The Coin Dealers Guide

A coin business is built one documented transaction at a time. The Coin Dealers Guide follows the working life of a small dealer: make an item file, buy within a defensible ceiling, describe the actual coin, choose a sales channel you can serve, and close the sale with a clear record.

Learn how asking prices differ from cost and dealer bids, and how returns, slow stock, and tied-up cash change the picture. Practical checklists and fictional examples help a collector consider the routines behind a dependable operation.

• Create an item file and a buying ceiling that can survive slow sales and returns.
• Describe the coin you actually hold, then choose a sales channel whose service demands you can meet.
• Track inventory, costs, buyer communication, and final settlement with practical checklists.

See the daily work behind a coin dealership before you commit to becoming one.

See what is inside

The revised edition covers these chapters and reader resources:

• Chapter 1 — Choose the Dealership Before the Inventory
• Chapter 2 — Build the Bench Before Buying the Shelf
• Chapter 3 — Make One File for Each Coin
• Chapter 4 — Keep Consigned Coins Out of Owned Inventory
• Chapter 5 — Back Up the File and Prove It Can Return
• Chapter 6 — Buy Only What the File Can Support
• Chapter 7 — Receive an Estate Without Losing Its Identity
• Chapter 8 — Four Prices, One Coin
• Chapter 9 — Price the Work in a Low-Value Tray
• Chapter 10 — Show the Coin You Will Deliver
• Chapter 11 — A Photograph Belongs to One Object
• Chapter 12 — Sell Through a Channel You Can Serve
• Chapter 13 — Take a Show Without Abandoning the Store
• Chapter 14 — Close the Sale and Keep the Trail
• Chapter 15 — Hand Work to a Second Person
• Chapter 16 — Reopen a Returned Coin Correctly
• Chapter 17 — Keep Stock and Cash in View
• Chapter 18 — Count the Case While Sales Continue
• Chapter 19 — Read a Month's Stock Beside Its Cash
• Chapter 20 — Earn Trust in the Next Transaction
• Chapter 21 — Replace a Service Promise the Business Cannot Keep
• Chapter 22 — Choose the Next Purchase from Aged Stock
• Chapter 23 — Finish a Quarter Before Expanding the Business
• Chapter 24 — Review the Business the Coins Created
• Afterword — Keep the Next Decision Visible