Old school B&Ms
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Just thinking about what B&Ms were like when I was a kid. The stacks of old red boxes with 2x2 and cabinets with tubes of most 20th cen series stacked. Common GSA soft pacts for days and rotating trays with all the early proof sets in Capital holders. Bid boards with decent stuff in steady rotation
Anyone want to share their their memories of what is rapidly becoming a bygone era
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I grew up near gold country in northern California. I remember going to tiny shops built into old-fashioned (or legitimately old) tourist oriented, pioneer style store fronts to ogle the gold nuggets and quartz formations and then convincing my mom to buy me a couple of slick, common date Walkers in 2x2s.
I remember the proprietors being mostly patient with me. I also remember my amazement at seeing these "ancient" coins available for the price of a couple of movie tickets.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
Not as a kid, per se (these are more memories from being a young adult in the late 80's/early 90's) ... but I remember the different Bins of EF and below Barbers and 20th Century Classics (sometimes multiple bins for culls, Fines and XF's), the small bags of Silver and Lincolns (and Wheaties!) ready for sale, the Red velveteen trays with the better coins in 2x2's, marked, and the double row boxes you could ask for of almost every series, and take over to a sitting area to time going through.
The rotating trays (those were always worth a look), and the occasional graded coin that we tended to look at, sometimes with skepticism and even disdain. But we always looked, and everyone had a comment on the grade!
Good times!
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
My experience is with pawn and coin shops, and flea markets of Appalachia before I was nine. Suspicion and unfriendliness—not fond memories. It wasn’t just coinshops, though. Children were farm labor that had no business except penny candy and the exit. I moved to Florida and found stores that welcomed customers in general. I don’t frequent coin shops.
I lived in Manhatten when I was a child and started my collecting. And the large majority of my coin shop experiences were at Stack’s, to which my fellow-collector, younger brother and I walked eagerly on many Saturday mornings. I remember meeting Harvey and Larry Stack when I was about 10 years old. They and the rest of the staff there treated us very nicely and with considerable patience.
I often gazed in awe through the glass display cases at the trays containing a wide variety of coins in various states of preservation. Very early on, I gravitated towards older, rarer pieces, as well as Proof type coins and attractively toned examples of all types. We were allowed to examine coins that we clearly would not be able to afford. And on some occasions, without us asking, Harvey or Larry would even pull out coins that weren’t even on display, but which they thought we’d appreciate. And that we did.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Our local coin shop was a tiny little place, but we would frequent it regularly as it was right across the street from our grade school. The button on the rotating trays got a lot of use! This would have been in the early 70's. There probably wasn't even $5,000.00 of total merchandise in there, in fact it might have been closer to $1,000.00 ! But, seeing all those coins, many for the first time, was a wonder. I still have my first Redbook that I bought from that shop. I remember the pride I had when I acquired a worn Bust Half, and my first Trade Dollar that had been holed and plugged....Great memories. Back then the stamps had equal interest to us, and we always loved those first day of issue envelopes in their little cellophane sleeves. 55 years since then, the love affair has not diminished.
The smaller, suburban shops were a very mixed bag, to put it kindly, but a good learning experience. Larger shops in Dallas and Boston, for example, were great, with amazing inventory. JJ Teaparty is the only survivor that I’m aware of and they were super. Bought my first MS half cent there.
It is different, Mine included. Ill be the first to admit it. Not like the shops I frequented when I was a kid. First, I dont keep a lot of stuff in store, first not safe anymore, especially here. Also, not many people building sets the old fashioned way filling holes in albums. Slabs have taken over, people that come in my shop, won't pay anything, and often want to buy better stuff cheaper than I actually paid the customer for it. I run it on ebay as I have for 25+ years, higher dollar stuff goes to GC and or Other firms, or sell to major dealers at shows I attend. I dont set up at shows to sell, except my local coin club show, and thats mainly for advertisement to buy, and let folks know I'm in town. Some bullion sales in store mainly and junk, I can sell the he11 out of wheats , buffalo nickels, low grade type and bulk stuff like that daily. I am there to buy what's coming in, not so much to sell. Also the guys like hanging out in there, its a regular social club. Its a get away point from their spouses and such, some stay all day everyday, but dont mind it so much anymore, helps with security for when shady folks stop in to case the joint.
