Two Shops, Two Prices
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In Somewhere, USA, a nice and smart lady had some coins for sale. Of particular interest were a couple of early dollars.
She went first to the coin shop down the road and presented the dealer with one of the dollars. Being a savvy individual, the dealer asked her, “Is this a test?” She replied, “Yes. I want to see how you compare to the people on the radio who claim to be the highest buyers.”
The test coin happened to be an 1893 dollar for which he offered her $1700. She thanked him and turned to leave. With a smile in his voice, the dealer called out to her, “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
Turning back, she looked at him with an eyebrow raised in question. He said, “You are going to visit the coin shop up the road that claims to be the high buyer to see what they offer, right?”
“Yes, I am,” the lady said. To which the dealer responded, “Then if you are serious in selling your coins, I will see you back here. I am the highest buyer.”
A short time later, the lady returned to the first shop with her coins. The gentleman asked what his competition had offered her for the 1893 dollar.
With a frown on her face and anger in her voice, the lady replied, “They offered me $12. In addition to the 1893 dollar, I have a bust dollar for sale. They offered me $18 for it. They are not the high buyer!”
She wanted to know if he was interested in the coins and what he would pay for the bust dollar.
The dealer looked at the bust dollar and determined it was a fine specimen. He and the lady discussed options for the coins. They agreed upon the price for the 1893 dollar at his earlier offer of $1700.
For the bust dollar, the dealer is not sure if he can find an interested buyer quickly, and he does not want to offer her a lower amount because of the time he might have to hold the coin. Instead, he presented her a special deal on the bust dollar. He proposed to take the coin on consignment to find the highest buyer and split the profits with her on the coin. She agreed.
Time passes and the dealer finds an interested buyer for $4500.
What a difference a little research can make to the prices the nice – and smart – lady achieved for her coins. Both she and the coin dealer won in their sales relationship. She obtained higher prices, and he, with his fair offer, gained the business and enjoyed a profit on the coins as well.
Though not local, this happens to be a true story with a few details changed to protect the parties involved. With a little effort, you, too, can get the best prices for your coins.
Remember, coin shows offer more dealers in one place for comparison shopping.
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2003 Silver Proof Set Certificate
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First, do you know how to make a grown numismatist cry? Well, not really literally, but figuratively at least.
You’ve seen the metals markets’ activities over the last few weeks. For some proof sets, the price of the silver coins – dimes, quarters and halves – is higher as bullion rather than as part of a proof set. But, in order to sell the silver coins, they must be removed from the set. Heaven forbid, that means you have to touch proof coins!
For true numismatists, touching proof coins is very difficult – even though they are going to the bullion dealer as silver for melting.
The 2003 Proof Set just happens to be one of those sets that breaks to be worth more as individual coins rather than the set. In 2003, the Mint had a minor editing issue with their certificates. See if you can spot the problem in the certificate below.
First, the front of the certificate can be readily recognized:
Next, opening the certificate shows the message from the Mint and the description of the State Quarters included in the 2003 set:
Turning over the certificate shows more information about the rest of the coins in the set:
Have you spotted the issue yet? The small size of the pictures makes it difficult. Here’s a close-up:
Now, do you see the problem? For those who are new to numismatics, the next picture points out the issues:
In a silver proof set the metal composition of the dime, the quarter (either one or more) and the half will be 90% Silver and 10% Copper. Scrolling back up, the inside of the certificate shows the correct composition for the five quarters in 2003, but the certificate’s back mistakenly shows the clad composition for the dime and half.
The Mint, once they discovered the composition mistake, printed new certificates and sent them to the people to whom they had already mailed their proof sets.
Of course, numismatists with that collector gene made the error certificates a collectible as well. At one time, people paid money to obtain the error certificates. That time has passed. There may be a few collectors for the error certificates, but in general, the errors no longer command a value.
It’s interesting what you find when you go through quite a few proof sets.
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The Nickel
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A few weeks ago, we talked about how 2010 nickels in pocket change were more valuable than just a nickel. At that time, the Mint was not producing and distributing very many of the coins.
Now, they have started minting more nickels. Will they increase production significantly? It’s unclear. However, at least for now, they have already exceeded 2009 mintages for the circulating five cent coins.
Let’s look:
That’s a pretty chart, but what are the real numbers? (These production figures are in millions of coins.)
