So I walk into a dealers shop.........

longtimecollector · June 21, 2005 9:21AM

Nice looking place......... Obviously he hasn't been in this store for very long......... Good lighting.......... a friendly sort of guy............ appears VERY knowledgeable............ About 5-6 showcases with lots of coins.......... everything from dateless buffalos to $20 Gold pieces.......... Plenty of "key dates"............. decent smattering of proof/mint sets............ The usual "State Quarters" in rolls/singles........... Maybe 150-200 slabbed coins........... of the slabs, 95% are ANACS !!!!!!!!! I ask him "Why ANACS ????" He tells me that he's a "dealer", and that his profit comes mainly on the "turn and burn"......... He then tells me that since his customers don't play the registry games, that ANACS works for him just as well as PCGS or NGC............. He says "My customers are more concerned with issues regarding authenticity than grade"........ "If I happen to stumble into a piece that belongs in PCGS or NGC plastic, thats where I send it....... otherwise, I ship 'em to ANACS and have 'em back and in the case in less than 3 weeks at a half of what the other 2 would cost"........ "Sure, they (the customers) drool over the high grade stuff, but when it comes down to what sells, it's the nice looking coins in affordable grades, not the Moon Money Super grades"...........

My question to the boardmembers............

Does this sorta sum up your local brick and mortar guy ?????????

Or is this guy doomed to be next years travel agency ??????

lathmach · June 21, 2005 9:29AM

Apparently he knows what his customers want, so he'll probably make a go of it.
The 2 coins shops within driving distance for me, never have slabbed coins at all, in their shops.

Ray

coinbuf · June 21, 2005 9:32AM

No good local dealers in my area but this statement <"Sure, they (the customers) drool over the high grade stuff, but when it comes down to what sells, it's the nice looking coins in affordable grades, not the Moon Money Super grades"...........> sums up my collecting abilities/likes.

Chris

INXS · June 21, 2005 9:34AM

The concept really makes sense when you think about it. If his customers are not into the registry why carry that high overhead, just deal in what sells.

librtyhead · June 21, 2005 9:34AM

I was thinking of getting my morgan set graded and I know some have been cleaned but they will slab it and call them genuine.This would probly be my best bet when I sell to upgrade them.They are cheaper and if the buyer is smart they will at least know they are real,and they would look at the coin not the slab.It may cost alot to have them bodybagged.

Myqqy · June 21, 2005 9:48AM

I wish I had a coin store like that around where I live!

farthing · June 21, 2005 9:54AM

Sounds like a shop I'd enjoy buying coins at!

hedgehog847 · June 21, 2005 9:55AM

"My customers are more concerned with issues regarding authenticity than grade"........ "If I happen to stumble into a piece that belongs in PCGS or NGC plastic, thats where I send it....... otherwise, I ship 'em to ANACS and have 'em back and in the case in less than 3 weeks at a half of what the other 2 would cost"........ "Sure, they (the customers) drool over the high grade stuff, but when it comes down to what sells, it's the nice looking coins in affordable grades, not the Moon Money Super grades"...........

Now THAT'S a shop I would go to!

flaminio · June 21, 2005 9:55AM

Sounds like my kind of dealer! Does he have a website? Give 'em a free plug.

mgoodm3 · June 21, 2005 9:58AM

<< I wish I had a coin store like that around where I live!

>>

See above.

SMS · June 21, 2005 10:03AM

<< Does this sorta sum up your local brick and mortar guy ?????????

Or is this guy doomed to be next years travel agency ?????? >>

We don't have any brick and mortar dealers within 200 miles of us, so he would survive here

As for travel agents, they're a dime a dozen around here. If he's doomed, send him our way!

xbob · June 21, 2005 10:08AM

It sounds good to me. I would go there. Where is it?

If he had a customer requesting some registry coins, I'm sure he could track them down.
As he described, I am the type to drool over high grade stuff, but I don't buy it. I have even found it frustrating at times going to coin shows and only seeing the best stuff (out of my price range) put forward by many dealers. Nice looking affordable coins is pretty much all I collect.

Based on responses so far it doesn't seem like the shop will be a travel agency next year.

streeter · June 21, 2005 10:19AM

The 2 coins shops within driving distance for me, never have slabbed coins at all, in their shops. FASCINATING

I was in a local shop monday morning and there was not one slab in his display cases. I asked him why.......he said his customers do not like them.
While I was there he bought a Saint PCGS67.

When this dealer buys slabs I guess he just shuffles them off quickly. He told me that when he used to buy them and put them in the cases--some of them would have birthdays in those cases.

