This thread is to see if I'm alone on this.... I've only been into coin collecting for a few years...and already I've heard some of the dumbest questions. Today did it for me. I'm not even a coin dealer or anything! My aunt came by and gave me a bill to look at...to see if it was a mistake. It was one of the new bills! OMG! Those have been around forever! I'm speechless. Here's another thing I had to deal with...my friend's dad said he had a penny worth millions. He told me it was a silver penny. Now you know the rest of the story. I checked it out...sure enough..1943. I tried to tell him it was steel and what it was worth but I guess if you thought you had a million dollar penny, you wouldn't want to hear reality either. He was sure it was a ton. Do you deal with people like that every day? What's your worst encounter?
Every time I encounter an individual with less knowledge than myself, I enjoy the opportunity to educate them. When I encounter a person with more knowledge than myself, I relish the opportunity to learn! Teaching can sometimes be a challenge, and often learning can be every bit as difficult. In a retail environment, I am reminded of this EVERY day - but I ALWAYS try to enjoy it. Life is to short not too. Remember, there have been many people in each of our lives that, after speaking with you or I, walked away thinking what you just typed ;-)
I completely agree...I might have sounded mean from my post before. But when someone asks me a question like that, I'll answer like I just found out the hour before. And after they leave....THAT'S when I laugh.
The post did not sound mean at all. I just came off of a long day where I dealt with a number of individuals who desired education but were "challenged" in their ability to acquite. I was using your posting as an opportunity to remind both of us ;-)
This is probably my friend's dad! LOL http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...55&category=786&sspagename=STRK:MEBWA:IT&rd=1
rolltide. you should pat yourself on the back for learning. i remember when i didnt have a ckue what a wheatie was. lol i think we have all been there....
I have been trying to find out little facts about our coins and money, and each time there is a little gap in the money changing sequence, I drop a fact out on the table. Stuff like - showing them an Silver Eagle, telling them about the 26 state names on the back of the five dollar bill, etc. Most times, I'm just blown off, but today at the post office, the postmaster was blown away at the silver eagle. She had no idea her government produced coins like that. Its proactive and reactive, this educational thing. Give it a try, see what you get.
I have had some amusing moments over the years. Some people truly don't know what they have, others are determined that their coins MUST be rare because they're VERY old....1940's! On slow news days there's a radio station somewhere in my area that runs the story about the 1943 copper penny. Sadly, either it's not very informative or the listeners aren't very attentive. I can always tell when the news story has been run because I get tons of phone calls from lucky people who have found a 1943 penny worth millions. One of the latest tidbits happened a couple of weeks ago. A lady called the store saying she had a nickel that had two golf clubs on it. I politely told her about the new nickel design and how those were not golf clubs. She was very insistent that HER nickel had two golf clubs on it, and two golfers were shaking hands. wow. Last year fellow called with an 1840 $20 gold piece. He brought it in but I guess he'd never seen a real one before...it was black and plainly had COPY stamped on the obverse. A few years ago an older gent phoned saying he had an 1804 silver dollar. He described the obverse well enough. I asked him about the reverse and he read to me without hesitation "The greatest american coin-copy". He thought I was nuts when I told him it was a replica. I love Florida Lastly (and possibly the best one) is a non coin story. About 12 years ago I worked in the car business, doing coins on the side. A man brought his new Marquis in because of a problem with the radio. He said it would only pick up one local station, and that crappy station only played a few songs. So I sat in the car and checked it out...the radio worked fine once I EJECTED THE CASSETTE. true story.
LOL!!!!! You should definetely do stand up comedy. I'm still laughing. Sad thing is it's true. I cycle through 3 coin dealers around here and they always have new stories to tell me. I can even hear them on the phone trying to explain stuff. That alone would make me want to be a coin dealer.
Well as Nick has said, we dealers get to hear it all. I get calls about 43 copper cents, 74 aluminum cents, 04 dollars, 33 saints, Two headed coins, and my all time favorite...... The 1975 quarter. These are people who honestly believe that they own a rarity. Dealing with children on a regular basis, I try to answer every question in the same way. When you can educate an individual in a respectful way, your odds of gaining a good customer improve. For myself, I remember the two cent coin given to me by a history teacher. Before that day, I would have guessed that anything that odd would have to be worth lots of money. It is just part of our learning curve. So smile and help the individual.
Yup it's pretty fun most of the time but believe me it has it's moments. I like the ones who think if they're belligerent enough I'll eventually tell them the truth about their ultra valuable 1936 buffalo. That reminds me of another one. A guy phoned once with a 1390 nickel. "It's got a V on the back. No, it's not 1890, it's THIRTEEN NINETY, do you need to have your hearing checked?" I told him (just playing along at this point) that yes some coins were that old and were usually pretty valuable but they were all foreign coins, not U.S. He persisted that he had a U.S. nickel from 1390, and that I didn't know what I was talking about. So I congratulated him on managing to find a United States coin that was minted over 100 years BEFORE Columbus even got here. His response was..."oh. maybe it's 1890." Sure Cohibacris share these freely. I've got an awesome great funny story that involves some profanity so come to the shop when you're vacationing in Orlando and I'll share it with you over a coffee. Ask me about the cheapskate Canadian that was thrown out of a coin shop. That way I'll know which one you're talking about. Or you can PM me Nick
Hey Nick, Have you gotten the call about the previously unknown sixth example of the 1913 Nickel. It must be worth millions. Only six were made with a buffalo, and all the rest were Liberty's.
Very true, ND. I had an employee once that was very talented and knowledgeable. But he would get SO tired of answering calls about wheat cents and silver certificates and 1776 Ike dollars (these are valuable because they were created even before Ike was!), etc. That was his personality, he wasn't good at repeatedly dealing with beginners. The phone calls are a lifeline. You never know about that person with a wheat cent question. They might have inherited a large coin collection and are starting their questions with the coin they're most familiar with. Or perhaps they have caught the spark and may become great customers. It all comes down to the golden rule. Treat others are you would like to be treated. What wisdom that simple statement contains.
Hey I saw a handful of 1776 quarters today. Of course they were all worth a fortune. The lady had two full rolls. Just goes to show me how much I knew about coins. She proved it too me. 1776 right there on the date. Even had the little drummer boy I had described. Amazing how I could know about the drummer boy, but not the fact they were made in 1776.
Holy cow!!! I wonder what that person wasted on the listing fee!!! That coin is worth 10 cents if you overlook the spots. Ebay should not have even allowed the listing, and if they collected a sizeable listing fee for this (say, more than $1), that is unethical to me.
