Has anyone dealt with Littleton Coin Company?
DBSTrader2
Posts: 3,481 ✭✭✭✭
Just curious. I've heard all their "on-approval" stuff is over-graded, over-priced, and a pain to return/cancel, but is that really the case? I figure it's like the old record/CD/book clubs, just that stuff is actually sent out to you on approval to accept/return, rather than you having an invoice you can reject before anything gets sent to you, like the old clubs of lore........
Littleton has an interesting offer for 1st-time customers that someone asked me about (to help them kick-start a N.A. $ collection of non-circulating years at face), but I've never dealt with them to know what to answer them other than the above.
Anyone have info I could pass along re:
(1) quality
(2) prices
(3) how many "on-approvals" they send & how often?
(4) are declined "on-approvals" shipped back pre-paid, or at the customer's cost?
(5) how easy it is to "cancel-at-any-time"?
(6) anything else they should know or be aware of?
Thanks in advance!
(added: I just went to their website, and they sure look WAY over-priced for the quality coins they are selling! Just my opinion. And it looks like the cost of returning approvals are on the customer....)
Comments
Ebay would be a better choice in my opinion.
I think I bought from them about 45 years ago when I was 10 but have not bought from them since.
Their prices on coins are a little higher, BUT you will get the grade assigned. I have sold to them for many years and they are very picky whenever buying, which is a good thing for the collector. I cannot speak about their approvals, as I haven't been on their approval list since the 1960s.
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It would seem to be. The offer in question, however, is 1 P&D N.A. dollar each from 2015, 2016, & 2017 at cost (= $6) & free shipping, and they were thinking of just returning all "on-approvals" mmediately cancelling their membership, so net cost (not including the hassle of returning/cancelling) would be just $6 + shipping for the returns - - better in this case than anything could expect for that combo on e-Bay or elsewhere.........
They pay fair for stuff, but it has to be all there, solid for the grade and 100% problem free or they wont buy it. They get top dollar for common type stuff, but at least its good solid quality stuff.
Their collector grade coins are nice, but typically priced 3-5 times what you could buy them for at any coin show.
Not overgraded but definitely overpriced.
I do those "first time" offers all the time. Usually the first approvals sent with the offer come with a postpaid return envelope. Just make a note on the invoice to please not send any more approvals and return the ones that came with the order, and you are all set.
The only time the first approvals did not come with a postpaid return envelope was recently when I responded to a free $2 bill offer. I had to pay to return the approvals so I about broke even on that one.
On all subsequent approvals you pay return postage.
For me, it never makes sense to buy any of their full priced stuff with a few very rare exceptions. For example, they have a set of Depression scrip for what seemed like a very reasonable price so I ordered that, but for stuff you can get elsewhere they are always going to be the most expensive. Those cable shopping coin sellers use Littleton's price lists as the comparison prices to justify their own high prices.
Thanks, everyone, for your responses! I will pass along what I've heard.
I don't buy from them but they have brought a lot of folks into the hobby.
Years ago, my Mother ordered a coin - as a gift to me - from them. After that, she was constantly getting items that she did not request. I had to send them back and requested they not send anymore. That did not work, so I had to call and get a bit strong with them. I told them no more would be accepted, any sent would be trashed and if billed I would sue them... sent a confirming letter. It stopped. Cheers, RickO
Littleton takes coin collecting to the masses who have little way to see older and unusual coins using expensive forms of traditional mass advertising and they charge handsomely for their service. Their product quality is mostly very high. It's a business model, it works for them, it's neither immoral or illegal.
I'm not sure how someone who has 2,600 posts would have never encountered a Littleton packaged coin(s) or a Littleton printed catalog before now.
A big company with a lot of mouths to feed. You would have as much luck buying from the Danbury Mint which is to say not much. Find sellers who are into it to support the hobby, not out to make a lot of money.
BillDugan1959: I actually have a DE state quarter in Littleton packaging that someone passed along to me some time ago, and have seen their ads in local magazines/inserts, so I am aware of the company by name. But never having ordered from them, I didn't feel comfortable responding to the person who asked me about them without at least checking with other Forum members who may have had first-hand experience. And I'm glad I did, as I got more clarification, as well as had a few pre-conceived notions both substantiated & refuted.
