A Question - What Would You Do?

Probably would tell the seller that the coin is silver or gold. purchasing a gold coin for 10 cents is a bit shady sounding.

Tell us, What do you do first....

If It's my LCS, I'd show it to my coin guy and he'd mostly likely sell it to me at well under its value. Because he probably picked it up from a bulk collection/purchase.

I have my Christian conscience.
That leaves me with no choice but to tell the dealer immediately. There is always the hope that you may buy the coin at an honest low price.
I have already been in this sort of situation, and that is what I did then.

Like most other collectors, I have cherrypicked on lots of occasions, but not in an implied dishonest way.

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If you build up a decent reputation as an honest customer over the years, some dealers may become your numismatic mentor. You can get good professional advice for free. That is priceless.
Thus, I have been rescued on a couple of occasions by the dealer.

It's really quite a grey area. What is an error on the part of the dealer or what's a good deal.

If it was a clear error on the part of the dealer I would tell but if it was a good spot on my part and the dealer missed it, then its fair game.

Let's put it this way, if you overpaid for an item, would the dealer highlight that to you ?

I honestly do not think that it has a clear cut answer. You have to think of the economics of dealers' junk boxes. It is not worth their effort to give a thorough sort and identify every last valuable coin. They give a preliminary sort to find the silver and other more valuable coins, but once it goes into the junk bin I think that it is fair game for the collector. Were I a dealer, that's how I would look at it. Its a calculated risk.

Suppose a dealer showed you a pile of coins and said to you: Spend the afternoon sorting through these, identify all the valuable ones, and give them to me?

Why should I do the dealer's work?

If the collector is willing to spend the time to scrutinize the pile, using the knowledge they gained through hours of study, why should he or she not have a chance to be rewarded with the odd lucky find?

The same goes for misidentified coins in 2x2s. In my mind that is just commerce.

First, thanks for the thoughtful thread.
I share the sentiments of @oriole.

I work in a different kind of retail store.
If we make a mistake pricing an item, it's on us. We sell it at the marked price, usually making a comment like, "Hey you're getting a good deal on this! Looks like we made a mistake," and then go check to make sure there are not others with the same mistake. We are not highly automated, by choice. So human error happens. If not daily, at least every other week. It's a consequence of how the boss has decided to run the business. We are the professionals and should get it right.

Sure, if there is a valuable U.S. coin in a world 10 cent bin, it's likely a mistake, and I would be inclined to point it out. But I also love to go through my local dealer's 20 cent world coin bin, and I've fished out coins I was curious about (since my knowledge of modern world coins is rather dated) and later found I could (and did) sell for 10 bucks. Should I have taken that back and told him how valuable it was? Was that 4,000% profit margin unethical? Where is the line?

As @oriole says, I think there is more gray than black-and-white to your question.

Thanks for provoking the discussion, and for sharing how that experience affected you.

Agree that this is more of a grey area, businesses will not have an issue trying to fetch an extra premium for anything they sell, and in Canada an advertised price is not a negotiable thing. A few months ago I was at the lcbo and they had a sign saying something was 10$ off from 11$ to 1$ when it was supposed to say 1$ off so 10$ I grabbed a bunch of these an when I was at the counter brought up that the sign said it was only 1$. They checked and had to honour the advertised price. I put most of them back and just grabbed one for 1$ rather then all of them. So legally an advertised price has to be honoured or it's considered false advertising. Tho if I was in this specific scenario I would notify the dealer and hope my honesty is rewarded, and if not either way the coin dealer would have a better reputation of me. Mayb get good deals from them in the future.

I used to sell things at an antique mall & still sell on ebay. It's my responsibility to know the value of what I'm selling. When I set a price I've essentially given my word that I'll sell at that price. I expect other sellers to do the same.