January 28, 2025 • 40 mins
Michael sits down with Justin VanMatre of National Rarities to discuss what the last year of estate buying events looked like, what the most commonly bought items were, and announces the new Punchmark x National Rarities event page templates they recently collaborated on. If you have hosted a NR event, or plan to soon, you'll want to tune in for this!
Learn more about National Rarities: https://www.nationalrarities.com/
Send feedback or learn more about the podcast: punchmark.com/loupe
Learn about Punchmark's website platform: punchmark.com
Inquire about sponsoring In the Loupe and showcase your business on our next episode: podcast@punchmark.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to In the Loop sales and everybody seems
to really love them right now.
A lot of our clients are doingthese events and it's one of the
reasons why I actually workedwith Justin to create a official
or standardized page templatethat all Punch Bar clients are
available to add to theirwebsite.
They can just need to pop inthe information about their next
(00:39):
National Rarities event and thepage will do all the rest, and
then, if they want to get itlinked, they can contact their
account manager and do that aswell.
I asked him a whole bunch about2024, what they saw at their
events, and also we did anotherround of would you buy this?
And I asked him all the coolthings that I wonder if they
would buy, like taxidermyturkeys.
(01:02):
So if that interests you, makesure you listen to the end.
Cheers everybody, enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This episode is brought to you by Punchmark, the
jewelry industry's favoritewebsite platform and digital
growth agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
(01:30):
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
Whether you're looking forbetter e-commerce performance,
business growth or campaignsthat drive traffic and sales,
punchmark's website andmarketing services were made
just for you.
It's never too late totransform your business and
(01:52):
stitch together your digital andphysical worlds in a way that
achieves tremendous growth andresults.
Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And now back to the show.
What is up, everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop, and I'm joined by
Justin Van Meter with NationalRarities.
How are you doing today, justinDoing?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
great Thanks for having us on.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Third or fourth time I've got a chance to speak with
you and honestly, I wish I couldhave bought stock in National
Rarity.
It seems like you guys arecontinuing to grow.
Another successful year with2024.
How was 2024, the second halfof it, at least for you last
year?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Incredible.
I mean, you know, honestly, forus business is booming, but
really it's booming because ofour partners.
I mean, I can't say enough goodthings about the people that we
work with, the jewelry stores,the owners of these stores.
Ultimately, we understand thatthe more value that we bring to
(03:00):
these stores, the more that theywant us to have us in there,
the more they talk about us totheir friends and the other
jewelers in the industry andit's really been incredible.
They're a big part of ourgrowth and, just as I said, I
can't say enough good thingsabout our partnerships and we
love growing with them.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I just interviewed Stephanie Westdorf
from Jewelcraft and I think youguys are entering a very similar
kind of stage of your businesswhere a lot of the marketing is
done by your clients, becausepeople are so pleased with the
experiences that they're havingwith you that they are telling
their friends the jewelryindustry is very free with that
(03:40):
kind of information with theirfriends, is very free with that
kind of information with theirfriends and, as a result, I
think that a lot of people arelike oh, a free buying event at
my store, I don't really have todo much, it's going to bring in
new customers.
Sounds like a win-win-win.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Sounds like you guys are set up for success.
Yeah, you know it's a lot ofhard work on the back end to
make that success happen, but weare absolutely seeing that work
pay off.
We've got a great group ofbuyers that are in these stores
day in, working hard.
I can't tell you how many timesa store after an event reaches
(04:20):
out to us to just say thank youand also tell us that they wish
that they could hire that personthat was just in their stores,
just because of the way theydeal with the customers, the
work ethic, all of it.
So a large part of just reallybeing a customer service-based
company and having that mindsetof understanding what's
(04:42):
important to the small businessowner, up to the larger stores
like the Harry Ritchie's and theKessler's that have multiple
locations as well.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, so you guys are sponsoring a couple of the
episodes around this one.
I don't know if it'll be onthis one in particular, but just
so we can start on kind of likethe base floor so everybody is
up to speed.
Maybe they haven't heard usspeak before.
Can you just give the elevatorpitch for National Rarities,
just so people know what it is?
(05:12):
You guys do.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Essentially what we do isthree-day buying events where we
come into your store and overthose three days we sit down and
make no pressure offers to thecustomers coming through the
doors with a wide range of items.
So that wide range of itemsthat we pay for handle all the
marketing.
Take that headache out of it.
(05:35):
But the items are the gold andthe jewelry and that.
But we get into things likedesigner handbags, antiques,
military artwork and just reallyso much more than what your
typical jewelry store is buying.
The value in that is we'redriving a big number of foot
(05:57):
traffic through your store overthose three days.
So on average we see about 170people.
We have some events that seewell over 200, 300.
Our largest event this year sawover 500 people over a four-day
period just a little bit bigger.
So it had to be spread out alittle bit more.
And then sit down.
(06:17):
If it's something that we wantto purchase, we'll write a check
right then and there for thecustomer.
Uh, we'll write a check rightthen and there for for the
customer.
Um, most of our stores takeadvantage of a store credit
option that they can offer, uh,on the store's behalf.
So say, we buy a thousanddollar designer handbag, they
can sign that check over to thestore and the store provides a
(06:41):
1200 store credit back to thecustomer.
So they're just incentivizingthe customer to spend that money
in the store, regardless ifthey sign that over or not.
We provide a 10% commissioncheck on anything that we buy
over those three days.
Average event is about 115,000.
So you're looking at a littleover 11,000 on average.
(07:03):
That commission check which,trust me, nobody turns that
check away.
But just in the communication,the talks with our partners,
really the most important thingthat we're seeing from them is
the foot traffic coming throughthe advertisement featuring
their brand and their logo on it, getting brand recognition out
there for free, at no cost tothe jewelry store, and knowing
(07:27):
that, no matter how many timeswe do these events four times,
five times we have stores thatwe've done over 15 events with
and still with our marketingnearly half of the foot traffic
that comes in for these eventsis new, has never been in the
store before.
So it's an opportunity tocapture new people in your store
(07:48):
and an opportunity for you toget those clients that you work
really hard with.
Well, you see all the time togive them another excuse to come
in and do something fun, alittle bit different, and bring
a uniqueness to your store inthat community that that other
stores down the street aren'tdoing.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And I really like that.
Again.
It kind of is you know, thatwhole business of free it's so
free feeling.
You know these people have theopportunity to walk out with
more money than they walked inwith.
That it does seem like reallygood advertising.
And so, if people have beenlistening, we've talked about
this last year and we're kind ofdoing these yearly recaps.
(08:28):
I wanted to ask about what kindof items you saw come in.
The price of gold was all timehigh and then it dipped a little
bit.
I think we're back to prettymuch all time highs or near it
at least.
Were you seeing more of peoplewhen it's at an all-time high?
I assume people are bringing intheir scrap gold and precious
(08:49):
metals to either trade in orliquidate or get value for.
Is that what you mainly wereseeing?
What were the buyers getting?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, it was an interesting year, as you said,
there was that big increase ofgold.
It was an interesting year, asyou said, there was that big
increase of gold, especiallyearly in 2024.
But we did see quite a fewpeople come in that maybe were
holding their bullion, holdingtheir coins A little bit of the
(09:27):
scrap, but more so that influxthat we saw in the first half of
the year and into a little bitof the second half of the year
was those collectors that wereholding on to it, primarily for
an investment, and theycapitalized on the right time
right.
They held it until goal wasright, around 2,600.
Of course it's up a little bitmore now goes down a little bit,
but they did it at the righttime so we did see an increase
(09:48):
there.
Beyond that, really, our salesmix or our product mix for the
year has held pretty true overthe last couple of years at what
we buy.
