Collector ethics

So there I was, at the show today and a dealer points me to a PCGS box full of common date ms-63 Morgans and says- your choice $51 each. I carefully thumb through them looking for better vams and get all the way to the very last coin- lo and behold it's not a common date. I pull it out and say this one will do and slide it over to him. He looks the coin over for what seems like an eternity, (maybe 30 seconds) slides it back and says okay that'll be $51.
I promptly march it over to the next aisle and flip it for a quick $250 profit. Should I have felt bad? What would you do in this situation? FYI this isn't my favorite dealer and he's even made snarky remarks about how I never buy (from him). Were not talking about a $10,000 coin here
Although i wish we were!!
Your thoughts

 

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Absolutely not. You simply practiced sound business practice. Nothing even remotely unethical about that.

 

Good for you. You did not do anything wrong.

 

Needless to say- i DID have a REALLY GOOD SHOW TODAY
I actually left with more money in my pocket than when i arrived. Plus a bunch of coins and a $2 confederate note pcgs au58ppq

 

If you told him, he might well have said something snarky.

 

You did well and do not need to look back.

 

Congrats on your find and profit. IMO, the dealer had a chance to look at the coin prior to confirming the price. At that point, the coin is yours.

 

He evidently beat someone else out of it because he wouldn't have sold it for less than he had in it.

 

That depends....you did give the right to refusal to sell a better date coin.
If he as you say did look at the coin and gave you a price then done deal.
Quite like today myself dealer had a coin $26 I asked his price he quoted $20 I was ok np I will take it...it was a ddo I knew it, I also knew it was a better date,mintage
604,000.
Now as a cherry picker most dealers I know don't care...they know I am pickin, however about 6 times today I was summons to a table over a variety question.
So it works both ways... I quite often tell them that they have more meat on the bone....but to be honest my thoughts are this....if you'r running a business you should know what you're selling.
You mistakes are yours....someone who has or is commiting a fraud is another question.
Your actions were not fraudulent in nature.....you asked he gave done deal

 

Finders Keepers Loosers weepers!

 

He gave you a price and even had a chance to say it was mistakenly placed into that box. So, I see nothing wrong. Congrats on the flip!

Plus I see this happen too often the other way. I recall being at a local coin store (that I no longer visit) in my early collecting days and picking out around 10 wheat cents from the 10 for $1 bin. The son of the dealer was about to write up a receipt, but in stepped the dealer for a second look. He carefully examined each coin, studied the greysheet, and came back saying that I owed $2-$3 per coin! And all of this over some 1930s-1950s common date wheat cents!

 

Well done. Knowledge is power. You even showed him the coin. Guilt should be the last thing you should feel. You studied, worked, and were rewarded for your efforts without taking advantage of someone. You just took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself.

 

You did nothing wrong. You made an offer, the dealer accepted the offer. He's the expert, you could be some shrub off the street who happens to think 9s are cute.

 

Now for another ethics question, if that coin were at a garage sale run by a little old lady selling coins her husband had, would you tell her?

 

In the first case with the dealer, I’d flip it and not look back.

In Kentucky’s case, I’d tell her.

 

Maybe he slipped it in the back when he saw you coming... He wanted to run an experiment to see if you just won't buy from him because of a personal vendetta?

 

Perhaps the OP's dealer realized his error in putting such a coin in the "el cheapo" box, but after a bit of introspection decided to "honor the deal".

 

Ive got a few theories myself...
He claimed to have just bought the coins the very same day of the show, probably from another dealer. So there might even be two dealer mistakes here.
I guess the coin DID sort of blend in well with the others in hindsight-
81s 83o 82s 84o 85p 86p 85o 87p 88o 89o
98o 99o 01o 04o ALL MS63s

Can YOU spot the not so common date real quick like a bunny??

 

I'd tell her.