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Hi all,
Some of you who have been around for a while may remember one of my first threads regarding flea markets. http://www.lincolncentresource.net/f...ead.php?t=9791
And finally, almost 2 years later, I decided to finally go! I have been chatting with a fellow member (Levi) who gave me a little bit of info on a local flea market. So I checked it out today, and maybe give some tips to others.
1) There are a lot of people there that don't know what they have.
This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It can be good because they do not realize the value of some coins (I picked up some nice barber dimes for a buck each), or it can be bad. There were guys selling common wheat cents for $10 each, and one guy selling a normal kennedy half dollar for $60.
2) Don't be afraid to bargain.
I was looking at some coins, and they seemed a little pricey for their grade. I talked the guy down about 5 bucks on each coin.
3) Not all the coins are real.
I ran into a guy selling poor counterfeits of old coins. I could avoid them easily, but not everyone has the experience to tell a fake coin from a real one.
4) If it is out of your price range, it's ok to not buy it.
I saw A LOT of really cool old coins that appealed to me, but they were really pricey and much more than I wanted to spend. I ended up passing them up because I could buy many more coins that I could use in my collection with the money I saved.
So here is what I bought at the flea market.
2 cents for my wheat set: 1930-S and 1931-P. 50 cents each.
3 barber dimes: 1899, 1902, 1914. 1 buck each.
2 standing liberty quarters: 1930 in perhaps F-VF for 8 bucks, and a 1928 in VF-XF for $13. (probably worth more)
A "slabbed" 2009-D cent given to me for free. I put slabbed in quotations because it is graded MS-70 by the "International Numismatic Bureau", even though it has plenty of stains and a few contact markers. The slab looks pretty fake, too. The coin is held in some sort of foam.
All in all, I would say that flea markets aren't the best place to find quality coins for your sets, but they do have a lot of interesting stuff, some of which you can get for cheap. I will see if I can get some pics up soon.
Some of you who have been around for a while may remember one of my first threads regarding flea markets. http://www.lincolncentresource.net/f...ead.php?t=9791
And finally, almost 2 years later, I decided to finally go! I have been chatting with a fellow member (Levi) who gave me a little bit of info on a local flea market. So I checked it out today, and maybe give some tips to others.
1) There are a lot of people there that don't know what they have.
This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It can be good because they do not realize the value of some coins (I picked up some nice barber dimes for a buck each), or it can be bad. There were guys selling common wheat cents for $10 each, and one guy selling a normal kennedy half dollar for $60.
2) Don't be afraid to bargain.
I was looking at some coins, and they seemed a little pricey for their grade. I talked the guy down about 5 bucks on each coin.
3) Not all the coins are real.
I ran into a guy selling poor counterfeits of old coins. I could avoid them easily, but not everyone has the experience to tell a fake coin from a real one.
4) If it is out of your price range, it's ok to not buy it.
I saw A LOT of really cool old coins that appealed to me, but they were really pricey and much more than I wanted to spend. I ended up passing them up because I could buy many more coins that I could use in my collection with the money I saved.
So here is what I bought at the flea market.
2 cents for my wheat set: 1930-S and 1931-P. 50 cents each.
3 barber dimes: 1899, 1902, 1914. 1 buck each.
2 standing liberty quarters: 1930 in perhaps F-VF for 8 bucks, and a 1928 in VF-XF for $13. (probably worth more)
A "slabbed" 2009-D cent given to me for free. I put slabbed in quotations because it is graded MS-70 by the "International Numismatic Bureau", even though it has plenty of stains and a few contact markers. The slab looks pretty fake, too. The coin is held in some sort of foam.
All in all, I would say that flea markets aren't the best place to find quality coins for your sets, but they do have a lot of interesting stuff, some of which you can get for cheap. I will see if I can get some pics up soon.
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