How to get a refund on a counterfeit purchased 20 years ago

So I had this beautiful high grade ancient coin purchased from a well known dealer whose initials are FSR around 1997. I kept it in the original envelope with his handwriting and auction identification on the holder. Recently it was returned by NGC as N/G or counterfeit. I have contacted the dealer in question by email, sent photos of the coin, the holder, the NGC documents, and I explained quite politely and rationally the situation, and asked how he proposed to resolve the issue. So far I have received for a reply silence. No Reply. Rather disappointing from someone of such high professional stature. What would you propose as the next steps to take?

 

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Tough one. After 20 years the dealer may simply not remember the coin, and thus unsure if it was the one they originally sold. This will really come down to the dealer's temperament. I don't think you have much recourse after that much time has passed and since it wasn't purchased with a method such as paypal.

 

How long has it been since you wrote them? Maybe they just didn't see the e-mail. Perhaps you should call or visit.
Can you share the amount the coin was purchased for?

 

Do you have a receipt?

 

20 years? That's a tough one.

 

IMO if he does anything about this it's 100% charitable on his end don't think he's under any obligation to do anything unfortunately.

 

20 years ago I doubt there are photos of the original transacted coin, correct?

Put yourself in his shoes. If you sold me something and 20 years later I come back, how would you respond?

And as @Jaelus said, do you have a receipt? Can you prove that you purchased *this* coin from the dealer?

 

What was the return policy ?

If it covers 20 years you might be good. Anything short of that, or none at all, and I don't think much will happen.

They might not even have their books/records past 7 years ago to even know if your request is even legitimate.

 

Did the OP send the dealer "FSR" a real mail letter?

Emails get lost or are ignored as "spam".

 

+1

 

That's called tuition.
It's in the past...

 

As was said, if he (Frank) does anything it would be charitable. There's the statute of limitations to consider also. I keep records for 10 years but that's just me. And none of us are perfect after all. Sorry you found this out too late but I'm thinking he's probably just shaking his head right now and saying to himself..."Really?"

 

Any legal claim would almost certainly be time barred by now. It's now tuition.

 

This. Some like to pretend that there’s life time guarantees for raw coins but there really isn’t. I know it’s an ancient so that’s different and you didn’t do anything wrong, but the reality is unless you’ve been a steady customer and spent a lot of money most likely you won’t get a response and they’re just going to view it as someone trying to get money. If they do anything consider yourself lucky.

The more expensive the counbthe less likely you’re getting a response

 

That's my question as well. Either way, some dealers would take care of this but I would not have a problem with a dealer that said it had been too long.
It would be really tough to make the dealer take the coin back after all this time.

 

This sort of thing is why we have civil statutes of limitation. 20 years??? Holy guacamole, my good man.

 

Kurt beat me to statutes of limitation.
He is under no obligation. He could remember you, remember the coin,
and if he is a good guy, he would let you make some kind of exchange.
But look at it from his side. Someone can walk into his shop decades later
and claim something that may or may not be true. How does he know you didn't switch his real coin, with a fake?
How much is invested in this coin?
Perhaps he was also fooled and was not intentionally selling a fake to you.
Under normal circumstances, even 1 year is a long time. And the store policy might only be 30 days, not 7300 days.

 

I would appreciate knowing how to remove this post about returning a counterfeit coin, as the dealer did in fact reply quickly in the affirmative, and I missed his email as it went to spam filter. I dont want to publish an error, or defame anybody unjustly, and this should be removed! My Apologies and thanks, david c

 

Can't remove it.
But I am interested to know the terms of the deal.
Walking around with a lantern looking for an honest person, and all that.
It's nice to know that honor is still more important than money, to some people.