I was reading up on some sterling silver plates and came across this article from 1973 and thought it was interesting that some of the shop tactics and warnings are as relevant today regarding modern collectors coins. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=mAYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33
I have had SO SO MUCH of this stuff over the years and i buy it at spot or less and always manage to turn a profit on it while the people that originally bought it must have taken a bath on what they paid. The only thing i have kept is a sterling silver stamp collection, i had the gold plated sterling version as well but scrapped it as it looked to tacky. EDIT: I bet ya Oz has picked up a tonne of this Franklin mint stuff as well at his garage sale hunts.
At garage sales they go at 20% of spot lol I melted it down to a blob to regain some value and sold it eBay lol
Yep garage sales sure can be cheap and i agree you can get it at 20% or less. As i am not a pauper i tend to quickly evaluate the people i am buying from and that will dictate how much i am willing to pay. For instance a garage sale from nice area of town (expensive side) where the people should (IMHO) have the ability to find the value i will go for as cheap as i can get. If i am in a seedier part of town and the people are clearly trying to raise funds as they are poor i am more likely to explain value to them and head for spot. There are exceptions to my rules but generally i try to be fair within reason and depending on the people selling.
