L & C Coins is located in Los Alamitos, near the Los Alamitos race track near the corner of Katella Ave. and Winner's Circle.
L&C told me that they will pay 2 cents for almost all circulated Lincoln cents, regardless of their condition (nearly uncirculated, for example). Buy they are selling Lincoln pennies that are much worse for $75. That's quite a mark-up, to buy at 2 cents and sell the same penny (or worse) for $75. The price that they charge for coins is excessive.
They refuse to show pennies that they have for sale. Much could be seen in person that cannot be seen from pictures on their website. They say that it would violate their security protocols to show coins, and they said that they are not a museum, so they won't show coins.
I would suggest that you don't try to sell coins at L&C. I would suggest that you don't try to buy coins at L&C. They are greedy and don't make fair appraisals. This begs the question, why are they endorsed by NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Company)? Surely this endorsement isn't deserved if they unfairly rate customer's coins and their own coins. Could that endorsement be based on knowledge? If so, the greed of L&C overpowered their sense of fairness.
I think that L&C chose their "horse track" location to bilk coins out of down-on-their luck horse gamblers, who are forced to sell their coin collections and are too drunk to know when they are being low-balled.
I have not tried other businesses, but I'm going to try their competitors instead. Perhaps:
OC Rare Coins
Southern California Coins
Coin Corner
American Coin
Hallock Pawn (Lincoln Avenue, Anaheim).
I would not suggest Lincoln Pawn, because they don't accept pennies (only silver), and pay 1/2 of the cost of silver content, and have rules against buying silver coins based on the value of the coin unless they are certified and graded.
Currently, Ebay is the best place that I know of to buy and sell coins.
Some websites claim that L&C coin has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). However, the BBB claims that they are not listed on their website, and therefore don't have a BBB rating. read more