Sad Coin Buying Experience Today - Kennedy Mint

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Shortgapbob, Dec 12, 2007.

  1. WaMike75

    WaMike75 Junior Member

    Lets not forget the Franklin Mint. All these knock off's of a 'Mint' with ads in Readers Digest, The Enquirer and such. Catering to the older less knowledgeable people. I see this kind of stuff all day long where I work.. Its the same thing over and over. Americana Sets, War Time Sets, Indian Penny/Buffalo Nickel Sets. AG to G coins polished all to hell then repackaged. One guy showed me pages and pages of invoices from his Littleton collection. Must have been about $1200.00 in invoices. I was generous in my offer of $200.00.. As the original poster did, I explained everything and what these companies do. He accepted my offer and I almost wanted to pass on it just because someone took advantage of this guy. I really felt bad. Know what I mean?
     
    Mike Davis likes this.
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  3. SmokeMonkey

    SmokeMonkey i brake for peace dollars

    ive seen offers for an ASE and a stamp for 40 bucks. total ripoff.

    mercury dimes going for at least 3 times what they're worth.

    ive seen these offers and all i can say is im glad i do my homework on this. i know every one of them isnt a deal or a bargain or a steal. well they are a steal, for those selling the crap. they really do prey on the ignorance of people. i think its predatory but...its up to the consumer to educate themselves about what they are buying so these companies keep doing this.
     
  4. srkjkd

    srkjkd Book before coin

    another example of why you shoud buy the book before the coin as well as why we desperately need to educate new collectors...steve
     
    Bob Evancho likes this.
  5. Coinman1974

    Coinman1974 Research, Research, Research

    Its companies like these that ruin this hobby. I was taken by the Kennedy Mint for some Lincoln Pennies when I was a new collector. Spent $.50 on each and now they look like crap. At least I know, I just feel bad for those who don't.

    As far as an agency, One could be made, but getting the U.S. Gov backing maybe hard. Also there is the BBB :confused:

    Regards,
    S
     
  6. SmokeMonkey

    SmokeMonkey i brake for peace dollars

    somehow i dont think the government dipping their hand into this would be a good idea. its bad enough they made it illegal just to melt pennies for their copper value.
     
  7. Coinman1974

    Coinman1974 Research, Research, Research

    Only reason I mentioned our elected officals is I don't think a company would be taking very seriously or would be able to make any mandates without them. But I could be wrong. Just thinking out loud:eek:.

    Regards,
    S
     
  8. ambro

    ambro www.lincolncentennial.com

    Ya Know....after that Home Shooping Network looks pretty damn good. At least their stuff is Genuine, and usually NGC. So you cant ever go THAT wrong, not like the Franklin and Kennedy mint fiascos etc etc
     
  9. mbynack

    mbynack Member

    Postal Commemorative Society

    My wife bought me a subscription to the Postal Commemorative Society Presidential Dollars for Christmas. I get an uncirculated Presidential Dollar and a Commemorative Stamp each time a new dollar is released. She pays 19.95 per issue. I hinted to her that this was a rip off, but I don't want to hurt her feelings by telling her outright. :hug:

    Another down side to this is that we are now on the PCS sucker list and we get several junk mailings a week from PCS.
     
    Mike Davis likes this.
  10. SmokeMonkey

    SmokeMonkey i brake for peace dollars

    shop at home. their stuff is nice and real and they sell lots of slabbed stuff from NGC and PCGS but their prices are...NOT WITHIN THE REALM OF REASONABLE.

    and i laugh at the bullion being sold in slabs, like a ms-70 ASE going for 100 bucks. ok...if you're a slab ***** and insist on getting such an item because you really really really admire the artwork, ok fine. but to me its just bullion and yes its nice to look at but not worth paying more than 20 bucks for, PERIOD.

    they had nice looking morgans the other morning, a whole roll of them BUT...i know what they show and what you get arent the same thing. the slabbed stuff, sure, but everything else is a gamble.

    and their knife show is a riot, buy 15 bazillion knives in one lot for a mere 75 cents a piece!

    now i know this company and i know they dont sell jack unless they make a profit (and a steep one at that) and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

    i think my wife did the exact same thing. i didnt have the heart to tell her it was not worth it. but i do tell her very honestly about every other offer "yeah we can get that for a 1/4 of the price at (insert website name here) and at a better grade too."

    she generally leaves it up to me to make the judgement calls on this stuff. i just didnt know about the presidential dollar deal.

    speaking of offers...we got some for an offer for a 3 piece SBA slabbed set, 1980, supposedly graded MS-64 by some grading company called american alliance coin grading service (AACGS). and they want like 28 bucks for it. i loled and told her to trash it. they were also selling 5 proof dimes for like 20 bucks (newer roosevelts, a couple years old at best). i was offended by that one.
     