I mean a good portion of whatwe see is just those odds and
(10:09):
ends of the, the unique militaryitems and the artwork, designer
handbags and that and that thatfor us is is a lot of the fun
in it.
It's the fun when people comein.
They're not sure what they have, we get to educate them on what
it may be.
Sometimes we're doingsubstantial research,
communicating with our expertsat home, to identify really what
(10:32):
they have and the value in itand being able to, you know,
either let them know it's gotsubstantial value, maybe it
doesn't have any value andthat's just kind of reassuring
that they can maybe throw itaway now, or they don't have to
keep it in the safe, um.
But you're definitely on trackwith seeing a little bit of an
increase in in the gold.
(10:54):
Uh, earlier in the year we didsee it taper off a little bit in
the fourth quarter as thingsreally leveled out this year, uh
, but you never know what gold'sgoing to do.
So you know 26, 2700.
Honestly, I think the time isright now if people are out
(11:14):
there holding on to it to bringit in, to sell.
And you know, what's greatabout what we do, too, is we're
only there for three days.
So any of the jewelry storesthat are out there knowing that
they're going to see an increasein their own buying before and
(11:35):
after the event, because we'respending a substantial amount of
money to educate the communitythat your store is a buyer, so
being able to capitalize on thatas well, while somebody paid
for the advertisement to educatethat community that this is the
store to go to to sell yourgold, to sell your scrap, to
sell diamonds, whatever it maybe.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So I guess that's one of those things too I'm always
focused on, you know, preciousmetals, because they're, you
know, easier to liquidate.
I guess is the key point.
So it sounds like you are alsobuying back diamonds.
Kind of a weird time in theprice market for diamonds
because obviously the priceshave started to slip for,
(12:18):
especially for lab grown, butjust in general, I think, for
diamonds.
It sounds like gold is a littlebit more of a liquid type of
investment.
How are you handling buyingback, for example, lab-grown
diamonds?
Do you have like acertification process or how do
you handle if people come inwith potentially lab-grown items
(12:39):
?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So, yes, I mean, training is key, technology is
(13:01):
key.
When it comes to the lab-grown,we steer clear from lab-grown
diamonds.
It's not something as most ofyou, or all of you out there
know.
The resaleable market isdifficult.
The decline in natural diamondsis a real thing.
What I think is interestingfrom this year compared to last
year, in the communication withthe customer coming through the
door, that they're a lot moreknowledgeable now of what the
lab-grown market has done tonatural diamonds.
(13:23):
So, although thoseconversations are difficult and
challenging to let them know,hey, your natural diamond has
just really been declining invalue on the resale market over
the last couple of years due tolab grown.
They don't like to hear it, butI think that they tend to have a
(13:46):
little bit more of thatexpectation when they come to
the door because it's been inthe news, they've read about it,
so it's not just industryknowledge anymore.
There's a great understandingfor the average customer walking
in the door and it's made thoseconversations easier for us to
have Interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, sometimes I guess, when things break out of
the silo, it does kind ofsometimes take care of the
harder part for you.
But that does seem like ittracks with kind of the
information that I've beenfollowing, at least online, and
I do want to compare.
So last year 2024, we spokeright at the start of the year
versus this year.
(14:24):
I was curious are you seeingthat people are trying to become
a little bit more cashflowpositive when it comes to the
stores but also just thecustomers that are coming in?
Are people trying to like stockup on cash, or do you find that
people are still signing overtheir checks?
I don't know if that'ssomething that you track is how
(14:46):
often do checks get signed overto the store?
Is that up this year, or Iguess I would predict that it
would be down?
What are you seeing on your end?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So I think it's a difficult answer because it is
up for us, but it's notnecessarily up because of the
customer sentiment.
It's up, really, because we'vedone a better job on our end in
communicating to the customer,as well as working with our
(15:19):
partners and educating ourpartner's staff on how to
increase the store credits.
Right.
We really made that a hugepoint of focus this year and
we're going to continue to dothat going forward, because we
understand the value in thatstore credit signover.
So you have to work a littlebit harder now.
(15:40):
I mean, that's in the reality ofthings and I think stores are
seeing it too.
When it's not just you know,maybe their revenue is up or
maybe it's not just you know,maybe maybe their revenue is up
or maybe it's equal to yearspast, but most of what I'm
hearing is they're having tosell more items to get to that
point.
Right, so you're having to worka little bit harder to get
there, which is okay.
(16:01):
We just got to continue to getsmarter, keep focused on it and
educate the customer.
Really, you're getting 20percent more, 10 percent, 30
percent, whatever thatpercentage that our partners
choose, the value in that andmaking their dollar go further.
That's the key to it allInteresting.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Well, maybe we'll put a pin on that one and we'll
come back to it in a year justto see how it tracks, if it
keeps going up or not.
I agree, Sometimes thecommunication does kind of skew
your results.
We have that sometimes withours where it's like oh, all of
our clients are upgrading.
Is it because people are afraidto move?
And it's like, oh, we have alsobeen talking about upgrading a
(16:42):
lot more, so maybe that'sthrowing things off.
Upgrading a lot more, so maybethat's throwing things off.
I wanted to ask this is just arandom one I had thought about
Do people ever sell back theitems that they bought from the
store?
Is that like an awkwardsituation you've ever
encountered where it's like, oh,I'm not able to return this
because it was a gift and Idon't have the gift receipt.
(17:03):
Can I sell it to you for thevalue, even though it was bought
here?
Or is that something you don'thave the gift receipt?
Can I sell it to you for thevalue, even though it was bought
here?
Or is that something you don'treally encounter very often?
Like you know, product isproduct.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's not.
It's not, it's not often, butit does happen.
You know we're seeing twentyfive hundred to three thousand
customers a week now, so yeah,so almost every scenario you can
throw out there we are seeing,at least from time to time.
I think the most importantthing is really when a seller
sits down with us, there's aconversation before we even get
(17:37):
into pricing things out and that.
So when we start to learn aboutthe piece, when we find out it
is a piece from the store, thefirst thing we want to do is see
if they're interested in maybetrading it, in upgrading those
types of things with the storeso we're able to walk that
customer over to the store tohave that conversation before
(18:00):
they sell it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Probably a more delicate way to approach that.
I'm with you.
I didn't know if it would belike, yeah, I got this from over
there, but they won't take itback.
That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, I mean it all happens Right and if they're,
the store's not interested intaking it back and you know our
our team leads, you know theperson in charge on the ground
floor at the events is havingthese conversations before with
with the jewelry store owner onhow would you like us to handle
it if this happens and that soevery store is different.
(18:31):
We really try to customize itto fit the needs of that
location.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Justin, we're going to take a quick break and when
we come back I want to doanother round of will you buy
this or not, and also talk aboutour recent collaboration.
So everybody stay with us.
This episode is brought to youin part by National Rarities.
If you're looking to bringfresh foot traffic to your store
(18:58):
and connect with new customers,National Rarities has you
covered.
Their three-day buying eventsare completely free for you as
the jeweler and they average 170attendees per event.
Nearly half of those visitorsare brand new to the store.
National rarities buys a widevariety of items from gold and
silver to militaria, artwork,designer handbags and more.
(19:19):
Plus.
They pay a 10 commission to you, the retailer, on everything
they purchase.
That means means more foottraffic, more customers and a
direct boost to your bottom line, all at no cost to you.
And if you do decide to run aNational Rarities event this
year and have a Punchmarkwebsite, be sure to ask your
account manager about the newNational Rarities event landing
(19:41):
page in Site Manager.
Learn more about NationalRarities at nationalraritiescom
or reach out to Justin that'sJ-U-S-T-I-N.
At nationalraritiescom.
There'll be more information inthe show notes below.
And now back to the show.
