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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
I was at a co-worker's desk today when one of his cubicle mates said "Since you're into coins, I have a couple wheat cents I found in change over the years, do you want to look at them?" I said sure, but couldn't get to it immediately as I had not finished my interaction with the first guy. So guy #2 brings out a magnifying glass and starts telling me "I have a 1937, a 1946, 1914-D, a..." That's when I whirled around (Guy #1 totally forgotten about at this point) and said there's no bleeping way he has a '14D. We looked at it through the glass and sure enough, it's a '14D. He said that he was going to give me the coins, but my reaction to the '14D made him reconsider. I guess this is why I shouldn't play poker. I brought over my Red Book and showed him the prices for the cent. His is in about G4 condition, but still a great find from circulation. He says that he'll give me first shot at buying it if he ever intends to sell it. Edited by TJB17
05/14/2013 8:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
You did the right and ethical thing, even if you did it by accident.
That counts for something. :-)
Example: I have a jeweler friend who lets me look through lots of coins people sell him to appraise them and in return he gives me first pick of what I find. Think about it: If I were to lie to him about anything I find, it would severely damage both our relationship as friends and our commercial relationship. No doubt what's the right thing to do there.
If it's your co-worker, it's worth being a friend first, and a coin collector second. That way, the next time they come across something awesome they'll think of you first. :-)
Edited by SteveCaruso
05/14/2013 8:54 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
492 Posts |
I wouldn't have tried to swindle him out of it anyway. He's more than a casual acquaintance at work, so I would have told him what it's worth anyway, even if he tried to give them to me. To me it's just funny how my first instinct was to show such incredulity and surprise, demonstrating that I definitely don't have a poker face. I definitely didn't play it cool!
Edited by TJB17
05/14/2013 9:20 pm
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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
He kept poking it and touching the face of it, much to my dismay. I kept telling him to be nice to it, and handle it by the edges, even if it is already low grade. When he stacked it with the other wheats and tossed, yes tossed, them into his (metal) desk drawer, I marched over to my desk and brought back a 2x2. I made him hand it over so I could put it in there for a least a little bit of protection. The 2x2 was for a nickel since that's all I had, but it will provide better protection than nothing.
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Valued Member
United States
362 Posts |
TJB17, you are just too nice a person to hang with me. I would have ate him alive, and had him buy me a coke to take them off of his hands.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1704 Posts |
A remarkable find indeed! I would say that the desk drawer isn't the safest place to keep that cent once word gets around what it's worth. I've had things stolen by coworkers in the past that were much larger and less valuable than that 1914-D. He should be advised to take the cent home and keep it there until he decides to do something with it. Ed ANA LM-3175 |
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Valued Member
United States
206 Posts |
What an awesome find, good thing he had you around! I wonder how many times a rare coin has turned up that way only to be spent again and put back into circulation.
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Pillar of the Community
1751 Posts |
Make sure it's not an altered '44-D, quite common to see these altered into '14-D's.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8515 Posts |
I'm the same way. I would make a terrible thief. Had you taken the 14-D for nothing, it would have eaten at you.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2311 Posts |
Great story! But makes me mad he didn't take care of the coin.
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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
52Raymo, you're quite right. I couldn't and wouldn't take it off him for nothing.
Fadetoblack, thanks for the advice. I'll take a look at it better with my loupe tomorrow.
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Valued Member
United States
256 Posts |
The only thing that bothers me is that he was gonna give them to you up until he found out what it was. Now he has to think about selling them , throws them in his drawer and that's that, whats up with that?
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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
It was all for naught anyway. I took FadeToBlack's advice and looked closer with my higher power loupe and it's an altered '44-D. Being engineers, we had to take it to a lab with a microscope and looked at it even closer. Whoever did the alteration did a fantastic job, but using the scope it is very apparent that the rest of the 4 was ground away. It looks like it was done a long time ago because the ground area and the rest of the coin have the same patina. If nothing else, it was a great learning experience.
He asked me if I was still interested in buying it. I said sure, I'll give you 3 cents for it. He decided to keep it.
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Pillar of the Community
1751 Posts |
Yep, figured that would be the case... there's probably more altered '44-D's still floating out there unknown than real '14-D's I'm immediately skeptical of any supposed '14-D that shows up out of nowhere.
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Valued Member
United States
492 Posts |
Well, I was finally able to convince my co-worker to let go of his fake 1914-D LWC. When I told him about Steve Caruso and the Black Cabinet, he agreed to let me sent it in to Steve. IT should be at it's new home in a couple days.   Unfortunately, we can add improper cleaning to the list of things wrong with this coin. I forgot it was in my shirt pocket when I got home from work. My wife did the laundry as soon as I changed, and it literally got a cleaning. Good thing it didn't become a Dryer Coin though. Edited by TJB17
06/27/2013 11:27 pm
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,268 |
Posted 05/14/2013 9:20 pm
