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.
When I got my first job I had Mondays off. Almost every Monday I would go downtown to the local coin shop. I would often purchase something or just listen and learn. Those were the days. I really miss those times.
I honestly don't think I set foot in a coin store until I was 16, as I was more of a mail order collector, starting when I was about 9. When I did start visiting stores, it was amazing. So many coins to look through, plus many stores had bid boards, which I always found very interesting. Even a few large department stores had a small coin counter. Many of the 'coin' stores sold other items too. One old guy sold used paperback books, another sold WW1 and 2 military artifacts along with coins. Of course, a few stores sold both coins and stamps. There weren't a lot of pure B&M coin stores back in the day, at least in the Seattle area. Once I got my drivers license, I definitely made the rounds!
Dave
In the late 1970s and until about 1988, there were very active bid-boards at shops in Englewood and Arvada (near Denver). My friend and I would go almost every Saturday. There was one other person who knew what they were doing and we always competed with last-second bids on the best deals.
At the Arvada location, there was usually a line to check out after the bid board had closed. I had been in that line many times. One time while in line, while I was bored, I decided to poke around in a large stainless steel bowl of wheat cents that was on the counter right in front of me. That bowl had been there for months and I had never bothered to look at it before. I asked how much they were and the shop owner told me 10-cents each, or $2 a roll. It only took about 30 seconds to find a 1930-D in AU. And then another one. I thought to myself, these coins are worth $1 each, if I can get a whole roll of them for $2, they would be worth $50 ! Even a roll with just a couple of them and the rest junk would be worth more than the $2 asking price.
After looking for about two minutes, I found a 1924-D (VG grade). At this point I moved off to the side and ushered the people behind me in line to go around me. I was going to search the entire bowl, no matter what. I then found several 1919-D coins in AU55 or better. After about 40 minutes of searching and sorting, there was still most of the bowl to go through. Then there was an announcement that the shop would be closing in half an hour. Just then I picked up a coin and looked at it. I still remember my brain not understanding what I was looking at. "I'm not familiar with the type of thing I'm seeing" is what best described it. It took several seconds to realize that I was looking at a 1922 (no D). I carefully put the coin down in my "save/buy" stack. I asked the shop owner, "how much if I buy ALL of these in the bowl ?". 85-cents a roll I was told. OK, I said, and I started manually counting them all. Then the shop owner stated, "we have two more $50 bags". I said "I'll take those also". So we made the deal.
At home I went through them all. there were numerous semi-key dates and some relatively common early dates but in better grades. There was at least 50 1919-D AU+ coins. And then I found a SECOND 1922 no-D. I later sent the two 1922 no-D to ANACS for certification (this was the old photo certificate days). Both came back genuine 1922 no-D (both with strong reverse). One graded F and the other VF.
At a recent coin show I was talking with @CaptHenway (Tom Delorey). I purchased his recent book on 1922 cents. I told him the story and he remarked that he was likely the person at ANACS who graded them.
Sadly, I sold the coins a few months after grading them, but the proceeds financed other purchases.
.
I remember my grandparents taking me to a coin shop that was either in or near a mall in West Covina in the early 1980s. The rotating glass cases were always my favorite. I still have a silver certificate I bought there. They used to give me dateless buffalo nickels in change when I'd make a purchase. I wish I could remember the name of the place.
One dealer near me in the 1960's occupied an unusually narrow store in a old retail block. Be prepared for heavy duty cigarette smoke when you walk in the door. The dealer was friendly and had reasonable prices. Unfortunately the cigarettes got him. He died of lung cancer in early 1972.
I started collecting at age 50 but in the early '70s I do remember cherry picking the candy store inside Sears & Roebuck.
Discount bins of damaged coins. Saturdays would sort through stapled 2x2’s and pull seated and bust dimes/half dimes. They may have had a hole in them or damaged rim but for $20 walked out with around 10 coins. Recall finding a gold plated racketeer nickel and thought struck gold until told the story. My Mom would sit in the car for 30 minutes because shop was musty.
