I was at a Coin Show in Fort Worth, TX about a week ago. I was chatting with a dealer when a gentleman carrying a Whitman folder stepped up to the table. Since I was chatting rather than doing business, I stepped aside. But I remained at the table looking at some of the coins in the display case. I wasn't really eavesdropping, but I listened to the conversation that ensued. The potential customer had begun thinking about the coins he had when he was a boy and dug through his possessions to locate the collection. He was amazed to find that one of his folders was almost complete. He brought the folder with him with the intention of filling in one or more of the empty slots.
He showed the dealer his collection. Mercury Dimes. Four empty slots. (I didn't pay close enough attention to hear what was missing.) From what I could see, the coins probably ranged in condition from Fine to one or two coins which may have approached AU, with the majority of coins toward the lower end of the scale.
As the dealer looked over the coins, the customer was amazed to find that the dealer had one of the missing coins prominently displayed in the case. A nice coin. MS-63. The customer asked to see the coin. As the dealer handed him the coin I noticed that he looked the coin over briefly. He didn't have any kind of magnifying glass. He looked at the obverse of the coin, never turning the flip over to look at the reverse. The dealer watched the customer closely, and didn't say a thing.
"How much?"
The dealer quoted him a price and the customer said that was within his price range.
Done deal? Nope!
"What are you trying to do with your collection?" asked the dealer. "What's your goal? Why are you collecting?"
The questions were asked very conversationally, and the customer indicated that he had enjoyed having coins when he was a boy. He thought it would be kind of nice to be able to "complete" the collection by "filling in" the empty slots.
The dealer began to talk to the customer. He was teaching as he went along. He described the grading process. He told the customer what he could expect in a coin which was graded MS-63. He lent the man a magnifying glass and told him how to look at the coin. The man turned the coin over and looked at the back of the coin. He turned the coin so that he could look at the coin from different angles, and he began to understand what he was seeing.
Then the dealer picked up another coin. Same date and mint mark. MS-60. "Look at this one, and tell me what you see. What is the difference?"
The customer looked carefully, but told the dealer that he really didn't notice much difference between the coins. Then he looked at another dime, this one an MS-40.
"What do you think of that coin?"
"It's pretty nice too. Just not as shiny"
Then the dealer began anew. He told the man that he would be glad to sell him any of the three coins. He told the customer that one of the things to think about was consistency within the collection. If he intended to begin upgrading the collection it would probably be very appropriate to invest in the coin with the higher grade. If he was simply "filling in slots" it may not really make sense to put the money into the better coin, especially since he really didn't notice the difference. In fact, if it were him, he'd probably purchase the MS-60 rather than the MS-63.
"You know, I often tell people to collect 'dull gray' rather than 'shiny silver.'" Make a decision based on what you want to do with the collection rather than just buying the "best" coin available. In fact, the 'dull gray' often has 'more character' than the 'shiny silver.'
The customer nodded, and said that the MS-40 really was more like the other coins in the book. But he really did want a 'nicer' coin. He put the MS-40 aside and looked at the two better coins. The price difference was almost $200.
"Think about it, I'll hold 'em both for you for 30 minutes. Go ahead and look around, I'll still be here."
The customer walked away, folder in hand, with the slot still unfilled.
"He'll be back," the dealer said to me. "He'll be a whole lot happier with the MS-60. It's a better match for his collection. And if he buys the MS-60 and comes into my shop next week wanting the higher grade, I'll give him credit against the new coin for what he paid for it."
The customer came back fifteen minutes later and made his purchase . . . the MS-60 rather than the MS-63. He walked away smiling, promising to "come by the shop" in a couple weeks to look at some other coins.
Good Teacher. Wise Dealer. Good business.
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