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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Penny Lady®, post: 847495, member: 16948&quot;]I have a story about a deal between me and another dealer. This dealer that I know personally had a proof Indian cent for sale on the internet with a decent photo.&nbsp; The coin had a tiny ding on the cheek but had very pretty toning and otherwise was a beautiful spot-free coin, so I made an offer.&nbsp; We went back and forth a little and finally settled on a price.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>As soon as I received the coin, I tossed it in my box because I was packing to leave for a show and I knew I would just give it to Todd to photograph since he was taking onsite photographs at the show.&nbsp; A few days later, Todd sent me the photograph, which was as usual very good quality and enlarged and he mentioned that the proof had a neat strike-thru on the cheek. I was quite surprised since I thought it was a ding, but sure enough, it was actually a strike-thru from a piece of thread.&nbsp; This is pretty unusual for a proof, and even though I thought it was very interesting and liked it, I wasn&#039;t sure whether it would add or detract value.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I went ahead and posted it on my website for sale noting the very interesting &quot;error&quot; and added a premium to see if it would get any attention (I could always lower the price if it didn&#039;t sell!).&nbsp; Within a day, the dealer I purchased it from sent me a message berating me for taking advantage of him, how dare I list the coin for that much more than I bought it for, stating that I knew the proof had a strike-thru and was worth a premium, yet I had the guts to still &quot;dicker&quot; with him for a better price, I was a unethical, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>Boy, was I shocked and taken aback by his sharp message.&nbsp; I responded honestly, telling him I didn&#039;t even see that the coin had a strike-thru until after Todd photographed it and pointed it out to me, that I didn&#039;t even know whether it was worth a premium because most people who collect proofs prefer pristine examples.&nbsp; But I also told him, no matter whether it was worth a premium or not, if he made money and was happy with the deal, what did it really matter to him how much I sell the coin for.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>After a few more back and forth messages, and ultimately my phone call to him, he finally believed me, and then began apologizing profusely over and over for his &quot;jumping to conclusions&quot; without asking me first.&nbsp; The sad part is that, even though we are still friends, the experience has caused me to think twice before doing another deal with this dealer (mostly because his being a little &quot;hotheaded&quot; might have just as easily caused him to take his dissatisfaction publicly or directly to the message boards which could have harmed my reputation, so I am hesitant to enter into any other transactions with him since my reputation means a great deal to me).</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, I have no problem if a dealer or collector &quot;picks me off.&quot;&nbsp; As a matter of fact, I have several collectors and dealers who stop by my table looking for specific varieties on my Indian cents, repunched dates, dates in the denticles, etc., and I have no problem with this.&nbsp; I don&#039;t always take the time to look carefully and closely at each coin I purchase (especially circulated coins) and sometimes the varieties don&#039;t really add that much value.&nbsp; So if I make a little on the coin and am comfortable with the price, I&#039;m happy.&nbsp; And often, I get educated because my customers and dealers usually tell me what they find (yes, of course it&#039;s AFTER I&#039;ve given them my price!) but it honestly does not bother me because I received what I wanted, and they are even happier with their purchase and often return to look for more varieties. </p><p><br /></p><p>By the way, I posted that proof on the message boards to solicit opinions as to whether the strike-thru added or lowered the value, and many felt that the strike-thru detracted from the proof, and made it worth even less.&nbsp; However, I did end up selling it to a customer who loves errors like this, and was thrilled to see it on the proof - he said &quot;it turned him on&quot;!!&nbsp; So, to each their own. :smile[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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