Opinion of Rick Tomaska (R&I Coins)
 

Hi all,

As stated before, I was interested in purchasing a Franklin Half Dollar.
I would like an opinion on Mr. Tomaska of R&I coins. I know of his
reputation in terms of his quality, but what about his prices? Are they
worth it?

Thanks,

Mike

The price guides report, you decide.

"Michael Ng" wrote in message
news:Xould.83089$G15.16598@fed1read03...
Hi all,

As stated before, I was interested in purchasing a Franklin Half
Dollar. I would like an opinion on Mr. Tomaska of R&I coins. I know of
his reputation in terms of his quality, but what about his prices? Are
they worth it?

Thanks,

Mike

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 12:46:48 -0800, "Michael Ng"
wrote:

Hi all,

As stated before, I was interested in purchasing a Franklin Half Dollar.
I would like an opinion on Mr. Tomaska of R&I coins. I know of his
reputation in terms of his quality, but what about his prices? Are they
worth it?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,
Have you ever considered checking the Better Business Bureau for the
name of the business? Coins, like other items are sold and if people
have problems with them they often go the normal route of making a
complaint to the BBB.
I don't know the individual but if I were going to drop a lot of
money, the BBB would be one of the places I'd start.
Cliff

He is a big believer in condition rarity modern cameo coins, esp. black and
white proofs. He wrote a book on Franklin Halves. He has been interviewed
in the popular coin rags on more than one occasion, as I recall, about
condition rarity.

When I want a black and white cameo Eisenhower or Franklin, I will likey pay
the premium and go to him first because of his reputation for only selling
stunners and esp. for Eisenhowers without that blue haze in the fields that
most IKE proofs have.

--Keith

"Michael Ng" wrote in message
news:Xould.83089$G15.16598@fed1read03...
Hi all,

As stated before, I was interested in purchasing a Franklin Half
Dollar. I would like an opinion on Mr. Tomaska of R&I coins. I know of
his reputation in terms of his quality, but what about his prices? Are
they worth it?

Thanks,

Mike

"Michael Ng" wrote in message
news:Xould.83089$G15.16598@fed1read03...
Hi all,

As stated before, I was interested in purchasing a Franklin Half
Dollar.
I would like an opinion on Mr. Tomaska of R&I coins. I know of his
reputation in terms of his quality, but what about his prices? Are they
worth it?

Thanks,

Mike

I like Rick, I met him and his wife at one of the Baltimore shows last
year...maybe two years ago. He was gracious and we spoke at some length
about Franklins, my collection and where I wanted to go with it. Several of
the coins in my collection were bought from him before we met in person.

Very high grade Franklins are funny coins. Once you get into MS66 and over,
the prices increase exponentially. Is it worth it? I dunno, not to me I
guess. I'm happy with my MS65FBL coin for $100. Is an MS67FBL Franklin
really worth $20,000 or more? To some it probably is.

As far as Rick's prices, I've seen him sell some Franklins for surprisingly
reasonable prices and I've seen some that to me didn't seem all that
reasonable. I'd say that overall, he must be competitive or he wouldn't
still be in business after all this time.

--
John

Visit the RCCers favorite coins web page
http://mysite.verizon.net/jcarney44/coins/rccers.html

"Barry" wrote in message
...
There was a thread about him on the PCGS forum recently. Someone was
trying to sell some coins back to him and he wasn't interested. Take
that for what it's worth.
Barry


maybe he is somewhat selective in the coins he buys. or does not like to
buy from people he does not know, or sight unseen, etc.

I would not take it to mean much of anything.

Mike,
Have you ever considered checking the Better Business Bureau for the
name of the business? Coins, like other items are sold and if people
have problems with them they often go the normal route of making a
complaint to the BBB.
I don't know the individual but if I were going to drop a lot of
money, the BBB would be one of the places I'd start.
Cliff


Cliff,

Perhaps I may not have made myself clear. I generally don't like using
the BBB as a resource, unless it involves something like car repairs, real
estate, or something like that. The purpose of the thread is not to
criticize R&I coins or anything like that. The purpose is to get an opinion
regarding the value of products/services of a generally well-respected
person in the numismatic industry.

The question is more of like is it worth it to stay at the Ritz
Carlton, Four Seasons, or Waldorf-Astoria instead of the average hotel? Or
like should I fly first class instead of economy class? Things like that
which the BBB does not discuss, but of which people can form an opinion as
to the value of the product.

Mike

Michael-

I also collect Franklins, and I always check the prices he presents in his
ubiquitous ads in all the magazines.

His prices are -considerably- higher than the prices comparable coins sell for
on ebaY and Teletrade.

Because of his very extensive and expensive advertising, he may need higher
margins. Some people are willing to pay a big premium to buy from a "reputable
dealer," an "authority on the series," etc.

My advice: shop around. Go to a big coin show, for example, and compare
prices among a number of dealers for coins of the same grade and appearance in
a reputable holder.

Someone earlier said something about spending your $1K on a 1963 FBL. In my
opinion, that is perhaps the most underpriced coin in the series right now.

Regards,
Tom

On 2004-11-13 17:09:48 -0800, "Bob Peterson" said:
"Barry" wrote:
There was a thread about him on the PCGS forum recently. Someone was
trying to sell some coins back to him and he wasn't interested. Take
that for what it's worth.

maybe he is somewhat selective in the coins he buys. or does not like
to buy from people he does not know, or sight unseen, etc.

well, the phrase "sell back" suggests to me that he'd have some basic
knowledge of the seller and had seen the coins before (since he sold
them). did i get this wrong?

--
# henry mensch / san francisco california
# http://www.henare.tk/

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 19:54:33 -0800, Henry Mensch is
alleged to have written:

On 2004-11-13 17:09:48 -0800, "Bob Peterson" said:
"Barry" wrote:
There was a thread about him on the PCGS forum recently. Someone was
trying to sell some coins back to him and he wasn't interested. Take
that for what it's worth.

maybe he is somewhat selective in the coins he buys. or does not like
to buy from people he does not know, or sight unseen, etc.

well, the phrase "sell back" suggests to me that he'd have some basic
knowledge of the seller and had seen the coins before (since he sold
them). did i get this wrong?

Rick appears to make most of his money by buying the coins raw, likely still in
sets, then getting them slabbed as high grade cameos. He doesn't likely want to
pay anywhere near what he sells them for!

If it were me, I'd think there's a lot of cameos out there still raw and I'd
wonder why I should pay his markup.

Bruce