If any of you are members of the Blue Ridge Numismatics Assoc. You have probably read the Customer/Phone call of the week section. It is one of my favorite things to read in the journal. I was thinking it might be fun to start a thread like that on here. I will start with what I can remember from the last month or so… A woman came into the store with an envelope full of $2 bills. She said she has had all of these in her safety deposit box for the last 30 years. I asked her (Before she pulled them out) “They are all 30 years old?” She said “yes, over 30 years and still crisp”. When she pulled them out they were all 2003 series notes and most were circulated. I said “Wow, I didn’t know they made 2003 series notes 30 years ago!” A man came in and wanted to know how much we paid for gold coins. I said well, it depends on what type of gold coin it is and the condition. He pulled out 5 Sacagawea dollars and laid them out on the counter. A man about my age (27) came into the store and laid 2 gold necklaces on the counter and said “This one is 10kt and this one is 30kt” I said “well there is no such thing as a 30kt and both of these are fake”.
Okay, here's one with the "table turned" on the seller....... I was at Fleamasters in East Fort Myers, FL back in 2004, and while browsing at a coin shop, an elderly couple asked the owner, who had her back turned to them, if she had any albums for the "Jefferson" quarters. The couple appeared to be in their late 70's or early 80's so it was no surprise to me that they might have been confused, but without even turning around, the owner "barked" in a loud, nasty tone, "There is no such thing as a Jefferson quarter!" At that point, I told the couple that the Jefferson series was nickels and if they had a computer, they could search for "Whitman" and order whatever album they wanted online. At that point, the owner said to me in her nasty tone, "That's all I need! I'm trying to run a business and I have rent and utilities to pay and this joker is telling customers to take their business elsewhere." With that, I said, "With your attitude, I'm surprised you're still in business!" and I left. Fast forward about a year later......... I was looking through a table of Morgan dollar slabs at the same fleamarket shop. I didn't see anything of interest, so I asked the owner if she had any other slabbed Morgans. Again, in a nasty tone and her back turned to me, she retorted, "Are you blind? What do you think is on that table!" So, with other customers within earshot, I remarked, "Everything you have on that table is low-grade junk and not worth the prices you're asking." I turned and left, and as I was almost out of her "space", I heard her say, "Where did he go?" Chris
I always think it is hilarious when I'm in a coin shop and someone walks in with something like the Sacagawea dollars or the statehood quarters and really thinks they have something. I wonder how much of those kind of calls/walk-ups the dealers get? I was in a coin shop once and a woman came in with an Irish coin. She obviously was thinking it was worth big money and the shop owner told her "it's an Irish nickel. It's worth five cents." She stormed out of there with no word of thanks or anything.
I got a phone call a while back from a telemarketer, even though I'm on the "no call list", wanting to know if I knew the investment opportunity that awaited me in Presidential Dollars!! It was really hard not to laugh, so I didn't stick around long enough to hear the whole sales pitch. But apparently we're missing out on a limited time offer to make loads of money on these rare and limited coins! lol I thought it was funny. Of course, some might buy into their pitch and lose a lot of money, which isn't funny. Guy~
I get sales calls from places like the United States Rare coin and bullion reserve or something like that
Not long ago I had a guy come in with a Presidential dollar and ask me to weigh it. I did and it checked out. Then he asked me what is was worth. I told him a dollar. He didn't believe me because it was GOLD. I'll give him this much though - when I grabbed a handy magazine and showed him what the compostion was he understood. Another call that we still get and my boss has been getting for years concerns a quarter or half dollar that has TWO dates. 1776 and 1976 to be exact. We call them Bi Centennials and they are worth face. I can surmise that any B&M dealer gets these calls very often. We frequently (today actually) get calls about Susan Bs, Ikes and Sacagaweas pulled from circulation. You just try and let them down gently.
I got a call from a telemarketer one time asking me if I wanted to buy some gold coins, "he only had about 20 left so he thought he would offer them all to me before it was too late". I don't remember the coin but I was lookin git up on Ebay while he was talking to me. He wanted somewhere aound $1100 each and they were buy it now on Ebay for around $900. When I asked him why he thought I should pay him over $200 more for the same coin he got mad and defencive, told me "We are a respectable company and you can always sell back to us when you want out. So I called him on it, I asked "If I bought these today and wanted to sell next week how much of a lose would I take?" He said "none you would get your money back". I said Really? All of it? He kinda stammered for a bit and then he said he had to get off the phone casue the "room was going crazy with this coin at such a hot price"....
