| Author |
 Replies: 48 / Views: 5,154 |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
but as soon as friends and family found out I collected coins they started bringing me stuff they had found thinking it was something they could retire off of. It really shows me how very little the average person actually knows about our coinage (or either my friends and family members or idiots one). Today I had a friend telling me he had a real gold coin he wanted me to look at but didn't have it with him. So I asked him the date to try and figure out what he had. He said he thought it was 2009 but wasn't sure. I told him if it was real gold then it had to be an AGE unless it was some type of commemorative coin or something. I showed him a picture of an AGE and he said "no it looks nothing like that" I said well it may be a commemorative but all AGE's look like this and with that date it had to be one or the other. he then tells me it has Thomas Jefferson on it and a statue of Liberty on the other side. So I tell him that is just a president dollar and not real gold. He argued with me saying on the edge it had IGWT and didn't have a P on it for "plated" so it was real gold. I just laughed and tried to explain that the P stood for Philadelphia where it was minted not anything to do if it was plated or not, they are all the same composition if metal no matter where they were struck (P/D or S). Well he wasn't having none of that because he knows if something is gold and marked with a P its plated and since his coin wasn't marked with a P his was real gold because someone else told him what he was telling me. I guess this is just my arena to vent a little here but if anyone else has any stories like this please share them because I am really starting to think I need to chose a better class of friends that hadn't been dropped on their head as a child or something
|
|
|
|
Valued Member
United States
296 Posts |
Sadly the average American citizen sheep really is that ignorant, on just about everything. What happened to "with age comes wisdom"..? I see old people quite frequently in the bank getting a cashiers check to mail off to pay for some genuine 24K gold plated Liberian tribute dollar they saw on TV.  |
|
Valued Member
United States
458 Posts |
I laughed when I read this hahah :)
Nah, most people in todays society just really have no clue about the value of coins and whatnot.
My girlfriend would be one of those people. However, I am educating her one coin at a time!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1915 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
hahaha, I knew exactly where this story was going. First thing I thought was Presidential dollars. well recently at work (outback steakhouse), a server brought some "fake" $1 bills to the manager and the manager wanted to show me the fake currency. I know nothing about paper money and bank notes but I knew right when I saw them they were real. I said those aren't fake, look at the series. They were crisp 1957 silver certificated with consecutive serial numbers. They gave them to me to keep anyways even though they both thought they were fake. All well, I score uncirculated silver certificated for free. also my brother wanted to let me know he found some strange gold coin. "it's not like those ones that came out with the indian on them". so I figured they were not sacagewea dollars and must be presidential. I was right, I told him to spend that bad boy. i feel your frustration Bryan. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
What I think is funny is how some people have been finding Standing Liberty quarters. Americans probably think they are just some new weird State Quarter so they spend them. not knowing it is a standing liberty. haha. But in all of the American ignorance of U.S. currency, that leaves us collectors to get the good stuff that others don't see. when people spend a silver quarter and I find it, I'm happy for the ignorance, for they don't deserve the quarter. |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
I had a bank teller the other day tell me that the dollar coins they sometimes have are real gold and that's why they cannot keep them in stock. I just looked at her and shook my head as I walked away... I didn't even try to explain because she wouldn't have believed me anyway.
Les
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
Don't be so hard on the public; where I worked, we had a saying, "You don't know, what you don't know". I'm sure we didn't invent that, but it's true, not everyone is up on coins, or electronics, or computers, or the stock market, or whatever. For most folks, money is just what we work hard for. Of course, they should certainly believe you when you tell them something is not real gold, but maybe the disappointment is just too much to bear, resulting in denial.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
335 Posts |
Ok I had a few Kennedy halfs that escaped the coin machine, in the bank. I handed em to the teller who was puzzled and asked if she should deal with them.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
59 Posts |
some friend you turned out to be, trying to swindle him out of his gold
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
Get a few ounces of these "gold" dollars, weigh them in front of your friend,
and offer them to him for half their bullion value. Make him put his money where his mouth is.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
424 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I have to echo what JackB said. Of course they don't know what a Standing Liberty quarter is. They've never seen one in their entire life and would never have had a reason to, unless they were a coin collector. They do see new State Quarters and new ATB Quarters every day, so if they see something that says "quarter" and is the size of a quarter, but looks strange, naturally they're going to assume it's some new quarter design they haven't seen, if they even look at it at all. I used to get aggravated at people who didn't know basic facts about computers or something, but then I realized that it's been my business for most of my life, of course it's going to be natural to me. They don't have the experience to know that you shouldn't download "free screensavers" because they're all trojan horses or spyware, and they have no way of knowing that there is no "GOOD TIMES" virus that they should be wary of. It's easier to just forgive others their ignorance. Like, if somebody cuts you off in traffic, you could just assume they're a selfish jerk-wad and get all worked up and angry about their rude behavior. But maybe they've had a really bad day, or are having to deal with some terrible news, or just got cut-off by some other jerk-wad. Just forgive them in your own mind, and you won't get angry yourself, contributing to an early death from chain smoking and heart disease. I try to take that same attitude when people say or do something dumb. Besides, if you educate people on the amazing coins they can find in their own pocket change, all that does is make them keep them for themselves, and then YOU won't get them! |
|
Bedrock of the Community
 United States
14454 Posts |
Quote:
It's easier to just forgive others their ignorance. I agree, its the ones that come to you for advice and then once you tell them something different than they think, they think you are trying to get over on them because it is not yours. I would be happy for them if they found something that was worth allot of money and would be happy to tell them what they had, not try to make them think it was junk so they would throw it back into circulation for the next guy. I have to admit this was the first time I had ever heard the P stands for plated thing though |
|
Valued Member
United States
257 Posts |
I would go sell him a roll of presidentials.
Say 100x face value- that should be a good deal!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
My brother called me once when he foind an 1907 IHC in his McDonalds change. I told him it was maybe worth $5 and he seemed pretty content. |
| |
Replies: 48 / Views: 5,154 |
Posted 07/24/2011 5:02 pm
