The Littleton Coin Company

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything on my own blog but I have been busy on a few other chat rooms.
So I'm driving home from work the other day and the Littleton Coin Company pops into my head. I gotta talk about them I say to myself so here it is:

First, I wouldn't call them a Third Party Grader and don't think they would either. They are a "legitimate" company that has been around for a VERY long time.
So what's my beef? Just their pricing to the uninformed.

Years ago I bought a silver eagle from them. Had a coupon from a magazine. Hey, it was at about the spot price of silver with free shipping so I went for it! Nice enough piece - it was even BU (have you seen one that wasn't?)
Next came the "coins on approval". Well the first was another common year silver eagle graded MS63 at twice spot price. Sent it back and told them don't waste their time unless they wanted to offer "real" coins at reasonable prices.

Surprisingly I got a response which basically stated that they had to charge more to pay their staff of graders. Excuse me - if I buy a roll of silver eagles and they are all not at least MS65 I'm upset.
They did honor my request though and I've never heard from them again.

Now as for their grading it's usually pretty good actually. I've seen enough of their coins in plastic holders with the grade. Have bought quite a few from my local dealer when he has bought them as junk silver.
He has also shown me what they pay for coins from dealers. It's way over retail but they are picky.

So bottom line on the Littleton Coin Company is that they do grade accurately for the most part and deliver what they promise. Only problem is that they are just WAY overpriced. Uniinformed buyers get sucked in and pay way too much. Same old story - when the buyer has to sell he/she is sorely disappointed.

Now there are a ton of sellers like this out there. Difference being most of the newer ones pay little for their coins then grossly overgrade so I REALLY DISLIKE them.

Unfortunately, I feel that Littleton planted the seed.

That's my say for the day.

clembo