New Bank Note Promotion by SEARS

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

Today I received a Sears flyer through the mail entitled "Sears Direct Response (Featuring As-Seen-On-TV Items)". Page 22 offers framed sets of Canadian 1937 and later notes at sky-high prices (and I doubt very much if they're Unc). The complete set of four frames will set you back $899.82 plus shipping and taxes. The Sears flyer will presumably be distributed right across the country and I'm sure many sets will be purchased by non-collectors and novice collectors ..... 

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It is me that supplies these notes, as I have for several years.
Hard to get enough to fill the order, too bad the prices at Sears cause them to retain the majority of the money.

Grades are 37's Fine or better
54's, VF or better,
67, 73, ones mostly Unc.
71 and newer, EF to Unc.
All the notes look good. Appearance is everything in these.

Rick

Unlike Mint products, with these sets, you're actually getting something of value, and if they help promote the hobby and bring more collectors into the fold, I say it's a good thing.

RP raises some valid points regarding the decorative value and hobby-promotion aspects of these framed sets. Seasoned collectors and dealers tend to automatically pay more attention to the intrinsic value of what's inside the frames while non-collectors may be more impressed by their decorative and novelty value. Hopefully the notes in the Sears frames are not glued down!

I guess I've become weary and a bit disillusioned over the years by seeing so much very mediocre material put into fancy frames and then sold at three to ten times its market value, e.g. framed sets of Coins of the Ancient World, Coins of Five British Monarchs, Chinese coins of the various dynasties, etc.  However, on the other hand, I realize that the overheads of Sears and the TV Shopping Network are very high and that those costs have to be passed along. Mint products purchased directly from the Mint are expensive for exactly the same reason!

I don't comment on the relative market value for such promotional items.
They are well built, nicely displayed, and the company that puts them together is very fussy about the products they buy.
Sears is a major buyer, so they get the best of care.

Rick

I recall seeing TV Shopping network offer UNC series sets ($2 Birds for example), a few years back, and thinking that this was a good thing to raise awareness of our hobby.  I don't think the prices were exorbitant back then but I could be wrong.  I have no idea how well these sets sold or whether they did have an impact on the hobby (growing or waning) but I imagine they did nothing to harm the overall desire to collect notes.  Afterall, I have seen many new members come onto CPMF, and note prices steadily increase.

I recall seeing TV Shopping network offer UNC series sets ($2 Birds for example), a few years back

Yep it was on the tv shopping network my parents bought me one for a b-day I still have it in a wood frame nice but I dont think it will ever be worth much all it is is 4 uncut $2's

Arthur

Note that these products have nothing to do with the home shopping network.

These are and have been sold through credit card direct sales, including the major companies. Esso, Sears, The Bay, Gulf Oil, Petro Can, are some of the majors that use this method of inserting a flyer with the credit card statements.

Rick

One of the biggest problems regarding mediocre numismatic items in fancy frames relates to their resale value when someone brings one of these frames into a coin show and wants to sell it. Suppose for illustration purposes that we're talking about the $1 frame illustrated above containing the 1937 (say VF), 1954 (UNC), 1967 (UNC) & 1973 (UNC) notes. The cost of the frame is $169.98 but coin show dealers are only going to offer about $20 for the notes themselves and perhaps $10 for the frame. The seller then explains to you that he/she paid $169.98 and you try to explain that the contents only catalogue at about $40.00 and that he/she overpaid. That's when the seller might tell you in no uncertain terms that all coin dealers are crooks! This is and always has been the downside of these fancy framed items in my opinion.

It is my opinion that the people selling this product are looking to take advantage of people who are not knowledgeable in Canadian paper money.  Anyone who knows the actual value of these notes would never buy this product.  To me, this is no different then the people on eBay selling radar notes for $40,000.

What I did not express clearly in my previous post is that custom framing can be very expensive.  I have a really spiffy sheet of those common 1837 Champlain and St. Lawrence Rail Road notes and I got it framed a few years ago.  The job costed more than the sheet (>$200).

Professional custom framing is indeed very expensive, and understandably so. However, those SEARS frames are mass-produced (presumably by the thousands) and would be a lot lot cheaper to produce. I would estimate that those frames with their computer-generated inserts would cost no more than $10-$15 each on a mass-produced basis, if not less. When you study the frames and printed inserts in the ad they are really quite basic.

I'm not criticizing the product itself (it's very nice) but I am criticizing the very lofty retail price! I realize that there are various overhead costs involved (design, advertising, distribution, salaries, etc.) but it's still a high price. There must be a cheaper way to promote the collecting of Canadian bank notes!

The final retail price of the product seems a little steep, but this is the retail price. They are not sold through dealers, but a retail market strategy from one of the largest retailers in the world.
Amazing how much over book many collectors want for notes that fall into this category.

The product is well put together in Canada, using Canadian products.

Rick

The intended target is not collectors, but to those with a bit of interest in them. These are able to be re-sold, but like any used product, its intention is display at home, not the re-selling of it.
Buy a new TV at Sears. What will it be worth in 3-5 years? Basically nothing, at least one of these sets does have some value in the same time period.

The frames are made in Mississauga, the notes in Canada.

Rick

It would be interesting to know exactly how many of these framed "sets" have been made up and/or sold over the years. I would presume that they are made up in batches of 50 or so whenever market demand warrants it. I've never actually seen a set in the flesh or encountered anyone (collector or non-collector) who has a set yet they've been around for quite a while. I vividly recall their being promoted by Mr. S. B. on the TV Channel a few years ago. Maybe they're now adorning the offices of Bank Presidents, Company CEO's, and the like?

As I said before, the product itself is sharp and snazzy but the price remains unreasonably high in my personal opinion, i.e., $169.98 for four common $1 bills (not all Unc), $199.98 for four common $2 bills, $249.98 for four common $5 bills and $279.88 for four common $10 bills. However, this is a good example of free enterprise at work and from that perspective I have no problems. Caveat Emptor as always!

These sets were not sold on the shopping channel. Steve Bromberg sells his own creations, some of which are very good.

I do not know how many have been sold in the past 10 to 20 years, but it has been considerable. I hope them sell lots, but not too many.

Rick