estate sales?
silencer
Posts: 9 ✭
greetings to one and all. how do you feel about estate sale coins and bags on e- bay? i personally think it's a rip-off. a couple of months ago i sent a credit card offer for a certain amount. what i got was 2 rolls of wheathies in poor condition. one roll of buffalo nickels good for loose change in my pocket and a roll of mercury dimes so worn out , there was no dates on any of them.
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Estate Sales are great when you get to walk around the property and look for things to buy. Otherewise, it is the same as a fire sale, or going out of business sale - a gimmick.
One dealer I know takes a bunch of junk and throws it togeter to form the unsearched "__________________ (fill in the blank) Collection."
I have never seen numismatics at yard, tag or "estate" sales.
Many of these sales do not really fit the definition of "estate":
es·tate
1.
an extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house, owned by one person, family, or organization.
synonyms: property, grounds, garden(s), park, parkland, land(s), landholding, manor, territory; historicalseigneury
"the Knowltons' estate"
2.
all the money and property owned by a particular person, especially at death.
"in his will, he divided his estate between his wife and daughter"
synonyms: assets, capital, wealth, riches, holdings, fortune; More
More like a flea market "special".
More often than not in very many areas of life, the term 'estate' is just a 'come-on' term to lure the unwary and the credulous.
Unless you know at least some of the specific circumstances of whose estate it was, and the seller/dealer/agent is known to you as an honorable person, you should assume some chicanery.
Why do so many people think they can go into dark alleys and dead-end streets and obtain fantastic bargains on desirable collector coins and intrinsically valuable gold and silver items?
"Estate sale" has become meaningless because of abuse by sellers.
Ebay is a cesspool - let's face the facts. Finding a rarity of any kind in an estate sale is the exception rather than the rule.
Personally, I feel I have better odds buying a scratch off lottery ticket. If you win, great. If you lose, at least you are supporting schools (and we all know our schools need MAJOR help).
If you think you are going to snag a
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
There are many perfectly reputable sellers on eBay. They make properly priced offers, I look at their feedback, I accept, I pay up, they deliver promptly. Honest transactions occur thousands of times every single day.
The person who gets rooked is the person who fails to heed the immortal wisdom of Larsen E. Whipsnade.
Estate sales are actually quite common here. The last one I went to had the front door propped open and when I asked if everything was for sale the lady said "Yes Sir, and don't forget to look in the garage out back". Now that's a fun sale to go to.
Problem with actual estate sales is the good stuff is picked over and taken by the auctioneer, executor or whoever well before the general public gets any chance go in to buy.
As for all these estate coins and unsearched rolls, bags etc. on Ebay it's nothing but a scam, stay away imo. At best you will get about what you paid for but more than likely you will get a pile of junk that could not be sold any other way.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Ebay estate sales often are worthless or a sham.
Physical estate sales are hit or miss. One thing I have tried is, if the sale starts on Friday, go by on Thursday, and see if they are unloading stuff INTO the house. Pretty much recycled junk at that point.
Some are absolute gold mines, if you are a miner. One local one was the estate of a life long bachelor who died on a big game hunt in Alaska, big hunting fan, , big classic car buff, etc. I got there an hour early, and there were at least 75 people, mostly men, in front of me. High quality tools, guns everywhere, stuff mounts, on and on. True estate sale.
Watch the % off times. For example, 25% off Friday, 50% off Saturday AM, 75% off Saturday after 1 PM. If you see those, more likely it is a sale where they want to move the stuff, not drag it to another sale next week. The only "coin" bargain I ever got at an estate sale was on a Saturday, and there were some common 90% binders over priced, and about 28 ounces of silver in a binder (1 ounce rounds), IIRC, over priced, but very visible in piles of books stacked on bookcases. I saw them before right before closing for Saturday lunch, and rushed over to them right after lunch on Saturday, and at 75% off, they were a great deal.
Along those same lines, watch places like Hallmark Card shops, they sometimes have 1 ounce silver rounds for Christmas, all over priced, but sometimes they get caught in the 50 - 75% off Christmas stuff sale. I cleared a store one time, when silver was heading up, and with the IIRC, 50% off, they were well under spot. They had less than 15, IIRC, at the store, but the nice store clerk asked me if I wanted more? She checked the computer, and found 20 - 25 IIRC, at other stores in the area, and had them shipped over for me, at the sale price.
I am skeptical more often than not on such claim; IMO thought it is a subdued kind of disclaimer; for not being fully responsible of the goods.
Ebay is no good when it comes to "estate" sale marketing gibberish.
But there are genuine estate sales in my neck of the woods, with quality deals to be had. Silver at or near melt, and even better stuff like GSA CC Morgans in their original packaging. It all depends on the sale, the estate sale company, and how early you can get there. Doesn't happen every week (or even every month), but a patient person can find good stuff.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.
I'm not sure which phrase is the most overused (lied about) on Ebay..."Estate sale" or "Grandfather's collection"? LOL
A true estate sale, not the eBay kind, but the kind where everything in the house is for sale, can be worthwhile if they have coins. I once went through a bucket of silver dollars and found several CCs and a couple other better dates, for slightly over melt value. Another time a book of Indians that was nearly complete, missing only the 77 and the 09-S, for less than half of wholesale value. But you spend a lot of time and gas finding these rare occurrences.
LRC Numismatics eBay listings:
http://stores.ebay.com/lrcnumismatics
Local estate sales (usually two or three a year) occasionally have good material.... I never bother with those on ebay...Cheers, RickO
There is one eBay seller who lists everything they sell as an "estate find"- total hogwash of course.