Priest · June 21, 2005 10:23AM

I'd visit a shop like that. If I knew of one in Central N.J.

INXS · June 21, 2005 10:24AM

LTC are you shopping ideas?

sumdunce · June 21, 2005 10:52AM

The local brick and mortar shop near me will not get anything slabbed. The guy really does not like slabbed coins.

I do however like the attitude at the coin shop near you. I wish more shop owners had a customer first attitude.

meos1 · June 21, 2005 11:02AM

This typifies where I am in collecting. I do not have penis envy and don't need a MS or PR 70 to feel good about what I am doing. I don't collect series that I am unfamiliar with and accept a reasonable ratio of counterfeits. I can grade my series and don't need the expert authentication services. In short, I put more money into coins not TPGs. And in shorter time frames too!

Dan

ritepath · June 21, 2005 11:11AM

Sounds logical to a beginner like me....I'm sold where's he at

wjd283 · June 21, 2005 11:12AM

Sounds like he knows what he's doing.

mirabela · June 21, 2005 11:20AM

I've yet to go wrong with ANACS. In fact, ANACS is the first search I run when I go to TT, HNAI, etc. I would love a visit to this dealer, I bet. Care to name & locate him?

roadrunner · June 21, 2005 11:45AM

Wow, honestly graded coins with no political agenda as to how they compare to PCGS or NGC. I'd love for my local dealers to be doing this too. You probably have a better chance of finding a good coin at a good price this way.

roadrunner

PerryHall · June 21, 2005 6:42PM

<< "My customers are more concerned with issues regarding authenticity than grade"........ "If I happen to stumble into a piece that belongs in PCGS or NGC plastic, thats where I send it....... otherwise, I ship 'em to ANACS and have 'em back and in the case in less than 3 weeks at a half of what the other 2 would cost"........ "Sure, they (the customers) drool over the high grade stuff, but when it comes down to what sells, it's the nice looking coins in affordable grades, not the Moon Money Super grades"...........

Now THAT'S a shop I would go to! >>

raycyca · June 21, 2005 6:57PM

Please let us ALL know where he is. I bet his shop would be cleaned out in 2 weeks! There are only a very few shops in Delaware and they are small with NO slabs of any kind. Care to share? Ray

TorinoCobra71 · June 21, 2005 7:56PM

<< Apparently he knows what his customers want, so he'll probably make a go of it.
The 2 coins shops within driving distance for me, never have slabbed coins at all, in their shops.

Ray >>

My Local coin shop has only PCGS and NGC slabs....go figure.......

TorinoCobra71

TorinoCobra71 · June 21, 2005 7:57PM

<< Sounds like my kind of dealer! Does he have a website? Give 'em a free plug. >>

Of course we had to hear from the most profound ANACS slab holder of them all !!!

TorinoCobra71

anablep · June 21, 2005 8:47PM

My kind of shop.
I prefer ANACS anyway. Where is this guy???

Steve27 · June 21, 2005 8:53PM

Sounds like a good place to me. My local guy only has raw coins at highly inflated prices, that's why I don't buy from him. Instead I buy at the local twice monthly coin show.

AgMe · June 21, 2005 9:40PM

One of my fav places, usually has nice coins raw (at very reasonable prices) & a small selection of slabs (from the top 3 outfits). The slabs usually move so well, they aren't in stock for too long.

...They do get annoyed when I cherrypick their PR coins...

~g

SDCollector · June 21, 2005 10:02PM

I hope he's in a large metropolitan area because it sounds to me like he has way too much inventory. All of us here would love to go into a coin shop like the one you described, but IMO there aren't enough coin collectors in most areas to support a shop with an inventory of 200 slabbed coins, for example.

My local guy has a small inventory of about 10 to 15 slabs and about 50 or so nice raw coins. That's it. The reason is that his shop, like many small coin shops, exists to buy coins, not sell them. His shop has been in business for over 20 years. Most customers in his shop come in to sell coins. The others want to buy a few state quarters or like me, buy a few nice raw coins in the less than $100 price range. He's honest and buy coins at fair prices. And almost everytime I'm in his shop, someone walks in selling coins. I rarely see customers buy much more than a few state quarters, etc.

I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like the guy you described isn't going to be in business very long unless he reduces his inventory and can attract people to come in and sell their coins (i.e big ads in the local Yellow Pages, etc.).

Longacre · June 21, 2005 11:01PM

I sounds like a reasonable approach to me-- stock what your customers want.

ttown · June 21, 2005 11:05PM

I wish there was a coin store like that around me. I wonder why he thought ANACS had issues with respect to grading? I've always found them the most consistent of the group over the long haul.

So I walk into a dealers shop.........

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