Thread: Christmas or Concience??????

A family emergency has come up and I made the decision that I would have to sell the bulk of my collection to help my son with a medical emergency in his family. Since I had to liquidate it fast I knew I would not get what i thought it was worth. I had it figured conservatively at about $3400 dollars.
I put it on the classifieds here and sent an inventory list to a couple of online dealers i knew and also took one to the new local dealer we had. The offers i was getting were in the $1800 - $1900 range. I got a call from the local guy that he would give me an estimate of $2200 but would have to see the collection before he gave me his final offer.
I took the collection to his store and him, his sons, and I had to go through each mint set and proof set to make sure all the coins are there and he questions me on why I left out the 82 and 83 mint sets. I showed him that they were not listed on the inventory and that none were made. We went through the same thing with the 65,66, & 67 proof sets.
This guys knows very little about coins and I had to listen to two hours of him explain to his sons and I how you can't trust anyone and that you have to be sharp in the coin game. He told me about a hundred times what my coins weren't worth and that I was lucky he was making me the offer that he was. He kept telling his boys how careful you had to be not to get screwed.
When we were all finished he asked me if I had anything else to throw in and I had found a roll of silver dimes that I had stashed and said I would sell it. He said he was paying 16.5 times face and did some calculations on his adding machine to calculate this and add it to the total. I did the math in my head and new it should add another 82.60 to the offer. He told me that the added roll of dimes upped the offer by 826.00 and the total was now 3026.00.
He asked me to sign a receipt that I was accepting his offer of 3026.00 for my collection and i asked for a copy of the same got my cash and left. I made sure and asked him several times if he understood that he was paying 3026.00 for what was setting in front of him and he said yes. His 2 sons were scratching there heads trying to figure out dads math but were so sick of having it drilled in there heads that he knew everything and they knew nothing that they just walked away and went back to their video games.
I had a five second battle with myself on good and evil, sent my son the $2500 for his boys medical bills and bought my wife a nice christmas present. I kept a small stash of coins that I will use as my foundation to rebuild my collection. Happy Holidays to everyone at CT.

Good story , but you should return the extra cash. I understand you warned him, but he should of also checked his math.

Exactly, he should have checked his math. It is business and you aren't responsible for his making a mistake. Regardless of whatever x face, ultimately he paid a total price that he feels he can make money on or he wouldn't have paid it. Nothing was taken, it was willingly paid, and sounds like a fair deal. God bless your son and grandson, that is what matters in this story. A happy and healthy holidays to you!

if what you said is true, and you were made to feel small, then yes keep it.

They have these really small cameras now, if I ever do a show again, I just may film my experiences. I know how I have been made to feel in the past. of course to be fair. I don't walk the walk nor talk the talk.

He announced the final price and was satisfied with it, so let it be. It was a miracle that helped your family through the holidays and no one really got burned anyhow...

the $3400, is that what you thought a dealer would pay, greysheet, or what?

Wow that is an interesting story, in the end I think you did the right thing. I wouldn't worry about going back to his shop cause with math like that he won't be in business long I mean really if he did the math, made the offer etc. it is his fault. The fact that you tried to warn him was more then enough of an opportunity to recheck.

Anyway you would think he would have caught it anyway - I mean $826 for a roll of silver dimes?!?!?! LOL!!!

Hope your grandkids get well soon!

when silver hits 300 an ounce you will wish you had kept those silver dimes. and the dealer will be rolling in clover. should happen sometimes around 3061

This guy is seriously out of his league in dealing coins if he wasn't aware of "special mint sets" and the absence of mint sets in 1982 and 1983. What's he going to offer a guy for a bunch of counterfeited Chinese Morgan dollars? My guess is he would be clueless. He won't last long for several reasons, obviously. You taught him one he hopefully will learn from!

Wow, that is an unbelievable story. Not much you can do about it now so don't stress too much. Hope all the best of health for your grandsons. TC

sounds dishonest to me

Well - I usually correct cashiers when they make a mistake in my favor. I would not have done this on purpose.

since that shop owner was a patronizing jerk i would have taken advantage of his mistake. you gave him opportunities to double check his calculations and he didn't do it. He is a business owner and needs to be more responsible.

If he were a pleasant gentleman and eager to help you out, i would definitely give the money back or have corrected him on the spot.

Being an a-hole doesn't pay.

Definitely a tough call. If I could sit through listening to this guy talk trash and not tell him to **** *ff, my first instinct would still be to correct him then let him know what a jerk he was.
But I can't blame you especially with a family crisis at stake.

Well if the guy can't handle basic math then I think he's got bigger problems than over paying for that roll of dimes.