What was the worst time you have had in a coin shop

Living in Florida, unfortunately there are too many that are just like that. I've yet to find one I like, and I live in Tampa....Mike

 

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Im sorry, but I agree that you did the right thing.
Possibly the coin dealer might not have ripped him, but it was only fair that he had the opportunity to KNOW what he was in possession of.

Its too bad as to where it happened, but maybe now he'll realize he doesnt really want to sell it.

I think you did a good thing for another human being.

 

I didn't say you did the wrong thing, Midas. If the coin dealer was upset with you, then that tends to indicate that you probably did the right thing.

I was just explaining that your doubt was well founded. That's a delicate situation. Beyond that, though, you might have introduced someone to the hobby, and brought them in for life - it all begins somewhere. That, in and of itself, is a good thing!

 

The young kid in Midas’ story could post on the “best day at a coin shop” thread and it would be the same event.

 

My worst experience was TODAY with the U.S. Mint. Couldn't get on the website and couldn't get through to an operator on the phone. To top it off they moved the sale of the item I wanted to purchase.

 

Years ago I used to go to a coin shop that had a bid board, while in there I heard that the owner was looking for a partner to join him. A few weeks later I went back to check the bid board, there was a guy moving all the empty counters around, I asked whats up I dont see any coins, He replied that he was the new partner and over the holidays the other guy took his money and all the coins and left for S.America.The original owner always looked a little shady to me. This was in the early70s.

 

That's bad.

 

My worst trip to the coin shop was the one I (fortunatly) didn't make. It was back in either 1978 or 1979. Me and my friend were just getting big into collecting at this time, we were @ 13-14 years old I guess and there was a rather nice coin dealer who lived within bicycing distance. We would always ride our bikes up there just about every saturday. Now this guy was really cool, never looking for the "big" dollar, always gave you his best service even if you were buying a .15 cent wheatie. He would always give the young collectors there change form purchases in wheaties, buffs and mercs. Which to us at the time was just as special as the new coin we just got with our allowances. Anyway, one saturday we were planning on going, got the bikes all ready when mom came out and said not today boys, too much to do around the house and to many errands to take care. Well of course we griped and complained but alas we never made the trip. Now we always went a little after 12:00 because that's when he opened on saturdays. If we had left at our normal time we would have gotten there right @12:30 or so. Well we did everything mom asked but ran out of time to get to the store. He closed at 5:00. So we sat around that evening and went thru a couple jugs of pennies mom gave us to satisfy our coin collecting urge for that day. (did find alot of wheaties, which was quite common then) Anyway, what makes this the worst non trip, is imagine everyones shock when the next morning in the sunday paper when the headlines read:
Coin store robbed, owners and customers tied up, killed execution style. 3 killed total, The husband/wife owners and 1 customer if I remember correctly. We couldn't believe it! According to the article the robbry and murders took place at @12:45 saturaday afternoon. Had Mom not had those errands and chores to do that day, there's a good chance I wouldn't be typing this right now. Now this all took place in a small little town and were the first murders in over 40 years to occur there. I believe they finally caught 2 of the 3 robbers/murderers in Florida about a year later and as far as I know they never got the third person. This was the only coin store anywhere near our little city and another has never appeared. In case your wondering, the name of the coin store was Tri-Willow nursery and coins and was located in Rome NY. I still to this day have every coin I ever got from him including my favorite, a 1874 indian head penny in uncirculated condition still in the plastic 2x2 he sold it to me in, still with the $4.40 price tag sticker on it. Every time I look at that coin I think about what could have been and how sometimes fate plays a hand in things. I never questioned my Mom again about getting the chores done tho. Perhaps some of you older collectors might have heard something about this, but than again this was before the internet and 24 hour news coverage but I do think it did make some of the national news of the time. I don't remember the owners name anymore but I do know that the hobby lost a great representative that day. RIP, may all his mercs be BU 16-ds and all the buffs have 3 legs. Mattman.
ps> I'm going to do a web search and see if I can find his name. post it later if I do.

 

You always wonder who is pulling the strings and the choices we make. Great and very sad story. :-(

 

That's worse.

 

WOW---sounds like the time this guy came into the store I was at wanting the owner to sell a gun for him...pulled it right out in the store...the owner seem to know him pretty good so I got out of there nice and fast!!

Be glad for your mom...she helped you more that day than you will ever know!!

