Littleton Coin Company

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Tour Guide:

So when we first buy our money this is where it comes into.

And they check it all, they grade it, they look under the lights to see what the coins look like.

And then they put it in inventory so we can pack it up and ship it to our customers.

Marianne Adams, Proof Reader, Marketing:

Mr. Sundman built this company on family values and the trust of a perfect stranger.

And that's the way it was when I came here to work and that's the way it is today.

David Sundman, President, Littleton Coin Co.:

This $500 bill, when this was issued in 1929, that was enough money, you could buy a house.

My mother and father started the business in October of 1945.

My father had just gotten out of the service.

He was in Italy in World War II.

My mother was in charge while he was overseas to find a new place to start their stamp business.

My father had started in Connecticut but they knew they had to come north to be in a place where it is more economic to do business.

And, my mother picked Littleton.

So we were selling both stamps and coins.

So we sold our stamp portion of the business to my brother's business.

And we decided to concentrate on coins and banknotes.

Butch Caswell, Coin Buyer and Trainer:

What we do is, obviously we buy coins and sell coins.

And this happens to be from a collection.

These are Morgan Dollars.

This is one of the favorites for people because they are a large coin.

So we have to look at the dates and the grades.

So we do have a full department that grades all the coins out, and price it all out, and go to retail to the customers.

Customer Service Staff:

You're purchasing the 2014 National Park quarters.

David:

We have many, many families here, several generations of staff, people who have been with us, you know 30, 40 years.

Marianne:

When I started in '72, I'm guessing, we had between 80 and less than 100 people that worked for Mr. Sundman.

David:

This is our 70th year in business and we employ 320 people.

And it's been an important business to Littleton and to the northern part of the state.

Dot Bean and Stephanie Westover, Staff:

I started at the coin company in 1990 shortly after I got out of college.

And then my mother joined me.

How many years later?

I've been here 18 years.

I love it.

It's a good job.

It's fun being able to hold, you know, these coins from ancient times or paper money that's worth $10,000.

It's exciting.

Chris Willey, Staff:

What I have here is a group of Morgan's that I graded out.

Grading has to do with the amount of wear on the coin.

And the less wear the more valuable it is.

We're looking in the leaf area on the head.

Very goods are completely worn.

Fines have the outline of the leaf.

Very fines have stem in the leaf

Extremely fines, all but the high points.

About, uncirculated, have like almost the full luster.

David:

We're taking people that know nothing about coins or banknotes and really they have the opportunity to learn.

We have a staff that is traveling all over the US buying coins and banknotes and they've, they're really self-taught.

Tour Guide:

We're coming down to the fun part down here.

David:

When we built this building 17 years ago we decided to put a small shop in.

But generally what people can do is they can take a tour.

I think it's good when people get here

to actually be able to see a little bit of what we sell.

And some of some things that we don't actually offer but they're very historic.

It's like a small museum.

A number of years ago I bought a reverse quarter dye from Carson City Mint.

And it turned out it was actually used in 1870, then later I said, gee I wonder if I could find a coin that was struck by that dye.

And I was lucky.

There are only about 12 known.

I was able to acquire one.

We are in the business of putting history you can hold in your hands in our customers hands.

We are sending our inventory out in the mail every day.

David Wilson, Staff:

We ship about, between 5,000 and 7,000 packages a day.

Kim, Staff:

Littleton Coin Company, this is Kim.

It's great to be able to talk to customers, with their collecting needs.

To hear some of the things that they like to collect, why they're clicking them.

Butch:

We buy tons of bulk coins, Indians, V nickles, buffalo's, Merc dimes, Washington quarters, Walkers.

Our customers are all different and we try to tailor our service to their individual needs.

05:06

And the fun is holding the coin in your hand.

That's, you know, it's palpable.

It's like the Kodak moment.

Tour Guide:

Take your magnifier and zoom right in and see if you can see somebody in there.

Do you know that is?

Abraham Lincoln.

Yes, it's the Lincoln Memorial.

David:

I think most collectors start when they are kids.

And I started out collecting pennies and nickels.

Some people become very advanced.

They're collecting all the different US coins series from half cents all the way up through $20 gold pieces.

You know the whole history of the country is really laid out for you in terms of money.

This really dates back to just after the Civil War.

This is Amoskeag National Bank.

It's a $1 bill signed by Moody Currier, later Governor of New Hampshire and famous now because of his donation of the Currier Art Gallery.

Tour Guide:

This particular stone would buy you 800 coconuts or one small pig.

That's what this was worth.

Can you believe that?

How would you like to go to school clothes shopping with something like that, huh?

Marianne:

I think Mr. Sundman would be very proud to see that we've kept his dream alive like we have.

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