The crazy things that happen at the local coin shop.

Tell us a story. I have several. I'll start with this one.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to help at a local shop. The owner had a really nice office with a giant desk and safe. I had the fun of sitting at the desk and sorting large collections that came in. The owner and I had a lot of trust in each other.

I went in one day and the shop was a mess. Overnight some guys had backed a wrecker thru the side wall of the shop and drove over the desk. They were trying to chain the safe to the wrecker when the police showed up. One guy gave up but the other one took off running. He was armed and somehow took a round in the butt.
As bad as the damage was, no coins were lost. We all had to laugh. It was true justice.

Please tell us a story.

 

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Not a "crazy" story, but...
When I was thirteen years old, there was a coin shop in downtown Clarksville Tennessee that I frequented when I had spending money. I once bought a nice barber dime from him and he gave me back 40% silver halves for my change. Super nice yet interesting guy. He wore a revolver super high above his waist and I often wondered how difficult it would be for him to draw as it was about elbow level.

I love coin shops, but unfortunately they are few and far between for me. I hate eBay, but that is where I am forced....

 

No crazy LCS stories here, just depressing ones.

We've got one local shop, but it seems like the owner has a bad reputation among other local dealers. I went in once with my young son; we weren't made to feel welcome.

There are a couple of shops in Dad's city. I went into one to look around, and the smell of cigarette smoke nearly knocked me flat -- and this was within the last ten years or so. The owners/employees were chortling through a collection they'd just bought (I believe from someone who inherited it), talking about which coins they'd send in to be graded. I don't know that they lowballed the seller, but I wasn't feeling charitable at the time, and I assumed the worst.

When I shop for coins in brick-and-mortar places any more, it's usually pawn shops. I could tell some stories, but I don't know that they'd count for this thread.

 

Hello CT-ers,
I was 13 years old, had $5 in my pocket and was walking down Main st. Houston Tx to Matula Stamp & Coin Co. housed in the Continental Allied Life Insurance Company building.
It was a 12 blocks schlepp which took me past John's Coins & Camera Co.....in his window was displayed a 'fanned' roll of uncirculated 1889 seated liberty dimes. Each shining beautifully white & beckoning me inside. (I couldn't resist) When asked the price was told I could have my pick for $3.50 each!...I bought one beauty and continued on my merry way to the stamp company with only $150 left to spend on stamps.
Thus endeth my story...
J.T.

 

Fantastic. Papal even!

 

$1.50 left....unless you sold the dime for $148.50 on the way to stamp company, which would have left you with $150.00. I can understand selling it for $148.50 is very plausible, considering it was Huston-or any other location in TX. They do weird stuff there. I know. I watched Dallas.

 

Ha! Ha!
Yes, we be crazy here in 'Huston'!
Now I wish I could remember just what became of this dime. Must have sold it along with my dinky coin collection when I got older.
I would get $5.00 a week allowance for mowing lawn, taking out garbage, etc. but bet if I had $120 I could have purchased the entire roll.
J.T.

 

There is a Houston Street in NYC and in Atlanta, GA and both are pronounced How-ston

 

Mea culpa CoinCorgi!...
but they didn't have PayPal at that time.
J.T.

 

Didn't technically happen in the shop, but...

Last fall, while a couple customers were in the shop, I looked out the windows and saw their other two companions (waiting in the car) engaging in "extracurricular adult activities" in the back seat. Broad daylight, no tinted windows, plenty of traffic.

In a way, you maybe just have to admire their "carpe diem" attitude.

 

Wasn't all that long ago that I was chewing the fat at my dealers counter. He is big on having high school aged kids around to do chores and the like.... A young fellow was dusting odds and ends when the dealers wife came out of the back room with a large stack of Washington quarters in new 2X2's. She laid them down on the counter in front of the youngster and tells him to grade them. She turned away and walked back to the back room and I could see the kid's face. He looked as though he had just been told to scrub toilets.... So I remarked to the young man, "You know.. That would be a dream job to many of us". To which he turned and went about his business grading quarters.... Not a resounding story or anything, but maybe one day that will resonate in the youngsters mind.

 

Carpe something, at least.

