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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,037 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2724 Posts |
I hope that everyone is having an enjoyable Easter. Today was nice here. Had a great lunch with the girlfriend and then went to buy some coins. I arrived at the potential customers house with visions of beautiful rare coins dancing in my head, only to find many counterfeits and worthless spenders. All the private territorial gold were indeed mass produced counterfeits, and not a good one in the bunch. Cast copies made of brass. Plenty of nice big dollar coins, but unfortunately all were Ike dollars. About the only good thing coming out of the trip, (other than the consultation fee) was receiving a Star note $1 bill in change at the parking garage. Yes it is nicely folded and worn a bit, but still not an every day find. Now many will ask, what is the point of this thread. Well folks, not every day in a dealers life is like Christmas. Most of us answer the same old questions many times, see the same old things over and over, and hear how "someone spent their million dollar coin". All are major parts of a dealers day. Most days are spent explaining how the person's coins are not worth all that much just because they are old. My favorite "old" coin question. How can a 2000 year old coin be worth $20? Then no matter how well explained, the same response is given. Well I will hold on to it for a few more years and it will be worth more. |
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Pillar Of The Community
3147 Posts |
Let's face the facts here! Everyone is NOT a coin collector and while we know the value of this hobby and the thrill of the hunt most folks just don't care and don't understand until they think they have a valuable coin drop in there laps. Quite honestly if EVERYONE collected coins most of us would not be able to continue as demand would be beyond our imagination and most dealers would quite simply run out of stock! I have seen what ND is referring to hundreds of times and when you try to explain they feel you are setting them up for a big rip off, leave p----- off and never trusting anyone in the hobby again. Yes, the joys of collecting especially when you are dealing with a non-collector looking for the break of a lifetime that they might think a dear old relative has provided for them. Tough job being a dealer and finding an honest dealer is well worth the search and the relationship can and will last a lifetime! Thanks for a little insight into your world that WE never see ND. Having been there a few times (few years ago when I tried dealing) I decided that collecting was more my bag of tricks!
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Valued Member
United States
307 Posts |
About 2 years ago I had about 20-30 $1 star notes...I spent them for another coin...I don't know if I came out ahead or not but sometimes I wish I still had them...
Speedy
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
I agree with you, ND. We had one client that kept saying that he wanted us to sell his lower dollar coins first and then he would give us the "big-dollar" stuff. The "big-dollar" coins were commemoratives that had been dipped and rubbed. When I explained that we could sell them, but we were going to describe the coin as cleaned, he asked if we could just say that it "might have been" cleaned. Boy, was he mad when I told him that we didn't do business like that. He then said that he had 6 other coins that he was going to talk to a dealer about having graded and wanted my opinion. There was definite wear on one and a lot of contact marks on the rest. After I had given him my opinion on the first two, he took the rest, put them in a bag, and told me to "have a nice day". All I was trying to do was save him some money. It's not worth $30 to have a $45 coin graded.
I think it's terrible when honest dealers are seen as the bad guys, especially when it's the dealers that lie that are actually doing the harm.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2884 Posts |
I'm sure that this is a story that happens often to dealers. A customer walks in with a handful of coins and wants to know what he can get for them. The dealer sifts through the lot, see's a few coins he can use and for the most part the rest are just common fillers. He writes up an offer, putting a little more in the common's then he really wants to (hoping to make the deal) and makes a solid fair offer on the more valuable coins that he could use for inventory. The customer asks for the breakdown, the dealer provides it and the customer picks out the most valuable coins and says "well since these are worth quite a bit I'll hang on to them" but you can have the other cheap ones! Being a dealer of high integrity he keeps his word and hands over the money,gets a bunch of stuff he didn't want and thinks..."Well I guess if I would have lowballed the more valuable ones I'd have them to"! Another story? Not really I saw it with my own eyes on a Saturday last year while just hanging at my local shop. My dealer friend tells me it is not that rare of an occurance! Mike  ND,some days you're the Eagle, others days you're the statue!  Edited by Mike
03/27/2005 10:08 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
This is an interesting thread. Reminds me of some recent episodes dealing with people who "have a few coins", but know nothing about them. When people learn I'm a serious collector, they invariably ask me to take a look at theirs or, in some cases, try to impress me with how much they know.
Last fall, the 16-year old daughter of a friend brought me her "gold" coin. She had even identified it from a reference. Well, I had to be the one to (gently) tell her it was a brass copy of a California token, worth very little. She was disappointed, of course, but I told her what an old Alaskan sourdough told me 40+ years ago: "When you see gold, you'll have no doubt it's gold.". I also gave her a pile of flips to protect the other coins she had.
