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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Coin Show – BRNA This Week
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For those interested, the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association’s coin show information is:
51st BRNA ANNUAL CONVENTION INFORMATION
The Blue Ridge Numismatic Association (BRNA) invites you to participate in its 51st Annual Convention.
Friday August 20 8 AM to dealers with tables General Public: 10 AM to 6 PM
Saturday August 21 8 AM to dealers with tables General Public: 10 AM to 6 PM
Sunday August 22 9 AM to dealers with tables General Public: 10 AM to 3 PM
Security: 24 hour Armed Security from Wednesday Noon thru Sunday 4 PM
The show is held in the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton Georgia. The convention center is just off I-75 at exit 333. From the center’s web site:
The Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center is easily accessible from either Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA) or Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The facility is 1/4 mile from Interstate 75 at exit 333 in historic Dalton, GA.
After exiting I-75 at Exit 333, turn West onto Walnut Avenue. Continue 1/4 mile up the hill and turn left into the convention center parking lot.
The show hosts roughly 200 tables with a wide variety of collectible and investment numismatics on display for buying, selling and trading.
To use a cliche, remember, “the early bird gets the worm.” The dealers will buy and sell throughout the three-day show. However, what they sell will be gone, and what they buy may not be on display. Arrive early to find the widest variety of numismatics to match your interests.
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REMINDER – Coin Show August 8
The monthly Greater Atlanta Coin Show for the month of August is this Sunday, August 8. For guests, the bourse opens at 9:00 am and continues until 5:00 pm.
The show is located at the Holiday Inn Select on Chamblee Dunwoody Road just inside interstate 285. Click on location and directions for more information about the venue.
The bourse includes over 30 dealers with interests across the spectrum of numismatics including coins, currency and bullion from ancient to old to new. Visit the show to buy, sell or trade in your interests.
Reminder: several dealers have long drives or other obligations. They arrive early and leave by mid-afternoon. For the widest range of dealers and numismatics that match your particular needs, plan to come to the show early in the day.
We hope to see you on Sunday!
The Coin Show Conundrum
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Recently, articles appeared in local coin club newsletters and in the major coin magazines about coin shows. In particular these articles discussed how many of the dealers leave early and how coin show management should “fix” this problem. They further commented that people do not attend the last day of a three or four day show because they know very few dealers will be there.
Well, this problem resembles the chicken and egg mystery. Though, a recent study using a super computer in Edinburgh claims scientific proof that the chicken came before the egg.
In the case of coins, did the dealers start leaving early first? Or, was it guests who first did not attend in large numbers on the show’s last day?
In all likelihood, the last day’s fewer dealers and less traffic could be attributed to actions by both the dealers and the guests.
Let’s explore some of the reasons why dealers leave early. Depending on the dealer, their reasons could be safety, monetary, personal or a mixture of all of them.
Some dealers have long drives of eight hours or more. As such, they want to be on the road in daylight hours for safety reasons. They don’t want to drive late into the night while tired from a long show day and with significant valuables in their vehicle.
Eight plus hours? That’s a long drive. Why don’t they fly? Think about it. Coin inventory can be bulky. With today’s baggage limits and TSA horror stories, dealers do not fly with coins unless they can keep their valuables with them at all times. This means dealers who bring large inventory must drive their coins to a show.
Then there are the monetary reasons. People who attend the last day generally do not buy very much if anything at all. These people are lookers. Will they buy at some point? Sure. Is it worthwhile for the numismatic community to have coins they can peruse? In general, yes.
But, individually, from a dealer’s perspective, spending all day on the last day when very few purchases are made – usually for small amounts of money – just does not make financial sense for them to stay. Some dealers leave the evening prior to the last day to save both the time and the hotel expense. Others value their time over the little monetary reward and leave either the night before or the morning of the last day.
More importantly, perhaps the biggest reason dealers leave early is that they need personal time. Many of the dealers open their coin shops every day. Some dealers work at other businesses during the week. Others want time with family, kids and grandkids on the weekend. Some just want some kick-back time. If the monetary rewards on the last day are small, they leave to enjoy time away from coins for awhile.
But why did the guests not attend as much on the last day?
One reason could be that the last day of a three or four day show historically fell on a Sunday. Some people prefer not to do any business on a Sunday. They would walk the bourse and look at the various coins on display, but they would not purchase.
Another reason could be that many dedicated collectors attended the coin shows as early as possible such that they would have the greatest number of coins to review. The numismatist wants to look at several versions of the coins within their area of interest and select the best coin or coins to add to their collection. Casual collectors would wait until the last day and not spend much money.