 

I haven't spent a whole lot of time in coin shops, but this is a story that sticks out in my mind:

My brother and I saved up money for a down payment, scooped-up a cheap foreclosure house following the crisis back in 2011, remodeled it, and sold it for a bit of profit. We had the cash sitting in the bank and couldn't figure out what to do with it, so we thought we'd have a bit of fun speculating and decided to spend it on a 10 oz gold bar.

I was still in graduate school at the time, dressed like a typical bum student, and drove a typical, junky, student car. I drove my old beater to a local coin shop with $13,000 cash in my backpack (it was 2013, gold was around $1200/oz). When I walked in, the guy running the place was leaning on the counter shooting the breeze with 4 other guys that had pulled up some fold-out chairs.

I asked if he had a gold selection and he pointed at a case. I didn't see what I was looking for in the case, so I asked, "Do you have any 10 oz bars?". His response was, "Hah! Do you know how much that would cost?!", then he looked back at his friends and they all started laughing, cracking jokes about math, and so forth.

Needless to say, I made my purchase elsewhere

 

Sounds like they were goin for the 'gold'!
J.T.

 

On the subject of the more unpleasant experiences, there's one shop that I go to occasionally. They've always been fine to me but I've heard them being very rude to customers, or when the customer leaves they swear about them. Makes me wonder what they say about me when I leave. I feel like I can't take my young son there because of the language which is too bad since it's kind of close.

Other than that, I just think it's funny in general some of the strange ideas and conspiracy theories I've heard from people in coin shops. I'm sure there are probably people on here who agree with a lot of it, but to me it's a lot of strange, off the wall things that I don't encounter anywhere else in my usual travels. Precious metals buyers especially I think often have some unconventional opinions.

 

When I was maybe thirteen in the late sixties I used to ride my bike five miles to the only coin store. This little old widow ran it by herself after her husband passed away. She was very kind to me, not deal wise, but no problem helping me with my pitiful Lincolns collection and she let me look at anything I wanted to for as long as I wanted. I think she enjoyed the company being she was the only employee.

One time I asked a kid I knew if he wanted to bike over to the shop and see it. We get there and she was sweet as always getting out anything I wanted to see and putting it all on the counter for us to look at. The kid with me (notice I didn’t say friend) are looking at all these silver half dollars as she said she had to take care of something in the back office. I thought nothing of it, but the kid with me saw an opportunity to steal while she wasn’t in front of us. I was mortified that he even had that thought! Yelling at him under my breath I made darn sure that he didn’t go through with it! I still can’t believe someone would steal from an old lady and without hesitation.

Obviously I had earned her trust enough for her to leave a ton of coins out on the counter while she went out of sight. Never entered my mind to steal something. Not in my DNA.

First and only time I brought anyone with me to the coin store.

 

It’s funny for a bit, until you realize the crazy stuff they believe is what they actually believe - and then you hear it over and over and over. And these are not the people who come in and act normally; these are the people who come in and ask questions then immediately interrupt you while you’re trying to answer them. These are the people who ask you pricing info on literally every single PM product you sell because either they aren’t paying attention or they’re trying to ask so many questions that they confuse you and they think they’ll get a better deal. It is EXHAUSTING.

Same thing happens with the addicts/pseudo homeless who come in with dirty pocket change or stuff they pulled out of a dumpster. You try to do your best, but having to tell someone their dirty clad dime isn’t a valuable mint error over and over and over again…and then having them pissed at you because you didn’t give them the money they wanted/needed. Again, exhausting.

I do my best to be courteous and professional with them, and of course treat them with respect because they are human beings and I don’t want to be a jerk, I want to be helpful and kind. But still…dealing with disorganized minds wears on me. A LOT.

Owner has his way of dealing with that. I’m still working on mine.

 

I like the story about a guy that backed his pickup truck up and through a chain around the safe and drove off. He kept going but the safe was unmoved and unharmed. It still had the chain and the rear bumper with the license plate attached when the police arrived.

 

Most of the shops I've been at are properly managed. The back talk, slander and the like do more damage to their reputations than anyone else, just showing people up for the lowdown people of poor character they are. Better, honest and more collegial people last longer and don't have to fear what they said. Verbal abuse has consequences.