Where do you buy your coins?

[Ætheling]

Mostly buy/sell direct to/from online dealers. Still buy from mailing lists too.

 

Failing that i pay regular visits to several coinshops and recently coin fairs too.

 

 

For me Ebay is a no no. CDs/Videos/Books/retro stuff that's hard to get hold of, i use ebay for that. Coins and anything else of value i steer well clear of the place, too much junk and very little of what i want anyway.

[Dan769]

Coin shows account for 69% of all coin purchases

Coinpeople 15%

Websites 15%

Ebay 1% if that, havent bought a coin off of ebay in a year

[ccg]

Various online, local shops and shows (junkbox digging). Haven't bought much anything lately at all, though.

[AuldFartte]

I guess in order by quantity, I'd have to say:

 

Local dealer,

 

Local coin shows,

 

Forum members/dealers,

 

E-bilge.

[mmarotta]

My choices have changed over the years.

 

When I started, I only bought from retail stores. Lansing, Michigan, had four coin shops back then, and I found one I liked. (Michigan tends to be heavier in retail outlets and clubs, even today.) I still shop at coin stores and I when I travel I visit new stores just to see what's up and say hi and I usually buy something just to be polite. I buy very little serious material at coin stores because my interests are beyond what they usually carry, though I do ask if they can show me this or that or if they have any of these or those or whatever.

 

As I learned more and my interests broadened, I patronized mail order sellers validated by the publications they advertised in. Not all of them lived up to my expectations, but it was an educational experience, to be sure. Actively collecting ancients, I learned to trust advertisers in The Celator. I still follow the same habit. Building a collection now to support a new area of research in medievals, I ended up buying from VCOINS dealers. Several of them are not Celator advertisers, but I came to VCOINS because of those who were, so the one set validated the other for me.

 

Along the way, I joined a local club and began going to coin shows. (Again, the Greater Detroit area is a rich marketplace for numismatics.) Seeing the same people over and over at local, regional, and national shows, I became more familiar with the sellers and their wares. I now do most of my buying at coin shows, especially the MSNS and ANA conventions.

 

Although I am an MSNS director, my hands are tied regarding some of the problems I run into on the bourse floor. Even so, I consider MSNS a very safe venue based on trust, respect, long-term commitments, and the highest standards for building the hobby in order to build the businesses.

 

Even more than MSNS, I have implicit faith in the process at ANA conventions. Yes, each of us assumes personal responsibility for our own transactions, and, yes, there is no Santa Claus. For all of that, I trust the ANA conventions to have the highest caliber of dealers and materials. Therefore, I tend to save my money during the year or two between ANA conventions and then to do most of my buying there. I attend the nightly auctions as well as walking the bourse floor. I spend two or more days at the show.

 

Yes, it seems to cost more up front. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Mail order, eBay, coin stores, whatever, every mode of buying and selling comes with its own costs and burdens. For what I would spend (or risk) in other overhead, attending an ANA convention once a year or two years, is no more expensive than driving to a local coin store every Saturday morning and spending two or three hours hanging out -- and at an ANA convention, I meet 200 to 300 dealers, each of them competing for my money.

 

I still buy at local shows, stores, via mail, VCOINS or whatever. I just do about 75% of my buying at the MSNS and ANA conventions and relegate minor purchases, exceptions, and general socializing to the other venues.

[Ætheling]

(Also, there is some disconnect because the new area is "medieval" technically out of the range of "ancients" so there are different dealers involved.)

 

 

As a medieval collector i know exactly what you mean about medieval coins being described as 'ancient', Ancient to me ended with the fall of the Western Roman Empire everything after, Dark Ages*-1500 is medieval, be it early, high or late.

 

 

*Dark Ages, is it still referred to as that or has Political Correctness changed it to something not entirely rememberable.