Teamwork Triumphs With Rare Coin Collateral

Life is all about relationships. Strong relationships are built on a foundation of time, trust and commitment.  The successful coin business relies heavily on good relationships:  dealer and collector, dealer and dealer, dealer and local business community, and so on.

This post illustrates how temporary partnerships are built in this business to perform a task or solve a problem. 

“Saved in Omaha” (September 2012 post) is one example of how a temporary partnership with Leon Hendrickson, of SilverTowne, literally saved my bacon as a young coin dealer.

In 1964 I was a partner in a small San Diego coin shop when we learned a woman dealer in the downtown area wanted to retire.  She had, without a doubt, the best coin and stamp inventory in the city.  A number of collectors had told us about some of her treasures, the most compelling a roll of 1916-D Mercury Dimes.

Problem was my partner and I had limited capital.  But we knew who to call.

Leo Young, of Oakland, CA, was a well known, well respected name in the coin business.  Leo was a wholesaler who bought and sold lots of good coins; he ran auctions for clubs and the ANA; he was an officer in the Professional Numismatist Guild.  Leo had money and moxie; he was always interested in a fresh deal.

We contacted Leo and explained the details.  He jumped on a plane and headed right down to San Diego.  The three of us arranged to take a look at the store’s inventory and learn precisely what was being liquidated.  Leo figured the deal, offered the woman $100,000, and she agreed to his price.

Then comes the problem – he didn’t really want to pony up $100,000 in cash. Remember, in 1964 $100,000 was a tremendous amount of money.  But Leo has a plan.  He asked the dealer if she would consider collateral, allowing us to make payments while we sold down the inventory.

Leo explained:  he has an uncirculated 1796 quarter, an uncirculated 1794 half and an AU 1794 dollar to provide as collateral.  She pondered the idea, checked the Red Book and finally decided, “ok, I’ll take this deal with those coins as collateral.” 

So, we began to work through the inventory (keeping a sharp eye out for that 1916-D dime roll).  It took about a month to process the bulk, find buyers and clear out the space. 

The stamp inventory was unbelievable – she had volumes and volumes of good collector items.  We let select large stamp dealers make bids on the postal material.  Superior was the high bidder, paying somewhere around $60,000 - $70,000.

Then we began to work on the coins.  There were loads of good collector coins in the deal.  We found rolls and rolls of desirable coins, including

·                 3-4 rolls of Flying Eagle Cents

·                 Rolls of 13-S Buffalo Nickels

·                 A roll each of 1921-P and 1921-D Dimes

·                 Rolls of 1921-P and 1921-D Halves

We worked as a team, selling the coins very quickly.  We ended up making an overall profit of approximately $20,000, the majority of which went to Leo, since he financed the deal.

We were all very happy with this opportunity and experience.  In truth, it was my first big deal.  I learned a lot and it was loads of fun.

Yes, Leo’s rare coin collateral was returned to him.  But we never did find that rumored roll of 1916-D Dimes!

1916-D Mercury Dime
www.mercurydime.net