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 716.88 | 898.8 | 809.28 | 591.6 | 352.8 | 46.8 | 36.24 |
| Philadelphia | 728.16 | 842.31 | 693.12 | 523.68 | 287.76 | 39.84 | 76.08 |
| 1445.04 | 1741.11 | 1502.4 | 1115.28 | 640.56 | 86.64 | 112.32 |
Remember, 2010 is for January through June. It remains to be seen what the US Mint produces for the remainder of the year.
Also, these values represent circulating coinage. They do not include the proof or uncirculated coins.
But why the low mintages? Is it due in part to people cashing in their pocket change? Nickels are relatively sturdy and don’t really need to be replaced in circulation that often. If sufficient nickels exist in circulation and are in good condition, then the Mint shouldn’t have to strike more of the circulating coins.
But, could it also be partially due to the cost of the nickel metal? Let’s look at the charts for the last five years.
First, this chart represents the spot value:
The next chart shows the tons of nickel on the London Metals Exchange, the world’s center for metals, over the last five years:
The two metals charts correlate with each other. Low tonnage equates to high prices, or said another way, supply and demand influence the market. The higher prices also mean businesses only buy what they absolutely need. Conversely, when the tonnage increases, the prices decrease.
However, when you compare the US Mint’s production of nickel coins to the price of nickel, the correlation fails. One would think the production in 2007 when nickel was at its highest price would be dramatically lower. Though the Mint did reduce production that year, the decrease was not as significant as in 2009.
So, how much nickel is used for each coin? Every circulating coin, except for the penny, contains nickel.
| Cent | Nickel | Dime | Quarter | Half Dollar |
Golden Dollar |
|
| % nickel | 0.00% | 25.00% | 8.33% | 8.33% | 8.33% | 2.00% |
| coin weight in grams | 2.5 | 5 | 2.268 | 5.67 | 11.34 | 8.1 |
| grams of nickel in coin | 1.2500 | 0.1889 | 0.4723 | 0.9446 | 0.1620 | |
| ounces of nickel | 0.0441 | 0.0067 | 0.0167 | 0.0333 | 0.0057 |
If we look at the number of nickel coins produced by year, we can translate those numbers into the amount of nickel metal used by the US Mint for their production of five cent coins simply by multiplying by 1.25:
| Grams of Nickel (in millions) | |||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 896.1 | 1123.5 | 1011.6 | 739.5 | 441.0 | 58.5 | 45.3 |
| Philadelphia | 910.2 | 1052.9 | 866.4 | 654.6 | 359.7 | 49.8 | 95.1 |
| 1806.3 | 2176.4 | 1878.0 | 1394.1 | 800.7 | 108.3 | 140.4 | |
Since we relate to ounces better, those figures converted to ounces are:
| Ounces of Nickel (in millions) | |||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 31.609 | 39.630 | 35.683 | 26.085 | 15.556 | 2.064 | 1.598 |
| Philadelphia | 32.106 | 37.140 | 30.561 | 23.090 | 12.688 | 1.757 | 3.355 |
| 63.715 | 76.770 | 66.245 | 49.175 | 28.244 | 3.820 | 4.952 | |
Whether it’s 2006 and they use over 66 million ounces or it’s 2010 and they’ve already used almost five million ounces, that’s a lot of nickel metal.
At roughly $10 per pound, the 2010 nickel metal content in the five cent coins produced through June equals over three million dollars - at spot prices. But, the Mint obtains the sheets of metal, already mixed to the coins’ specifications, from other entities. Therefore, the Mint’s cost differs from nickel spot prices.
It will be interesting to see the Mint’s Annual Report later this year to see how much the five cent coin cost to produce this fiscal year.
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Learn Lessons from Others
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Sit back, and let me tell you a tale. The story is fiction to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent, but the core elements of the story quite frequently happen in coin shops around the country.
Ralph is working behind the front counter in his coin shop when a customer presses the button requesting entry into the shop. Ralph pushes the switch releasing the lock and allows the customer to enter.
As the customer walks with a purposeful swagger toward the counter, Ralph says, “Good morning, what can I do for you today?”
George, the customer, pulls a coin from his front pocket, places it on the counter and belligerently replies, “I’ve researched this coin on the internet and found it is worth between $1000 and $1800. I want to sell the coin, but I won’t take less than $900 for it.”
