Sad story from Albany dealer today

OK, just thought I would relay another warning on accepting checks from strangers. This gentleman was conned out of his $20 Liberty gold coin, an 1873 that was an Unc. details issue with minor problems:




The con was a lady "buys" the coin for $300 cash plus a check which she assures him was good. The check bounces like there is no tomorrow. Long story short, he tries to invoke every good legal remedy on someone who decided to royally rip him off. He is meeting with the state police next so he is not out serious $$$ on paying lawyers, etc., to punish criminal activity.

 

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Looks like it was sold at a flea market?
I am sorry for the lost but People should know better. Sell/buy Coins at a flea market or pawn shop, plus there has got to be a bunch of other places not to sell at.

Buyer/Seller be ware!

You must trust your insides, if you own a $20 gold peice and it's about one oz. at $1600.00/oz. then you get $300 cash plus a check from someone you don't know but maybe looks, acts and sweet talks very nice.
These few bad people give the whole hobby a bad rap!
Please do your homework before you sell away your valuables for pennies on the dollar.

Many here should know these answers but....
What do you know about gold?
Whats the gold price per oz?
How many grams to a oz.?
Whats a penny weight?
What is a karat?

One well advertised place is at $57.00 per pennyweight! whats that mean!
OK, 20 pwt per oz 57 x 20 = $1140 per oz buying, Gold at $1600 per oz. Is there something wrong HERE! Do your Homework people!

I listen on the radio about people who sold gold to some outfit and got over $4,000 when they were only hoping to get 500 or 600 dollars. Sad to think that John Q. Public has no clue.

 

Wow. I thought I was reasonably well-informed, but the sites I thought were giving me up-to-the-minute gold spot prices are still saying less than $1400/oz. Please tell me where you're seeing gold at $1600/oz, so I can "do my homework" properly...?

 

It's a tough market to sell in; this gentleman has a good personality, a retired science teacher. You are there to sell and business is very slow. Finally someone comes up as a potential customer. They lie like a rug about how good their check is, it turns out to be rubber....Only recourse is to work through the authorities, the state and local police hear many of these sob stories every week. Let's hope they nail her hide through the driver's license or other means.

 

WHY ARE THOES COINS IN THE SUN

 

its ok they're in a case within a case

 

dosent mean there not getting hot

 

Sunlight is even worse on currency....Still, I have had details graded gold coins that get into a good holder and even cac when left on a sunny windowsill for a month, raw and out of the holder. Not good to lock them in plastic and let the sun and heat do a number on them.

 

yeah specially when the plastic heats and lets off gasses

 

In state is better than out of state on legal matters, it's easier to get justice when you have the same state police and AG supervising commercial transactions.

 

In my area we can just file them with the DA and it's free.
The problem is finding the person that wrote the check.

 

With a driver's license they have the SS number. With a court judgment you have something to legally pursue the crooks, but good luck nailing them if they are living out of the system or if the cops do not consider it high priority.

 

I would NEVER accept a personal check from somebody I don't know personally.

I'm sorry but doing so is just asking to get ripped off.

 

I wouldn't expect the driver's license to be valid for someone who writes bad checks for coins.

 

Who the devil would accept a personal check from someone they never have done business with? You're just asking for agita.

 

If the check was her's, it was a ridiculously stupid move if her intent was to rip him off. Is it possible that the check was written in good faith and unintentionally bounced? Of course, this is in no way meant to defend this woman, and is just honest questions.

Offering cash plus a check is far from a new scam, but I am very sorry to hear that this gentleman was hit by it, and wish him the best of luck in hopefully resolving this unfortunate issue.

 

He said that the account had been closed out. Gold coins attract some of the biggest swindlers because they are easy to convert into money. In her case my guess is that she looked around for a cash buyer, no need to get in trouble twice with the same coin by selling the coin with ID required. He said he wrote a nice letter to her to please do the right thing, and it came back undelivered from her supposed address.

The story behind this $20 gold coin was equally frustrating for this former high school teacher; he bought it expecting it to grade MS62 or 63; he sends it through on a high grading tier, I think he said walkthrough to get the best shot. It comes back altered surfaces. At that point he felt like they had robbed him of a proper high grade and valuation. So he has it in his case for at least two years at various shows. So she is willing to pay his $2000 or so, check was for $1700; but end result is he gets only $300 for it, a lot of aggravation.

 

Sad story Owle.........I feel for the guy.

 

OK, This is not really ment for someone who knows something about coin collecting, but more the general public, that don't know and don't want to learn.
You got me thinking the $1600 was just a example!
Try this web site to sell your gold at approx $671.00 per oz.
And this is at the Express Gold Cash.

http://www.expressgoldcash.com/gold-value-calculator


and the current close for gold is at $1388.88
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html

And they are in business, so people do sell there gold there.