Speedy

 

I thought for a long time before I could come up with any kind of bad time in a coin store, but there is something. In 1986, I had a couple months with not much to do so I asked a coin dealer buddy of mine if I could work in his store for about 20-30 hours a week for minimum wage (mostly paid in coins). Everything was pretty much as I expected it would be, except all the time I had to spend with coins that really weren't very interesting to me, identifying, grading, packaging, and such. Tons of coins, yet no fun. The only time in my collecting life that handling coins was boring.

On the other end of the spectrum, a great time in a coin store, in 1981, I got divorced and my ex and I split the household, first one person choosing an item, then the other would choose something else, so on back and forth until the entire household was divided (we were too cheap to hire a lawyer), including 'my' coin collection. One day in early 1984, I went into my coin dealer buddy's store and there was a big chunk of the other half of 'my' coin collection. He told me that my ex had been in and sold all the coins she had. I was real happy to buy back a lot of my favorite pieces!

One of the pieces I bought back was a very nice 1971D Ike dollar for $2.50. I was so happy to get it back that I sent it off to ANACS to get it graded and photo-certified. It came back MS-65 (MS-66 hadn't been invented yet). Several years later, when the ANA published an updated gradiing guide using photos of coins instead of the line drawings to illustrate different coin grades, I was really surprised to see the photo of my 1971D Ike dollar being used as an example of a mint state Ike dollar! I sent the coin and the certificate to ANACS and they sent me a letter of authentication that this was the ANA Grading Guide plate coin and that they had used the picture from the photo certificate for this. I sent all this to PCGS and they slabbed the coin as the ANA Grading plate coin and graded it MS-66! It is still the only Ike dollar slabbed by PCGS as a plate coin.

 

I used to frequent a local coin shop years ago until the owner went out of business. I hadn't seen the owner for many years until he opened another coin shop in the area about 2 years ago.

One day, I was in the store when a lady came in who knew absolutely nothing about coins. She wanted to buy some "silver dollars" for a friend. The owner sold her a couple of well-worn Morgans for $15.00 apiece which otherwise would have been in the junk silver pile.

After the lady left, the owner said, "That $!#%^&*@ lady, I should have sold her more than that, she's so dumb". Then he looked at me and said, "Why don't you get out of here, too, there's nothing here for you to buy".

I was shocked beyond belief. Here was a guy who had been my friend for years and whom I had spent thousands of dollars with. Needless to say, I left and have never darkened his door again.

I've since heard that the owner had gotten into drugs very badly, but I can't say for sure one way or the other. I know that sometimes when I drive by his store late at night, his car will be parked out front and he'll be inside sleeping on the couch.

Kinda sad, really...

 

Not really.

 

When I don't have $$$$$$$$$$

 

Worst Coin Shop Visit

The Tri Willow Murders was on Friday November 16, 1979 and you would have been in school. It was in the papers on Friday night without much detail since it happened very early afternoon. The owners Carl and Gloria Bachman, his mother Mrs. Dunn and another store employee Bruce Barber were the victims. The killers were caught early the next year, they were three men and a woman and were all convicted in 1981. The men are all serving what amounts to life sentences not sure what happened to the woman. More of these details are searchable on the web. This story was also profiled on Psychic Detective on cable.

 

win i got dumped by my X-GF

 

Well, at least you had some coins to distract you. Should of gotten her the 09 svdb she wanted.

 

This isn't suprising for any coin shop these days. It's not that they don't normally stock bullion, it's that they can't keep it in stock. Most shops I frequent have some, but they hold it until they have so much and then sell to regulars who buy upwards of 500 ounces or more a month. With that kind of turnover, you won't find any behind the glass no matter where you look.
Guy~

 

20 years ago in Detroit

I travel a lot & like to look up an occasional coin shop in the towns I visit. I typically look up the local address(s) in the yellow pages the night before. If I have time during the day, I might deliberately travel by one of the addresses. About 20-years ago in Detroit I visited a shop. They buzzed me through two security doors & then proceeded to question me about what I wanted & why I was there. (They didn't welcome me, they questioned me). Of course, I explained that I was a collector & wanted to look at their coins. One man stood off to my side (pretty obviously armed) while the other one very reluctantly showed me coins & basically treated me like I was a criminal. (I think he may have wanted to go out for lunch instead of selling me something). I tried to deal with them for a little while but they continued to make me feel very uncomfortable. I left & would not go back. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Very best regards,
collect89