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Dealer Price/Cost Codes
MapsOnFire
Posts: 203 ✭✭✭
During the 1960s - 1990s I studied dealers' cost codes. I was curious to learn their markups, perhaps to give me a better bargaining position. I remember two of them.
Herb Tobias' code was GLADMOTHER - G is 1, R is 0.
Dave Bowers' was PANORCHEST, from panorchestrion, a mechanical musical instrument.
Does anyone else remember dealers' codes?
2
Comments
Coins of Laurel used MONEYTALKS M=1 S=0
BLACKHORSE was a code my dealer used in the 60s.
Mine is ARTICHOKES
One dealer I knew used "BRICKMASON".
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I was first introduced to dealer codes in the diamond business.
Every dealer had one and when you viewed their inventory (the diamonds would be loose in those folded diamond papers many may be familiar with) you would always see a three or four letter cost code.
It didn't take a genius to decode the ten letters as all you had to do was view five or six items and numbers such as 1, 2, 5, 7 and 0 were extremely easy to identify.
Difficult numbers were 3,4, 6 and 8.
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
I use the actual cost without a dollar sign, fools everyone.
Audrey Hepburn was a great actress.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Just got done watching Roman Holiday. She was Great. Sabrina just starting.
Couple I know. Both read 1-0
Discounter
Max P Snyder
I saw one listed as lowestbid l-being1 and d-being9 hard to remember them all but several I've seen being used. Great Post.
What difference does it make?
Do you consider cost or market value when selling?
If the coin matches your quality and is fairly priced does it matter how much someone is making, or losing, on it?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
Long ago mine was
WALTDISNEY
@ambro51
Really? I thought i was the only member of the Artichokes Club!
30+ years coin shop experience (ret.) Coins, bullion, currency, scrap & interesting folks. Loved every minute!
A true fan.
I never used codes, I can remember what I paid for everything in inventory.
I might add, before you say wow, i usually only have about 100 or so coins in inventory on any given day.
Codes work well in a shop when you have more than 2 people working at any one time. It's always good to know what was paid for a coin so you know if you have any wiggle room to negotiate.
If you have a 10 letter code and you are concerned that it might be broken, you can always randomly add a few more null letters that are not part of the code that are just ignored when you decode your price.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Wow, I still remember the cost code for a clothing store I worked at during the 80's. Oh...its coming back again. A colorblind salesman selling clothes.
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...
NICKODEMUS worked well.
One I heard of was PHONEDIAL.
Don't you need 10 letters?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
That dealer didn’t need them.
I figured out a couple codes...... I wasn't terribly difficult, if you pay attention and have access to enough of their slabs.
It's surprising how much this knowledge actually helps when trying to work a deal.
I use cost and sell codes✈️. Just part of being in the biz.