finding coins in the $100-$500 price range
SimpleCollector
Posts: 536 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am curious if others are having trouble finding coins in this price range, and if not, what the best sources are. I ask this because when I got back into the hobby 8ish years ago, I was routinely finding decent coins at multiple internet venues (many dealers and auctions). Over the past 12 months, it seems like many of the dealers skew their inventory towards the $700+ coins. The listings sub $500 seem to be getting fewer and fewer.
I am wondering if grading fees, auction buyers fees, other costs are eliminating availability of coins in the sub$500 range, or if maybe dealers in this price range have moved to Instagram or other venues. Perhaps dealers don’t list these coins and instead sell them at shows?
Alternatively, maybe the price range I am looking for is an odd range, being that many are either able to,pay >$1000 or <$100.
Any thoughts or insights are appreciated.
Comments
There's tons of sub $500 coins on eBay. The issue that I have with the huge majority of them is that they are extremely overpriced and they get listed and re-listed and re-listed over and over. The worst are the ones listed at auction where the starting bid is significantly more than the coin is worth.
Successful transactions with: wondercoin, Tetromibi, PerryHall, PlatinumDuck, JohnMaben/Pegasus Coin & Jewelry, CoinFlip, and coinlieutenant.
I've been able to find some good deals from the major auction houses !!!
What kind of coins are you looking for?
I am primarily a type coin collector, usually in the vf25-au58 range. Been looking for capped bust coins recently - all denominations were needed(did pick up one this week in auction) , also looking for barbers and 1/2 cents.
While I see some inventory, the normal avenues I had used in the past, seem all to be listing a much higher percentage of higher priced coins.
Just wondering what the best venue is.
Inflation could very well also be a factor.
We all know the classic definition of inflation...too much money chasing too few coins.
There seems to be a lot of this material on the BST. Have you tried there?
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Are you looking on Great Collections? They have lots of coins in your price range.
It takes a lot of online shopping to find the deals.... they are out there, but a lot get snapped up as quick as they appear....Cheers, RickO
Perhaps that’s it, they disappear quickly...yes I do look at great collections and other sights regularly. Side note, I actually won a capped bust dime this week from gc this week, will add pic once it arrives.
That price range is right in my wheelhouse as well. Patience is a virtue if you don't like to be buried in a coin.
Sounds like my budget as well.
I think it may be that IF you have a website, you're just making better use of your time and assets by selling higher end coins. Once you take pictures, place it on your website, buy shipping material, etc., etc., the profit on that $200 coin is pretty much eaten up.
eBay certainly is an option. But I find that some of my best finds are at coin shows. Of course, I'm in a lucky situation where coin shows are relatively abundant....
It's not all that hard if you look.
Check out some of the dealers who have web sites. Some of them have this material. The places to skip are the big auction houses because their high buyers' fees make it impossible to buy most any item that is priced under $300 or so. The $400 to $500 items are marginal.
Could be your hunting fields others have walked recently.
Capped busts have sucked the last 2 weeks.. especially halves.. 10 dollar coins for 40-50 BIN, 15 dollar coins for 60-75 BIN, and everything vf-au is overpriced or holed. Some of the auctions ending in the next few days are 50-200 more than last month, but with lower grades more cleaning more problems.
JJ Teaparty is a great source of coins in this range. I agree that’s it’s a middle-ground. There’s not enough profit there to warrant high-quality photos and a big write up, but they are nice coins and deserve more than just a simple text listing. Some dealers don’t carry lots of this material but MANY do. It might take a bit of footwork but most coins in this range aren’t great rarities. It’s hard to pick a nice one though without photos....... eBay and GC might be your best bet.
Try the larger local shows, I will have a table at the PNNA show close to Seattle next weekend. I’m tacking about 150 MS coins and all will be below $500, most $150 to $300. Morgans are very cheep, MS 66 generic dollars are around $250. Washington Quarters keep falling too. Spend the time and there are good values to be had.