Welcome back everybody, stilljoined by Justin Van Mader with
(20:06):
National Rarities and discussingthis past year, 2024,.
I'm always interested in itemspeople bring in.
I'm a big fan of AntiqueRoadshow and of Storage Wars and
all those types of shows andsometimes like just what you've
shared with me, talking aboutswords and all the different.
I think crazy, but I guessthey're.
(20:28):
It's not crazy if it's valuableitems that people bring in.
Can you share with me what aresome like surprisingly valuable
things that are commonly broughtin that aren't just, you know,
humps of tangled gold chains andstuff like that?
What's like the other stuff?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
gold chains and stuff like that.
What's like the, the otherstuff.
Yeah, wow it's.
It's such a loaded question.
We.
We get so much and so muchunique stuff, but you know, a
few things I guess come to mind.
It's always interesting to seewhat celebrity autographs go for
oh interesting good one.
So when you're talking aboutlike we had a, a group, a
grouping of robert redford, burtreynolds, um, let's see clint
(21:13):
eastwood, and, and that group ofautographed pics went for about
3500, so, uh, interesting tosee something like that.
Uh, you know something likelike the more unique, rare
things.
Actually, I've got a, I've gota trivia question for you here.
Hit me Any ideas.
(21:35):
What president is on the 1928five hundred dollar gold
banknote?
Oh, 1928.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Let me guess Would it be Andrew Jackson?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
No, no, he's been in the news a little bit lately.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Oh, man, oh, it's got to be, oh, 1928.
I don't know, I don't know.
You got to share it with me.
Who's that?
So William McKinley McKinley,oh, I would not have guessed
that.
And did one of those comethrough.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
What's the value on that then?
So that that sold for 9,000 andit's actually it's the only
time we've seen one of thosecome through.
So, uh, you can imagine our ourcoin and currency folks were
we're pretty excited about thatone.
Um, wow, that's so cool.
You know, we see, we see quitea bit of like shipwreck coins
(22:25):
and that, um, you know the Atosof shipwreck coins, in that A
Tosha shipwreck is an extremelyfamous one.
I believe it's the mostvaluable shipwreck in history
Just tons of gold and silver.
So you got to be carefulbecause there's a lot of fakes
out there.
But those coins typically sellfor a few thousand each as well.
(22:49):
Let's see, oh, we had aextremely unique watch came in.
Vacheron Constantin chronographcame in this year.
There's only about 11 that areknown to exist of this specific
model.
It's a 1960s reference model,is, I believe it's the 4075 and
(23:09):
it was, uh, pink gold and that'sfor about 50 000 at sotheby's,
which was, which was exciting.
I mean, when you get somethingand and it really there's only
11 of those known to be outthere.
Or you think about the coinsfrom the shipwreck.
You know the Atosha shipwreckedin 1622.
(23:31):
You know it wasn't discovereduntil 1985.
And you know, just to know howmuch history, that there's, only
five survivors from thatshipwreck and all these coins
were sitting under water forhundreds of years and now it's
come into to our hands.
Uh, I guess that's really wherewe we start to nerd out on
(23:52):
stuff over here and and andenjoy just that history and and
our buyers get an opportunity tolike have that conversation
with somebody that maybe thatcoin was just passed down from
grandpa and they weren't reallysure what it was.
That's what makes it more thanjust a transactional process.
(24:13):
Right, this is a.
This is a fun, exciting eventfor us, for the customer, for
the store, foot traffic and it'sjust a great opportunity.
And, yeah, there's a little bitof that antiques roadshow that
that goes with it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Never know what's going to come in?
Uh, do you have anything thatis?
Uh, do you have anything thatis like on your beyond the
lookout list, like that you'vesaid, hey, if there's ever a, a
Mickey Mantle signed uh Jerseythat comes through, make sure
you buy it and give me likefirst opportunity on it.
(24:48):
Do you have anything like that?
Or are you a collector at all?
Or is that something you couldtry to keep at arm's reach,
because I would find it verytempting if it was me?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah, trust me, some of our employees are just
like you, but for me, I don'thave the desire to collect, I
like to experience it, and thenI love to know that somebody
else is going to get toexperience it later on, right?
You know, something that I kindof geeked out on was an old
(25:23):
Yankton agency accounts ledgerfrom the Indian War.
Old yankton agency accountsledger from the indian war.
Just being able to look at thatand and know that the
importance of it back then andand just the fact that that
paperwork was still around andand being able to kind of look
through the details of it, wasgood enough for me.
(25:44):
After I get my opportunity tosee that and feel it in my hands
, I'm definitely ready for thenext person to have their
opportunity.
So I'm that perfect museum guy,right Like.
I go in and look.
I appreciate that I go in andlook and appreciate that there's
value in more people being ableto enjoy it as well.
(26:07):
And you know some things likeantique daguerreotype photos,
you know from the Civil War era.
If you're not familiar withthat, it's an old like direct
positive printing process whereyou know you're talking about
the 1800s of the amount ofdetail that went into this
(26:27):
stylist, this style of printingphotos.
It's just incredible, uh, whatthey did and how they made the
technology work for them.
Um, you know, just on a pieceof copper plated with silver and
you're getting a very detailedimage.
You know, over 200 years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, it's one of those things that I'm, you know,
unfortunately.
I went to my brother, but mygrandpa was a big fan of Abe
Lincoln and had this portrait ofAbe Lincoln hanging behind his
chair by the TV for, you know,as long as I knew him, and when
(27:07):
he passed away it just kept onhanging there.
And my grandma is, you know,getting older and she really
wants to hand, you know, giveaway as much of her treasures as
possible.
And my brother, you know, wasreally close to my grandpa and
was like, oh, you know, I reallyI like that portrait.
You know where he got it andthey're like, no, I don't
(27:29):
remember, he got it at a fleamarket back in like 50 years ago
.
And they go and they do, like alittle research Turns out this
portrait is like an officialportrait, like one of only like
200 or something like that.
It's like one of like the realones and I was like, holy smokes
, that must be worth, you know,a couple thousand dollars.
(27:53):
So I'm sure that you guys seethat stuff all the time.
Now let's talk about thistemplate that we built together,
this page template for theseevents, and then we'll see if
you guys are interested inbuying a couple of these items,
if you guys would buy theseitems.
So recently, a lot of ourclients, our Punchmark clients,
are doing these events andthey're always they put up an
(28:13):
event page as a way to captureleads and start to, you know,
get people scheduled andinvolved in the event Because,
like you said, it's a three-daybuying event and scheduling out
how people are going to becoming is super important and
just making sure that they knowthe information so that they can
.
You know, it's a three-daybuying event and scheduling out
how people are going to becoming is super important and
just making sure that they knowthe information so that they can
run ads against it.
So recently we worked togetherand we built this landing page
(28:36):
template that all Punchmarkclients are able to put on their
website.
Some of the key information onthere it's like location and
times and some of the things youcan buy um, I think it turned
out really well.
Is that something that you havefound is, uh, increasingly
useful for stores to make surethat they are, um, you know,
(28:56):
getting the information acrossto their client?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
it seems like a simple topic but, at the same
time, a lot of moving parts yeah, I mean, first off, when you
guys came to us and had thisidea to really make this a
seamless and easy process forour shared partners, we
absolutely were excited to be onboard with it.
Look, the more advertisement,the more reminders that are out
(29:22):
there, the more people that youget in the doors.
You know we pay for thetelevision, the newspaper, the
postcard, mailers, the socialmedia on our end.
(29:51):
But when the client partner, ourjewelry stores, also put it up
on their website, put it up ontheir social media, send out
email blasts, send out textmessages, get their sales team
on board to pass out thein-store handouts that we
provide them all the freeavenues that you can do to
promote the event it only drivesmore success.
