Dealers vs Coin Flippers and why you should avoid the latter like herpes

I wrote this in response to a query from our friend Cass Taylor about the coin market but by the time I'd finished it had diverged so much from the original narrow question (yeah, I have this tendency to ramble and type very quickly - it's my life's bane) that it would have been ill mannered to post it there, so here it is instead -


Dealers understand their customers. Although the internet has widened the scope at the expense of old school personal relationships (who wants to develop a relationship with "coindude1234"?) their business remains a matter of matching coins to the customers who seek them.

As a collector of UK coins living in the US I can pretty confidently say that my experiences match your own observations. There are far fewer buyers in the US for common UK coins than would be the case for a dealer in the UK with a largely British clientele and this is reflected in the prices.

Where our theory falls down is scarce coins / key dates. Savvy coin dealers know how to maximize their profits. Some time ago I read a very interesting article about the life cycle of premium coins. I think I may have summarized it for Numista members if you'd care to search for it**. It runs pretty much like this, a collector dies and his heirs sell the collection to dealer A who breaks it up among several other dealers. Dealer A is clever. He understands that by passing the coins along to other dealers they can make more money than he could because they specialize in particular countries and series. They in turn pass what they don't need to other dealers and by the time a coins once again finds a new home it may have been passed between a dozen different dealers. At some future point, the kindness of Dealer A is repaid when he gets a large amount of top class coins for a bargain price.

Nobody is making money from coins which sit in a dealer's inventory for five years. Good prices are good only for dealers but before y'all drop to your knees and pray for a price crash, remember it's those bad ole dealers who are taking the time to track down new coins, identify new varieties and unearth old albums full of great coins and bring them to the market. Without the incentive of healthy prices there are no dealers and without dealers there are no coins. Remember that before you piss and moan about an honest guy making an honest living.

It's so self explanatory that it comes as a real shock to find the coin flipping wankers* and kingpin wannabees in our midst just don't get it. There's a great big worldwide club of dealers and collectors and you ain't in it because everyone remembers that time you screwed the little guy out of ten bucks or you misrepresented common coins as "XXX rare". If you are reading this and wondering, "Does he mean me?", let's share a Jeff Foxworthy moment shall we.....

If you don't own a single coin catalog or reference book - you might be a coin flipper.
If you can't grade, value and identify your own coins - you might be a coin flipper.
If you don't know a basketful of other dealers and more importantly, they don't know you - you might be a coin flipper.
If your stock in trade is "anything I can make a buck from" and concepts such as market reciprocation and specialization are a foreign language - you might be a coin flipper.
If your coin sales pitches contain the phrase "I don't grade coins" - you might be a coin flipper.
If your coin sales pitches contain more than one consecutive punctuation (!!!!!!) - you might be a coin flipper and a pretty low rent, shabby one at that.

When I use the term coin flippers, I mean it in the most disparaging way possible. It should not be confused with legitimate vest pocket dealers who have all the knowledge, attributes and access of a professional dealer but because of their lifestyle or commitments elsewhere they choose to deal one or two coins at a time rather than carry an extensive stock. They are a great asset to collectors, coin flippers however are just parasites who stand between source and collector but contribute nothing except for increased prices.

Actions have consequences and reputation is King.

* Many Americans are confused this charmingly quaint, non-obscene English term. It refers to the action not the object. "Hey quit playing with your wanker!" = wrong. "Hey don't be such a wanker!" = correct. I'm so glad that we could clear this up, I really think it's a major breakthrough in international relations. It also applies to "Tosser" and for those with some degree of higher education, "furtive self manipulator". So quit spamming the REPORT button, you furtive self manipulators.

** Actually I might have even wrote it long ago, my memory, like so much else, is failing.

My Sunday Morning men's bowling team is called the "Band of Wankers"

Conversely you're more likely to pick up rarer varieties and dates for a good price from a flipper than you are from a dealer, as a flipper is less likely to put in the effort to fully identify their coins correctly than a dealer.

So you shouldn't always avoid them like herpes, the best course is to do your own research so you can avoid the dross and pick out the gems.

Great read.

When you say Americans, do you mean Canadians or people who arrogantly call themselves what most of the rest of the entire world also calls them?

Quote: "redsmithstudios"​Great read.
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​When you say Americans, do you mean Canadians or people who arrogantly call themselves what most of the rest of the entire world also calls them?

​Hah, well put my friend. I wonder what happened to that particular gem of anti-American hyperbole?

Quote: "redsmithstudios"​Great read.
​
​When you say Americans, do you mean Canadians or people who arrogantly call themselves what most of the rest of the entire world also calls them?

​Do I detect a bit of jealousy?

Quote: "pnightingale"​

Quote: "redsmithstudios"​Great read.
​​
​​When you say Americans, do you mean Canadians or people who arrogantly call themselves what most of the rest of the entire world also calls them?

​​Hah, well put my friend. I wonder what happened to that particular gem of anti-American hyperbole?

​One of the more idiotic asinine and infuriating strains of hyperbole...on another note, I highly value the relationships made with those who understand and enjoy collecting and dealing coins. I have my reference catalogs and my areas of expertise. So I tend to seek out those who share my preferences and expertise. When two sets of trusted eyes look at something, I feel more confident. I don't have time for @mustseexxxrare ...

I don't think I would avoid either of them because both can help you build your collection. I also don't know why you couldn't have a similar relationship to a flipper as you could a dealer both will eventually get to know what you like and ultimately think of you when something comes across their table that they know you frequently seek.

Matt