Dilemas, Dilemas..how To React?

Back in 1980, we shorted gold at 400.50, it dropped back a few bucks, then went up to $850.

When we filled our contract the refiner thanked us for honoring our contract. Seems other dealers said the heck with my contracts, I can sell it on the market for $600, so I'll take the extra $200.

Handshake contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on, but every afternoon on the judge shows...

Depending on the bank, some of them actually might use customer wrapped rolls in their daily business and in the cashier tills, like my credit union. For her to come across pre 1964 silver quarters in that volume though, that doesn't totally sound right. Is it possible that she/they got confused and she actually came across a roll of 1964 quarters; something 1 year off from the silver?

Three likely sources:

1) An older person has saved them for years, wrapped them up and deposited them. I've had clerks tell me that they told the customer to see a coin collector because the coins were worth more, and the customer says they don't want to fool around, just put them in their account.

2) Same person dies, their kid inherits the coins, and no one ever explained their value. Wrap and go, or hit the nearest Coinstar. Redfield had hundreds of bags of silver dollars hidden with a note saying "what the IRS doesn't know about, they can't tax". The wrong person ran across them for tax purposes, but they brought $7.2 million at auction. Heirs keeping quiet about them might have spent them a bit at a time.

3) Saddest of all, someone accumulates coins for years, they get burglarized, and the fastest way to folding money is wrap and roll or Coinstar.

Overall, it's a lot more likely that you find a solid roll of silver coins than a roll with only five.

biggfredd,

I understand your sarcasm in regards to offering him half melt. Here's the deal. I negotiate. I start out low, and work up when buying. It's no different than buying a used car off a best friend or complete stranger. He asked questions concerning where he can get melt value and turn them in. I told him the best places that I know of. He doesn't care what mint they are from or the condition. He only wants them for investment. He'll get the same price for each no matter what they are. Neither one said, "Hey, let's try to get more out of them from him" They took first offer.

I can't help how anyone feels about my offer. All I can stress is that they knew before-hand what they could get out of them, and what my offer was. Neither had a problem with it at the time. Again, I wasn't trying to buy every one. Out of Eighty quarters, maybe 20 or 25. It all depended on the array of dates and MM.

Now to set this straight with my offer of half melt. They BOTH had no problem with half melt! Even his wife said that it only cost her face value and she'd still make money. In her position as a teller, she'll have ample opportunity to make up for it.

Trent, Without seeing them first hand, I have no idea what they are. He just said pre-64 quarters.

KenKat, If you read this post, I was totally upfront with him.

If any one else has comments, concerns or complaints, I'll be happy to address them.

I've read the entire thread, and I agree mostly with KenKat. I also think greed works both ways-when dealing with a friend, whether its silver, or a used car-I always offer my "best price" upfront. I only negotiate with strangers. It seems that he decided that your offer wasn't good enough, and decided to keep them, or sell to someone who was offering market value. Should he have kept his word?-probably, but in the big scheme of things its not that big of a deal-chances are there are mostly 64's in there anyway. The odds of there being any great find are very high.

You're kidding, right? A "friend" offers advice, aid, assistance, whatever, and doesn't expect anything in return. I think KenKat hit the nail on the head. What made you believe there was any obligation to keep this "deal". This souns like two guys talking, one who knows a little more about the subject than the other. One suggests something, the other, not knowing much about the subject at the time, agrees. In this day and age information is literally at your fingertips. So Guy #2 scores a little, based on the information his friend gives him, does his research, and changes his mind about the deal. Guy #1 expects to be rewarded because of some advice, and is unhappy because the informal "deal" now falls through (because possibly Guy #2 did a little more research and understands more the value of what he has?). Did you discuss what "melt" actually represents? Your used car analogy is little weak. While I understand the Start low, negotiate up, have you ever offered half the asking price of a car? You wouldn't even get a counter offer. And negotiating with a friend? To me that's "Will you help me move if I have a case of beer handy, or will you need lunch as well?" type of thing. You were "making a deal" based on items the friend did not even possess and knew nothing about at the time of the "deal", and offered him 50% of the value of what he might find, all because you gave him a little advice.

And his financial status has nothing to do with this. This is how people justify software piracy, Bill Gates has tons of money, why should I pay for his products? mentality

So if I give you a stock tip while were having drinks in a bar, and you invest and make some money on that tip, it's not unreasonable for me to expect you send me a cut of your profits? Or (as the OP points out) I used my influence to get you a job in the same company I work for, it's not unreasonable for me to expect a cut of your paycheck each week?

Here's my take on what happened:

OP and coworker were talking about the wife's new job. OP says, hey, have her keep an eye out for silver coins. Coworker says Huh?, OP explains what he means, says if she finds anything, I'll buy some from you for half of melt. Probably not even a handshake, let alone a contract. Coworker says, Oh, I see, okay I'll tell her. Wife finds a little silver, coworker tells OP. Coworker does a little research, discovers he can get more by either holding onto it or selling at closer to spot, tells OP thanks but no thanks. OP now thinks he's getting screwed. Why? A "friend" would wish the coworker well, say keep me in mind if you decide to get rid of it. I'm thinking the coworker is under no obligation to honor any agreement made during a casual conversation. "Deals" fall through all the time in the real world. This was not a deal, but a simple agreement (maybe I missed it, but I don't remember the OP using even the word "promise") that fell through (happens more ofter than deals).