We were lucky to catch up with Ray King recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ray, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
I was going to Washington, DC on a regular basis as a function of my job duties. I would regularly visit the only coin shop in DC. The owner, Nelson Whitman, would keep the shop open for me and spend as much time with me as I needed to look at all his treasures, Nelson was well into his 70s when I started visiting his shop, and I am sure he was tired after working all day, and facing a commute in the DC area. He taught me many valuable lessons to help me become a coin dealer, and even bought things from me for resale, probably paying a bit more than he should have to help me get started. While I appreciated the kindness he extended to me, I also learned from the kind way he treated all his customers. Nelson is still going strong at 87 years old and serves as an inspiration to me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My mother brought home a folder for Lincoln Cents when I was seven years old. My father, a bus driver in Elizabeth, New Jersey, had some coins he had put aside for his brother. My father gave me those coins and I still have them today, nearly six decades later. I continued to collect coins and have only recently started to deal with them. I particularly enjoy working with younger clients because I recall how motivation it was for me as my collection grew. My mother rewarded me with a coin when I started to do well in school, finally, in the tenth grade. That coin proved to be a good investment because I went on to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology and a law degree. So I make it a point to be patient with the younger clients, even if they have only a couple of dollars to spend, or even if they have no money at all. If they have a good experience, they will be back and possibly become collectors for life. I want everyone, buyers and sellers, to have a positive experience dealing with me and to feel that they were treated fairly. I know how important that has been to me as I dealt with dealers, and it was not always the case. Now that I am retired from Active Duty military service and the Civil Service, I am just starting the brick and mortar aspect of my business. While I am a new dealer, I have been appreciating coins for decades, I even bought a silver dollar back to the New Orleans mint (please see photo) so it could visit the place where it was minted. My shop is not yet open, but as I prepare for the grand opening I am striving to make it as unique as possible, to include making change with an “automatic cashier” from the 1920s (see photo).
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I was helped tremendously by participating in the Veterans’ Entrepreneurial Programs. The program at the University of Tennesse, Chatanooga, was particularly helpful as they taught me that my integrity and personality would be the key to success. So as I have set up at coin shows I have treated people fairly and they seek me out as a consequence, One customer at a show that hosted about three dozen other dealers e-mailed me to tell me that he elected to deal with me because I was nice to him. We have gone on to do a good bit of business together. Word of mouth is very important in the coin business,
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
There is a saying that you should buy the book before you buy the coin. I have extended that to you should build the library before you venture into the business, So while I don’t have any generic books to recommend, I urge other entrepreneurs to learn as much as they can about the products they wish to buy and sell. Making contacts with authorities in the area you wish to deal will also be helpful. They will likely assist you even if you are a competitor when they recognize the passion you share with them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kingscoinexchange.com
- Other: raykingcoin@gmailcom