Rather than respond to George’s aggressive tone, Ralph picks up the coin and looks at it, first with regular eyesight, then with a strong loupe. Ralph closely assesses both the obverse and reverse. Then he says, “OK, you’ve got me. I’ll pay you $900 for the coin.”
George takes the money and exits the store. He smiles and thinks, “I showed him. I did my research and got the price I wanted for my coin.”
Ralph waits until George leaves before he puts a big, happy smile on his face. You see, George didn’t do enough research to know that his coin was a rare variety and worth several thousand more dollars than the $1000 to $1800 range he determined his coin’s value to be.
Now, before you get angry at Ralph for “taking advantage” of George, think about this from a business perspective. At no time did George ask Ralph what his coin was worth. George declared the price he wanted for the coin, and Ralph agreed to pay.
Ralph, as a businessman, is not obligated to pay a higher price than a vendor places on his goods. In this case, George was a vendor selling his goods, a coin.
If you’re still miffed about George’s plight, put the shoe on the other foot for a minute. You visit a coin shop and see a coin you want at a really good price, a price much less than you expected to pay. Would you offer the dealer a higher amount of money or would you buy the coin at the price listed? Or, would you try to negotiate with the dealer to reduce his price even further? Be honest with yourself.
Now, let’s get back to the lesson to learn from George’s experience. He actually offers two lessons – one from a good practice and one from a bad habit.
George’s good practice includes research to determine the collectibles’ worth before attempting to sell them. But, George negates his research with the bad habit of thinking he learned and knows all he needs to know. He should have asked Ralph what amount he would offer to buy the coin. And, even if Ralph countered with, “What do you think it is worth,” George should have said, “I’ve done some research, but I’m interested in your offer.”
Coin dealers won’t offer to buy at market rates. They do have to make a profit. But, most coin dealers in their shops and at coin shows offer fair prices for rare coins. The research you do helps you make sure they offer fair prices.
Ralph and George are fictional characters, but many variations of this same story happen frequently. If you plan to sell, do your research beforehand, then ask the dealer what he will pay for the coin(s).
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Math, Silver Coins and Silver Value
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Have you heard coin dealers talk about buying silver coins in terms of face value?
For example, at a coin show, Dealer George has a customer at his table who inherited a pocket change collection of circulated silver Roosevelt dimes, silver Washington quarters and silver Franklin halves. First, Dealer George looks through the coins for numismatic value coinage. (Remember, a lot of the fun in coin collecting is looking for unexpected treasures.)
Dealer George determines the coins do not have any numismatic rarities, but they are valuable for their silver bullion content. Generally at a show, Dealer George passes bullion buys to his buddy across the aisle, Dealer Jonathan.
Dealer George calls, “Hey Jonny, what’re you paying for silver today?”
Dealer Jonathan replies, “I’m paying twelve and a half times face.”
Wait, people buy silver bullion on the open market based on price per troy ounce. How can Dealer Jonathan arrive at a price based on face value, especially when the coins are mixed between dimes, quarters and half dollars?
First, let’s examine the size of the various coins and their silver content.
For 1892 through 1964, the last year for silver circulating coinage, the US Mint consistently used the same weight for each of the coins by denomination. Furthermore, the Mint used the same silver content, 90%, for those years.
Using simple math, apply the 90% to the weight in grams to identify the amount of silver grams in the coin. Then, multiply by the factor (0.032150756) to translate grams into troy ounces, and multiply by the number of coins to make a dollar in face value.
| grams | % silver content |
grams of silver | troy oz (x 0.032150756) |
# coins | troy oz in $1.00 Face | |
| Dime | 2.50 | 90.00% | 2.250 | 0.072339201 | x 10 | 0.7234 |
| Quarter | 6.25 | 90.00% | 5.625 | 0.180848003 | x 4 | 0.7234 |
| Half | 12.50 | 90.00% | 11.250 | 0.361696005 | x 2 | 0.7234 |
Interesting, whether dimes, quarters or halves; the silver content in one dollar of face value is the same at 0.7234 troy ounce.
Though, if you look at coinage earlier than 1892, the silver content varies from .7199 to .7747 troy ounce in one dollar face. However, those older coins, in all likelihood, have a greater numismatic value than just their silver content.
Plus, you will note that we did not include dollars in our example. The Morgan and Peace dollars from 1878 through 1935 have .7735 troy ounce of silver. But, again, those coins, in good condition, would most likely have a greater numismatic value than their melt value.
