I bought a silver Chinese Panda a few years ago from a coin shop. Yesterday I took it back to the same coin shop to cash it in. He told me it was counterfeit. He didn't do any tests or anything. He said he knew it was fake just by looking at it. I told the dealer I bought it from him. He just kept saying no way. He doesn't sell junk like that. I took it to another dealer and he said it was real and bought it from me. I don't know if it was real or not, but if a dealer can't tell the difference, why take the chance buying it? There's plenty of other coins to collect.
I only buy PCGS or NGC graded Chinese coins for this same reason. The same holds true for key date U.S. coins, buy them already graded.
Maybe, that depends on what he is knowledgeable about. I find that people often coin dealers too much credit regarding the extent of their knowledge. Maybe a better way of putting that is that people often have too high of an expectation regarding the knowledge a dealer has. I can tell you this, just about every dealer there is has bought a fake at one time or another, and just about every dealer there is has sold a fake at one time or another. And quite often they never discover that it ever happened. The same is true of collectors. Just about every collector there is owns, or has owned, a fake or two, some own many - and don't know it. And when I say fake in this context that does not necessarily mean an out and out counterfeit. It also includes altered coins, ie: added/removed mint marks, altered dates, and the like.
The same can be said for you, sir. If you - as a collector - cannot tell the difference, why take the chance? Never forget that "dealer" does not mean "expert". As a general statement, this is nonsense. Again, the same can be said for collectors... "an idiot collector is well... an idiot". Do not confuse "dealer" with "expert", especially if its just some guy selling a wide variety of coins, as chances are his knowledge will be no better than average on most of what he sells. In this case, if the guy does not regularly handle Pandas, why assume he even familiar with them, and if you did, does this mean he is the idiot? Very true and on a similar note, I've long found it ironic that when a dealer is picked, this is because the collector held superior knowledge. However, when something is a negative, its always the dealers fault.
Sounds like if he didn't even take the time to examine it then he didn't care if it was real. The problem was he didn't have the cash to buy it back at the time. Guy
I would be much more careful with the first dealer. I know my local dealer has made mistakes, but so have I. I have also seen them test stuff coming into the store.
I think the moral of the story is...why shop at this dealer to begin with?!? Sounds like he doesn't know what he's doing.
It sounds like he either had no interest in buying from you or he doesn't know about Panda coins. If I were you I would still hang around his store but be wary of coins since he may not know about them. You can also test him by asking him simple questions about coins you know about. If he gives you the wrong answer then I would stay away.
Actually, the moral of the story is to save your receipts. A reputable dealer will always honor that.
