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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Midas, post: 106903, member: 2761&quot;]I had a similar experience a couple years ago...</p><p><br /></p><p>Let me set the stage. I was in the middle of my travels and I happened to stop into one of the local coin shops. Some people take a lunch, I like to browse around and see if any coins suit my fancy.</p><p><br /></p><p>The shop was actually busy. Discussions about the increasing cost for 2004 silver proof sets seem to dominate this particular shop. An old man was looking at coins in the back, putting them in 2x2&#039;s, &quot;grading&quot; them while the other owner was helping a couple of other browsers like myself.</p><p><br /></p><p>As I was looking, a young kid (early 20&#039;s) comes in and looked lost. He was looking for a plastic holder for Morgan dollars. Since both owners were tied up, he asked, &quot;Do you know anything about Morgans?&quot; I replied, &quot;A little...but if you really want to learn about Morgans, you should really get that book (pointing to the Whitman Official Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars by Q. David Bowers) and that will pretty much cover the bases.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>He then asked (holding up a capital plastic 2x2 holder) is this a good holder for a Morgan? I told him, &quot;Sure, why not...do you collect Morgans?&quot;&nbsp; He told me not really, but his grandfather that recently passed on willed him about 50 Morgans with one that he was told to be very special. It was kept separately from the others and saved in a &quot;cotton bed&quot; within a jewelry box.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Do you know which date?&quot;, I asked. &quot;It&#039;s a 1893 with a S on the back&quot;, he replied as he took it out.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;A 1893-S!!&quot;, as my voice rose. &quot;Take a look at this Red Book, or better yet, this magazine (Coin Prices) and see what you have!&quot; His eyes lit up and explained, &quot;Look, I like to collect baseball cards and I really don&#039;t know anything about coins...but, this is fantastic!&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>He also told me that a coin dealer at the flea market offered him $1500 for it, but his mother told him to sleep on it. I told him that he needed to read up on it. It looked to be at least a EF40 coin! My eyes bulged and now the patrons of the coin shop started wondering what was the comotion about.&nbsp; Imagine that?&nbsp; Me and my mouth!</p><p><br /></p><p>Now opinions were being thrown at the kid like EF45, EF40, maybe AU, could be a fake (from the old guy), and I piped in telling him that if it were me, I would get that off to either NGC (since we were in Florida) or PCGS to certify it. I told him that this is a popular coin for fakes and if this passes NGC or PCGS, it is worth way more than $1500!</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Like certifying baseball cards?&quot;, he asked. &quot;Exactly!&quot; I replied. Well the owners were NOT to happy with my comments as this kid was probably looking to sell it. Instead, he ends up buying about $40 in books, magazines and coin holders. </p><p><br /></p><p>Oh well...should of stayed quiet, but you never know what may walk through a coin dealer&#039;s door. He did ask me first since he wasn&#039;t getting any attention. Oh well...</p><p><br /></p><p>************************************************</p><p>As I look back on this story, I probably should have minded my own business.&nbsp; After all, coin dealers are in the business of making a profit.&nbsp; That means, buy low and sell high for if they don&#039;t, they probably will have to close the shop.&nbsp; Who knows what the dealer &quot;may&quot; have offered this kid?&nbsp; Would he have &quot;ripped&quot; him off or offered him a &quot;fair&quot; price??...whatever THAT is!!</p><p><br /></p><p>I also have witnessed &quot;old ladies&quot; in Florida (lots of them here) walk into variious coin shops, struggling to carry a box of their late husband&#039;s coin collection for the coin shop owner to review.&nbsp; Same conversation all of the time...</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Here are the coins I spoke to you about...are they worth anything?&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Owner...&quot;Well, let&#039;s take a look&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>10 minutes go by and you hear the opening and closing of whitman folders, slabs being&nbsp; pulled from their boxes, and even a &quot;jingle jangle&quot; every now and then.&nbsp; Then comes the sounds of the adding machine and less than 10 minutes later, a person&#039;s life collection is summed up by hearing, &quot;There&#039;s really not much here other than face value, I give you $250 for the box, as it is...&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Now...there is a gulp growing in my throat, but it is NOT my business to scream, &quot;You are getting ripped!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; Even though I thought it was NOT a good deal for the old lady, she seemd to walk out happy with cash in hand!?!</p><p><br /></p><p>Moral of the story...write down instructions what YOU would do if you found the collection.&nbsp; My instructions explain what a &quot;slab&quot; is, who are decent dealers I have dealt with, what a bid/sell price is, where to check for pricing as a guide, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>I just don&#039;t need to spin in my grave, if you know what I mean![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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