Franklin Half Dollars review: Rick Tomaska 54

I enjoy his show very much. The amount of knowledge Rick has is impressive. The coins he sells are indeed rare and makes me wish I had seen his show prior to me selecting the coins I have. He studies and travels to get the coins that he likes.

What a great show and a great guy.
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This company is a farce. I placed an order, never received an email indicating approval, decline, or shipment sent. I placed a credit/debit card order that, in their own words 'was processed as a credit transaction', WAS NOT declined at the point of sale, it was withdrawn from my account. I ASSumed everything was fine. I waited 4 weeks as they advised they would ship in two to three weeks. I am an AVID and well EXPERIENCED physical gold and silver buyer and have never been told and or had to wait three weeks for shipping from any reputable bulllion dealer such as Kitco, Jmbullion, and APMEX. I called this evening and they advised me that my order was declined. First of all, I saw the funds withdrawn from my account, I never received and NSF, and, furthermore, credit transactions that are declined are declined at the POINT OF SALE - not days later. And a reputable company would have emailed me in some fashion advising of the decline. I was told to call customer service when I called the show back tonight - they are a SCAM.

And even my son complained about this 'company' as well. Complete farce. Who in their right mind would sell gold and silver coins for less then they are worth? Think about it. Luckily I just went to APMEX website a week ago and added to my stock.

Rick Tomaska is the ONLY true numismatist on TV and is to be trusted, most of the other shows are just salesmen selling whatever they can get gullible people to buy at high prices!Don't those people know about Apmex or JM Bullion or a few others like Modern Coin Mart that have REAL deals on bullion and coins?Also EBAY is a great place to get real prices for coins and bullion from reputable dealers.

Let's face it. Anyone that purchases coins from a television show/informercial, which is what it really is, is going to pay WAY more than you would pay elsewhere. Someone has to pay for the tv production costs, and you can rest assured it won't be the seller! Also, notice how they only show the highest prices from Ebay, not the lower prices to make you think that you're getting a deal. It's really a joke! I once saw him compare prices for an MS64 Morgan he was selling to an MS64 DMPL price on Ebay...really? The best places to get the best coins at the best prices is a good coin show. I know that not everyone lives close enough to be able to attend one though. I'd start looking at reputable dealers like Stacks if that were the case. Their prices are very fair and Ebay is a good place if you have the patience to wait for the right coin to come along at the right price. Unless money is not important, NEVER buy from ANY tv infomercial, ever!

I agree wholeheartedly with the positive statements posted in this forum and have purchased coins from Rick Tomaska a number of times and have a 100% satisfaction rate. If you are a knowledgeable collector, know what you are purchasing and know what the coins that you are buying sell for on elsewhere, overall you generally cannot purchase complete sets or partial date ranges (all PCGS or NGC graded) for less. At least without investing a great deal of time and effort which many collectors simply don't have. Once you receive the coins you have 30 days to examine them and decide if you wish to keep them. On one single occasion (a situation where we could not specifically pick the dates received) I was not happy with a purchase from RCTV. A single phone call to get an RMA number was all that was required to return them for a full refund within 30 days (less shipping of course) . How can you expect more than that? IMHO Rick Tomaska does the numismatic community a great service buy putting together sets that most dealers can't and would never do, yet folks ridicule him. Just my 2 cents.

I think rctv and rick tomaska are nothing more than one of the biggest rip-offs on tv. He talks about integrity and honesty and he has neither, he is a bold face liar and anyone that orders coins from him, think about it, it will take you many many years if your lucky to break even when it comes time to sell...dont be a sucker and stay as far away from him as you can!

If you buy gold coins from Rick tomaska your over paying from 500 to 1000 a coin. An example is the 1873 double eagle in ms61. You can buy as many as you want for 1544.00 and Rick was asking over 2500.00 and it is not just this one time. It is on almost every gold coin he sells. He tells everyone that they are getting the lowest price but they are being ripped off. I'm not saying you can't get a bargain just not on gold. Don't trust him.

There are several things going on here. Overall, I think Rick is possibly the only of these TV shows who has any shred of integrity, and as for his knowledge, I have learned a great deal from watching his show.

And thank you to Kimberly for posting a very professional response to an ignorant criticism of the show and of your father.

