I consider myself a pretty honest person, and I try to do the right thing when it comes to buying and selling coins. Yesterday I had 2 purchases that kind of tested the waters a little bit. The first one, I had an older gentleman come into the store with two rolls of common circulated peace dollars. I looked through them real quick; they all looked like 22s and 23s. I gave him $15.00 a piece. He walked next door to a western store while I was double checking the coins and throwing them into the “silver dollar bucket”. Low and behold I found a 1921 Peace in XF condition! I walked next door, told the man that I found a better coin in the tube and paid him extra for the coin. He was very pleased and I was glad I did the right thing. About 2 hours later a man came in, he was real arrogant and rude. He laid 4 rolls of Indian head cents on the counter and said “I want $ 50.00 a roll and there are no good dates I already checked” I told him I was not interested. He then changed his tone a little and asked what I would pay for them. I pointed to my “Indian head bucket” and said I have plenty I will pay $25.00 a roll. He said ok took the money and walked out. The last roll I opened was a true find. All the cents were fine or better and I found a fine 1908-s! Now I got to tell ya, if that man was still in the store, I would have told him and paid him more for that roll/1908-s but if he walks in the store Monday morning I wouldn’t say a word. I would like to hear some opinions on this as to what you think of this situation.
To me, "Caveat Emptor" works both sides of the fence. Had you found the last roll all messed up, would you demand your money back? You both agreed to the deal. Case closed.
I wouldn't worry about it. You did the right thing with the first gentleman. I would have done the same. Now I'm assuming the second one wasn't a regular. If that's the case with the attitude you got from him, I would say keep it to yourself and don't mention it to him. He said he already checked them and as far as he's concerned he did okay (because he accepted your price). If he's a regular and a good customer, then let him know. However you decide, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
Your approach seems reasonable to me. -- the second guy's statement indicates he knows what the key dates are.
I agree with breakdown.This guy presented himself as knowing what was what.Ive worked in retail jobs.When the person is nasty to you a stranger to him,its easy to not be concerned about his interests.
you know yourself better and you also were there, so just like grading a coin in-hand actually living thru the experience gives you a better handle on what is or is not the right thing to do. Sitting here hundreds of miles away and not knowing all the circumstances means that my advice should be taken as well meaning but just something to consider if you have not already considered it. First, your ethics should mean more to you than wether or not others deserve to benefit from them also. If your ethics are a depends sort of ethics, it depends on wether the other person was pleasant, it depends on wether the other person was respectful, it depends on wether the other person was as knowledgeble as they think they were, then that is your ethics. Second, if you contact the person and tell them they made the mistake, and that you found an 08-s in fine condition and you would really like to make the price fair, there are a number of things that might happen. The person might dispute it with you, which would be rather funny and a real switch of the way things usually work, or they might thank you and you might find that the person made a bad first impression and they are really not so bad after all. Or worst case they can somehow think you are trying to Put One Over on them which seems ridiculous but people can sometimes be funny. Now like I said, advice is easier to take then to give, what advice would you give if someone asked you?
I see nothing wrong with what you did. He agreed to the price, case closed. Here is the flip side of this-Last year a guy wrote in to Numismatic News about how he stopped at his local coin shop and bought several low grade Morgan Dollars that were in a discount bin. However one of them was an 1893-S. He didn't tell the dealer what it was, dealer charged him the discount price. Customer goes home, goes back to the dealer a week later and sells the coin back to him, gets like $3300 for it and uses the money to buy a car for his wife. There was a lot of discussion about this in the magazine for about 2 months, people writing in about it. You can say it definitely works both ways. I just hope for that guys sake the dealer didn't read his letter.
Unbelievable that dealer would be so careless with his material. Of course if collector got ripped like that in coin shop they all would squeal murder.
I don't believe ethics should have anything to do with how another person acts, actually I believe it reflects more highly on a person if they hold true to there principles no matter the level of scum they are dealing with... but I do not believe any of this has to do with this case because you both agreed on the deal and were happy with it before you knew what you were purchasing and further more the person did claim that they already searched it. Even in your first story I believe that it wouldn't have harmed your ethics any to keep your profits, but I do commend you on going above and beyond fairness where some would not.. I too try and do this sort of business and believe that karma pays me greater rewards when I go above and beyond. Yesterday at a flea market I met a couple at a table that were unloading tons of silver jewelery do to their family quiting a business, they sold me 46 grams of sterling silver chains for only $14... I went on to discuss the prices of silver, current spot prices, and price per gram and when I came back to their table an hour later their prices were up 50% more and they were still selling out fast.
What is right for one man will not sit well with another. That is a fact that remains the same in all walks of life. I believe that as long as you have no prior knowledge and are not trying to swindel someone that you should enjoy your good fortunes where they find you. If you sleep well at the end of the day that is what really matters.