So, what’s the solution?
Today, some shows use the carrot approach. Others use the stick.
For example, the ANA penalizes dealers who leave before the end of the show. However, many of the ANA dealers work around this requirement. They leave one person behind with a very limited amount of coins (sometimes just one) on display. They meet the ANA’s “stick” requirement, but the guests do not benefit from their staying.
Other shows solve their guests’ issue with business on Sunday by having the show earlier and ending on Saturday.
Still other shows use a “carrot” approach by drawing nice gifts for dealers who are still at their tables on the afternoon of the last day. Perhaps this approach keeps some dealers, but several dealers still leave the show early.
Can the bourse chairman “fix” the problem? Probably not.
The issue remains the unsolved “chicken and egg” conundrum. If the business is there then the dealers will stay. But, the numismatists and investors know that a lot of dealers leave early so the larger buyers do not come at the end of a show.
Furthermore, the dealers and the guests are individuals making their own choices. A bourse chairman has limited (very limited) control over either the dealers or the guests.
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Coin Show This Weekend!
As we grow older and as times change, celebrating our independence becomes more and more important. We hope you enjoyed and celebrated our nation’s freedoms and had a fun and safe holiday weekend.
This Sunday, July 11, marks the seventh month’s coin show. Come visit your favorite dealers who will bring and display some old favorites along with new acquisitions for everyone to browse.
The Greater Atlanta Coin Show is held monthly at the Holiday Inn Select on Chamblee Dunwoody Road just inside I-285. Directions to the bourse can be found on our main web site: http://www.atlcoin.com/GACS-Location-Directions.html
Browse the main site, www.atlcoin.com, for more information about the coin show and take a look at some of the fun coins and comments we’ve added to the site.
We hope to see you at the show on Sunday. Remember, arrive early for more selection and dealer availability. Doors open at 9 am for guests.
Coin Show Reminder, 6/13/2010
The next monthly Greater Atlanta Coin Show is this weekend, Sunday, June 13, at the Holiday Inn Select on Chamblee Dunwoody Road just inside I-285.
Per weather.com, Sunday’s weather is expected to be “Partly cloudy, chance of a thunderstorm. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 70s.” In other words, Sunday will be a typical late spring, almost summer day in Atlanta.
You and your guests are invited to attend the coin show. Doors open at 9:00 am and the show continues until 5:00 pm.
Note the metals markets continue to inch upward, therefore gold continues to be difficult to maintain in stock. As a result, any gold the dealers bring to the show goes quickly.
If you’ve been to the show before, welcome back. Arrive early to visit with your favorite dealers and to see what new numismatic collectibles and bullion are available.
If you’re a newcomer to the show, welcome. Come early and browse the bourse to see what the dealers have to offer this month and to hear the prevalent interests of the dealers and guests this month.
See you Sunday!
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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Recap of May Show
Just a quick post today since time was spent recapping the May show for everyone. Head over to our 2010 Notes page to see highlights.
The short version is it was a gorgeous day and a packed show!
Reminder! Show this weekend
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This is a quick reminder that the Monthly Greater Atlanta Coin Show is this Sunday, May 23. Dealers set up in the early morning, and the doors open to collectors, investors and guests at 9am to continue until 5pm. Check out our main web site at www.atlcoin.com for more information. In particular, location and directions can be found on the main web site along with information about the dealers and previous shows.
For those of you who enjoy both coins and sports memorabilia, the North Atlanta Sports Collectibles Show will coincide with the Greater Atlanta Coin Show this month at the Holiday Inn Select. The Sports Collectibles show is from 10am to 5pm. For more information, contact the Sports Collectibles Promoter Frank Moiger by telephone: 678-644-6057 or by email: utvol69@aol.com
Of course, both shows offer free admission, and you are welcome to attend.
See you there!
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GNA Coin Show in Dalton, GA
Today’s post brought to you by: 2010 Silver Year of the Tiger Kilo Dollars Now Available at GovMint.com!
Happy Friday and happy day-after-tax-day!
For those of you in the area, the Georgia Numismatic Association’s spring coin show starts today in Dalton, GA.
You can find more details about the spring coin show on the GNA’s web site.
Or, click here: the North Georgia Trade and Convention Center to learn more about the venue including location and directions.
Per weather.com, the weekend will be beautiful with temperatures in the mid seventies. Perfect for a drive to the coin show.
Today’s post brought to you by: 2010 Silver Year of the Tiger Kilo Dollars Now Available at GovMint.com!