At the end of the day, Rick is still a dealer and trying to make a profit and to make a living from his knowledge of a subject that he loves dearly. That does not make him evil, greedy or even dishonest. Good GOD when did the word idea of PROFIT become a bad thing? Oh, that's right--in the 1960s when the communist left really made headway on their takeover of our country from within. The man is just trying to make a living just like anyone else, whether they own a neighborhood bakery or run deliveries for the bakery, or grow the wheat used to make the flower or whether they own the oil company that produces the fuel to power the trucks that haul the wheat and the flour and the baked bread to stores. That bakery and every other company every created stays in business by selling goods for greater than their cost. That's called PROFIT, and it USED TO BE a decent and honorable thing in this country.

That said, I have questions about some things Rick does, but if I ever had opportunity to sit down and talk with him or his daughters, I'm sure they could explain it. For instance, I sell on ebay also, and some of the comps Rick shows are some of the most ridiculous Buy It Now prices on ebay. People can ask whatever they WANT, but that doesn't mean ANYONE is ever going to buy at that asking price. I think it's much more reasonable to show a recent SOLD price, but maybe there isn't one for THAT coin in THAT grade.

Someone above said something about Rick's prices being higher. Maybe, but a thing is worth what people are willing to pay for it. With that in mind, I think it's fair to say that Rick could if he were so inclined, charge a lot higher prices for many of the things he sells. And bear in mind that two coins in NGC holders with an identical grade can be two completely different quality coins. NGC/PCGS and ANACS would need to adopt some of Rick's criteria to do that (I say that but I can't remember ever having seen an ANACS holder on Rick's show). If you TRUST Rick to do as he says and sell only the best and highest quality coins, then you have to believe that PF69 on Rick's show with or without his ECC sticker IS a more valuable coin than the PF69 on ebay for less money.

And even if those two coins were identical in value and Rick had a higher price, since when is a man not entitled to charge a premium for his expertise and knowledge? That's one coin out of how many thousands of others?

There is a story about a steam plant of some sort (I'm paraphrasing what I remember of this story), that suddenly started making a horrendous noise and machines shaking so badly one thought they might fly apart. They called in a man who was an expert on the machinery. He looked at a few gages and then went to a particular valve and turned it just ever so slightly, and all the noise and shaking stopped. He turned and said that will be $2500. The stunned owner said "I'm not paying that! $2500 just to turn a valve?" The expert man then said "It's not the turning of the valve. It's the knowing WHICH valve to turn and by how much." The owner paid him.

Thank you Rick for a great show. I'm frankly disgusted with some of the comments here which sort of mirror a change that has happened in our country.

I am a coin dealer and have spoken to coin dealers about all coin sellers on television. Some coins are sold reasonably considering overhead, some slightly high, and some very high. That's the problem: Average buyers don't know what offering is fair and what is exorbitant. By selling some coins reasonably, buyers feel that all must be reasonable, and that's where the over pricing occurs.

Hello coin world family,

Let me say first and foremost as Rick daughter that I truly appreciate all of your feedback. There are compliments which my family appreciate, and concerns which I would like to address. Trust me and believe, my Father has been passionate about numismatics from before the time I was born. Most of you do not know this, but meeting my mother and his love for her and her children was his inspiration to dive into his passion for numismatics. Despite what anyone thinks, my father is not a greedy man. My father is passionate about numismatics and his family. He would not sell coins on tv unless he truly believed in their value. If you want bullion, buy bullion. If you love coins and want collectible pieces of high quality, my Father is the best. If ever your standard to what we give you falls beneath your standard, please feel free to return. Buy the coin, not the holder. Just take this in mind, and I speak this as a person who truly knows my Father, my Father has been worked harder than any man I know- he truly has a passion for what he does and loves numismatics. I wish that you would stop thinking that he is some sort of sales con-artist. He is a family man that is absolutely the most knowledgeable in his field.

Sincerely,

Kim Tomaska

Rick Tomaska is worse than used car sales person! his prices are insanely high. there must be some major fools out there that buy his coins. i laugh so hard when i watch the build up. he talks for many minutes about a coin and then says he is passing on his good fortune on to you and other catchy lines and then bam... he hits you with a price only a comedy writer could come up with.

I laugh when i watch the show. His prices are so ridiculously high! All you need to do is watch the show and have your phone in your hand or your laptop, find what he is selling and look on line. You will see that 19 out of 20 products of his, he is charging double and sometimes triple what you can buy on line. And the other thing that cracks me up is hearing the phones ringing in the background. LOL! like so hundreds of people are calling for all six hours dying to get ripped off. It is ALL fake! Rick is a liar and a rip off artist!