The Coin and Jewelry Exchange — Local services in Cape Coral

This was a very well-stocked neighborhood coin and jewelry store run by its very friendly owner, John Corcione, until...not sure how long ago, exactly - several months ago? a year ago?

THEN IT GOT WAY, WAY BETTER! John and his staff expanded and made some drastic improvements.

Beforehand, yes, he had plenty of gold and silver, all kinds of top-grade professionally graded coins from American Eagles to 19th century gold, estate jewelry, sports memorabilia, and other things that you might expect to see at your better-than-average neighborhood coin shop. Of course, there were also the obligatory bins of modest-grade Lincoln Wheat pennies that you could buy for a pittance, sorted by decade, even. But his shop was so small and things were so jam-packed that you had to have an extra bit of desire to sift through quite a bit of only barely-organized inventory if you wanted something less expensive or out-of-the-ordinary.

But, as I said above, some time ago (several months? a year?), the store at least doubled in size, taking over the next storefront just North of it in the same plaza. And the difference? Oh My Gosh!

Now the place looks like a museum hidden in a regular 'ole neighborhood!

This has given John, and his great support staff, enough space to more properly display and highlight his unexpectedly really good inventory.

Now all of his jewelry has been moved into the new expansion, with his massive amount of costume jewelry out in a huddled-together group of tables in the middle of the floor, separated from the nicer jewelry, (sterling and even finer, including a little bit in the way of men's), in glass cases along the perimeter of the room.

John also has a good bit of military memorabilia in the new expansion, displayed well-enough befitting its importance. There is also a modest, but still eye-catching selection of antiques and other exotics.

You can also feel more secure there, as security has been beefed-up, including window screens that greatly reduce visibility from the outside looking-in. He also has divider screens shielding store employees and customers from each other at the check-out point. Of the 4 local coin shops I've been to, his is the only one that has this in place.

John is always buying and selling and seems to be familiar with just about everybody who walks in the shop. Or at least he is consistently that friendly. And he will pay attention to anybody - from the customers who walk in looking to buy or sell a fair bit of gold, to those who maybe only need to fill in a hole or two in their modest collection of pennies.

This place gets my top recommendation. It is a worthy place in which to invest a little extra time and money, if you have it, during these brutal Covid times. John & Co. make the dictum "Think globally, act locally" painless to follow. This is the kind of place that you want kept on the map AND...

I went in to sell some silver and it was not the best experience. I knew what spot price was and as soon as I said I wanted to sell it, he threw out an offer I felt like was too low and he wouldn't budge because 'I can't sell all this silver everyone is bringing in'. They definitely will make a good profit, but they wouldn't budge at all. I just wanted an extra $5, but he made me feel like I was burdening him somehow. It was chaotic in there! The younger guy kept shouting that he couldn't handle any more customers and was complaining about doing business with all of us (3 or 4 people). I was desperate for the money, and this guy is saying he would sell me one for above spot price over and over again. I came in there to sell, not to buy and he's just so aggresive with it. It just didnt make sense to me. Its a sales tactic that ended up being a BIG turn off. If you are someone who is claustrophobic, gets anxious in disorder, or doesn't like being aggressively haggled AT, maybe try something else. They have some cool stuff, but the piles and stacks are just random it seems. I wanted to ask about some things, but the younger guy seemed like he wanted me out of there. The older gentleman seemed nice enough and he wrote up my ticket. I ended up selling and accepting the offer because I felt pressure to just accept and move on. Just didn't feel like a great...

After comparing the stores in the area and reading the reviews, I decided to visit this shop and see what they could do for me. I was greeted right away John proceeded to value my items. He checked out each item, commented on whether it was rare or not, wrote it down, calculated the gold value, and wrote that down. He was very open and straightforward with his receipt. There were no hidden calculations. He added it up and presented me with an amount. I was flabbergasted!

You see, I had done some online research and had a good idea of what they were each worth. I expected to receive a hefty discount from melt value and was prepared for the worst. When I saw that the numbers he was writing down, he was only a little bit below the values I had researched. My total was way more than what I thought. It was like a breath of fresh air to get such an honest and open appraisal and a very fair value. I agreed on the price and he cut me a check right there.

I will be back in the future with more items. I highly recommend you go here and check it out for yourself. When I was there they were preparing to expand into the unit next door and at least double the size of the business and have much more on display. Thanks, John for an excellent transaction. I hope to...