Coin shows

[whiteslate]

Hey everyone, I am going to the Long Beach expo and wanted to know if you all have any tips on things to do there, or anything like that. its my first coin show, but im only bringing about $100 because that's all i have to spend. Thanks for any tips.
-Whiteslate

 

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[baddbluff]

Wow - that's your first? It's amazing! I went in Sept. It can be overwhelming. Just look around a lot before you buy anything. If you look enough, you'll find some deals. Have fun!

 

[coinshooter]

Tokens are fun and affordable there.
You will see more gold and silver than youve ever seen in your life. Lots of fun.
Food sucks, but there is an Islands across the street.

 

[bigscores]

With lower-end coins, coin shows tend to be overpriced. If you're not cherrypicking, don't be afraid to walk out with nothing. I've driven 2 hours to Whitman Baltimore before and didn't buy a dang thing. It's an experience just being there. Enjoy it, have fun, talk to the dealers and try to make connections. If you notice a dealer has some interesting coins you can't afford, get their business card and keep them in mind when you do have the money.

 

[whiteslate]

Thanks guys, ya I am young, but I have a huge passion for coins and silver, looking forward to it, thanks for taking the time to reply it means a lot, you guys on tnet are really nice.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Pardon my ignorance...Can you buy common silver coins for a decent price at these shows? Ive never been to one myself

 

[bigscores]

Pardon my ignorance...Can you buy common silver coins for a decent price at these shows? Ive never been to one myself

You mean junk silver? Yeah, sure. Just don't expect to be allowed to pick through it for what you want.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

You mean junk silver? Yeah, sure. Just don't expect to be allowed to pick through it for what you want.

Oh really? Well Eff that....Im stay trolling on ebay

 

[westkybanded]

Pardon my ignorance...Can you buy common silver coins for a decent price at these shows? Ive never been to one myself

You won't find it for spot, but it's there.

Last show I went to I found well worn 90% halves at one table for $10 a piece, then at the next for $9, then got the first guy talked down to $8! Lol... Not a steal, but I've seen worse.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

You mean junk silver? Yeah, sure. Just don't expect to be allowed to pick through it for what you want.

It depends on the show. We have a smaller local monthly show that you can sit all day long and pick through all the silver you want and they won't care as long as you aren't taking up their only seat. As long as they know you intend to buy something then they will let you look through their pile of silver for the better pieces.

Our show has tons of silver and tons of lower end coins for decent prices. Some coin dealers (especially the ones with actual shops) get tons of lower end stuff that they really don't want to have to keep in their inventory. These are items that people brought in from their shoebox collections that are lower grades and more common coins. With that said, the guys at our local show are more than happy to be able to sell this stuff and make money on it. Not every dealer brings this stuff to the show or even keeps it on hand in their shop. But at our monthly show there are plenty of lower end options at decent prices.

One thing I'll say is that you should make sure you have a copy of the grey sheets (CDN) before you go. This will help ensure that you don't overpay for your coins. Dealers need to make a profit but they don't need to make a killing off of you. The grey sheets tell you what the wholesale prices of any given coin are. At our monthly show I am usually able to buy at wholesale because this show caters to dealers selling to dealers. The people there don't care that I'm not a dealer if they can move inventory at the same price that they would have sold to another dealer for. Larger coin shows are typically not like that as they are often times geared more toward retail prices and customers.

Good luck.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

You won't find it for spot, but it's there.

Last show I went to I found well worn 90% halves at one table for $10 a piece, then at the next for $9, then got the first guy talked down to $8! Lol... Not a steal, but I've seen worse.

Yea...Thats kinda what I was thinking...Hell, I could get a dcent shaped half on Ebay for 10 bucks these days...and earn the Ebay Bucks

 

[cudamark]

I've gone to the L.B. show many times as a buyer. I like it for finding that hard to get or key date coin. Sometimes your local coin shop doesn't have a good selection so the big shows are the place to go to shop and compare. Monthly club shows are good too but there again, sometimes the inventory is limited. If you can't find it at the L.B. show, it probably isn't available anywhere! That place is huge so bring comfortable walking shoes. I'd recommend you limit your search for just a few different coins or one series or you'll be overwhelmed and probably run out of time to see every both before the show is over. Write down what you're looking for so you don't forget anything, and jot down what you should be paying for each. Bring a loupe with you so you don't have to keep borrowing one. I'd also bring cash instead of a credit card. You can sometimes get a much better deal that way if you know what I mean.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

I've gone to the L.B. show many times as a buyer. I like it for finding that hard to get or key date coin. Sometimes your local coin shop doesn't have a good selection so the big shows are the place to go to shop and compare. Monthly club shows are good too but there again, sometimes the inventory is limited. If you can't find it at the L.B. show, it probably isn't available anywhere! That place is huge so bring comfortable walking shoes. I'd recommend you limit your search for just a few different coins or one series or you'll be overwhelmed and probably run out of time to see every both before the show is over. Write down what you're looking for so you don't forget anything, and jot down what you should be paying for each. Bring a loupe with you so you don't have to keep borrowing one. I'd also bring cash instead of a credit card. You can sometimes get a much better deal that way if you know what I mean.

Totally agree. We have found that sometimes we need to give the monthly show a few months to "rebuild" their inventories because it is the same guys all the time and they just don't acquire new coins as often as you'd like them to. So the selection can definitely be more limited at the smaller shows.

 

[bigscores]

Cash is king in the coin world, many dealers won't even take CC's for fear of a chargeback, unless they know you very well, and even then, they usually make you pick up the CC fee of 3%.

 

[cudamark]

Plus, credit card sales will have sales tax added which is not always the case in cash sales

 

[bigscores]

Plus, credit card sales will have sales tax added which is not always the case in cash sales

I've never paid tax for any coin offline. Credit card or not.