A few weeks ago, I posted in the thread http://www.cointalk.com/t198336/ about a 1926-S Buffalo nickel I found in my cash register. I recently transferred from one store in my chain to another, and found the Buffalo on my first day at the new store. Well, a few hours ago, someone paid for $10.00 in gas with 9 Ikes and this: It's clearly been around the block a bit, but I just about fainted. Not sure what the crap is on the obverse - considering that it's a common-date circulated coin, I may try to remove it. Say what you will, but no, I did not tell the lady that it was worth more than the Eisenhowers. I now have a new oldest coin found at work - previously, it had been a late 1890s Barber Dime, IIRC. Joe
Why not mention something about what it is and offer her say, $10 for it? It's the ethical thing to do in that situation, especially if someone is hard-up enough for cash to spend it.
Heck dang. I'm workin' the cash register, dealing with the public, and ain't got's the time to offer numismatic advice to morons. That said......
They were too uneducated about coins to know what it was, then why try to explain it to them when it didnt spur their curiousity knowing that it didnt look like the same bald guy on the other 9 coins and was older. Getting something in my pocket change that i did not recognize is what got me into collecting.
Congratz on the find. However, I have to agree with Fall Guy, Karma... I have been in the store when people have tried to spend silver coins, and I always speak up, point out what they have and offer to buy it. If for no other reason I do this because sometimes they take them from someone, not realizing what they are. And, I hope by pointing it out they opt to decline and return the coin(s) to Mom, Dad, whomever.
Crazy to think that this lady was 9 years old when that was minted. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...year-old-Georgian-woman-makes-record-bid.html
Just so I know where the karma line is....if I find a silver half in a roll from the bank should I make any effort to find the original owner and get him some money back?
As a roll searcher, if a teller hands me silver (I've probably had tellers hand me somewhere on the order of $200 Face in rolls that were solid silver or nearly solid silver) that's their responsibility to know what it is. When it's someone who is spending it because they need the money, then I think there's an ethical responsibility to let them know what it is and offer to buy it for a price that works for both parties. I take issue with tellers, and I know several, who knowingly take silver at face value from customers without informing them of what it is, and then pull it from their trays for their own profit. It's dishonest. If I ever saw it happen in front of me, I would absolutely step up and interject myself into the conversation and inform the customer that it's worth a substantial amount over face value and would probably offer them, at minimum, 10x face on the spot, provided I had enough cash to do so.
Nice coin. I guess. Like taking candy from a baby.. I feel sad for the woman.. to be spending someone's collection, just to pay for ten lousy dollars of fuel.. must have had no choice. You didn't really take advantage, heck she'd have just spent it elsewhere anyway. Gee, she should have known better. Darn stupid woman! Karma...yes Lucyray
Let's not only assume this lady was foolishly spending these coins, nor is it safe for us to assume that she was uninformed... What if we speculate also that she knew very well what she was doing-- perhaps to spite her husband or someone else these meant something to? Some ladies can take some nasty revenge on the fellas, too. Perhaps she felt the gas she was buying was worth more distance than a bit of silver... How is it any different than the supposed generosity of the person who deposits a gold coin in Salvation Army collection buckets around every holiday... maybe she intended to spread some joy or get a rise out of some cashier on this day... What if she had bought a lotto ticket with that Morgan and hit a jackpot? Let's not only say she was uninformed. I don't suppose the Ikes were 40% silver were they? I guess the OP would have pointed that out if they were. Nice finds hrhomer! Very nice!
Agreed. The OP was under no obligation to point out anything to the person who spent the coin. He did nothing even remotely unethical.
You "(Ain't got's) the time to deal with morons?" Hmm ..... how ironic. I would have paid her for the Morgan ..
Looks like this thread is split, regardless on what you should have done or not, you did nothing unethical and nice find!