You might also check out Gerry Fortin's site and daily blog: link. He has a decent capped bust inventory. Other dealers I've worked with in the past for this type of material include Dave Kahn, JJ Teaparty, David Lawrence and Northeast Numismatics.
http://collectors.com/ and http://www.collectorscorner.com/ are a couple of good websites which feature lots of dealers and normally have images...although some of the listings are days, weeks, and months old from being sold.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
Thanks for the feedback. For the most part it looks as though I have been looking at most of the right places. I did learn of a few new sites to check out so thanks....It seems as though: many people looking for similar type coins so good ones go fast; dealers may not stock as much in this range on website due to costs/time so slightly higher priced coins more plentiful; and be patient...
hopefully paid off. I won this last week at GC, host X
F40 with that green dot thing...now I need to learn to take pics.
Someone is selling an AU+ bust half that is $90 more than what a better one sold for last month. It hurts in that I should've bought the better one last month, I'm sure it's gonna sell 2.5x what I could have paid. I don't even wanna look. It's nowhere near as nice as the last mint year they had.
There are wonderful coins in the $300-$500 price range. They are out there. Plentiful. If that's what is in your budget.....GO FOR IT!!!! If you've got a good eye, you won't be sorry.
Slab inflation is your biggest enemy. This happens when a $100 coin is put in a $30 plastic slab and suddenly becomes "worth" $150....Meaning the owner tries to stick you for the extra cost of having an ordinary coin put in an unnecessary authentication and grading holder. Cents, nickels and dimes are the most severely affected although most circulated type coins (like the OP collects) fall into this group.
Disagree - somewhat. The market is the market. There are legitimate bluesheet prices for slabs (sight unseen) so it is irrelevant that you think the coin should only be $100. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you are referring to using greysheet to price coins rather than bluesheet - greysheet is usually higher.
Woolsworth used to be a good place to find coins on the cheap.
Lots of dealers carry material in this range...David Kahn routinely has a lot of really nice coins in this price range...so does Harlan J. Berk. Heck, looking back, the CRO early bird e-mail in December had 51 coins...19 of them were priced under $500. Regardless of budget, patience is key.
RE: "Disagree - somewhat. The market is the market. There are legitimate bluesheet prices for slabs (sight unseen) so it is irrelevant that you think the coin should only be $100. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you are referring to using greysheet to price coins rather than bluesheet - greysheet is usually higher."
Oh, I agree the "the market is the market." However, the fad of slabbing relatively common circulated coins has created an artificial floor to prices. This adds no real value (as in otherwise unavailable information), but only makes the kind of coins the OP enjoys more expensive. (Would most of us accept that situation in business?)
Further, there is now an entire generation of collectors who have little confidence in their own abilities to correctly grade circulated coins. In turn, that has produced a market bias against un-slabbed coins that further degrades to total hobby experience.
Roger, I agree with your comment that the slabbing of those coins primarily just drives the base price up,so businesses need to recover slabbing costs. And also believe that the slabbing premium is likely to continue to grow as the companies need to continue to raise fees to meet corporate metrics and returns.
The one benefit of buying slabbed early in the hobby though, is the risk of loss is also somewhat capped. For example if I buy what I think is a nice au55 raw, but then find out it was cleaned, I have lost more than say the $25 slab premium. So slabs cost more originally but chances of huge loss\mistake is somewhat minimized. As others might say, I tried to,lower my tuition costs for this hobby.
I also agree that I don’t support this type of premium or business model, thus, I am usually looking for solid slabbed coins, at raw prices...trying to ensure that the corporate surcharge is born by others and not me. ie zigging while others zag....if generic gold slabbed essentially goes to melt plus a small premium, maybe I buy there, if Barber,s get hot, avoid that. As a type collector and one who just likes learning about coins, there always seems to be a section of the market that is not popular.
Hence, this is why I was looking for new sources, as it is getting harder to find /participate in the hobby without substantially enriching others.
As an aside, I actually think the slabbing has helped my grading ability without the luxory of attending seminars or classes. Seeing tpg graded coins in person and via sites like this (in pics) has allowed me to,now develop a comfort in evaluating raw coins. After 6-8 years back, just submitted my first batch of raw coins. As above, now that it is more difficult to find coins in this price range without a substantial premium/surcharge, I am more and more moving towards raw and trusting what I have learned.