You know, getting those peoplein the doors is the first step
and we will handle that paidside.
But you know there's a reasonwhy we've seen our averages
increase from only about 120people per event about 18 months
(30:15):
ago to averaging about 170people, and that's because not
only are we smarter and spendingmore on advertisement doing
that on our end, but it's alsobecause our partners are buying
into it.
They love having the events.
Our partners are buying into it, they love having the events
and when they get behind it andpromote it on their end with
something as simple as just thetemplate that you guys now
(30:35):
provided for them, it makes itgreat, makes it an easy
opportunity to put a couple moreeyes on it and get a few more
people through the doors.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, and these templates are super easy to set
up.
They're just a page template inthe back end of your site
manager.
If you're at all interested,you can always go to our
knowledge base.
We have a whole write-up on howto do that, or you can just ask
your account manager.
They have a prettystraightforward kind of
walkthrough on how to get thosethings going and it's a great
place.
You can reuse them all the timeand, you know, just use them
(31:08):
for the next event, because alot of people like you said
doing this three, four, fivetimes a year, and that's kind of
what we want Be smart andeconomical with your page use.
Now, justin, we went throughall the important stuff.
Let's see if you would buythese items.
Not that I have these items,but I wish I would.
You had already mentionedluxury watches, but I wanted to
(31:31):
ask specifically would you buyrecently purchased well-known I
won't mention their namewell-known brands of luxury
watches if it comes with likebox and papers?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
We don't even need box and papers.
You know, the box and papers doadd value, of course.
On those well-known brands, butyes, we buy.
We tend to see, you know, thoseluxury brands that maybe have a
little bit of age to them, butwe definitely purchased quite a
few of the newer N1s too.
(32:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now, what about trophies?
Would you buy a trophy for anow defunct event or something
that doesn't have?
Maybe it's just it's metal andit's antique.
Is that something you guyswould buy?
Does that hold any value?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So, it's not the gold World Cup, walking through the
doors, I mean, maybe it is.
Yeah, I think.
I think, if there's historybehind it, if it's uh, you know,
well-known or, uh, veryrecognizable type trophy, you
know, we see that, you know notoften, but you know, from time
(32:47):
to time you might see an Olympicmedal or something along those
lines.
So yeah, if, look at the end ofthe day, if there's value
behind it, if there's a saleablemarket for that item, we will.
If it's no offense, your oldhigh school, you know, soccer
(33:07):
trophy, that's probably not forus.
So, yeah, I mean it trophy,yeah, that's probably not for us
.
So yeah, depends whose name onit.
Uh, and you know, if it'stennis, us open trophy or
something like that, I think wewould be interested in the.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Olympic of metals.
That's a really good one.
I think I bet you those have dodo have some value.
Now, what about furniture?
So what about things like, youknow, antique sitting chairs or
rocking chairs or things likethat, or maybe even larger, to
like nicer luxury, like futonsor things like that?
(33:40):
I don't know, is that somethingyou guys would buy?
They're kind of bulky.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah, we stay away from those large items.
You know, the biggest itemswe're typically purchasing are,
you know, large pieces ofartwork and that, um, you know,
I'd say the closest thing tofurniture that we've bought over
the last year so was a tiffanyand co lamp, uh, but when it
comes to furniture, no, becauseyou know, most of what we do is
(34:08):
across the country, soeverything's getting shipped
home and so it needs to bepretty easy means of shipping I
follow.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now, you had mentioned value.
You know, if it has value,we'll buy it.
Ok, I'm going to put this oneto you.
What about digital things, forexample?
Digital things could beanything from like
cryptocurrencies or NFTs ordigital goods Meaning, for
example, like some video gameslike CSGO if you ever heard of
(34:39):
Counter-Strike have skins whichare these digital currencies
that are limited, that have realvalue?
Would you buy, for example, aCSGO skin?
Or like some type of NFT oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
You know it's a good question.
If we're talking about certainthings that have so much
fluctuation in their value insuch short amount of timeframes,
we tend to be a little hesitant.
You know the answer is not a nountil we know all the details
(35:16):
on it.
But a lot of our partners thatwe work with you know there's
licensing times that we have tohold certain items and of course
we abide by all those and weactually handle that whole
process on our end.
So you know, 30 days in the NFTworld is a long time to hold on
to it and not be able, not beable to move it, you know.
(35:37):
Uh, so I'm actually it's a goodquestion I'm not actually sure,
when it comes to NFTs, if theyare considered in in that 30 day
hold time itself.
Uh, so I'm going to, I'm goingto put a few people on our end
on that case to see if I can geta final answer for you, you
(35:57):
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I've heard before that with these CSGO skins they
are worth tens of thousands ofdollars and some of them are
very valuable and like moresought after.
I don't know, that's not myparticular vice of choice, so I
don't really have it.
But the last one I have for youis again valuable, and I
(36:23):
learned over Thanksgiving howvaluable these things can be.
So every year there's anauction at one of my the local
pubs.
They do a Thanksgiving auction.
They raise money for the foodpantry and all sorts of good
things, and one of the thingsthat they auctioned off at the
end was surprisingly valuable.
Had no idea and it was ataxidermied turkey, and I had no
(36:49):
idea that taxidermied animals,when they're taxidermied well,
can be very valuable.
Would National Rarities buy ataxidermied animal?
Is that something you got?
Any taxidermy in general, youknow I haven't seen a taxidermy
come through.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
I know that there's certain regulations as well,
that when it comes to taxidermy,of course, animals on the
endangered list and those typesof things that you would have to
be careful of.
It's a good question.
That's another.
I'll get back to you.
It's not something I would saywe would promote, for I'm going
(37:29):
to lean towards no on this one.
I'm going to say no, I wouldnot buy the taxidermy.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Oh gosh man.
Well, I'm going to have to holdon to this taxidermy turkey for
a little bit longer, I guess.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
But this taxidermy, turkey, was, you know, hanging
in Abe Lincoln's cottage, andnow we're back on board.
Ok, all right, we're back onboard okay, all right, we're
back.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
We're back, justin.
Thank you so much, man.
This was a really reallyinteresting talk.
I'm so pleased that nationalrarity is doing well, because it
really does seem like uh,something that uh kind of like
aerates the ground for for theseuh stores, um, a net win for
everybody.
It sounds like, and you know,we really appreciate you being
involved in that in, uh, in inthe loop, but also just coming
on every year telling us whatyou're seeing out there.
(38:12):
If people are interested, wherecan they go to to find out more
?
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Yeah, so they can actually go to our website, and
that's wwwnationalraritiescom.
Or feel free, send me an emailat justin at national
raritiescom, happy to set up atime to talk with myself or our
(38:37):
director of sales, tylerSchaefering.
Last would be, if you'reheading to any of the trade
shows IJO, rjo, cbg, centurion,we're at all the major ones.
We'll be at JCK as well.
Uh, great opportunities.
Please reach out, stop by thetable.
(38:57):
Uh, we'll set up a time to talkif you want and uh see if it's
a right fit for you and uhappreciate, you know, working
with you, talking with you again, michael andael, and uh, and
look forward to all theresponses and and hearing what,
uh, your listeners have to sayawesome.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Hey, if you ever want more taxidermy items, just come
, come to the north man.
You know we we got them inplethora up here.
But uh, thanks again, justinand everybody.
If you guys are interested, Ireally would recommend reaching
out.
Let them know that in the loopsent you and we will be back
next week, tuesday, with anotherepisode.
Thanks again, justin, have agood one.
Bye, thank you All.
(39:40):
Right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week my guest was JustinVan Mater and he's with National
Rarities.
If you're interested in them,check out nationalraritiescom or
email justin atnationalraritiescom and let them
know that In the Loop sent you.
