Coins – Traveling Hotel Buyers Part II

In yesterday’s Coins – Traveling Hotel Buyers post, we included the MyFoxAtlanta I-Team news video showing the recent traveling hotel buyers in the surrounding areas.

Today, we highlight part 2 of the MyFoxAtlanta I-Team report. This time, the news story focused on the groups that attempt to capitalize on the “roadshow” name from the popularity of the PBS Antiques Roadshow.

I-Team: Coin Collecting ‘Roadshows’: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Both of the I-Team stories provide good information for the casual coin collector and for those who inherited old coins from a relative’s estate.

The main point to take away from the two news stories is to make sure you learn as much as you can from knowledgeable resources about your old coins before you sell them.

One comment made toward the end of the above video needs additional clarification.

Mr. Travis states that you can learn what your coins are worth on the internet.

He’s right to a certain degree, but old coins can vary widely in their value based on their coindition and their rarity.

You may have a group of nasty looking (Don’t Clean Them!) coins that you think are not worth very much. But, to a coin dealer who knows the specific points to look at for each coin, they could be very valuable.

Conversely, you may have shiny old coins that you think are in wonderful condition. But, unbeknownst to you, the coins were cleaned and lost much of their value due to the cleaning. Again, an experienced coin dealer can readily determine the condition and value of the coins.

The internet is a wonderful source of information to help you learn about your old coins. At most, though, the values assigned to similar coins can vary widely from web site to web site and even within the same coin dealer’s web site.

In addition to eBay there are many brick and mortar coin shops, which have been in business for many years, with online stores on their web site.

When you compare prices from one coin web site to another, you also have to consider that the margins are not the same from coin dealer to coin dealer.

The margin is the difference between the coin dealer’s buy price and the sell price. The margin for all of the products sold is what pays for the coin dealer’s cost of doing business (space, utilities, employees, supplies, inventory, etc.). The margin includes some profit, otherwise why be in business.

In the case of coins, there are many variables that can make your coins better or worse than those you find on the internet.

Remember, a coin show – not the traveling hotel buyers, but a real coin show – offers many dealers all in one place. The coin dealers are there to sell, buy and trade.

At the Greater Atlanta Coin Show, the dealers provide free verbal appraisals for coins and currency that are good for that day. The coin dealers are not trying to pressure you to sell by setting the time limit. Instead, the time limit is due to the rapidly changing market values from day to day and week to week, both up and down recently.

So, back to the main point. It’s good to learn as much as you can about your collectibles from several experienced resources before you sell them.