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 Replies: 31 / Views: 3,343 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Still don't get why everyone feels that EVERY single teenager on the face of the earth is EVIL?
I almost feel insulted. Are you saying that when you were a teenager, for some reason you felt it was right to steal from your own parents?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
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The OP asked what would you do ? I saw something that, in my experience as a long time coin collector, looked very suspicious to me. I reported my suspicions to the police. They can then decide and I can go home and sleep soundly know that I did what I felt was the right thing to do. maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would mind my own business. I know I wouldn't appreciate it if someone called the cops on me for being suspicious. My rule has always been, the cops are for emergencies. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
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maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would mind my own business. I know I wouldn't appreciate it if someone called the cops on me for being suspicious. My rule has always been, the cops are for emergencies.
Help spend weird money! Thats kind of what I was getting at. They probably wouldnt show up for an hour or two anyway unless they had no other calls. It wasnt too long ago I was a teen myself and I know a lot of them do a lot of bad things, but not all and you would spend the entire day on the phone calling the police if you reported everything you felt may not be on the up and up |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
 Not for a possible $20 theft. That should be reported to mall security or something. Edited by noahs-numismatics
05/23/2013 9:35 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
55 Posts |
Quite frankly I never even thought about calling the authorities to report a possible crime. I was more interested in what everyone thought of either intervening during the sales process (which I thought about briefly but would never do) or talking to the kid afterward outside of the store (which I did).
Didn't mean to make this an us (old farts) vs them (young 'uns) thread!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Not your fault. I guess we will just have to leave it, because neither 'side' will be able to convince the whole population of the other anyways.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
561 Posts |
I probably wouldn't do anything. However, I don't have a problem with anyone that would have stepped in to inform the kid how badly he was getting taken. While it is certainly bad form in most businesses this doesn't sound like a place I would be too concerned about being welcomed back.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
there are 2 sides to every story, and somewhere in between lies the truth. as a parent myself, if my kids start lifting my coins, then I have way more to worry about than little pieces of metal. Quote:
It is not profiling or paranoia, it is what Homeland Security and every law enforcement agency asks you to do. See something suspicious ? Drop a dime. be careful what you wish for, a certain german leader in the 1940s rewarded children for reporting on their parents. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I would not interfere with business inside of the shop but I would mention something to the seller outside regarding the lowball price if given the chance. A kid showing up at a pawn/coin/antique shop with three Double Eagles and a Chief Onepapa would most definitely be suspicious and I would suspect theft as well. A kid showing up at the same place with a few common silver half dollars was me about 25 years ago and I find it insulting that someone would be so authoritarian as to call the police over items of an insignificant value with zero evidence of theft  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
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I would have dialed 911 upon leaving the store, and told the police I just witnessed the pawning of stolen property. I would appreciate someone doing the same for me if I had a delinquent son stealing my coin and currency collection. Wow. Just wow. I guess innocent until proven guilty isn't alive & well everywhere. To get back to the OP. I buy & sell on a small scale. I wouldn't have offered anything for the silver cert. There isn't a resale market in my neck of the woods. Common date BU Franklins retail here for $16-17.50....& take quite a while to sell at those prices. If I had BU Franklins in my inventory the only offer I could have made would have been based on spot. I would point out to the seller that they could get more for numismatic value, but wouldn't feel any obligation to pay top dollar for an item that instantly becomes dead inventory. I do agree the buyers offer of $6 each was low. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
I disagree like the many others above with the idea of calling the police on the basis of pure suspicion. Besides--what do you say to the police dispatcher
when you get them on the line--"I saw a teenager in a mall who has two half dollar coins and one dollar bill that I suspect he might have stolen" ?
PD's have priorities but don't have unlimited staff resources. An emergency call about a teenager in a mall who has two half dollar coins and one dollar bill
that somebody (on the basis of pure personal prejudice) suspects he may have stolen is a call that many departments might just not respond to.
Edit: Noah--Don't "almost feel insulted." Feel every bit of very insulted.
Edited by Fat Freddy
05/24/2013 08:36 am
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Valued Member
United States
416 Posts |
my question to the OP, since you talked to the teenager outside of the store, what was his reaction to you coming up to him?
I also agree with not calling the cops over what the majority of people would see as $2.50
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Valued Member
United States
55 Posts |
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my question to the OP, since you talked to the teenager outside of the store, what was his reaction to you coming up to him? Good question. At first he was very apprehensive. I am 6'2" and 210 lbs and I said, "hey kid, come here for a second". I can only imagine what went through his mind! Especially since many on here think he is a crook! I then quietly and politely told him not to bring his coins back here to the comic book store in the mall but to take them to the ANA coin dealer across the street. I also told him about what he should be getting for coins such as the ones he just sold. I gave him my card as I had recently met the owner of the LCS across the street and we struck up an immediate friendship....(Probably because I had just spent a couple of hundred bucks in his shop). I also called the owner of the LCS and let him know what had just transpired so he would be aware of the situation. That way, he can decide for himself if this is legit or the kid is lifting his old man's collection. I try to stay out of other's business but I at least wanted the kid and the LCS owner to be fully informed (as I could be). He thanked me, shook my hand and said that he would go to the LCS next time and let the owner know I sent him. Who knows, maybe we will have a new young collector out of all this. Maybe the LCS owner will remember my helping him and give me that MS SLQ I was eying at the price I offered? Who knows? |
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Valued Member
United States
325 Posts |
Yeah calling the police is a bit extreme. It's not really your business. Not enough evidence. The tip was nice though to tell him he could get more. Haggling isn't illegal though the business owner lost the business and deserved that at higher prices then expected.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
Looking at the mall store owner, I do not see why everyone is hammering him. He is not a LCS, he has overhead and people come to his store to purchase things other than coins. Yes, the offer was low, but this is inventory that could potentially sit on his shelf for a while.
Good for you helping to educate the young man. I just do not see why there is so much vitriol against a store owner doing what he thinks is best for his non-numismatic store.
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Replies: 31 / Views: 3,343 |
First Page
Posted 05/23/2013 9:27 pm
