I told him if he was lucky he could get $25 - $35 dollars each from maybe a Spaniard who really wants and collects them and by the way, Seattle is not anywhere near Spain. He had about a dozen of them and can't figure out why they have been sitting there for years.
I have recently entered the biggest antique/etno shop in Belgrade, Serbia, only to find that half of the coins on sale are overpriced fakes and the other half just overpriced. When I mentioned this to the seller, he simply shrugged his shoulders saying "I don't know anything about coins - it's for tourists".
Touristy locations with heavy footfall will generally have a high rent.
Not surprised with the overpricing. I wonder if the shutdown during the pandemic has resulted in the rising prices.
Quote: "BluHawk"Touristy locations with heavy footfall will generally have a high rent.
Not surprised with the overpricing. I wonder if the shutdown during the pandemic has resulted in the rising prices.
I doubt the shut down has anything to do with it.
I was in Leipzig, Germany coin shop in 2014 & the prices were laughable (pie in the sky). In Salzburg Austria in 2018 & I just bought a few Euro coins since their currency prices were outrageous. I asked both if they ever heard of eBay & each worker just shrugged their shoulders like 'Dejan' wrote. Live buying sure ain't for the faint of heart.
Brick and mortar stores have to food the building bills but this justifies the price only to a certain extent.
I think the bigger thing at least here in Germany is, that the money collection hobby is dominated by older/very old and quite well situated individuals who don't use the net like their younger peers and shops can keep there high prices without going under.
This leaves out of course the price conscious potential buyers.
I've noticed 3 patterns with stores that sell coins/currency everywhere I have traveled.
1) true "coin shops"- They make all of their income from the hobby (maybe stamps as well), but numismatics is their business. Prices will be in line with the numismatic community. Some things will be a good deal, some maybe not, but nothing will be outrageous.
2) antique shops- they have some coins/currency in a counter for sale but are almost always well over priced. They tend to be in tourist areas, or where casual shoppers will be. They really aren't coin shops and the personal have very little numismatic knowledge.
3) pawn/gold/silver shops - they are generally in it for the metal. They can have some deals on junk silver (especially foreign in the US) or damaged gold coins but tend to price other coins (Buffalo nickels, Mercury Dimes in the US for example) way over value.
I like your observations/classifications of the type of brick & mortar shops these days 'worth.'
It's gotten tougher to find the first type of coin shop but they are great places to shoot the breeze, perhaps get something you've got no patience to wait for, or pick up books/supplies. Sadly the second two seem to be gaining traction over the typical LCS (Local Coin Shops) that have true coin/banknote or numismatic specialists at the helm.
