I consider the people I actually know at club meetings to be honest and have no fear of them pocketing coins that are passed around. But at large meetings, I don’t know most of the people or their morals. I do consider coin collectors to be a lot more honest than the general population though. Still at large meetings, I’m hesitant to pass around valuable coins. At show-and-tell, I can finish with “At the break, come and see me if you want a closer look.” instead of passing the coin around. However, there are several downsides to this approach. It sends a message of “I don’t trust you.”, which can seem especially bad if a more valuable coin gets passed around by someone else. It forces me to stay put. And a lot fewer people look at the coin(s). One possible solution might be to have a giant (at least 12” x 12”) plastic slab with a cover held in place with screws. It would have multiple compartments for coins (most of mine are NGC or PCGS). Tough to swipe but easily passed around. I could construct it easily enough. I could also make a stand to secure it for more viewing after it gets passed around. Does anyone else worry about coins disappearing at club meetings or have seen it happen? Are there other solutions? Cal
Yeah, and the land we stand on is stolen land. Yeah, and all gold contains some stolen gold. Yeah, and this post is stolen from another poster.
I agree, it is a vexing social trust issue. I am hesitant at my CC meetings of 40 to 50 people to pass around a coin worth hundreds to thousands of dollars. So I generally avoid that issue by not doing show and tell and just showing the coin personally to a select few individuals on a more-or-less covert basis. I hate to be that way but think how awful it would be to try persuade people to stick around while waiting for the cops to show up. I like your idea of a frame of a size that would make it impossible to pocket and that could hold your slabbed coin between two sheets of Lexan. The message is not agreeable but what you gonna do?
I had been watching this thread because it hurts my heart that we are forced to think this way these days. Three years ago the Toys for Tots folks asked my old car club to bring some of our old cars to a big shindig downtown. I parked my old car with its $8000.00 immaculate paint job and spent the morning walking around with the family. Came back some time later to find my old car had been keyed…… At a charity event no less. I no longer leave my old car out of my sight and I hate to have to feel that way.
If I was at a show and somebody said to come up and see a coin, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. If somebody passed around a valuable coin, I would think they had taken leave of their senses. I hate to think that way, but it’s the reality we live in.
Most coin collectors are honest. Most rock and fossils collectors are honest. All it takes is one person to do the wrong thing and everyone gets labeled or pays the price for that one dishonest person. It’s a shame, a real shame, but you must do what you feel is right in order to protect yourself from that one person.
No. Have passed around gold in slabs and have always gotten it back. I know most of our members personally, and honestly, if one of my fellow members was down on their luck and needed help, I would hope they would ask and I could help them out.