It makes us look good.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
(40:02):
hosted by me, michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross
Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts and leave us feedbackon punchmarkcom.
Slash loop.
That's L-O-U-P-E.
Thanks, and we'll be back nextweek, tuesday, with another
episode.
Cheers, bye, thank you.
Welcome to In the Loop sales and everybody seems
to really love them right now.
A lot of our clients are doingthese events and it's one of the
reasons why I actually workedwith Justin to create a official
or standardized page templatethat all Punch Bar clients are
available to add to theirwebsite.
They can just need to pop inthe information about their next
(00:39):
National Rarities event and thepage will do all the rest, and
then, if they want to get itlinked, they can contact their
account manager and do that aswell.
I asked him a whole bunch about2024, what they saw at their
events, and also we did anotherround of would you buy this?
And I asked him all the coolthings that I wonder if they
would buy, like taxidermyturkeys.
(01:02):
So if that interests you, makesure you listen to the end.
Cheers everybody, enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This episode is brought to you by Punchmark, the
jewelry industry's favoritewebsite platform and digital
growth agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
(01:30):
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
Whether you're looking forbetter e-commerce performance,
business growth or campaignsthat drive traffic and sales,
punchmark's website andmarketing services were made
just for you.
It's never too late totransform your business and
(01:52):
stitch together your digital andphysical worlds in a way that
achieves tremendous growth andresults.
Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And now back to the show.
What is up, everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop, and I'm joined by
Justin Van Meter with NationalRarities.
How are you doing today, justinDoing?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
great Thanks for having us on.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Third or fourth time I've got a chance to speak with
you and honestly, I wish I couldhave bought stock in National
Rarity.
It seems like you guys arecontinuing to grow.
Another successful year with2024.
How was 2024, the second halfof it, at least for you last
year?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Incredible.
I mean, you know, honestly, forus business is booming, but
really it's booming because ofour partners.
I mean, I can't say enough goodthings about the people that we
work with, the jewelry stores,the owners of these stores.
Ultimately, we understand thatthe more value that we bring to
(03:00):
these stores, the more that theywant us to have us in there,
the more they talk about us totheir friends and the other
jewelers in the industry andit's really been incredible.
They're a big part of ourgrowth and, just as I said, I
can't say enough good thingsabout our partnerships and we
love growing with them.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, I just interviewed Stephanie Westdorf
from Jewelcraft and I think youguys are entering a very similar
kind of stage of your businesswhere a lot of the marketing is
done by your clients, becausepeople are so pleased with the
experiences that they're havingwith you that they are telling
their friends the jewelryindustry is very free with that
(03:40):
kind of information with theirfriends, is very free with that
kind of information with theirfriends and, as a result, I
think that a lot of people arelike oh, a free buying event at
my store, I don't really have todo much, it's going to bring in
new customers.
Sounds like a win-win-win.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Sounds like you guys are set up for success.
Yeah, you know it's a lot ofhard work on the back end to
make that success happen, but weare absolutely seeing that work
pay off.
We've got a great group ofbuyers that are in these stores
day in, working hard.
I can't tell you how many timesa store after an event reaches
(04:20):
out to us to just say thank youand also tell us that they wish
that they could hire that personthat was just in their stores,
just because of the way theydeal with the customers, the
work ethic, all of it.
So a large part of just reallybeing a customer service-based
company and having that mindsetof understanding what's
(04:42):
important to the small businessowner, up to the larger stores
like the Harry Ritchie's and theKessler's that have multiple
locations as well.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, so you guys are sponsoring a couple of the
episodes around this one.
I don't know if it'll be onthis one in particular, but just
so we can start on kind of likethe base floor so everybody is
up to speed.
Maybe they haven't heard usspeak before.
Can you just give the elevatorpitch for National Rarities,
just so people know what it is?
(05:12):
You guys do.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Essentially what we do isthree-day buying events where we
come into your store and overthose three days we sit down and
make no pressure offers to thecustomers coming through the
doors with a wide range of items.
So that wide range of itemsthat we pay for handle all the
marketing.
Take that headache out of it.
(05:35):
But the items are the gold andthe jewelry and that.
But we get into things likedesigner handbags, antiques,
military artwork and just reallyso much more than what your
typical jewelry store is buying.
The value in that is we'redriving a big number of foot
(05:57):
traffic through your store overthose three days.
So on average we see about 170people.
We have some events that seewell over 200, 300.
Our largest event this year sawover 500 people over a four-day
period just a little bit bigger.
So it had to be spread out alittle bit more.
And then sit down.
(06:17):
If it's something that we wantto purchase, we'll write a check
right then and there for thecustomer.
Uh, we'll write a check rightthen and there for for the
customer.
Um, most of our stores takeadvantage of a store credit
option that they can offer, uh,on the store's behalf.
So say, we buy a thousanddollar designer handbag, they
can sign that check over to thestore and the store provides a
(06:41):
1200 store credit back to thecustomer.
So they're just incentivizingthe customer to spend that money
in the store, regardless ifthey sign that over or not.
We provide a 10% commissioncheck on anything that we buy
over those three days.
Average event is about 115,000.
So you're looking at a littleover 11,000 on average.
(07:03):
That commission check which,trust me, nobody turns that
check away.
But just in the communication,the talks with our partners,
really the most important thingthat we're seeing from them is
the foot traffic coming throughthe advertisement featuring
their brand and their logo on it, getting brand recognition out
there for free, at no cost tothe jewelry store, and knowing
(07:27):
that, no matter how many timeswe do these events four times,
five times we have stores thatwe've done over 15 events with
and still with our marketingnearly half of the foot traffic
that comes in for these eventsis new, has never been in the
store before.
So it's an opportunity tocapture new people in your store
(07:48):
and an opportunity for you toget those clients that you work
really hard with.
Well, you see all the time togive them another excuse to come
in and do something fun, alittle bit different, and bring
a uniqueness to your store inthat community that that other
stores down the street aren'tdoing.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And I really like that.
Again.
It kind of is you know, thatwhole business of free it's so
free feeling.
You know these people have theopportunity to walk out with
more money than they walked inwith.
That it does seem like reallygood advertising.
And so, if people have beenlistening, we've talked about
this last year and we're kind ofdoing these yearly recaps.
(08:28):
I wanted to ask about what kindof items you saw come in.
The price of gold was all timehigh and then it dipped a little
bit.
I think we're back to prettymuch all time highs or near it
at least.
Were you seeing more of peoplewhen it's at an all-time high?
I assume people are bringing intheir scrap gold and precious
(08:49):
metals to either trade in orliquidate or get value for.
Is that what you mainly wereseeing?
What were the buyers getting?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, it was an interesting year, as you said,
there was that big increase ofgold.
It was an interesting year, asyou said, there was that big
increase of gold, especiallyearly in 2024.
But we did see quite a fewpeople come in that maybe were
holding their bullion, holdingtheir coins A little bit of the
(09:27):
scrap, but more so that influxthat we saw in the first half of
the year and into a little bitof the second half of the year
was those collectors that wereholding on to it, primarily for
an investment, and theycapitalized on the right time
right.
They held it until goal wasright, around 2,600.
Of course it's up a little bitmore now goes down a little bit,
but they did it at the righttime so we did see an increase
(09:48):
there.
Beyond that, really, our salesmix or our product mix for the
year has held pretty true overthe last couple of years at what
we buy.
I mean a good portion of whatwe see is just those odds and
(10:09):
ends of the, the unique militaryitems and the artwork, designer
handbags and that and that thatfor us is is a lot of the fun
in it.
It's the fun when people comein.
They're not sure what they have, we get to educate them on what
it may be.