Now, back to the question, how does Dealer Jonathan determine the silver bullion rate per a dollar of face value?
For example purposes only, let’s say the current price on the open market is $18.20 per troy ounce of silver. Next, let’s assume Dealer Jonathan works with a 5% profit margin for bullion.
Therefore, Dealer Jonathan is paying $18.20 times .95 or $17.29 per troy ounce. But, in one dollar of face, there is 0.7234 troy ounce. That leads us to $17.29 multiplied by .7234 or $12.50 per one dollar of face.
Of course, the math does not take into consideration any wear on the coins, and old silver coins did wear and lose metal meaning less weight. Plus, dealers will not use a conversion factor to nine decimal places.
Perhaps most important, some dealers operate with a much larger profit margin.
But, now you know how to arrive at a silver value per dollar of face value of circulated coins. You can use a little math and the current spot value of silver found on various web sites to estimate the value of your 1964 and older circulated and worn silver coins.
Oh, do remember, the value of silver can go up and down quite significantly. In other words, a rate at 10:00 am could be very different than a rate at 2:00 pm, and if your rate was calculated a week or more ago, you will definitely want to renew your calculations.
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Mint Sets
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At the May 23rd show, a gentleman brought a full run of mint sets from 1947 through 2009. In our notes recapping the show, the question was raised about how many total coins would be in all of those sets.
Well, we have a number! Drum roll please….
The mint sets from 1947 through 2009 included 931 coins. That total includes the Special Mint Sets for 1965, 1966 and 1967 along with the three coin silver set in 1976.
The coins follow an interesting face value distribution as follows:
| Face | $0.01 | $0.05 | $0.10 | $0.25 | $0.50 | $1.00 | Total |
| Quantity | 168 | 157 | 156 | 242 | 143 | 65 | 931 |
| % Quantity | 18% | 17% | 17% | 26% | 15% | 7% | |
| Total Face | $1.68 | $7.85 | $15.60 | $60.50 | $71.50 | $65.00 | $222.13 |
| % Face Value | 0.8% | 3.5% | 7.0% | 27.2% | 32.2% | 29.3% |
Given that three years, 1950, 1982 and 1983, did not have Mint Sets produced and adding the three piece 1976 silver set, there are 61 sets in the run from 1947 through 2009 with the 931 coins equaling $222.13 in total face value.
Across the sets, the average number of coins in the 61 sets is just over 15 coins. The fewest number of coins was the three piece silver set in 1976. The most coins were produced in the 2009 set that included the six different Washington DC and territory quarters, the four different pennies and the five different dollars along with the other coins for a total of 36 coins, 18 for each of the P and D mintmarks.
Seventeen years of mint sets included coins with P, D and S mintmarks. Some of those years included all coins from all three mints, and in other years the coins were a mixture from the three mints.
For example, the sets in 1968 through 1970 had three pennies, one from each mint, two nickels (D and S), two dimes (P & D), two quarters (P & D) and one half dollar (D).
Another set, 1981, included P and D minted coins for all the different denominations plus a clad dollar from the San Francisco mint.
Since 1984, the coins equal a full set just from each of the Philadelphia and Denver mints. But, of course, there’s an exception, the 1996 set included an additional dime from the West Point, NY mint.
For the face value of $222.13, the US Mint’s purchase price over the years for one of each of these sets totaled $482.55. That does not include any insurance or shipping and handling charges.
Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator, the total of the inflated purchase prices for each of the sets equals $1408.67.
But, what are they worth? Looking at recent asking price values, those 61 sets would be over $6000 to purchase today.
Of course some of the earlier sets are the most valuable with 1947 through 1958 being the bulk of the value. Those sets range in price from roughly $125 for the 1958 set to over $1200 for one of the 1947 sets.
On the other end of the scale, the 1971 and 1972 sets are under $3.00 each and just slightly over their face value.
Even with some of the sets at seemingly low values, the full run’s market replacement value is over 1200% (no decimal point) of the Mint’s purchase price and over 400% (no decimal point) of the inflated purchase cost.
Could other investments be as lucrative? Sure, maybe some would even be more lucrative, but what about the fun of collecting? That’s more than half of the excitement of numismatics!
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Cleaning Coins – Don’t!
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Another question from the show this weekend came from a novice to coin collecting, buying, selling and trading.
Why do coin dealers and collectors tell us not to clean our old coins?
