Breaking News To Someone About A Coin They Own

I would tell him to have verified by a professional coin dealer. This way you're not the one telling him the bad news.

If you went to her house, why didn't you just ask her the conversation she had with the dealer ? That way you would know what really happened instead of speculating ?

Didn't he notice the D mintmark?

well here it is
,

I told him about what the coin is worth in the price guides and that its a D minted coin. Not a 1955 DD like she wanted

the convo went like this
Hello blah blah

My mother bought a coin at your shop I think she bought the wrong coin, or the coins was marked wrong in price
She bought a 1955-d double die coin
" I cant remeber I have seen alot of people in the last few weeks and sold a few 55 coins "
I said it was purchased on nov 26th for $400
" I still dont know what coin or who bought it "
Its marked 55-d ddo1 xf40+ red/brown the reciept says it came from your shop and paid with a charge card
"well thats past my 3day right of return policey "
I said the coin prices out much less then $400 and I think a mistake was made and would hate to think she might have gotten taken advantage of
"well who says it prices less then $400 , are you a coin expert do you appraise coins for a living "
Said I matched the coins discription to the current RedBook price list
" You cant go by the price guides ,a coin is worth what someone is willing to pay for it , I have sold lots of coins below price guide values and above price guide values .The price guide is just that a piece of paper with someones opinions of what a price should be.
I see , so you think a coind worth 10-25$ sold to a person for $400 is a fair deal
"well the coin was not worth only 10-23$ the coin was worth $400 becuase someone paid $400"
So you wont do a store credit , take back or return?
" its way past my return policey , I dont force people to buy coins , I tell my price they can buy the coin or they can go to another shop , anything else I can help you with?
No thats all I called about
" have a nice day goodbye"

So maybe she can do a charge back on her charge card ? or some kind of dispute


the only thing I question is a coin really worth what someone is willing to pay? , I mean she dindt have to buy it . She was just uneducated buyer that did not research anything and went in blind folded
the coin was marked as a 55-d dd01 she could have left

So thats the part I question.

I did see that a minor 1972 dd booking out in a price guide at like $500 did $ 2000+ at a heritge auctionthe auction still sold the coin.

anymore feed back would be great , thanks

When you are dealing with somewhat informed buyers, I agree that a coin is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But it is a completely different story when you are talking about an uneducated buyer who is relying on the seller for guidance. The guy is a con artist in my opinion.

That is why I tell my wife not to buy me coins. She is a geneticist and is extremely intelligent, but she doesn't know a thing about coins. I know she would be taken advantage of if she went to the wrong coin dealer.

It is just a shame that there are dealers like this in the Coin World, but I guess there are people like that in every trade.

I'm particularly worked up about this topic because I just bought a new car yesterday and I'm still a little annoyed with the negotiations;)

Sounds like its time to get serious with this guy. As stated by others, You need to involve the credit card company and file a complaint with the BBB. In addition, you might consider involving the local police. Its simple, An elderly lady entered a coin shop with intent to buy a 1955 double die for her husband. The dealer, seeing a chance to pull a fast one, decides to pull a bait and switch and the elderly lady leaves the shop with a 1955-D penny after being told by the dealer that it was the coin she wants. The item was completely misrepresented. I think legal action should be taken or he will do it again.

This is basically true. Price guides are just guides, the actual price is always what the parties agree to at the time of sale/purchase.

However, most price guides operate with a relatively small tolerance. That is, ignoring the occasional typographical error, the price you buy/sell at is within a (relatively) small percentage of what the guides say.

Ultimately what I am saying is that $400 is not within the "margin of error" of the $10~$20 value given in the price guides. This guy is a crook, plain a simple.

It is not, but I doubt this dealer would have known the difference based on the conversation.

I know we only have one side to this story, but I am not liking this dealer at all.

Selling a $20 coin for $50 is one thing, but $400?