Has been about 27 years since I purchased from Littleton, only about a dozen or so times. From what I remember they were overpriced but I'd send back what I didn't like. Fairly simple process to return and I believe shipping both ways was covered by them. Found my invoices from 1989 to 1991 judging from my address and Littleton profit shares, I wonder if they're still good? Added a few pics.
Great stories, keep them coming.
Decades ago the big advertiser's were, well...
In the last 3-4 years, I have seen dollars, dimes, quarters, halves, and SE still in the original Littleton sealed package and EVERY COIN was under graded! While a package might say Uncirculated, the coin will very often be a 63 or 64. A SE packaged as Unc is usually MS-68 or MS-69.
I have called the owner of this company on two occasions in the past to tell him how good his product is. I do not know what the coins cost.
i havent dealt with them in god knows how many years nor do i care to. like it was said though earlier they have brought many into the hobby. jmo
SONOMOSCA: I looked at their online site, and it appears they still have "profit-sharing", so you might still have some value there!
Nice! I'll have to get on Littleton's site and take a look. Thank you!
Agree. Littleton has their place and they have done a good job bringing coins to the masses through their advertising.
A few decades ago, I would have a agreed, but I haven't run into Littleton after moving online. I think that is because they are mostly present in print magazines and the like. While they have a website, I never run into them online, via Google ads or anything. I do run into a bunch of Heritage Google Ads.
My wife wanted to buy the run of Statehood Quarters and albums for my grandkids, so rather than trying to find them all, I just let Littleton do the work for me, sure, it was their mix of P's & D's, but all the years were there and all quarters were uncirculated. Easy peasy, they had fun putting them in the albums and even had more fun taking them out to spend in vending machines. Good-bye Joe.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
Littleton applies to "Tiffany's" business model to coins. That is, it's for people who want top quality and want to buy quickly, without any effort (i.e. Shopping, research, etc).
Didn't Sam's Club or Costco just get into trouble for selling fake "Tiffany's" stuff?
If you want to see something interesting, take a look online at one of their staff photos. There a ton of employees, so there a lot of those little packages going out. I have always heard the coins were properly graded, and service was good, but you pay through the nose. I have heard several people mention that many of the coins they bought were underwater even 30 years after they were purchased.
As long as my friend has an easy time cancelling if he wants to, I'd think he'd be ok giving them an educated try..... he just needs to know the value of what they are offering before making any subsequent purchases. I also saw online in their Q&A where you can set up the frequency of "on-approval" mailings, so maybe he could set it up for one every 3 to 6 months so not inundated & can stem any flow before wants to cancel. He'll have to check that, too.
Get him a "Red Book" and have him learn grading before going to a bulk merchant that sells BU coins and buys back at AU.
My local club came into a bunch of presidential Dollars the Littleton had packaged. Everyone of them were Gem Uncircumcised (MS-66+). It took a lot of picking to assemble that group. Sadly no one in the club seemed to care. I couldn't even get face value for them.
I have heard from dealers that Littleton is a very picky buyer. I have done any buying from they, however.
Very picky buyer. A major wholesaler (now passed on) told me that they were rejecting about 2/3 of what he shipped to them. And he though all the coins were nice.
Thanks, all! I passed all the info gathered here along to my friend, and we'll see what he does from here. Meantime, I decided to give them a shot myself for their N.A. dollars (P&D 2015-2016-2017) for face ($6), since I need a few sets myself of the 2016's anyway.
Anyone have extra 2016 P&D N.A.'s to trade & need either 2015's or 2017's in exchange? I'll be getting some as part of that deal.
More than a Eclipse ago
Lafayette Grading Set
I stopped in years ago, I had a raw 1855 $20 piece raw, that had graded choice AU that I showed them, they thought it was around Unc. but was never able to get it to grade above AU55. No offer on that one. They ran this ad for years to drum up more business: https://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Display|10001|29555|-1||LearnNav|1866-20-Dollar-Gold-Certificate-Held-by-One-Family-for-Four-Generations.html
Seemingly zero connection between your coin (?) story and the bank note featured in the article. Zip, nada, zilch.