Another story is much more recent. When I learned another guy in my little RV park here in the middle of the Arizona desert collects coins and has gathered a local reputation as a coin "expert", I had him over to exchange information as a fellow numismatist. Well, turns out he's an accumulator of circulated Wheats and not just a little hot air. He's a nice enough guy, so when he took one look at one of my slabbed Morgans graded MS-66 by PCGS and labelled it counterfeit, I very gently suggested that perhaps he wasn't familiar with grading services. By the time he mentioned Superior Galleries as a grading service and was talking about selling his rolls of Wheats for $10 each, I had a pretty good idea of his numismatic expertise, so I just let it go at that and won't bring up the subject again. Still, I'd love to look over his Wheaties.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2724 Posts |
$10 a roll? Maybe he works for the TV channels. I am often amused at the people who "find" coins. Most are making an honest attempt, but lack the desire to learn. They run out and buy a Red Book, find the best possible grade and value, and it matches their coin perfectly. I have met with customers who walk in with Indian cents that are so corroded that you have to use the loupe to read the date, and say with confidence that their coin is worth hundreds of dollars. At shows, I will have people walk up and look at my Morgan dollar and say you are selling this for 10 grand? I have a handful I just bought for $10 each. Wanna buy mine? I know of many dealers who get frustrated with answering the same old questions over and over. I have been told so many times about the 1943 copper cent laying in a junk drawer. The 1913 Liberty nickel that is buried in the backyard. The 1974 aluminum cents, the 1933 St. Gaudens, the 1894-S Dimes, and the list goes on and on. Everytime a coin makes the news, non-collectors flock to the dealers. I have gotten hundreds of calls about the Wisconsin quarters. Now for experts. Well I know of a few people that I would call experts. None will walk up to a collector or another dealer and state "I am an expert". A true expert will have no need to tell anyone. You will be able to see it for yourself in their words and actions. Expertise and respect come with time and effort. Neither can be bought or given. Now as far as having people walk in and get dealers to make offers. Yes it happens sometimes, but I do not fall into that trap. I have the customer give me a quote on what they want to sell their material for, and I either buy it or pass on it. I quote prices on my material, and I expect the same from my customers. Yes, I do get the occasional "old lady" who just found these, or the kids who inherited a collection, but for the most part I try to get them to keep their coins. Pass them along to someone who will appreciate them. No matter what price is offered, other family members will feel as if they could have gotten more. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
867 Posts |
Some of the customers at the bank know I'm a collector and bring me stuff to look at. Usually it's just some common date wheat cents or junk silver, but I have seen some interesting things. Someone had a major league filled die on a Louisiana quarter (funny thing about that is I found a similar one for myself a few days later! [:0]), and I had someone else bring me a "clamshell". I recommend to most people to go out and buy a Red Book and learn how to use it, or I send them on to my favorite coin shop to get another opinion. Rachel [:p] |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2724 Posts |
A friend at the bank is the wisest choice for any collector. It is nice to know at least one bank has a collector on staff. Just keep me in mind if anything truely off the wall crosses the counter. (yes, that is a little shameless self promotion). |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2884 Posts |
ND, in the story that I wrote was edited to cover the highlights of the transaction. I have read many similar stories with slight variations over the years. The dealer that I spoke of first asked what the person was looking to get for the coins. After a bunch of I don't knows and that's why I'm here's, my dealer buddy said exactly as you said you would have. Why don't you just hang on to these until your sure. The seller insisted he needed the money and would he please make an offer. This I must add I have witnessed in this shop 50 or more times over the years. Anyway the rest went as I said. My dealer is the most patient person I've ever seen when fielding questions from customers. He will hand people books to look at,look up prices and I swear buy some junk off someone because he feels bad for them! But quite frankly on the flipside he is still a business man who has succeeded in what I feel is a tough business! He is definitely there to make money. Mike |
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Valued Member
United States
382 Posts |
Remember awhile back I wrote about, "An old lady walks into a coin store with her late husband's collection?"
As I browsed the shop, I couldn't help but overhear a life long collection summarized in less than 10 minutes. Between the opening and closing of a stack of Whitman books to comments like, "These aren't worth anything, " I shuddered as I thought about that past-on collector whose passion for this hobby was being butchered with each closing of a folder.
With that, I have made sure that close family members (not my ex-wife...NEVER!) know exactly I have. I even have detailed printed out instruction sheet(s) detailing what they should do if they want to keep or sell my collection.
The old lady that walked into that coin shop to sell off her late husband's collection was happy that day. She walked out with more cash than she probably hoped for and a service was rendered. I almost wanted to ask the shop owner, what did she bring in?, but I couldn't muster the nerve.
Still...it is a story that repeats itself all too often and yes, dealers probably see their fair share of junk and have to be tactful in telling the novice that their 1943 copper penny with the word "Copy" on the reverse is not real...but I can't help think about that old lady whenever I see one park in front of a coin shop and struggle as she tries to bring the loaded box into the store.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
867 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by national dealer
A friend at the bank is the wisest choice for any collector. It is nice to know at least one bank has a collector on staff. Just keep me in mind if anything truely off the wall crosses the counter. (yes, that is a little shameless self promotion).
Certainly! If I ever find anything really odd/valuable, you'll hear about it!!  (I keep hoping that a 1909-SVDB cent will cross my counter, but so far no luck!) Rachel [:p] |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,037 |
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Posted 03/27/2005 6:34 pm