  11. Oldman

    Oldman New Member

    I wa at a dealers a few weeks ago and while there 3 different groups of people came in. Two of them had bags full and the dealler said no thanks to all of it one guy havea box full of coins and the dealler only took 5 of them. A cuople of margans two canadian brass $2 dollar coins. I was thinking about offering the guy face for all the rest then thought,, Na I saw what was there. It wasnt worth my time.
     
  12. tradernick

    tradernick Coin Hoarder

    It is indeed sad that these flimflam artists can prosper. But the thing is they sell to "armchair collectors". Collectors that attend shows, are members of clubs, or at least active in pursuing coins generally don't buy from the TV or magazine dealers. Too often the customer is completely fleeced before realizing they've been had. Of course the companies sell the "sizzle and hype" and they can be very charming and persuasive...and often they play upon peoples greed, promising rich returns in the future for an investment now. The promise of future value tends to deflect the buyer away from the product itself..which of course is cleaned overgraded crap.
    I simply hate to see this stuff come into the shop. You'd think that after enough time that people would learn, but every generation brings new fish to the table and new bait...gold plated states quarters, colorized silver eagles, etc. These are the modern day versions of the Franklin and Danbury mints.
    NIck
     
  13. Scott King

    Scott King New Member

    I have a box load of these, 15 frames. My dad gave them to me and said this is for your son’s college. Are any if these worth anything? As framed? Or as individual coins? They dont look crazy polished or anything. In fact many are very old and worn. edited
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 24, 2020
  14. Rafael Ignacio

    Rafael Ignacio New Member

    I found at my dad home office a box with a bunch of fancy cases with what seems to be nice coins, almost 90% of them were from the Kennedy Mint, also included were some frame coins which you could tell they were copper that had been gold plated or silver plated. Found the receipts for the purchase of the whole collection, my father had spend $4785.49. I took them to a friend uncle who have a coin store to have it evaluated and to my surprise just 8 pieces of Morgans and Peace silver dollars were real. The rest was junk. My father was a very smart guy I still cant understand how he was fool in such a way.
     
  15. Rafael Ignacio

    Rafael Ignacio New Member

    I found at my dad home office a box with a bunch of fancy cases with what seems to be nice coins, almost 90% of them were from the Kennedy Mint, also included were some frame coins which you could tell they were copper that had been gold plated or silver plated. Found the receipts for the purchase of the whole collection, my father had spend $4785.49. I took them to a friend uncle who have a coin store to have it evaluated and to my surprise just 8 pieces of Morgans and Peace silver dollars were real. The rest was junk. My father was a very smart guy I still cant understand how he was fool in such a way.
     
  16. Rafael Ignacio

    Rafael Ignacio New Member

    I found at my dad home office a box with a bunch of fancy cases with what seems to be nice coins, almost 90% of them were from the Kennedy Mint, also included were some frame coins which you could tell they were copper that had been gold plated or silver plated. Found the receipts for the purchase of the whole collection, my father had spend $4785.49. I took them to a friend uncle who have a coin store to have it evaluated and to my surprise just 8 pieces of Morgans and Peace silver dollars were real. The rest was junk. My father was a very smart guy I still cant understand how he was fool in such a way.
     
  17. bradgator2

    bradgator2 Well-Known Member

    That’s an awful story
     
  18. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    About four years ago one of my relatives by marriage told me that her aunt had died. The aunt was elderly, had dementia, and had been buying things advertised on television including coins.

    The relative showed me the coins which were "US type coin sets" of worn silver coins and some "tribute" (copy) coins. The relative knew the items weren't worth much, I told her how much, and she gave them to me.

    The "1933 double eagle tribute coin" (a gold plated copy) was useful for my website as one was used as a prop coin in a movie.

    :)
     
  19. Rick B

    Rick B Well-Known Member

    I'm curious why you were willing to buy them at all.
     
    Mike Davis likes this.
  20. Chip Kirkpatrick

    Chip Kirkpatrick Well-Known Member

    When buying silver became a craze in the 70s, a good friend decided to get into it. He set up at his mother’s trophy shop. I mentioned my mother might want to sell some coins and he assured me he would take good care of her. She eventually did take some silver to him and identified herself as my mother. He ripped her off so badly I never spoke to him again and we had been friends for over 20 years. I loaned him money when he needed it.
    Happily he disappeared 6 months later and we think he ripped off the wrong son ( I had an alibi).

    then a few years back my wife inherited some flatware we did not need. I went to 17 silver buyers and the offers varied from $700 to $1700. A thousand dollar span. I then saw a buyer was coming to town for one day and promised the best prices. I went to where he was. There were 3 lines of sellers and buyers and they offered me $700. I raised such a fuss that 6he other sellers all left. They then offered $1700, same as my highest bid. I reminded them they were advertising the best prices and demanded $1800. They actually paid it to get rid of me.
     
  21. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    Precisely why I don't buy coins. I don't know enough about it. But I do enjoy looking for old coins in my everyday change and have come across a few nice pieces to set aside.

    I've never heard of the Kennedy Mint. That's a good thing I don't know about it apparently. It's on my radar now though, what to watch out for.
     
    Kentucky likes this.
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