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 Replies: 48 / Views: 5,167 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
The biggest laugh I had with something like this was when I went to pay for a $4.75 purchase with 10 bicentennial halves and the cashier kept trying to tell me that each coin was worth $5 and that she didn't want to give me so much change out of her drawer. I finally just said, I only want a quarter in change and I would not take more.
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Valued Member
United States
266 Posts |
It happens to me all the time that friends will come up to me and ask me what something is worth, thin king they may have found some sort of treasure. Usually when I tell them what it actually is, I will go out of my way to give them as much information on it as I can, and will even go online with them to show them, if we are by a computer. I had a friend from work e-mail me this morning with a photo of a couple of coins that his father had given him, just recently. It was a coin that his grandfather had handed down, etc, etc. Looking at the first photo, it was an old, worn 1922 Peace dollar, but the second one was a 1907 Liberty Head Gold Eagle. I gave him the info on it, but made sure to tell him that I didn't know gold, and couldn't guarantee that it wasn't fake. I like to be honest with stuff like this, and unfortunately, there are people out there who would have said that he had nothing, and he'd take it off his hands for 50 bucks. |
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Pillar of the Community
2223 Posts |
 That is funny. Need to start a thread : Funniest Coin Stories. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
Where should we post this "Funniest Coin Stories" thread?
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
14454 Posts |
it would be a General Discussion area topic
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
Wow these are some hilarious stories... I am LOVING it! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
Yeah like some people stated, you can't get mad at them for not knowing, because coins are not their hobby. after all it is not fair for a computer geek to get mad at me for not knowing anything about computers.
but seriously, there are some great stories here. it's always funny when people think you are getting rid of valuable coins when you know they are just worth face.
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1063 Posts |
Sure it's a matter of "you don't know what you don't know", but I worked in Colorado one summer before I was a coin collector, I'm British and it was my second summer in the US, and a Buffalo nickel comes through my hands, I asked the manager what it is, he said I should just keep it, so I did, no date or anything but I had no clue. I also managed to get $2 bills and keep them, and some older cent coins and then the State Quarters were just coming out. When I did become a coin collector, I had a bag saved up of stuff, okay it is not worth that much in real terms, but I now have a decent collection. When back in the US last summer for a day (in transit) I went and got myself as many State Quarters as I had change left over from 10 years previously, and most of the people in the airport did not seem to have a clue what I was talking about, "what's a State Quarter?", so I had to show them, and most swapped what they had thinking I was weird. But if you don't know what a normal coin looks like, how can you know what you are spending? But people are just used to this. Perhaps they notice something strange and either think it is worth a lot. I read one story of a person with a coin that was about 100 years old, and then demanded that it be worth thousands because it was so old. Even better are the olympic 50p coins in the UK. When they first came out in 2010 they had 2011 dates on them. One girl thought it would put her through university, fact is they go for around £1 to £1.50 circulated, which wouldn't even buy her a pint (unless at the uni bar on special offer!) I just wished I had known a thing or two about US money when I worked with US money for two summers, what passed through my tills that was worth something? AHHHHHH!! In the UK we don't have this problem much, few coins are worth more than face! In China all the coins are from 1992 onwards! In the Euro Zone it is 1999 (2002) onwards!! |
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Valued Member
United States
296 Posts |
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...you can't get mad at them for not knowing, because coins are not their hobby... True, to a point. Older coins that have been out of circulation for generations yes. Modern coins, absolutely not. In this modern era of instant information on the internet and smart phones, there is no excuse for not knowing the new Presidential dollars are not gold. Is anybody paying attention to anything anymore? It is no secret gold and silver are at record highs. You have to be living under a rock to not know. People think they can buy $1600 gold for a dollar..? Seriously..? Are people able to look at the darn coin and read a date and denomination..? People know how to find all the useless pointless mind numbing crap and gossip about the latest celebrity. Yet they can't do a simple google search to educate themselves on anything else... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
Well people thinking that the presidential coins are gold is just ignorance. They must not know the current market price for gold, and they must think that others don't know how valuable the presidential coins are. that to me is ignorance and there is no excuse. but I don't blame people who do not know what the Presidential dollars are when they see them. after all they don't really get circulated, so some people have never seen them before. but to automatically assume they are gold because of the color is just silly. who would be spending $1000 coins like that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
It's funny how when you have been doing something for years it becomes common knowledge for you but then many people you talk to don't know what you're talking about.
For example:
We raise chickens, so a girl came today because her mother wanted to buy some.
She says you sell chickens?
I say yes, only roosters. the hens are laying and we need the eggs.
She talks to her mother than comes back and says, I want 2 roosters and 2 chickens.
I said we only sell the roosters so you want 4 roosters?
She says I want 2 male roosters and 2 female roosters...
Well for anyone who doesn't know roosters are male chickens and hens are female chickens. You can't have a girl/boy, now can you?
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Valued Member
United States
115 Posts |
I routinely get a bunch of dollar coins and pay with those. People are genuinely surprised to see them and almost wonder if they are legal tender. I think the appropriate thing to do in this case is to just look at them and ask them why they are so clueless. With stories like these it does not surprise me that people could gold plate old Liberty nickels and pass them off as 5 Dollar Gold pieces back in 1883. If anything the general public was even less educated back then. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Quote:
Well people thinking that the presidential coins are gold is just ignorance. I think you can add lack of common sense to the mix. ThinkIng expensive gold is just freely circulating like that... |
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Valued Member
United States
296 Posts |
Quote:
It's funny how when you have been doing something for years it becomes common knowledge for you but then many people you talk to don't know what you're talking about.
For example:
We raise chickens, so a girl came today because her mother wanted to buy some.
She says you sell chickens?
I say yes, only roosters. the hens are laying and we need the eggs.
She talks to her mother than comes back and says, I want 2 roosters and 2 chickens.
I said we only sell the roosters so you want 4 roosters?
She says I want 2 male roosters and 2 female roosters...
Well for anyone who doesn't know roosters are male chickens and hens are female chickens. You can't have a girl/boy, now can you?
That is my point. In this information age there is no excuse for not doing a little research on the subject your about to delve into, with a financial investment no less! The fact that a rooster is a male and a hen is a female use to be common knowledge, even amongst city slickers who have never left the city limits... On a related note to that story. I recently got into a pointless conversation with an anti-hunter who didn't like the fact that animals were being killed for the meat. She said, "Why don't you just go to the store where they make it and buy it there instead..."  |
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Valued Member
United States
460 Posts |
Quote:
I recently got into a pointless conversation with an anti-hunter who didn't like the fact that animals were being killed for the meat. She said, "Why don't you just go to the store where they make it and buy it there instead..." Would not mind getting some of the stuff he was on. |
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Replies: 48 / Views: 5,167 |
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Posted 07/25/2011 2:34 pm
