ANOTHER COIN SHOP STORY

CoinGuy42 · November 29, 2003 4:57AM

I recently went to a coin shop in my area. Although I am in a fairly large area (1.7m people), this is the only local coin dealer I know of. I will first admit, I am certainly more excited about this hobby than knowledgable, though really desirous of learning and I just enjoy being around it. It was my goal to establish a positive relationship with this dealer. When I went into his shop, I was not impressed in any way, not real clean, employees not very kind. The owner wasnt there, yet. So, I purchased a few items I needed and then began looking through his morgan and peace dollars as I am trying to put a complete, raw set of each. His raw coins were not the qaulity I was looking for, speciffically, the coins advertised as BU have rather noticable rim dings, scratches, etc. Now, I know this doesnt make them NOT BU, but again, not the quality I am looking for in the easier dates, of course I will have to lower my sights a bit on key dates. And, his prices, IMHO, were way too high, but I have heard that comment before from others who have visited local shops. But when I had a chance to speak with him, I politely introduced myself, again, hoping to biuld a good relationship, and told him I was looking for better BU Morgans and Peace dollars. I am sorry to say, I think he took that as an offense. He basically told me there is actually very little difference between ms-60 and ms-64, and that if I could tell the difference, well, then I'm doing OK. He then showed me some slabbed ms-64 morgans saying that they were similar to the raw ones on display. Well, frankly, I was bummed, because I knew I had somehow upset/insulted him. I could tell he is a very knowledgable guy, I'm sorry I wasnt able to build that good relationship. What is it about many in the coin business.....many seem on the defensive around a new customer, perhaps its the nature of the business, at least for the smaller coin dealer. I have also noticed this behavior from dealers at local coin shows, again, lower end dealers. Anyway, I will go back to his store and try again as I would just enjoy talking, learning and of course, giving him my business. I'm not out to get coins for significantly less than their fair value. Anyway, I was disappointed but as in all things, remain ever hopeful and positive. If anyone has any advice for building that good relationship with their local coin dealer, I'd be happy to hear about it. Of course, I also know some guys in the business who are really super, fair, and genuinely kind.

Dog97 · November 29, 2003 5:08AM

<<<What is it about many in the coin business>>>
Didn't you know that most coin dealers are nerds & geeks that were picked on in school because they were always walking around with boogers hanging out of their nose and they have still have inferiority complexes, poor attitudes and are still overly senstive?

clw54 · November 29, 2003 5:15AM

<< <i><<<What is it about many in the coin business>>>
Didn't you know that most coin dealers are nerds & geeks that were picked on in school because they were always walking around with boogers hanging out of their nose and they have still have inferiority complexes, poor attitudes and are still overly senstive? >>

Some of those kids become software engineers.

RYK · November 29, 2003 5:22AM

Why bother with a local dealer? The coin business is national. I will bet that if you post a WTB message on the BST board you will get dozens of replies from fellow collectors and dealers that will be happy to sell you raw unc Morgans and Peace dollars on your terms at a good price. Try it. Try ebay (you can usually tell who the good guys are--if you are not sure, do not bid). Ask for help among the Morgan collectors on these message boards. I got back into collecting coins a little over a year ago, and I have not purchased a single coin locally.

Pushkin · November 29, 2003 5:22AM

After a story like this one I'm starting to believe that we live in an imperfect world. Your ability to maintain your decorum during the experience is admirable.

Pushkin · November 29, 2003 5:25AM

After a story like this one I'm starting to believe that we live in an imperfect world. Your ability to maintain your decorum during the experience is admirable.

editied: I have no idea where this second post came from. Deja vu or Alzheimers?

Veridicus · November 29, 2003 5:32AM

Your experience is far too common. Most, not all, retail coin dealers are jerks in my experience. Now, if I go to a retail store, I look at what's available, if I like the coin at his advertised price, I buy it. If not, I don't. Most of the time I stick to ebay and the occasional coin show. There's a far larger selection to choose from and the prices are better, and you don't have some jerk looking down his nose at you. Coin dealing must be something like tobacco dealing. The demand must be inelastic to some degree because if most of those people had to deal with the public in any other line of business, they'd be bankrupt in a short time.

SeattleSlammer · November 29, 2003 5:33AM

CoinGuy42,

This guy sounds like a bit of an a**. I would suggest not bending over backwards to kiss it. Find other coin shops with more receptive and enthusiastic dealers!....never apologize for your high expectations!

Move on and don't dwell on this putz.

Just an idea....

JasonRox · November 29, 2003 6:14AM

I haven't had any bad relationships yet.

I buy all my coin in the area. Coin shows bring people from everywhere, which is awesome.

I've seen some over graded, but I don't deal with them, and I keep mouth shut.

I bought coins at half price, but I still bargained on it. I paid about 40% of its value. This is for non-key dates though, but it's good because you can buy all the common ones for cheap and start the key date search right away.

I'm not into it for the money, so I'm not a collector who's going to bargain to make a gain.

I got a deal from a local store on a proof set just because I said air got in. Air doesn't even affect the value or condition, but dealers like to keep good customers. Anyways, be nice and what goes around comes around.

Sorry, for all the bad experience some of you may have had.

GaCoinGuy · November 29, 2003 6:17AM

I've come to the solid conclusion that a lot of coin dealers don't like dealing with informed collectors. They only like dealing with people who don't know when they are being ripped off. As someone said in another thread...........the coins they try to sell you is PQ UNC, but if it's in your hand trying to sell to them, it's a VF common coin that they'll "take off your hands for you".

In my area(Metro Atlanta), there is only 1 shop that I frequent anymore...........it's been around since 1962, and they deal very little in slabs, mostly they carry anything from Barbers and up(raw, mostly G-AU, some BU stuff)......they do get older proof sets from time to time, and of course they carry the state quarters, and more modern proof sets and commems. From time to time, they do get some older stuff, just the other day, I picked up a really nice Bust 25C for about $35, it was cleaned a long time ago, but has started retoning along the rim very nicely. Has excellent details and it wasn't a harsh cleaning. Filled in the hole in my Dansco very nicely.

DaveG · November 29, 2003 6:48AM

In addition to the BST board, I would also suggest you find out if there's a coin club near you that you can go to. If so, you should be able to find someone who can help with your education and point you to the good coins and coin dealers.

For example, I have the annual show edition of the Georgia Numismatic Association's Journal and they list 11 member clubs in Georgia, including the Metropolitan Coin Club of Atlanta (www.mccatl.org).

There's no reason to expose yourself to the kind of 'dealer' who isn't willing to help educate you and turn you into a good long-term customer.

Edited to add: for some reason I thought you were in Georgia, but, if not, the same principal applies.

ANOTHER COIN SHOP STORY

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