Let’s say your old coins look dull and dirty, but their design shows clearly with very little wear on the either the head’s design, the tail’s design, the year or the rim. To the untrained eye, the coin doesn’t look pretty and shiny. But, to the numismatist, that old coin without very much wear may be a rare (read valuable) find in that condition.
If you’re selling an old collection, your best customers – the ones who will pay the most – are the coin dealers and numismatists. Numismatists look for coins as close as possible to their original state as when the coins left the Mint. This does not mean they need to be shiny, instead they need their original design clarity.
What happens when you clean coins? Whether you polish them with a brush or abrasive cleanser, you remove metal, thus part of the design clarity gets polished away.
“Oh, but,” you’re thinking, “what about those commercials on TV about dipping coins into liquid cleaner where they come out shiny?” Even dipping coins removes part of their exterior metal – that is the design – as well.
Now, what if your coins are not that nice. They’re both tarnished and worn. In that case, their value resides in their silver content not in their numismatic value. Whether cleaned or dirty, their value exists in their melt value for the silver.
You can save yourself the time and effort for cleaning them. It doesn’t help. Plus, if you are really industrious and clean them too much, the already worn coins may not weigh as much as expected. Therefore, you may not receive as much for the coins’ silver content.
Now, having a little fun…
Do you know how parents get frustrated with their children’s “why” questions and respond “because I said so?”
Similarly, the short answer to the “why shouldn’t I clean old coins” question is “because the numismatists said so!”
Closing on a serious note, do not clean your old coins. At best, you waste your time. At worst, you dramatically decrease their resale value from numismatic rare valuables to just melt (for silver) or to just pocket change (for clad coins).
Just remember, “ugly” is in the eyes of the beholder. It’s not important what you think is pretty, but it is important what the numismatist thinks.
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BU versus Proof
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At the show this weekend, we had a gentleman looking for a XXVI Olympiad Tennis Commemorative Dollar. When asked which he wanted, BU or Proof, he was not sure and wanted to know the difference.
First, let’s talk about the difference between BU and Proof. BU is short for uncirculated (brilliant uncirculated) coins.
One might ask, well, commemoratives are not released to the public so why aren’t they all uncirculated?
That’s true. Even though commemoratives are legal tender, they do not get circulated. Their value is much higher for their collectability rather than their worth as spendable coinage.
But, the difference in uncirculated and proof – at least in the 1995/1996 timeframes when these coins were minted – shows in how the mint struck the coins. Uncirculated coins in that timeframe were minted and treated like the coins for circulation, but they were packaged in protective coin holders before being sold. Thus, they were “uncirculated” meaning they weren’t bagged with other coins with the associated nicks and scrapes from the coins rubbing together. Plus, they did not get the fingerprints and handling that circulated coins would have.
On the other hand, the US Mint explains, “United States proof coins are produced from carefully selected planchets, or coin blanks, that have been burnished to a high luster. The polished blanks, which are carefully handled to minimize scratches and abrasions, are struck on specially adapted coining presses. Each coin is struck at least twice to bring forth the most minute detail with remarkable clarity.”
Thus, the proof coins are “prettier” in that they have a mirror-like shine for the background and a very detailed design. Though, the uncirculated coins are nice, they don’t have the clarity of the proof.
OK, that helps, but why is the Tennis BU – which you say is less attractive – much more expensive than the proof Tennis coin?
The short answer is supply and demand. Let’s look at the population charts for the XXVI Olympiad commemorative coins. The population numbers are to the nearest 500.
Now, let’s look at the coins’ values as of early April. These values are no longer current but are sufficient for illustration purposes.
Isn’t it interesting that the high bars in the population chart are almost always the low bars in the values chart? That’s called supply and demand. When supply is sufficient to meet (and/or exceed) all of the demand, then the values are lower.
If the mintages are lower such that supply cannot satisfy all of the demand, then the values per coin go up. And, since the Mint does not make these coins any more, the supply does not increase to meet the demand.
But, you will also notice that some of the large population variations between the Unc and Proof coins do not equate to such a large difference in their values (for example, 1995 Baseball Half and 1995 Gymnastics Dollar).
In some cases the collectors’ interests impact the market value. If people are not looking for those specific coins, the demand does not exceed the supply and the market rate does not go up as dramatically.
Of course, this multivariate equation includes the metal content of the coins as well. Sometimes the metal impacts more than others such as when silver climbs.