Sometimes we're doingsubstantial research,
communicating with our expertsat home, to identify really what
(10:32):
they have and the value in itand being able to, you know,
either let them know it's gotsubstantial value, maybe it
doesn't have any value andthat's just kind of reassuring
that they can maybe throw itaway now, or they don't have to
keep it in the safe, um.
But you're definitely on trackwith seeing a little bit of an
increase in in the gold.
(10:54):
Uh, earlier in the year we didsee it taper off a little bit in
the fourth quarter as thingsreally leveled out this year, uh
, but you never know what gold'sgoing to do.
So you know 26, 2700.
Honestly, I think the time isright now if people are out
(11:14):
there holding on to it to bringit in, to sell.
And you know, what's greatabout what we do, too, is we're
only there for three days.
So any of the jewelry storesthat are out there knowing that
they're going to see an increasein their own buying before and
(11:35):
after the event, because we'respending a substantial amount of
money to educate the communitythat your store is a buyer, so
being able to capitalize on thatas well, while somebody paid
for the advertisement to educatethat community that this is the
store to go to to sell yourgold, to sell your scrap, to
sell diamonds, whatever it maybe.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So I guess that's one of those things too I'm always
focused on, you know, preciousmetals, because they're, you
know, easier to liquidate.
I guess is the key point.
So it sounds like you are alsobuying back diamonds.
Kind of a weird time in theprice market for diamonds
because obviously the priceshave started to slip for,
(12:18):
especially for lab grown, butjust in general, I think, for
diamonds.
It sounds like gold is a littlebit more of a liquid type of
investment.
How are you handling buyingback, for example, lab-grown
diamonds?
Do you have like acertification process or how do
you handle if people come inwith potentially lab-grown items
(12:39):
?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So, yes, I mean, training is key, technology is
(13:01):
key.
When it comes to the lab-grown,we steer clear from lab-grown
diamonds.
It's not something as most ofyou, or all of you out there
know.
The resaleable market isdifficult.
The decline in natural diamondsis a real thing.
What I think is interestingfrom this year compared to last
year, in the communication withthe customer coming through the
door, that they're a lot moreknowledgeable now of what the
lab-grown market has done tonatural diamonds.
(13:23):
So, although thoseconversations are difficult and
challenging to let them know,hey, your natural diamond has
just really been declining invalue on the resale market over
the last couple of years due tolab grown.
They don't like to hear it, butI think that they tend to have a
(13:46):
little bit more of thatexpectation when they come to
the door because it's been inthe news, they've read about it,
so it's not just industryknowledge anymore.
There's a great understandingfor the average customer walking
in the door and it's made thoseconversations easier for us to
have Interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, sometimes I guess, when things break out of
the silo, it does kind ofsometimes take care of the
harder part for you.
But that does seem like ittracks with kind of the
information that I've beenfollowing, at least online, and
I do want to compare.
So last year 2024, we spokeright at the start of the year
versus this year.
(14:24):
I was curious are you seeingthat people are trying to become
a little bit more cashflowpositive when it comes to the
stores but also just thecustomers that are coming in?
Are people trying to like stockup on cash, or do you find that
people are still signing overtheir checks?
I don't know if that'ssomething that you track is how
(14:46):
often do checks get signed overto the store?
Is that up this year, or Iguess I would predict that it
would be down?
What are you seeing on your end?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So I think it's a difficult answer because it is
up for us, but it's notnecessarily up because of the
customer sentiment.
It's up, really, because we'vedone a better job on our end in
communicating to the customer,as well as working with our
(15:19):
partners and educating ourpartner's staff on how to
increase the store credits.
Right.
We really made that a hugepoint of focus this year and
we're going to continue to dothat going forward, because we
understand the value in thatstore credit signover.
So you have to work a littlebit harder now.
(15:40):
I mean, that's in the reality ofthings and I think stores are
seeing it too.
When it's not just you know,maybe their revenue is up or
maybe it's not just you know,maybe maybe their revenue is up
or maybe it's equal to yearspast, but most of what I'm
hearing is they're having tosell more items to get to that
point.
Right, so you're having to worka little bit harder to get
there, which is okay.
(16:01):
We just got to continue to getsmarter, keep focused on it and
educate the customer.
Really, you're getting 20percent more, 10 percent, 30
percent, whatever thatpercentage that our partners
choose, the value in that andmaking their dollar go further.
That's the key to it allInteresting.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Well, maybe we'll put a pin on that one and we'll
come back to it in a year justto see how it tracks, if it
keeps going up or not.
I agree, Sometimes thecommunication does kind of skew
your results.
We have that sometimes withours where it's like oh, all of
our clients are upgrading.
Is it because people are afraidto move?
And it's like, oh, we have alsobeen talking about upgrading a
(16:42):
lot more, so maybe that'sthrowing things off.
Upgrading a lot more, so maybethat's throwing things off.
I wanted to ask this is just arandom one I had thought about
Do people ever sell back theitems that they bought from the
store?
Is that like an awkwardsituation you've ever
encountered where it's like, oh,I'm not able to return this
because it was a gift and Idon't have the gift receipt.
(17:03):
Can I sell it to you for thevalue, even though it was bought
here?
Or is that something you don'thave the gift receipt?
Can I sell it to you for thevalue, even though it was bought
here?
Or is that something you don'treally encounter very often?
Like you know, product isproduct.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's not.
It's not, it's not often, butit does happen.
You know we're seeing twentyfive hundred to three thousand
customers a week now, so yeah,so almost every scenario you can
throw out there we are seeing,at least from time to time.
I think the most importantthing is really when a seller
sits down with us, there's aconversation before we even get
(17:37):
into pricing things out and that.
So when we start to learn aboutthe piece, when we find out it
is a piece from the store, thefirst thing we want to do is see
if they're interested in maybetrading it, in upgrading those
types of things with the storeso we're able to walk that
customer over to the store tohave that conversation before
(18:00):
they sell it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Probably a more delicate way to approach that.
I'm with you.
I didn't know if it would belike, yeah, I got this from over
there, but they won't take itback.
That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, I mean it all happens Right and if they're,
the store's not interested intaking it back and you know our
our team leads, you know theperson in charge on the ground
floor at the events is havingthese conversations before with
with the jewelry store owner onhow would you like us to handle
it if this happens and that soevery store is different.
(18:31):
We really try to customize itto fit the needs of that
location.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Justin, we're going to take a quick break and when
we come back I want to doanother round of will you buy
this or not, and also talk aboutour recent collaboration.
So everybody stay with us.
This episode is brought to youin part by National Rarities.
If you're looking to bringfresh foot traffic to your store
(18:58):
and connect with new customers,National Rarities has you
covered.
Their three-day buying eventsare completely free for you as
the jeweler and they average 170attendees per event.
Nearly half of those visitorsare brand new to the store.
National rarities buys a widevariety of items from gold and
silver to militaria, artwork,designer handbags and more.
(19:19):
Plus.
They pay a 10 commission to you, the retailer, on everything
they purchase.
That means means more foottraffic, more customers and a
direct boost to your bottom line, all at no cost to you.
And if you do decide to run aNational Rarities event this
year and have a Punchmarkwebsite, be sure to ask your
account manager about the newNational Rarities event landing
(19:41):
page in Site Manager.
Learn more about NationalRarities at nationalraritiescom
or reach out to Justin that'sJ-U-S-T-I-N.
At nationalraritiescom.
There'll be more information inthe show notes below.
And now back to the show.
Welcome back everybody, stilljoined by Justin Van Mader with
(20:06):
National Rarities and discussingthis past year, 2024,.
I'm always interested in itemspeople bring in.
I'm a big fan of AntiqueRoadshow and of Storage Wars and
all those types of shows andsometimes like just what you've
shared with me, talking aboutswords and all the different.