We used to have a boat loads in the springfield area. It all disappeared when the internet came around, what a bummer to lose the contacts...
I remember the Macys across from Penn station that had a coin display at the top of the wooden escalators. I bought a common date AU half eagle for 99$ as a kid
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
We had a coin shop nearby when I was growing up. It was only a 2 mile walk and I would go often. $5 or maybe $10 in my pocket. I always brought something home.
Then came a 40 year hiatus. Life got busy for me with 4 kids to raise. Now they are all young adults so I deceided to get back into the hobby.
Im enjoying in for the most part.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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I don’t remember going to Macy’s. But I think I got some coins at Woolworth’s (where they had revolving display cases?) and maybe Gimbel’s, too (?)
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Not as a kid, but as a young adult I remember bid boards at my local B&M. They were always fun to scan and bid on, at $0.25 increments. Over time, I picked up about 12-15 Morgan and Peace Dollars for a date set I was working on, at decent prices, near melt. Later had them graded by ANACS, they ranged from AU-58 to MS-64. Most were in the 62-63 range. Nice memories.
Complete Set of Chopmarked Trade Dollars
Carson City Silver Dollars Complete 1870-1893http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=2722"
95/97 Chicago area, my coin shop was in a mall (THE PLACE TO BE back then).
We'd go on the weekend for the special Saturday outing. The place was next to a nail salon storefront so always smelled heavily of that nail polish scent.
I remember lots of the rotating carousels, the older shopkeepers talking about how my generation was due for a generational recession and I bought some initial forays into coin collecting with generic 20th century -worn type sets of those 5-coin varieties in the 2-piece plastic holders, I was big into Lincolns to start and was probably working on a memorial cent set then.
Also remember getting oddball bullion there and faintly recall about $8-10 back then for the novelty.
We had a nice coin shop in downtown Auburn, WA growing up. My Dad hit it off with the owner and helped him get his private mint started. It was a beautiful set-up, with oak display cabinets and a vault with safety deposit boxes for rent. I spent most of my time looking though 2x2s of XF/VF Indian Head Cents but never finding the pre 1900 dates I needed lol! I was promised a job there when I turned 15, but my dad started to have concerns about the whole situation and put a kibosh on it once he got to know the owner more.
When I got back into the hobby years later, I would stop by the Renton Coin Shop as it was on the way home from work. Lots of nice coins and cool conversations with folks just hanging around.
CAC | PCGS | NGC
Knotts Berry Farm used to also have a bit of a coin shop.
This was back when there was no entrance fee.
They also had burro rides around the park.
Simpler times.
We had one coin shop in the small town where I grew up. I didn't visit there much. Growing up, I bought most of my coins at local flea markets and antique stores I would go to with my mother. When I was a teenager, I started getting catalogs and price lists from various dealers around the country. I would call the dealers who had ads in the coin magazines, but only the ones who had toll-free 800 phone numbers. One coin I especially remember was a high-grade Mercury Dime that I bought from New England Rare Coin Galleries. I saved up quite a while to get that coin and I was so excited when it came in the mail.
Anyway, I joined the Army and was scheduled to leave for Basic Training right after high school, so I contacted that local coin dealer in town and sold my collection to him. For years after, I held a grudge because I thought they had cheated me and not paid me what my coins were worth. However, after I started collecting again as an adult, I learned more about cleaned, dipped, doctored, and other problem coins. The more I learned, the more I realized most of the coins I sold to that local dealer before I left for the Army were probably only worth what he paid. Years later, I visited that local coin shop and had a great interaction with that dealer's son, who ran the shop by then. After that, my opinion of that coin shop and of selling my collection to that dealer changed for the positive.