March First was our coin club's annual coin show that we host. As treasurer and heading a table at the show, I was very busy and couldn't spend the day on the floor searching through everything. I had told a member I was interested in small Mexican gold and if he were to see any to let me know. He later came back to me and said there was a Mexican 5 pesos gold at one table for a reasonable price. I went and talked to the dealer and brought up the 5 pesos and he grabbed it and showed it to me. When I asked the price, he quoted me a very good deal of $155 which was just about $5 under melt. I told him I'd take it, and thanked him for the good deal. I thought nothing of the coin until I was taking pictures and something did not seem right. So I counted to 10 in Spanish (About all the Spanish I know) and confirmed something went wrong. The word for 5, Cinco, was not on the coin at all. Rather than Cinco, the coin stated "DIEZ PESOS". I quickly looked it up and I found out I had gotten double the gold for free! I am quite shocked that the dealer did not catch it as he pulled up the coin and looked it up in the krause to give me a price. Here are pictures of the coin
The dealer most likely made a simple error and grabbed the wrong coin as 5 and 10 pesos are very similar not only looking but very close in overall size also. If the coin was in a flip I could see this easily occurring. The fact that your the club treasurer I'm sure you'd probably be able to look up and contact that dealer if you didn't readily know who they were. Maybe at least try to rectify the situation; even though you don't have too. In my opinion only it's ethically the right thing to do; as you didn't just get double the gold free. That dealer who was kind enough to be offering a decent deal on the original 5 pesos coin in question paid for it. Mexican Peso (10) Gold Coin Diameter = 22.5 mm (0.886 inches) Thickness = 1.40 mm (0.055 inches) Mexican Peso (5) Gold Coin Diameter = 19.00 mm (0.748 inches) Thickness = 1.14 mm (0.045 inches)
I agree, if you come back to him and pay the difference/return the coin, you will gain a good rep with him, and he'll probably pass it on too.
Update I called him today and he said that he made an honest mistake and is glad I called him to let him know. He did say he bought it as a 5 pesos for $135 at the beginning of the show but he doesn't know the seller and has no contact info. He saaid he made a profit and is happy with the transaction and will hold true. I asked for the customer's info to try and slip him some cash for the coin because the dealer won't accept my money. But it is a lost cause.
You just described my favorite kind of dealer, one who knowingly lets you cash-in on a decent coin once in a while. That's the sort of thing that makes the hobby fun and keeps collectors coming back for more. Most successful dealers know that, and make certain their customers get a GREAT deal every once in a while just to keep them engaged in the hobby. In the long run, dealers like that make far more back on other coins than what they gave-up on a single coin.