I think crazy, but I guessthey're.
(20:28):
It's not crazy if it's valuableitems that people bring in.
Can you share with me what aresome like surprisingly valuable
things that are commonly broughtin that aren't just, you know,
humps of tangled gold chains andstuff like that?
What's like the other stuff?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
gold chains and stuff like that.
What's like the, the otherstuff.
Yeah, wow it's.
It's such a loaded question.
We.
We get so much and so muchunique stuff, but you know, a
few things I guess come to mind.
It's always interesting to seewhat celebrity autographs go for
oh interesting good one.
So when you're talking aboutlike we had a, a group, a
grouping of robert redford, burtreynolds, um, let's see clint
(21:13):
eastwood, and, and that group ofautographed pics went for about
3500, so, uh, interesting tosee something like that.
Uh, you know something likelike the more unique, rare
things.
Actually, I've got a, I've gota trivia question for you here.
Hit me Any ideas.
(21:35):
What president is on the 1928five hundred dollar gold
banknote?
Oh, 1928.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Let me guess Would it be Andrew Jackson?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
No, no, he's been in the news a little bit lately.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Oh, man, oh, it's got to be, oh, 1928.
I don't know, I don't know.
You got to share it with me.
Who's that?
So William McKinley McKinley,oh, I would not have guessed
that.
And did one of those comethrough.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
What's the value on that then?
So that that sold for 9,000 andit's actually it's the only
time we've seen one of thosecome through.
So, uh, you can imagine our ourcoin and currency folks were
we're pretty excited about thatone.
Um, wow, that's so cool.
You know, we see, we see quitea bit of like shipwreck coins
(22:25):
and that, um, you know the Atosof shipwreck coins, in that A
Tosha shipwreck is an extremelyfamous one.
I believe it's the mostvaluable shipwreck in history
Just tons of gold and silver.
So you got to be carefulbecause there's a lot of fakes
out there.
But those coins typically sellfor a few thousand each as well.
(22:49):
Let's see, oh, we had aextremely unique watch came in.
Vacheron Constantin chronographcame in this year.
There's only about 11 that areknown to exist of this specific
model.
It's a 1960s reference model,is, I believe it's the 4075 and
(23:09):
it was, uh, pink gold and that'sfor about 50 000 at sotheby's,
which was, which was exciting.
I mean, when you get somethingand and it really there's only
11 of those known to be outthere.
Or you think about the coinsfrom the shipwreck.
You know the Atosha shipwreckedin 1622.
(23:31):
You know it wasn't discovereduntil 1985.
And you know, just to know howmuch history, that there's, only
five survivors from thatshipwreck and all these coins
were sitting under water forhundreds of years and now it's
come into to our hands.
Uh, I guess that's really wherewe we start to nerd out on
(23:52):
stuff over here and and andenjoy just that history and and
our buyers get an opportunity tolike have that conversation
with somebody that maybe thatcoin was just passed down from
grandpa and they weren't reallysure what it was.
That's what makes it more thanjust a transactional process.
(24:13):
Right, this is a.
This is a fun, exciting eventfor us, for the customer, for
the store, foot traffic and it'sjust a great opportunity.
And, yeah, there's a little bitof that antiques roadshow that
that goes with it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Never know what's going to come in?
Uh, do you have anything thatis?
Uh, do you have anything thatis like on your beyond the
lookout list, like that you'vesaid, hey, if there's ever a, a
Mickey Mantle signed uh Jerseythat comes through, make sure
you buy it and give me likefirst opportunity on it.
(24:48):
Do you have anything like that?
Or are you a collector at all?
Or is that something you couldtry to keep at arm's reach,
because I would find it verytempting if it was me?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah, trust me, some of our employees are just
like you, but for me, I don'thave the desire to collect, I
like to experience it, and thenI love to know that somebody
else is going to get toexperience it later on, right?
You know, something that I kindof geeked out on was an old
(25:23):
Yankton agency accounts ledgerfrom the Indian War.
Old yankton agency accountsledger from the indian war.
Just being able to look at thatand and know that the
importance of it back then andand just the fact that that
paperwork was still around andand being able to kind of look
through the details of it, wasgood enough for me.
(25:44):
After I get my opportunity tosee that and feel it in my hands
, I'm definitely ready for thenext person to have their
opportunity.
So I'm that perfect museum guy,right Like.
I go in and look.
I appreciate that I go in andlook and appreciate that there's
value in more people being ableto enjoy it as well.
(26:07):
And you know some things likeantique daguerreotype photos,
you know from the Civil War era.
If you're not familiar withthat, it's an old like direct
positive printing process whereyou know you're talking about
the 1800s of the amount ofdetail that went into this
(26:27):
stylist, this style of printingphotos.
It's just incredible, uh, whatthey did and how they made the
technology work for them.
Um, you know, just on a pieceof copper plated with silver and
you're getting a very detailedimage.
You know, over 200 years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, it's one of those things that I'm, you know,
unfortunately.
I went to my brother, but mygrandpa was a big fan of Abe
Lincoln and had this portrait ofAbe Lincoln hanging behind his
chair by the TV for, you know,as long as I knew him, and when
(27:07):
he passed away it just kept onhanging there.
And my grandma is, you know,getting older and she really
wants to hand, you know, giveaway as much of her treasures as
possible.
And my brother, you know, wasreally close to my grandpa and
was like, oh, you know, I reallyI like that portrait.
You know where he got it andthey're like, no, I don't
(27:29):
remember, he got it at a fleamarket back in like 50 years ago
.
And they go and they do, like alittle research Turns out this
portrait is like an officialportrait, like one of only like
200 or something like that.
It's like one of like the realones and I was like, holy smokes
, that must be worth, you know,a couple thousand dollars.
(27:53):
So I'm sure that you guys seethat stuff all the time.
Now let's talk about thistemplate that we built together,
this page template for theseevents, and then we'll see if
you guys are interested inbuying a couple of these items,
if you guys would buy theseitems.
So recently, a lot of ourclients, our Punchmark clients,
are doing these events andthey're always they put up an
(28:13):
event page as a way to captureleads and start to, you know,
get people scheduled andinvolved in the event Because,
like you said, it's a three-daybuying event and scheduling out
how people are going to becoming is super important and
just making sure that they knowthe information so that they can
.
You know, it's a three-daybuying event and scheduling out
how people are going to becoming is super important and
just making sure that they knowthe information so that they can
run ads against it.
So recently we worked togetherand we built this landing page
(28:36):
template that all Punchmarkclients are able to put on their
website.
Some of the key information onthere it's like location and
times and some of the things youcan buy um, I think it turned
out really well.
Is that something that you havefound is, uh, increasingly
useful for stores to make surethat they are, um, you know,
(28:56):
getting the information acrossto their client?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
it seems like a simple topic but, at the same
time, a lot of moving parts yeah, I mean, first off, when you
guys came to us and had thisidea to really make this a
seamless and easy process forour shared partners, we
absolutely were excited to be onboard with it.
Look, the more advertisement,the more reminders that are out
(29:22):
there, the more people that youget in the doors.
You know we pay for thetelevision, the newspaper, the
postcard, mailers, the socialmedia on our end.
(29:51):
But when the client partner, ourjewelry stores, also put it up
on their website, put it up ontheir social media, send out
email blasts, send out textmessages, get their sales team
on board to pass out thein-store handouts that we
provide them all the freeavenues that you can do to
promote the event it only drivesmore success.
You know, getting those peoplein the doors is the first step
and we will handle that paidside.
But you know there's a reasonwhy we've seen our averages
increase from only about 120people per event about 18 months
(30:15):
ago to averaging about 170people, and that's because not
only are we smarter and spendingmore on advertisement doing
that on our end, but it's alsobecause our partners are buying
into it.
