Mighty Bargain Hunter

Three things I learned at a coin store today

April 8th, 2009 | by mbhunter |

I was up in NY for a long weekend with my parents and other relatives, and came back to VA today.  On the way back I stopped at a coin shop we had passed several times, and got a chance to look inside.

The owner was buying a collection of coins from someone, so I waited until he was done.  I learned a few things today:

• The new Lincoln cents are making their way around. Both the owner of the store and the guy who was selling his collection were pretty talkative so we talked coins a little bit.  The seller had one of the new 2009 Lincoln cents and showed it to me.  This was the first time I had seen one.  I guess they’re taking a while to get around.  The first Lincoln cent design was introduced almost two months ago.
• Don’t try to make side deals in front of the dealer. I didn’t directly offer to buy some of the coins from the seller, but again, we were all chatting, so it came out that I might be interested in buying some of the coins.  I think I knew enough not to offer the seller any money for the coins right there, because that’s a good way to never be welcome in the shop again.  He offered to sell some to me, but I said that I wasn’t going to get into the middle of the transaction.  Nor did I talk much about what the coins were worth, because it would weaken the owner’s bargaining power.  Again, not a good idea if I ever wanted to come into that store again.
• Kennedy halves in 1966 had a doubled die variety. I offered to buy some Kennedy halves from the collection, but he said that he’d need to look through the 1966 ones before selling them to me, because there was a doubled die variety.  Certainly a good thing to know!  Now I get to look through my 1966 halves.

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