$40 pack of cigarettes

I was hanging out at my dealer's shop today when this young man came in and asked how much he paid for two Peace dollars. My dealer offered the guy $20 for each so $40 total. As the guy was walking out, he said that he works around the corner at a gas station and that some guy came in and paid for a pack of smokes with both these coins. Probably raided dads coin collection.

 

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It's the circle of life for collectible coins.

That's one advantage of slabs: they make it too much trouble for someone to grab the coins and just spend them.

 

Some people are idiots plan and simple.
Happens more than you think i would wager.

 

Good example of how smoking kills.

 

I bank at Wells Fargo and now the bankers well enough to chat with them about the coins that they come across. Aside from seeing a lot of 90% amd 40% silver, they get Morgan and Peace dollars for face value every now and then. It happens enough so that many of the tellers have accumulated a small stash of this stuff.

The lead teller even had an older lady bring in a bunch of pre-33 gold. The lady wanted to know if she should sell them to the bank for face value. The teller told the lady that the coins were worth considerably more and with that, she sent the lady on her way.

Good thing this happened at the Beverly Bills branch.....

 

In this case, wouldn't it be that "addicts" can be idiots (to satisfy their addiction)?

 

Very True.

 

So let me get this straight... you think this guy an idiot just because he doesn't know about coins? Most people do not know or care about coins as anything other than money, so are they all idiots too?

 

So your saying someone walks into a gas station and buys a pack of smokes with 2 silver dollars and there not an idiot?

I can see some of the other silver coins being mixed in with change but it's pretty obvious when looking at a peace or Morgan that they are a little different than normal change...all I can assume is the buyer was
A. an idiot
b. had never handled money before.

I personally have never met someone who would go spend/use a silver dollar without at least asking someone about it or inquiring before spending it...it's not really a normal sized coin that you find in your pocket you know...

To short answer the question, yes i think they were a "idiot"
If for the simple fact of not asking someone or looking into it.

 

Joe , did the guy just pay for a pack of smokes with the two silver dollars , or were the 2 silver dollars added to some more money to make up the difference . When I quit smoking a pack of smokes was about $3 . I know it must be at least double that now . So if he got a pack of smokes for just $2 he must have known they were worth more than face .

 

Let's add a.....

C. They don't know and/or care.

"Normal" today, no, but they're the same size as an Ike, and I can remember seeing them often in the 70's and early 80's. We don't know how old this guy was or what his life experience is, and it doesn't really matter now, does it? You like and/or are familiar with coins, so to you this seems obvious, but to many others, coins are money; nothing less and nothing more. As for using a "silver dollar", again, you know this, but not everyone does and this does not make them idiots. There are certainly areas in which you are not familiar or do not care, so does this make you an idiot? No... but what it does is make you is unfamiliar, plain and simple.

 

Don't know. I just know what the guy said who came into the shop.

 

And

D. The coin says One Dollar.

But to my question.... $2 pack of smokes? When my mom smoked, I knew that a pack of Marlboro talls costed $6 a pack or a carton for $50.

 

Thank you, Caz...

I often see name brands at $10+, but this is the land of good and plenty for some, and taxes for the rest.

 

The guy who brought the silver dollars into the coin shop knew they were more than face value so he probably just gave the original idiot who wanted to buy his smokes with them the cigarettes for the two silver dollars and then he paid for the cigarettes from the $40.00 he got and pocketed the rest.

Back in the early 1980's when I was on board the USS Midway in a Marine Reconnaissance Squadron (VMFP-3) some ports we visited cigarettes were rationed and guys I worked with asked me to buy my limit of 2 cartons and they would pay me for them. The price of a carton was $2.50.

 

The term "Silver Dollar" is pretty common even with non-coin folk (most people think Ikes are silver as well), along with the dates in the 20's or 30's, so he should have known they were somewhat valuable... Also, he was buying cigarettes so I am leaning toward "idiot" on this one.

 

sounds like Dad needs a new security system!!!!

 

the cheapest cigarettes right now cost about $5.50 per pack. most brands cost more than that.

 

Remember, there is a difference between being an idiot and doing something idiotic.

 

Cig prices fluctuate pretty widely depending on the state and city one purchases them in. A pack of Marlboro's will generally run about $6 and change on the East Coast in most red states. You'll pay about $10 in downtown Boston and about $5.50 in the Piedmont of Carolina. In Florida you can buy a pay of "305's" for under $4 if I'm not mistaken.