They love having the events.
Our partners are buying into it, they love having the events
and when they get behind it andpromote it on their end with
something as simple as just thetemplate that you guys now
(30:35):
provided for them, it makes itgreat, makes it an easy
opportunity to put a couple moreeyes on it and get a few more
people through the doors.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, and these templates are super easy to set
up.
They're just a page template inthe back end of your site
manager.
If you're at all interested,you can always go to our
knowledge base.
We have a whole write-up on howto do that, or you can just ask
your account manager.
They have a prettystraightforward kind of
walkthrough on how to get thosethings going and it's a great
place.
You can reuse them all the timeand, you know, just use them
(31:08):
for the next event, because alot of people like you said
doing this three, four, fivetimes a year, and that's kind of
what we want Be smart andeconomical with your page use.
Now, justin, we went throughall the important stuff.
Let's see if you would buythese items.
Not that I have these items,but I wish I would.
You had already mentionedluxury watches, but I wanted to
(31:31):
ask specifically would you buyrecently purchased well-known I
won't mention their namewell-known brands of luxury
watches if it comes with likebox and papers?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
We don't even need box and papers.
You know, the box and papers doadd value, of course.
On those well-known brands, butyes, we buy.
We tend to see, you know, thoseluxury brands that maybe have a
little bit of age to them, butwe definitely purchased quite a
few of the newer N1s too.
(32:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now, what about trophies?
Would you buy a trophy for anow defunct event or something
that doesn't have?
Maybe it's just it's metal andit's antique.
Is that something you guyswould buy?
Does that hold any value?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
So, it's not the gold World Cup, walking through the
doors, I mean, maybe it is.
Yeah, I think.
I think, if there's historybehind it, if it's uh, you know,
well-known or, uh, veryrecognizable type trophy, you
know, we see that, you know notoften, but you know, from time
(32:47):
to time you might see an Olympicmedal or something along those
lines.
So yeah, if, look at the end ofthe day, if there's value
behind it, if there's a saleablemarket for that item, we will.
If it's no offense, your oldhigh school, you know, soccer
(33:07):
trophy, that's probably not forus.
So, yeah, I mean it trophy,yeah, that's probably not for us
.
So yeah, depends whose name onit.
Uh, and you know, if it'stennis, us open trophy or
something like that, I think wewould be interested in the.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Olympic of metals.
That's a really good one.
I think I bet you those have dodo have some value.
Now, what about furniture?
So what about things like, youknow, antique sitting chairs or
rocking chairs or things likethat, or maybe even larger, to
like nicer luxury, like futonsor things like that?
(33:40):
I don't know, is that somethingyou guys would buy?
They're kind of bulky.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah, we stay away from those large items.
You know, the biggest itemswe're typically purchasing are,
you know, large pieces ofartwork and that, um, you know,
I'd say the closest thing tofurniture that we've bought over
the last year so was a tiffanyand co lamp, uh, but when it
comes to furniture, no, becauseyou know, most of what we do is
(34:08):
across the country, soeverything's getting shipped
home and so it needs to bepretty easy means of shipping I
follow.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Now, you had mentioned value.
You know, if it has value,we'll buy it.
Ok, I'm going to put this oneto you.
What about digital things, forexample?
Digital things could beanything from like
cryptocurrencies or NFTs ordigital goods Meaning, for
example, like some video gameslike CSGO if you ever heard of
(34:39):
Counter-Strike have skins whichare these digital currencies
that are limited, that have realvalue?
Would you buy, for example, aCSGO skin?
Or like some type of NFT oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
You know it's a good question.
If we're talking about certainthings that have so much
fluctuation in their value insuch short amount of timeframes,
we tend to be a little hesitant.
You know the answer is not a nountil we know all the details
(35:16):
on it.
But a lot of our partners thatwe work with you know there's
licensing times that we have tohold certain items and of course
we abide by all those and weactually handle that whole
process on our end.
So you know, 30 days in the NFTworld is a long time to hold on
to it and not be able, not beable to move it, you know.
(35:37):
Uh, so I'm actually it's a goodquestion I'm not actually sure,
when it comes to NFTs, if theyare considered in in that 30 day
hold time itself.
Uh, so I'm going to, I'm goingto put a few people on our end
on that case to see if I can geta final answer for you, you
(35:57):
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I've heard before that with these CSGO skins they
are worth tens of thousands ofdollars and some of them are
very valuable and like moresought after.
I don't know, that's not myparticular vice of choice, so I
don't really have it.
But the last one I have for youis again valuable, and I
(36:23):
learned over Thanksgiving howvaluable these things can be.
So every year there's anauction at one of my the local
pubs.
They do a Thanksgiving auction.
They raise money for the foodpantry and all sorts of good
things, and one of the thingsthat they auctioned off at the
end was surprisingly valuable.
Had no idea and it was ataxidermied turkey, and I had no
(36:49):
idea that taxidermied animals,when they're taxidermied well,
can be very valuable.
Would National Rarities buy ataxidermied animal?
Is that something you got?
Any taxidermy in general, youknow I haven't seen a taxidermy
come through.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
I know that there's certain regulations as well,
that when it comes to taxidermy,of course, animals on the
endangered list and those typesof things that you would have to
be careful of.
It's a good question.
That's another.
I'll get back to you.
It's not something I would saywe would promote, for I'm going
(37:29):
to lean towards no on this one.
I'm going to say no, I wouldnot buy the taxidermy.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Oh gosh man.
Well, I'm going to have to holdon to this taxidermy turkey for
a little bit longer, I guess.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
But this taxidermy, turkey, was, you know, hanging
in Abe Lincoln's cottage, andnow we're back on board.
Ok, all right, we're back onboard okay, all right, we're
back.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
We're back, justin.
Thank you so much, man.
This was a really reallyinteresting talk.
I'm so pleased that nationalrarity is doing well, because it
really does seem like uh,something that uh kind of like
aerates the ground for for theseuh stores, um, a net win for
everybody.
It sounds like, and you know,we really appreciate you being
involved in that in, uh, in inthe loop, but also just coming
on every year telling us whatyou're seeing out there.
(38:12):
If people are interested, wherecan they go to to find out more
?
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Yeah, so they can actually go to our website, and
that's wwwnationalraritiescom.
Or feel free, send me an emailat justin at national
raritiescom, happy to set up atime to talk with myself or our
(38:37):
director of sales, tylerSchaefering.
Last would be, if you'reheading to any of the trade
shows IJO, rjo, cbg, centurion,we're at all the major ones.
We'll be at JCK as well.
Uh, great opportunities.
Please reach out, stop by thetable.
(38:57):
Uh, we'll set up a time to talkif you want and uh see if it's
a right fit for you and uhappreciate, you know, working
with you, talking with you again, michael andael, and uh, and
look forward to all theresponses and and hearing what,
uh, your listeners have to sayawesome.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Hey, if you ever want more taxidermy items, just come
, come to the north man.
You know we we got them inplethora up here.
But uh, thanks again, justinand everybody.
If you guys are interested, Ireally would recommend reaching
out.
Let them know that in the loopsent you and we will be back
next week, tuesday, with anotherepisode.
Thanks again, justin, have agood one.
Bye, thank you All.
(39:40):
Right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week my guest was JustinVan Mater and he's with National
Rarities.
If you're interested in them,check out nationalraritiescom or
email justin atnationalraritiescom and let them
know that In the Loop sent you.
It makes us look good.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
(40:02):
hosted by me, michael Burpo.
This episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross
Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts and leave us feedbackon punchmarkcom.
Slash loop.
That's L-O-U-P-E.
Thanks, and we'll be back nextweek, tuesday, with another
episode.
Cheers, bye, thank you.
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