I had a very interesting experience today. A young bling man and his father came into my antique store and asked if I had any old keys. I had three rings of old skelton keys of varying shapes and sizes. I pulled them from the case and the young man methodically went through the ring feeling each key. He decided on an entire ring which held 14 keys of about the same size and then 4 others of different sizes. Then the father said, they also have coins and the young man was interested. I walked over to the case and was thinking, how do I show coins to the guy when they are in 2x2's. I asked what he was interested in and he said Barber dimes. I had a few, pulled them out and explained what years and grades I had and the price of each. He picked up the 2x2 and I apoligized that he could not feel them as they were in the 2x2. I was waiting to see if he would ask if I could open it and let him feel the coin, but he did not ask. The father then read what was written on the 2x2 again and the young man decided on a 1912 in fine condition. Had he asked if he could touch the coin, how would you answer that question without offending him? Granted this was not a high grade coin that I was selling for hundreds of dollars, but all coins should be treated the same, correct?
Well that is an interesting scenerio. I have a customer who has very limited eyesight. This particular gentleman has bought many great coins and has a very unique way of buying. He will have his wife look over the coin while he asks specific questions about marks or wear. I have learned many interesting specialties from selling to this gentlemen. As far as letting a customer handle a raw coin, any circulated coin I would not hesitate as long as it was handled with some general care. (ie: not drop or slid across the counter). A fingerprint on an AU of Fine coin will not hurt the value at all. You do however have to take into consideration that if they are going to purchase the coin, and you feel confident in that, they can handle it anyway that they choose.
A very cool story. Thanks for sharing it. I knew a blind man, who was a friend of the family. It always amazed me at the things he could do. Not nearly as handicapped as you would think. I agree that I would gladly let a blind person touch a circulated coin. That would be no problem at all.
