Great Deal, Sad Story

I was at work today and an older man (henceforth known as D) came in with a cane. D got some groceries and proceded to start to pay with 6 1964 Kennedy halves. He said he didnt have any other money and he had to buy dinner. Of course I didn't let him spend them at face and promptly offered 4X face (all I had on me in cash). He graciously accepted and said he had more at home and as he was leaving he said that 12 bucks was gonna buy his supper. Kind of sad to think that our elder people are having to spend their valuable currency just to eat. What made it worse though is that someone who knew the man (and one of my good friends, he owns a shop that sells some coins in town) said those coins were technically D's daughters and that D had tried to sell them to him. Unfortuately my friend doesn't know D's daugher so I doubt I will ever be able to put them back in her possesion. Lucky D didn't pawn them off to someone other than a collector though. At least I'll appreciate them more than D did.....
I also found a 1953-D quarter in the same girl's till that D went through so I can only assume he spent that without saying anything.

I would have normally posted this in Roll Searchers thread but I wanted to know how many of you had come across situations like this.

Thanks,
Tyler

Edit: I guess I should say that I paid $12 dollars for >$60 worth of silver today, since I did include "Great Deal" in the title.

 

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Jez, I would keep some cash in my wallet for the guy next time and I'd pay him more money...but that's just me. The right thing to would be to sell them for him, keep $5-10 for your trouble and give him the rest.

 

That's too bad... I work at a bank and I had a lady come in with a couple american silver eagles to cash them in. I told her to go to a coin shop but she didn't want to go through the hassle, just needed grocery money. I ended up giving her ten bucks apiece for them, this was when silver was at 12 or so... At least you got some silver out of it though.

 

Well, I had no idea he was coming and I doubt I ever see the guy again. If I do I'll be sure to tell him to come back so I can pay him.
And actually, he wasnt gonna let me pay him over face. i kinda had to make him take the money.

 

Nobody is that desperate to pay their phone bills, damn. I also live in an area that has weathered the recession fairly well, so...

 

Disagree, The Op could have just let the guy spend them.

 

Well, I actually do have a heart.

 

Which obviously the OP does too. But if all he has is $12 than all he has is $12

 

Not trying to start an argument here but you are telling me that stopping the man from spending them at face and then offering him all my cash means I dont have a heart?
You disappoint me. I wish I was old so I could blame your generation but I'm not. I am on a college budget with a full-part-time job anyways so money flow is minimal for me. I was lucky to have 12 bucks on me, much less enough to pay him even half melt.

 

OP went above and beyond the ethical measures most numismatists would probably take, I commend him on his morality.

 

You gave all that you had and he was more than pleased, that is well enough for being morally correct. Kudos on helping someone out and a nice little gain

 

Tyler got a great deal, AND he went above and beyond in doing the right thing. It was obvious to me in the original post that he had more of a heart than I probably would have for a stranger.

 

I would have cleaned out my wallet, handed him my card, and told him to call me so that we could work something out in exchange for them. I'd probably pay him 10-12x face... better than the face value he'd be spending them for.

 

It's always fascinating to hear someone else tell you what they would have done if it had been them. Hindsight is always 20/20 and if you weren't there who knows what you might have done had you been? Good for the OP for what he did, which is far more than I believe a lot of people would have.

 

Well done, don't let anyone tell you different. You did the best you could with the situation as it unfolded. IMO
CHEERS!

 

I probably would have bought them as well. I have to wonder though, the old guy can't find more than three dollars a day to eat on with social security or disability, or both, as it sounds he should qualify for at least one?

 

For what it's worth, there are millions of elderly people on Social Security who are forced to live from month-to-month on the pittance they receive from Uncle Sam.

I don't fault Tyler for what he did, and I would hasten to guess that if he had more money on him that he would have paid the old gent more. At least he was able to have a better meal with what he received.

Chris

 

"I would have..."

"You should have..."

"Well at least..."

This was a transaction, an exchange of value for value, between two people, neither of whom coerced the other.

No force was used, no deception was attempted, no no constraints were placed.

No government or power seeking entity was involved.

An agreement was reached, and both parties left the situation better than they would have had they not encountered each other.

Any man who sees that as ANYTHING other than fair, just, and moral is dangerous, and seeks only to take what is yours through no rightful claim.

 

I think most of us agree that we would love to be in that situation, to be given the oppertunity to make a good decision and maybe add to our collection at the same time.

 

In the past three weeks alone, I've picked up a '64 quarter in change at the grocery store, a silver proof 2004-S quarter at the donut shop, a proof Kennedy half and a proof Sac (both from the bank). In 50 plus years of collecting, I've never picked up a single proof in circulation before. Necessity sometimes calls for desperate measures.