To many, they’re happy just to collect, but if you are a collector also looking at longer term value think about their beauty, their grade, the way they’re made, their population numbers and their metal content.
But, most of all, have fun!
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Rare Gold and Fingers
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He’s done it again.
Several weeks ago, we talked about Glenn Beck using gold coins on his TV show and handling them without protection – either protective holders or gloves.
Congressman Anthony Weiner recently attacked Goldline and Glenn Beck saying that they use scare tactics to get people to buy gold.
That, of course, gave Glenn Beck another opportunity to bring out his gold coins. If he wants to handle his personal coins with his fingers and put damaging body oils and fingerprints on the coins, that’s his prerogative. But, unfortunately, his doing so will give those less educated about coins and numismatics the wrong idea.
You should NOT touch rare and/or valuable coins with your bare hands. The coins should be in protective holders. If they are not, then use white cotton gloves to hold the coins. And, those cotton gloves should be clean of any chemicals.
Glenn Beck can be scary in what he says and how he says it; however, many times his scary comments have correctly predicted future events.
Is he using scare tactics to get people to buy gold? Well, if he is, then a lot of other people in the investment industry, the gold industry and in the halls of economic education are also scary as they advocate buying gold when times – such as now – get financially rocky.
But, the Beck versus Weiner brouhaha is not the focus, the coins are.
Perhaps the coins Beck handles on his show are lower grade and their value is in the gold content not the coins themselves.
Still, many people watch his show and will deduce that it’s okay to handle any raw coins with bare fingers.
Not good, not good at all. At the very least, it makes all true numismatists cringe at the disrespect for the coins. At the worst, the coins decrease in value, and depending on their rarity and the damage caused by the bare fingers, the decrease in value could be significant.
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Flea Markets & Coins
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Flea markets are curious places. Depending on size and location, the merchandise and the vendors vary greatly. Plus, the prices can be economical, on par or expensive. In other words, remember the saying “buyer beware.”
We visited one this past weekend that is billed as Georgia’s Largest Flea Market. To say the least, it presented a diverse mix of cultures and languages along with a large variety of vendors and goods.
For example, several vendors offered live animals including ponies and horses for rides, dogs, sugar gliders, birds, ducks, chickens, turkeys and peacocks for sale - some as pets, some as food. Other living products included reptiles and live plants from vegetable plants to lucky bamboo to bonsai to landscape shrubs and trees.
Throughout the market, different vendors set up booths with boxes labeled $1, $2, and up with nothing over $5. Some of their goods were interesting, some were obvious knock-offs of well-known brands, and some were Made in China with poorly translated English labels. Other goods without an English label became a challenge to figure out what benefit they provided.
In addition, vendors offered furniture and jewelry and clothing. The clothing displays ranged from G-rated to R-rated to not quite X-rated. Other booths included fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, canned goods, cleaning supplies and hygiene items.
In the midst of the organized chaos, one vendor offered coins for sale. Display cases held row after row of 2×2 holders with type coins in several grades. In their cases, they offered a variety of US Mint collector sets too.
It’s rare for us to see the retail side of the coin business or to see it as an observer rather than a participant. This business provided a totally different view.
As with many businesses, one wonders how this weekend flea market coin business survives. Is this a hobby for him, or does he also have a brick and mortar shop? Or, does he work at another, unrelated business during the week? Does he get enough paying clientele to pay for the booth along with his and his employees’ time and effort?
This gentleman faces the added challenge of the merchandise being unprotected, other than the showcases, in a busy and high-traffic market. But, of that traffic, only a very small percentage appears to be potential numismatic clients.
On the other hand, perhaps numismatists are not his clients – especially knowledgeable collectors. You see, his prices were not realistic in the current market.
For example, he offered a four-piece Westward Journey set in the original US Mint collectible packaging for $175. But, in today’s market, you can purchase one of those sets for a fraction of that cost. Even the 2011 Red Book, whose value numbers are already out-of-date when printed, shows a value of less than half his number for the 2004 set and less than one quarter for the 2005 set.
Is he not aware of the current market or is he trying to make a profit regardless of the current prices? On the other hand, what does he do when the market goes up? Do his prices increase to follow the upward trend or does he keep his profit margin constant?
Since his coin business was none of our business, we chose just to observe and to keep our curious questions to ourselves.
But, the experience highlights the need for collectors to be careful, especially about impulse buying, and to keep educated about the current market.
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