Very Good Selling Experience With Both Mark Feld And David Lawrence Rare Coins

[TomB]

I have had quite a few interactions with both Mark Feld and DLRC over the years and have purchased some extraordinarily nice coins from each source. Along with the coins have come numerous private messages, emails, phone conversations and face-to-face talks at shows, which have always been pleasant.

 

Recently, I had decided to sell a number of coins purchased through these two sources and the first thing I did was contact Mark about the coins obtained from him and John Feigenbaum about the coins obtained from DLRC. To my delight, but not my surprise, each offered to buy back any coin they had previously sold to me at over 90% of the original purchase price.

 

These offers had no time limit, no pressure and no strings attached to them. I was free to move the coins through other venues or to other collectors, but each made certain to let me know that whatever I could not sell, or did not want to sell on my own, was welcome back into their inventory as a straight purchase. This was quite nice, and while I will not go into what coins they were, what the exact percentages of buyback were, how long I had the coins or whether or not I took each up on his offer, it was reassuring to know there was a good check waiting for anything that I wanted to move.

 

This is an important point that folks don't typically think about, but that they might want to consider. Specifically, do you have an exit strategy that will allow you to liquidate part or all of your collection in a timely manner and for an acceptable sum of money? To be honest, I am continuously turning over my collection, so the idea of selling off a portion of it in order to use the money to buy different coins is nothing new to me. However, I wanted to share this experience so that others might think about what it is they are buying and from whom in order to know how they might exit the investment.

[WinstonWare]

Refreshing story

[EZ_E]

This should be Coins 101 when buying from a dealer. Afterall, if they have quality merchandise, they have nothing to fear in buying an item back since they can always flip it.

 

I doubt that this is true with Robert Chambers, Ken Pines, John Paul Sarosi, Paul Sims, etc.

[WhiteTornado]

Thanks for the tip, one I'm still in the process of learning. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

[gmarguli]

This should be Coins 101 when buying from a dealer. Afterall, if they have quality merchandise, they have nothing to fear in buying an item back since they can always flip it.

 

But don't assume the above means they have quality coins at fair prices. There is a forum member across the street that continually buys overpriced coins. He has no "eye" at all. In fact, I know two of his biggest dealers can't stand him as he needs his hand held. He is known for selling the coins back to the original dealer after short periods of time.

 

One of the dealers will hype a coin as "super PQ or shot upgrade, etc" and sell it to him for $7,000 when it should be $4,000. A couple months later the dealer will buy it back for $6,000 knowing that the buyer will take that $6,000 and buy a coin for $10,000 that should sell for $6,500. This repeats. He thinks the dealer stands behind his stuff, but in reality he is just keeping the clueless buyer coming back. At some point the musical chairs will stop.

 

The buyer has tried selling some of these coins thru other venues and gotten creamed (i.e. the coins brought market prices which were significantly less than the purchase price). This should be a sign of the trustworthiness of the dealer. If you can sell the coin to another dealer or at auction for close to what you paid, then he is likely honest. If you only get 60% from everyone else, but 90% in "credit" from the dealer, then you have a problem.

 

BTW, the dealer has a good name in the industry. It is neither of the ones mentioned in this thread.

[TomB]

Greg brings up some very good points that I had not thought to address since they weren't applicable in my post.