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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,597 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
I have realized as of late that during my years as a numismatist I have acquired not only coins, but also stores of my experiences having contact with dealers. Some of these are of great experiences, though others are of rather unpleasant experiences. All in all these incidents, both good and bad, have caused me to learn much about coins but also about the world of dealing and collecting. So do you guys have any stories to share? (But let's not name names of dealers in the unpleasant cases). Edited by Archraz
10/21/2008 01:54 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Way to many. One of my funniest was a dealer that gives me all his used coin albums free which is why I have over 100 of them. He buys complete or almost completed albums, takes the coins out, places them in flips and used to throw out the albums. At one coin show he brought me two boxes of the albums. Whitmans, Danscos and lots of others. His daughter, about 10, sometimes helps him at coin shows and was there that day. I was just going to take the boxes of albums to my car when she asked if she could have a Mercury dime Album. I handed her one and she opened it and said WOW. It was full of Mercury dimes. We went through all the rest and that was the only one of over 40 albums with coins. Her Dad was going to take them away from her but all the other dealers in the area started to razz him so she got to keep them. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Back when I was a teen, Leon Hendrickson handed me a long box and asked for $2000, sight unseen. I didn't have that much, but he'd take my check. I still passed.
"Darn shame, I'd have bought it back for $3500", he said.
Five rolls of BU Texas commems done up in 2x2s.
Don DeVore used to do things like quote a buy/sell with identical numbers. It was up to you to learn the market.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
There are good dealers and just plain bad ones.
There is one dealer at a show that I attend twice a month who is just plain (either) stupid or a rat.
He overgrades everything and then prices for the year 3008.
He knows that I realize that he is a rat and (once) a friend asked me to look at something and he refused to let me see it.
So, he realized that I never had anything nice to say to him, or about him.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I picked up a bit of a dealer horror story at a show over the weekend. This guy was one of the first dealers I stopped at because I knew he specialized in 19th century type material of all price ranges. I had never looked at his material at a show but I have perused his website listings many times and I would guess that he has over a million dollars in inventory. Unfortunately, his website only has descriptions and no photos so I have never purchased via the site. His inventory consists of raw coins under $100, raw coins in the hundreds and thousands, and slabbed coins from a couple hundred dollars on up. All of the raw coins were in flips. As far as the breakdown between raw and slabbed, I do not know but the raw coins were in stock books and they comprised at least two cases with slabbed coins in about 6 other cases. However, it is obvious that you can fit a large number of stock books in a case but you are kind of limited on how many slabs can go in a case when they are laid out in a single layer. If I had to guess, I would say it was about 50/50. I started by looking at Bust dimes since I needed an upgrade for my type album. I was looking at one and noticed a bit of haziness on the flip. I moved the coin in the flip and noticed a "ring" where the coin had been and I though to myself, "how strange". As I started to thumb through another stock book looking at Shield nickels, I realized what was happening- I saw a green tint on an otherwise beautiful AU Shield- the flips were made of PVC  I almost shrieked in horror like a little girl with a spider crawling on her but I tried to contain myself. I thought to myself, "surely this professional dealer with what I thought was a good reputation would not risk storing his coins in PVC flips". As I looked through more stock books, I realized that was exactly what I was looking at- the green slime of death Of course, it was around that time that I also noticed the "shower curtain smell". I had to stop after I saw a Civil War-era 3CS business strike(the ones that are rarer than the proofs) that was covered in green slime, I was getting sick to my stomach. From what I did see, I would estimate that 5-10% of the raw coins were affected. I told the dealer thanks for his time but I did not find anything I was looking for. The dealer was a very cordial and accommodating individual so I had to hold back my feelings about what he was doing to his once beautiful inventory. Because he was such a nice guy, I am a bit conflicted about naming names but I will give a couple hints- his first name is the nickname of a former US President and his last name is similar to that of a British heavy metal singer who started in the 70s. Needless to say, I left that dealer's table feeling like I needed a triple shot of Lynchburg "lemonade"... Edited by biokemist6
10/21/2008 5:45 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
Great stories, everyone! Keep 'em coming. If we get enough of these, I may finally divulge a few of mine.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
Archraz:
Ah, come one!
