How to profit from the dealer "junk box"

[AGgressive Metal]

UPDATE 2/5/16

Almost every brick and mortar coin dealer has a foreign junk box. Usually 10, 8, 7, or 5 for a dollar, something like that. You know the deal.

Here is how to profit....

SOP:
-Don't tell the dealer you are buying them for the purpose of re-selling for profit, most 'brick n mortar' dealers are weird and would rather lose money than make money but see you make even more money.
-If there is a coin that obviously shouldn't be in there, like a giant silver coin, do the right thing and tell them and offer to buy it at a higher price - this will go a long way.
-If there are American coins in there, pick them out and give them to the dealer as a courtesy.
-Always get at least 10 coins no matter what or you look like a cherry-picker, which you are, but you're not a jerk.

Now, the source of profit:

1. Numismatics: obviously this is very broad and compasses hundreds of countries over hundreds of years. You will have to do your own research on this category because no post I make is going to cover even 1% of the possibilities. Old does not always mean rare and rare does not always mean valuable. Trial and error is not very painful when its 10 cents per trial, so have fun.
2. Silver: this is pretty obvious. Lots of old Scandinavian stuff is 40% and doesn't ring much, so it falls through the cracks.
3. .999 Nickel - French, Dutch, Belgian, Canadian, Bahamas, French Polynesia, etc. See the RC post on .999 Ni
4. Cupro-Nickel - Anything equal to or bigger than a Kennedy Half Dollar is worth over 12 cents, as of this post ***UPDATE - THAT WAS IN 2011 - METALS ARE NOW IN THE TANK*****
5. Copper - Old British Pennies and Mexican 20 Centavos come to mind.

6. Most importantly, Face Value coinage. I have an interest in teaching everyone this since I hope you will sell it to me. You can find absurd amounts of FV coinage in junk bins. Most dealers are already pulling out Euros, Pounds, and Canadian, but you can generally find tons of other stuff. Look for everything that I have listed here: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=34277 and mail it to Portland to get paid

Enjoy the thrill of the hunt !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Slaphot]

Thanks for the post. I went to the coin shop this Saturday and got a few Canadian dollars, a few German Marks, a large British penny, and a Silver Netherlands Gulden worth over $7 melt. All for less than 3 dollars. I'm working on a package for you, but I'd like to get a large amount before I ship. There is a big show in a few weeks and I know a dealer there who always has some goodies in his junk box.

[jmaii]

Every time I go to the coin shop somebody is already looking in the junk box. I'm afraid when I finally get to look it's going to be picked clean! Biggest problem is after I look through circulated coins my wife won't let me touch her, our son, or my lunch until I wash from fingertips to elbows.

[8bluecrayon]

Not a bad idea.. think i will give it a try.

[AGgressive Metal]

Biggest problem is after I look through circulated coins my wife won't let me touch her, our son, or my lunch until I wash from fingertips to elbows.

In New Jersey, this is probably appropriate protocol

[Recyclersteve]

I've done this and found quite a few foreign nickel coins from places like the Netherlands and France (and only occasionally Ecuador and So. Africa). Some of the smaller sized ones aren't worth buying with metals prices being so depressed. You will want to have a good foreign coin catalog to differentiate between the contenders and the pretenders. If you can, in the interest of being discrete, you might want to create a cheat sheet with 1-2 pages of notes on the really good stuff. This way, if you don't flash your notes conspicuously, you won't look like someone cherry picking.

I haven't really had too much luck finding foreign silver in the junk boxes.

[AGgressive Metal]

updated this post a little - can't believe its been up since 2011!

[Silver4face]

Now is the time to attack these junk boxes!!!!!