They apparently are all from China. It is metal-ish. I have several different booths/kiosks in local indoor antique malls (the city I live in, Chamblee, Georgia has an antique row with more dealers than Manhattan).
One of my "veterans" could not wait to call me about the 1902
Peace dollar he just bought for $20 and told me to hurry over because he was coming back to sell 25 for $200. Assuming they were hot and assuming he simply had the date wrog, I called a friend, who is a lieutenant with Chamblee PD.
My friend answered the phone from 1, 500 miles away sitting at a Blackjack table. He had imbibed way too much so did not want to call the Major that would have been the one to assign me a UC. My lieutenant buddy knew I spent 20 years in banking before I retired and suggested that I call a Secret Service agent I introduced him to just in case they were mules or whatever. This agent did all of the counterfeiting cases in the region I supervised and was actually a really cool guy so we developed a friendship over the years.
I called his cell and his voicemail message said something like "If you are calling about business please call 678.xxx-xxx.xxxx and ask for (insert rookie Feds name I can't recall). He will be handling all open investigations. Please call the Duty desk with new cases. I am happy to report that I am retired and sitting on a cruise ship. They tell me we are in the Mediterranean and the next port of call is either France or Italy depending when you called. Please leave a message after the tone". I did not want to force him into the case as they are agents for life and would have had a moral obligation to at least call me to make sure I got help. So, I simply said I was calling to say hello and congrats etc.
Just then my call waiting popped from my veteran buyer. I answere to a frantic plea to come NOW because the guy was back.
I live 5 minutes away and packed myself for protection. I have had 3 different CCW permits, including one for Manhattan that's VERY hard to get. I only mention this because I am responsible and experienced with my weapon and have not had to brandish it in all the years I carried. It is a "no options left" tool that would only be for self preservation.
I was not sure what I was going to do when I got there but at the least I would inform the moonlighting officer at the mall to keep a close eye as I suspect this seller was a thief.
I approached the booth and saw a VERY GERIATRIC man and his 80 pound, osteoperosis sufferinfg spouse. Deciding to be nice and tell the old couple to take to a refiner because he was selling too cheap and I did not want 25 units after I educated him and therefore would have had to seriously up the price. I was sure they needed some quick bingo money and had no clue what their silver coins were now worth since he last checked.
As I started to explain he told me that a "nice boy" outside sold them to him for <$10 and that he just wated to make a few bucks but he appreciated my concern. I then looked down and saw that my employee had it in the scale and it was 22 grams. Surprisingly, it looks great from arms length. The spots were not visible until scanned.
Well, I decided to call Junior G Man afterall.
I have posted this from my cell so sorry for typos but if anyone is interested I will finish tonight and tell you how it developed and more importantly how I walked out of there with 2 coins that were slipped to me by the new SSA.
2MQ
Posted 09/23/2011 07:57 am
