Who Buys Bulk Foreign Coins?

Coinosaurus · July 6, 2015 12:52AM

Bought a deal over the weekend involving some U.S. 20th century circulated silver, and a whole bunch of foreign picked out of change (the seller was a missionary who apparently traveled all over the world). I'm sure the world coins are pretty junky, but if someone with more knowledge than me than can pick out some good stuff, more power to them. The question - how to dispose of it?

BryceM · July 6, 2015 12:55AM

Every B&M dealer is required to purchase between five and ten bushels of bulk foreign coins when they go into business. These are to be placed in a large barrel or bucket somewhere in the store with a sign that says "50c each". Maybe try getting in touch with those who will be opening a B&M this year? It should be small list.

TopographicOceans · July 6, 2015 12:59AM

da Bay

keyman64 · July 6, 2015 1:02AM

I've heard of this stuff being sold by the pound. You can also donate it to the organizer of a coin show in your area. They always use
stuff like this for giveaway grabs for kids 12 and under etc.

jdimmick · July 6, 2015 1:24AM

I have a guy that comes by every Thursday and picks up wheats, dateless buff/s regular buff, indian cents, and v nickels and foreign coins.

I don't know what the H he does with em, but at least I don't have to deal with em.

jim

WaterSport · July 6, 2015 1:39AM

MICHAELDIXON here on the forums does. I have sold him a few.

WS

MICHAELDIXON · July 6, 2015 12:31PM

Thanks, WaterSport.
I have purchased several tons of foreign coins during my lifetime. Coinosaurus, let me know how much you have. I purchase them by the pound.

lasvegasteddy · July 6, 2015 12:34PM

pm lordmarcovan
this is right up his alley and he's a great guy too

TwoSides2aCoin · July 6, 2015 1:00PM

Coinosaurus · July 6, 2015 1:02PM

I started sorting the coins and there were a few silver pieces in the foreign stuff.

lasvegasteddy · July 6, 2015 1:13PM

btw
it's always fun to hand out the more interesting looking ones

i used to sit in A.A. meetings and toss a couple in the basket
the guy counting sometimes would look around the room while scratching his head over receiving oddball coins

leaving them in a...."take a penny...leave a penny" tray at a counter surely adds a value...money can't buy

dropping a couple down toy aisle's has reward to it too

Cougar1978 · July 6, 2015 1:29PM

I knew a guy who would buy pounds of foreign stuff, pile it up like a treasure pile at shows with bins. He even had a well crafted Priate Ship he had build from a kit on top of the treasure pile. The more attractive the coin the more PQ it was and higher the price. Coins with animals were popular sellers. Princess Diana cupro nickel dollar sized coin was $10-$20. People would go bonkers and their kids would have to have the giraffe coin or whatever. He had tons of cash from his material he retailed and I would see him with a drink on Sundays browsing Double Eagles (I guess to salt away in some secret collection).

There are lots of people coming into shows with no more than $10-$20 to spend they are not going to be buying stickered coins or concerned with crossover. We have an economic climate that has pushed many people into early retirement with no prospects of finding a decent job.

mustangmanbob · July 6, 2015 11:37PM

I have bought several hundred pounds along the way.

I sort out any silver that happened to get mixed in.
I sort by country, and I would make 55 coin bags of the smaller coins, with coins from 6 continents, toss in a coin from the 1800's, and a steel penny, and these go off to the Boy Scouts for the coin collecting merit badge. I would ensure there were always a few with non round profiles, like a hexagon and some with mint stamped holes in them, for variety. I have found men who got the coin collecting merit badge 50 years ago still have those foreign coins.

Low value common crud coins, for example, Canadian pennys and nickels, Panama Cents, etc. go in the scrap metal pile. I play with old cars, and I send copper radiators to scrap and put the copper and brass coins in the radiator top tanks and smash the top so they WILL be melted down. The "real" nickel coins are bought for the metal content at the scrap yard.

The larger coins, 50 cent size, unusual coins, etc. I just put up on Craigslist or ebay, and there is always a market for those.

StrikeOutXXX · July 7, 2015 12:08AM

My kids love when I get bulk lots of World Coins. Hours of fun can be had with a few pounds (Although I'm sitting on about 100 pounds still to sort). My 12 year old is my "Krause Master".

I try to buy them locally or the BST for around $5.00 a pound.

The kids each pick through them for "Cool" coins - usually with animals, or neat designs to keep.

I actually do quite well at my monthly shows with World Coins. Not a lot of dealers carry them, and you would be surprised how many folks enjoy them.

My usual routine once the kids take theirs is rather time consuming, but it has its rewards.

Every coin gets looked up in Krause. The kids find them in the books, but I like to check the NGC/Numismaster (Online Krasue prices) which can be quite different, even from the last printed book.

Anything Krause says is more than a few dollars goes in a 2x2 and gets labeled and priced. These go in folders for the shows.

The things that Krause says is under a few dollars, and typically more than say 50 cents goes in a 2x2 and gets labeled and goes in my 25-cent or 5/$1.00 bin.

The things that are under 50 cents each goes back into my own bulk lot and sold by the pound at shows or coin club or made into small grab bags to give away, etc.

I typically sell a handful of individually priced world coins at each show, which usually pays for the entire bulk lot by itself.
Once or twice a year, those folders get quite large, and one of the World Coin only dealers usually makes me a nice offer for the whole thing, and I start filling them again.

Then... that 5/$1.00 bin gets picked through many times a show, and at times can be a good % of my sales for the show (several hundred at times).

It is time consuming for sure, but they pay for themselves in the end. The bonus for me is the time I spend with the kids looking at them and teaching them a little about geography and history along the way.

Who Buys Bulk Foreign Coins?

Comments

Leave a Comment