Give 'em up!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Well, I'm sorry to say that I have quite a few that are unpleasant, but I have some rather nice/ fun stories as well, so I'll try to present a balance of the two. First a good story: Back in 1998 when I first visited the dealer (to whom I have been a very loyal customer ever since) I asked to see a tray of loose Morgan dollars that was labeled "$14" each. Most of the coins on the tray were common dates in F-EF. But when I flipped over one coin that had been obverse up, which I thought was going to be an 1878, I found that "CC" was beneath the eagle's tail. So I asked the dealer "Is there something very wrong with this coin that I am just not seeing or is this not intended to be on this tray?" He saw it and laughed and said "well, finders keepers. I had been wondering where that went. There is nothing wrong with it, and it is still $14 if you want it." So that is the story of how I got by 1879CC Morgan in VF for $14. Now a not so pleasant story: When I went to a coin show when I was about 12 I walked up to a dealer's table and saw that in the glass case he had a few colonial 2Real coins loose in a box. The dealer allowed me to look through them. I found that about 3 or 4 on the bottom were very heavily worn. In fact, it took a trained eye to even know what they were. I then said to the dealer "There is always something kind of neat about worn coins. You kind of get a sense that these must have had an interesting life history." The dealer then looked at me and said "yeah, that is why really worn and damaged coins are worth more than mint condition coins. Those ones that are really really worn cost twice as much as is labeled on the box." It just kind of shocked me that he would say something like that in hopes of taking advantage of the naivete of a young collector. I then responded to him "Just because I'm young doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm doing." I then put the coins down and walked away from his table. I have many, many more to share. And I will do so once I get some more great stories from you guys!  Edited by Archraz
10/22/2008 4:26 pm
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
I live in Baton Rouge and there is a great dealer in Denham Springs (not far away) that is very honest and very nice. There is also a dealer who tries to rip everyone off. I tried to sell BU Franklin half dollars and he offered $3.50 per coin (this is a couple years ago). Anyways, the good dealer is always friendly and lets you look through everything he has. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
A long time ago I took my really nice classic head Half Cent for appraisal because I just wanted to see if it could be better than I thought it was. I bought it as around an MS-63 and was sure it was unc. This gruff, nasty sounding old guy takes one look at it and just calls it a slider, and offers to buy it for $180. I was pretty ticked off, but I knew he was playing me and I didn't want to sell it. Was hoping to find some new coin shops that day though but didn't really have any luck. Only ever really been to one. Went to a coin show once when I was 14, everything was either a rip off or way over my budget. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
I have another good story that I just remembered.
When I was about 12, I stumbled upon a small coin show occurring inside of a local mall. While I was looking through one dealer's glass case,the dealer then said "I have some really interesting coins from the civil war to show you." He then reached underneath his table and produced a handful of loose bronze tokens about the size of a half dollar. I could see that one each of these coins would the outline of Wisconsin. I then asked the dealer what they were. He said "these are coins that were issued by Wisconsin when they left the Union and joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. I'll sell these to you for a hundred dollars a piece." I obviously thought that this dealer was nuts and walked away. Honestly the concept of Wisconsin joining the Confederacy just strikes me as funny.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
Archraz: Funny sotry, I wonder if the dealer was just making a joke, or was really ignorant. I have a few, but don't have time right now. I'll post them later, like the story about the overdate War Nickel. Well, okay, just that one for now: Sometime in the early 1970's (yeah, I know before TV and cars), I found a 1943 War Nickel that I though could be an overdate. I showed it to about a dozen dealers on Long Island, and was constantly told: there is no over date for that year. I put it away, went back to college, and forgot about it. Around 1980 or so I got back into collecting and learned that that non-overdate was now a recognized variety. Sometimes ya win, sometimes ya lose. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
TreasHunt- yeah I know just what you mean. It does take time for varieties to be discovered and proven to be legitimate. I honestly think that I may have a 1970 s over D nickel, but everyone (including members of this forum) just claim that it must be a damaged S or D. Well, either way I'm holding onto it.
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Rest in Peace
United States
3730 Posts |
My coin store, in Grand Junction, CO, is about to close its doors.
Breaks my heart.
The economy.
Best buy there was a couple of years ago when the owner sold me a Gold One Ounce Buffalo, Proof, for $450.00.
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Valued Member
United States
442 Posts |
The longer you collect the more good and bad experiences you'll have. I've had a few dealers at shows tell me things I know aren't true. I just thank them for their time and move on basically. I know I won't waste time with them at the next show. Of the dealers near me there are two I like. One happens to be my boss and the other about 5 miles away. THEY get along so talking to Bob (at the other shop) is not an issue. Bob is an easy going guy without the buying power my boss has and actually he called today looking for Hawaii quarters. He just gets them from Arthur (my boss). Believe me if there is something that one knows better than the other they refer people. They also keep in touch for any scams etc that may be going around. Arthur is getting a bit cranky at times these days. He's been at it for 42 years now. That's why you'll see me post a coin on occasion that I got cheap because "I got the boss in a good mood". Now here is something I will say about BOTH of these guys. They have taught me VOLUMES over the years. This is where coin shop etiquette comes into play. I didn't get to know these guys over night. It took many visits to the point where they recognized me. I always tried to buy something no matter how small. I figured "trade" for "knowledge". It's odd working for one of them now but you figure he knows he taught me a lot and can trust me. What's even odder is there are areas now where I know more than him. Don't get me wroong - he's forgotten more than I know but if a Two Cent Piece walks in I am called to look at it. Same with small size US paper money. He'll skim a pile with no interest then hand it to me. I will generally pull at least a few notes for him to buy. So basically if you find a dealer you DO like treat them with respect and be patient. They are like people here on the forum. More than happy to help you learn. Buying from them helps them cover overhead. |
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Valued Member
United States
417 Posts |
About 10 years ago, when I started out collecting, I'd frequent a coin & jewelry shop in my hometown. The lady who owned it had probably bought somebody's estate collection and there were coins, in some 'old time' plastic baggies, stapled to tiny brown envelopes. In one was a 1939-S nickel in BU. She sold it to me cheap and I ended up sending it off to get graded where it came back as an MS-65.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,597 |
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Posted 10/21/2008 07:16 am
