever popular?

MGLICKER

<< <i>Where you paid a dealer a monthly fee to send you coins in a chosen category. Were these ever popular? >>



Sure, many coin and stamp empires were built on the programs.

roadrunner

<< <i>Where you paid a dealer a monthly fee to send you coins in a chosen category. Were these ever popular? >>



These were very popular back in the 1980's, especially before PCGS came on the scene and people started to realize how far off the grades were. I can recall Tulving and others offering such programs with 1/2 and full page ads in Coin World each week. I think in the end these mostly turned out to be just another way to take J6P to the cleaners yet again. Oops, there I go again being cynical. Tulving eventually got shut down by the FEDs/FTC and paid a fine in the early 1990's. Even a number of the major dealers of that period offered such programs. And why not? It was one way to get rid of unwanted and stale inventory. These also spawned "investment" packages where you could order $100, $500, $1,000 and even more in a "specially selected just for you" pile of coins with "investment potential" were shipped out to you. This way you wouldn't have to make the hard decision on what to buy....and make a mistake. Of course, the dealer would ideally select only winners for you....lol. No doubt some dealers offered fair value to their monthly customers. But, I am certain they were in the minority. Oops, being cynical again. Back in the 1973-1986 Coin World era I made my own coin selections from Coin World ads. And even then, I found I had to return about 80% of them for being over-graded and over-priced. I can only imagine how horrid those investment packages turned out for customers. I'd list more names but was told that some of them are still in business.

TopographicOceans

Back when I was a youngin in the 70's I subscribed to a coin of the month program. I thought it was pretty cool getting new coins each month.
Littleton still does subscription programs so I guess people subscribe.

RYK

Throughout my collecting lifetime, they have been a subject of derision. So, no.

MGLICKER

I ordered a lot of circulated world stamps from Mystic a decade ago. They took the liberty of entering me in their stamp of the month program.

It was quickly cancelled.

MrEureka

I remember B&R offering a program like this. They may have been the first.

LindeDad

Almost as bad as records were.

roadrunner

I remember "Collection Investment Program" was the name of one major dealer's program. That could have been B&R, Heritage, NERCG, First Coinvestors or someone along those lines.

Just checked my summer 1975 Rare Coin Review and it was B&R offering the Collection & Investment Program in just about anything you wanted it in (gold, type, etc.). If they offered this most of the other guys would have had to follow suit. I got a kick out of seeing uncut sheets of Monopoly money in that catalog (sheets of 70 notes). They were being offered in all 7 denominations ($1 to $500) for $9.95 (2c per note). Should have bought some.

Cougar1978

I always regarded these as primarily a rip off at high retail prices, sight unseen. It seemed like a great deal for the dealer - a guaranteed monthly retail sales volume plus a way to get rid of AU / BU sliders at BU money. I recently looked at a guys collection mainly acquired from such a program. AU / BU sliders, common MS60-63 Dollars, etc.

Now with online, especially ebay there are many more choices for the collector.

410a

Littleton had such programs, It think Hans Tulving had these too. Bower's and Merena had them even with the advent of certified coins on a $$ per month basis for a particular series. Sometimes these were good sometimes they didn't work out. One of the above sent my brother in law lincoln cents for years, cost hundreds of dollars. I have the incomplete set. I paid him $35. for it.