Anderson's Coins and Collectibles Marks 1 Year in St. Charles

Time flies, as has the past year for Rob Anderson, the owner of Anderson’s Coins and Collectibles, 221 W. Main St., in downtown St. Charles.

July 1 was the one-year anniversary of the business, which is one door east of South 3rd Street in the city’s downtown. Rob loves the work, and says he strives to serve his customers well and to change the image of an industry that “sort of has a used-car dealer image.”

Walking in the front door, you might assume he specializes in collectible toys — the displays are filled will all kinds. But Rob says the toys, which appeal to kids of all ages — and he intends his business to be a shop for all ages and all backgrounds, actually represent only a small part of his work.

He’s serious about that, although he acknowledges he has a million LEGOs in the basement.

But Rob says much of his business is focused on coins, gold, silver, jewelry, broken jewelry and sterling silverware.

“I know what my competitors are paying and I offer better prices,” he says. “My closest competitor pays about 10 percent less than what I pay.”

But he also works with estates — more often as an adviser to families, but also as an appraiser when requested.

Words of Wisdom

His first piece of advice, both to collectors and to those who find a potential treasure?

“I always, always, always recommend going to more than one place” to get a quote on what the item will fetch, Rob says.

That just makes sense — in a sense, you’re seeking out the best id for what you have to sell, and the best way to do that is to shop around for what people are willing to pay.

It’s worth checking even if you are a longtime patron of a collectible business where you have been happy doing business, he says. That’s because some businesses gradually will offer less and less to longtime customers, counting on their loyalty to keep them coming back.

His next piece of advice also is key: Do your homework and know the value of what you have.

“Know what you have so you can make an informed decision,” he says.

Along the same line, don’t assume you know the value of an item. Rob says the work he has done on estates sales best illustrates his point.

Most of the time, families will go through a home in preparation for the sale and toss out what they consider to be all the junk. They’ll save those things which  they believe have the greatest value for the estate sale.

But when called in as an adviser on such sales, Rob says he’ll typically spend more time in the Dumpster than in the home. “I might dig through the Dumpster for four hours and spend only 45 minutes in the home,” he says. The “junk” he salvages from the Dumpster  may be worth thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars.

If the imagery of that work is reminiscent of American Pickers, then you begin to understand the depth and breadth of knowledge one must have in recognizing the value of collectibles. But, Rob says, “no one can be an expert on everything.”

So he has a network of fellow professionals he can fall back upon when he encounters an item of potential value but with which he may not be familiar.

So it pays to do your homework. Rob says many people will take silver coins to the bank, completely unaware that the value of the silver in the coin is worth more than its face value.

Started in the Business as a Child

Rob says he got into the business young — at age 6 or 7, he worked for his grandparents, who ran an antiques and collectibles shop.

Later, as an adult, he went to work in the aircraft maintenance field, which collapsed in 2001 in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 hijackings in which terrorists seized control of four passenger jets, which they used as missiles to strike at New York and Washington, D.C.

After that, Rob says he tried his hand at several different endeavors, but “I came back to something I knew.”

He’s been in St. Charles for three years and opened his own shop a year ago.

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