Normally I cringe anytime I'm near these places, but something told me to give this one a look. It was one of those places in the strip centers and they had the usual assortment of jewelry and other stuff in the front. I asked the girl behind the counter if they sold silver dollars. She mentioned that they usually just buy but not often sell, but she was friendly and after some searching brought out a small bag of stuff. She was talking about getting more interested in coins and getting into the various designs, especially the Walkers. There were probably around 20 or so silver dollars along with a few other silver coins. I started looking thru the dates and starting finding the usual dates, '23 Peace, '21 Morgan and some other buffed and cleaned dates. A couple of '34-D's got my attention along with a worn '92-O. Then came a well worn 1899 Morgan, most like the New Orleans issue. I flipped that over and lo' and behold, no mintmark! I was expecting the 'O' but nothing was there, didn't look buffed off or anything. What was I to do? Should I have picked it off for less than melt value? Granted, I had no idea what they bought it for, I'll bet it was lumped in with many other coins at the time of purchase. Maybe the seller should have know better? Who knows? I ended up telling her that one of the silver dollars (1899) was 'special', so she ended up pulling out a Redbook and seeing the value on an 1899. Needless to say she was thrilled, and just maybe got her more interested and educated. Needless to say, I didn't get the 1899. I did get a very nice 1922 Peace with super creamy luster for around $24, it's at least a 63 or 64 to me. The pictures don't so the coin justice, it was done quickly with a point and shoot, the luster just screams on it and is 'thick'. Sometimes you just get a vibe that says 'go for it, my knowledge against theirs'. This was not one of those times.
If it was a friend or another collector I would have pointed it out. But coming from a store that sells their stuff to make money on, I wouldn't have told them. Its part of business, if you don't know what you're selling you can't expect to make a profit.
They probably paid like $12 for the 1899, so I would have offered the $24 and kept mum. Likely destined for the pot anyway.
I agree I wouldn't have told a place like that and would have bought it. But a friend would be different.
