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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,787 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
I went to an antique store with family over the holidays, and the guy had a few coins for sale. I came upon a stack of Kennedy half dollars. The man told me they were clad Kennedy's(technically correct), and that they were worth more than face value because they were "uncirculated". He was asking a dollar a piece for them. I looked through all 26 of them briefly, and the dates all ranged from 1965-1968. He was right about them being worth more than face, but wrong about the reason and I could care less about the condition. I asked him how much for the lot, and he said he would sell them all to me for 20 bucks. SURE, said I. It was obvious he didn't realize they were 40% silver "clad". He would have been ripping me off if they were true clad Kennedys since those are mostly only worth face even if uncirculated. To summarize, almost $70 worh of silver for $20. Made my day.  Most people understand the 90% silver pre-65, but many don't know about those special 40% halves from 1965-70. Edited by johnny54321
01/04/2010 6:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
952 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2541 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
213 Posts |
Wow. Way to rip off an old man! Want to help me steal welfare checks next week?
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Valued Member
United States
272 Posts |
I fail to see how paying a business the price they asked was ripping them off. It's not like he was going door to door trying to buy coins off people who didn't know any better. Besides, if the business sold them for $20 I'm sure he paid less than that for them.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4227 Posts |
Nice find and, no, you didn't rip anybody off...  |
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Valued Member
United States
138 Posts |
No rip off here at all, just a great buy.
Paul, how do you equate this to "stealing welfare checks"? If I am at an antique mart and I recognize that someone is selling a painting, a signed letter, a bottle or whatever for $100 is in fact worth $1,000 because of my insight, I am morally obliged to let him know what it is worth and pay him $1,000? That is silly.
Nope, my motto is the buyer (and seller) beware!
Edited by JayDon62
01/05/2010 4:44 pm
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Valued Member
United States
297 Posts |
he never said it was an old man he just said a man...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2150 Posts |
Quote:
Want to help me steal welfare checks next week? I'm Game!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Good buy ... And no you did not rip him off. And if you were going to look at it that way ... think about what that man paid for the coins in the first place. Knowledge is the key to any form of collecting. We all want to get a good deal every purchase.
You did well ..
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Pillar of the Community
United States
573 Posts |
Fantastic find! I was looking for the same type of deal at the local antique malls. For Christmas, a lot of the stalls had 15-50% off of their inventory. I was able to pick up a number of War Nickels to fill empty spots in my book, with a discount that put them just below the spot price of silver. |
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Rest in Peace
 United States
4849 Posts |
thanks for the comments. I'm certain he paid face for them, or he wouldn't have sold them for that price, so I'm sure he didn't "lose". I think it would be different if I lowball offered an old lady for a coin who trusted me to give her a fair price, but when we are talking about a merchant or dealer and they give me a good price to begin with, why argue? It's called "cherry picking" not really ripping off. The man was probably in his 50s, and obviously had some knowlege of coins as the rest of his coin selection was at retail.
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Valued Member
United States
258 Posts |
As the owner of an antique mall I can speak from experience here. A lot of the time we sell items low just to move product and get some cash in. His dislike for 40% silver halves is probably about the same as mine which means move it out the door. He either miscalculated or needed the sale or was just happy to move them. The difference being he was cheaper than even I would be! 40% halves are not popular with the coin community or the bullion people and typically sell for less than the silver in them.
Antique malls are a great place to find bargains. I have around 40 dealers and CANNOT keep up with what they bring in. I have sold many truly rare and valuable pieces dirt cheap. Some examples include a late 1800's necklace valued at $150.00-225.00 for $18.00 and a pair of 14K gold and pearl earrings for $4.00. I wish I had seen those before the customer did......
Anyway congrats and may your next trip to the antique mall be just as fruitful! Sincerely, John Leckrone
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
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Most people understand the 90% silver pre-65, but many don't know about those special 40% halves from 1965-70.  And I suspect that's a B.I.G. reason why I find so many of them when I'm searching a box of halves !! ....  Folks just do a quick look through for the '64's and completely miss the 40%ers ! I think you scored a nice deal there Johnny !......when they " overprice" so many things....coins included....are they ripping " us" off ? ...  ......no....of course not...... YOU DID GOOD ! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I don't consider any purchase at an antique mall to be ripping off the seller. The advent of the net gives everyone the same opportunity to spend a few minutes in research BEFORE they price an item. Some things sit on the shelf for quite a while before anyone realizes they are underpriced. Here's the story of this coin:  I first noticed this coin last spring in a case at the local antique shop. I thought it was a 1/10th oz bullion coin. Priced at $100 there wasn't any way for me to make money from it so I passed. Then the price of gold jumped to $1200+, so I took another look. I could see the COA, which said gold inlaid with silver. That made me think it was some sort of gold plated coin so I passed again. A few weeks ago I had them pull the coin out of the display case so I could look at it in hand. When I read the COA & looked the coin over it appeared to be from the chinese mint, but I hadn't ever seen anything like it. When I got to the house I searched the net for about 15 minutes & found out that if real it was a low mintage Panda. I went back to the antique mall & carefully checked the weight & compared it to pictures I got from the web. Based on that I decided to take a shot, & paid $109 after taxes. I just sold that coin to a specialist for $600. |
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Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
Isn't the whole idea of most antique malls a rip off any way? Most items are way over priced, dealers think they have the ultimate piece and they NEVER pay any where close to the value of something. I bet the dealer pulled these out of his own drawer from someone that bought an item from him. If so, then he ripped someone off. If you own a store and are willing to sell something, then you should know the value of the item and what you can sell it for. The guy he bought these from DOUBLED his original investment which is great any time you are trying to sell something.
I think the reason 'paul' is so upset is 1. he did not find the item himself or 2. he has been taken advantage of before and can not get over it. Face it, we have all been taken advantage of on buying something and all hope to find a secret stash for dirt cheap, your happiness just depends on what end of the bargain you are on. My first coin purchase was for an incomplete Lincoln set of 190-1959 that I ended up paying $100 for. When I got it home, looked at the coins more carefully I noticed doubles, highly damaged and some dateless coins and that their value was maybe about $20. Did I get mad, a little, but I also used this as a reason to educate my self better and look at things before making a rash decision. Also, most dealers I know are more excited to make a customer happy and have repeat customers than get full value for something.
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,787 |
Posted 01/05/2010 09:55 am
