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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GeorgeM, post: 1384421, member: 28550&quot;]Dealers often have asymmetrical knowledge about the coins that they are selling. After all, they have time to pull out reference books, go online, or ask experts about the coins before putting them up for sale. So, no, I wouldn&#039;t feel guilty about buying 90% silver half dollars for $3 a pop. In fact, I&#039;d be happy to do that all day long. My only concern would be that if the deal seemed to good to be true, it might just be. </p><p><br /></p><p>In my opinion, it&#039;s different if you spot an honest mistake (for example, a 90% silver coin that got misplaced into a bin of 40% silver coins). In my experience, some dealers are quite ethical about rewarding honesty, while others are prideful about making a mistake or just get greedy if they see any chance to move the price upward.</p><p><br /></p><p>At a show last year, I found a French Piastre priced far below silver melt. If I remember correctly, it was a 1908 Piastre, which is 90% silver. The dealer had mislabeled the coin as a 50% silver piece and priced it slightly below that melt price. I asked if the price written on the coin was based on the current price of silver. When the dealer assented, I pointed out that the ASW seemed to be on the low end, and he said &quot;If I messed up, my price is still firm.&quot; So, I reached for my wallet right away.</p><p><br /></p><p>At another show, I found a Peruvian Sol that had been mis-priced the same way (a 0.3617 oz ASW piece priced at the melt of 0.2 oz ASW). I asked the dealer if that was the current melt price, he said yes. I made some comment like &quot;Odd, I thought that Peru minted at a 90% purity&quot; as I set the coin aside to buy. While I kept browsing, the dealer pulled out his Krause and changed the price on the coin. That left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, in the situation you found yourself in, I wouldn&#039;t have had any problem buying the coins for the price they were offered. Did you get the impression that seller wasn&#039;t a professional dealer (or that the coin show had a very low price for getting a table), or maybe that she had gotten the coins when silver was at a much lower price point?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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