$4 silver bars… always thought why would someone waste money on a silver bar.
I remember boxes and boxes of BU Morgans and Walkers. Both Common AND key dates. Third-party grading was either nonexistent or in its infancy. Seeing a slabbed, third party graded coin was an oddity and kind of gimmicky. I saved my money for a long time, so I could buy a raw ‘38D WLH in XF. That was a hole that I could never fill, as a child with Whitman folders, so that was a big deal to me.
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My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Where I grew up in East Tn. we didn't have a coin shop, but we did have the largest flea mkt. in Tn. and there were several coin dealers that were set up there on Saturdays. One of my better buys was the day I bought a raw 1899-P Morgan and raw 1928-P Peace for $150. They later graded at Anacs MS-64 and MS-63. Of course, this was in the 1979-81 timeframe and $150
was hard to come by for me.
My dad would take us to a shop that doubled as a barber shop. The dealer’s friend was the barber. He didn’t cut much hair but talked and napped most of the time.
He had a huge safe, the size of two refrigerators. I remember watching him spin the dials and then cranking the lever that let us see into his world of treasures.
Most of the treasures were in 2x2 trays sorted by denomination. This was way, way before 3rd party grading. Common silver dollars were $2.65 and I thought my little brother was nuts to pay $35 for a $5 gold Liberty.
The dealer was a gregarious fella, as wide as he was tall. He had a pinch of dip in his lower lip, a spittoon on the floor and a roll of bills in his pocket as big around as his fist.
I picked through tubes of cents to fill the holes in my Whitman albums and remember buying a very worn 1878-CC Morgan for $4.50.
Not so much B&M, but a show in same era. Looked at a beautiful rainbow toned Morgan in PCGS. $65 and said not paying the grading fee on a $40-$50 coin. That was when grading was much uncommon.
Really liked that Morgan too.
I remember being excited about a coin shop coming to the local mall. When I finally was able to go to the mall with my parents, every silver coin at Ryan Coins, even the AG Mercury dimes, were dipped bright white. I was disgusted and never purchased a coin from them.
I spent a few years helping out at a local B&M in my hometown. Absolutely loved the experience. I'm hoping to open my own, eventually.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
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I lived about 5 miles from Knotts. When I was about 12 or so I would occasionally ride my bike to visit the store, Mid 50's. I'm sure I bought some things there but don't remember what.
I don't recall any coins at Macy's (?).
Gimbels was directly across the street, they had a cool kid-friendly coin "dept" .
That was a must visit often for me in the early 70's.
Your memories with Larry & Harvey are nice, Stack's was too upscale for us I suppose.
The very first B&M shop would have been around 1972 in Jacksonville NC just off the base at Camp Lejeune. There was a place called The Hobby Shop. My brother used to go there to race slot cars too. They also had 2 roller displays and 3 ring binders full of coins in 2x2s awaiting PVC damage...
I bought my first 18th Century US coin there... a 1798 Draped Bust Large Cent AG3... for $10.
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In the Spring of 1966 my two oldest brothers needed to go to downtown Detroit to see about their impending Draft induction, and I had seen an ad in the Sunday Detroit News from dealer Earl Schill (behind Hudson's department store) offering BU $20 Libs for $50. I wanted to own a gold coin, so I scraped up some cash and some trading material and the brother who was driving dropped me off at the shop. I bought a nice BU 1900-S $20, and even sprang for $1.29 for a Capital Plastics holder for it. I was 15.
In 1968 I started going to Wayne State University a couple of miles north of downtown, so occasionally after classes I would walk down Woodward Avenue to Mr. Schill's coin shop, hitting a couple of used book stores along the way. He understood that I was a student with little or no money, but if there were no customers in the store he would show me glorious things like Bust Dollars and Large Cents and other wonders. Whenever a customer came in I would step away from the counter and go look at the books on the shelf.
He was a true gentlemen, and when I worked for Harlan Berk in his shop I tried to honor the memory of Mr. Schill by treating (most) customers as Mr. Schill had treated me.
TD