Touchy Subject

Greetings all "CC" fans

Recently I performed a bit of a "test" let's call it. I played the part of a spy in the following experiment I will portray here.

I gathered up four of my beloved "CC" gold coins:

1875-CC half eagle PCGS VF-35 (OGH)
1883-CC half eagle PCGS AU-50
1870-CC eagle PCGS VF-25 (key date)
1881-CC eagle PCGS PCGS AU-50

These coins are all beauties of course and collectively they are worth roughly $25,000 (at least!)

The "test" I performed was a dealer honesty test of four different dealers, all who advertise on TV/radio/newspapers etc....for this experiment I have chosen not to mention the names of the dealers only to mention that they all are located in Southern Nevada.

THE TEST

DEALER #1 (major Casino location): I came in the store acting as though I knew absolutely nothing about my four coins, only that they had belonged to my late grand-father who kindly left them to me in his will. I mentioned that I had no particular interest in keeping or collecting these and wanted $$$!
(Dealer #1 turn): "Sir, do you see how scratched up these coins are? " "Yes" I replied...."They have obviously been cleaned as well"..."Oh" I replied...."They don't really have much value, not in such poor condition"..."Are they real?" I asked...."Well, maybe...probably...I'm not sure exactly, but nevertheless these coins are pretty banged up"..."Well, what are they worth" I asked...."Hold on a moment" he said.........He went in the back room to talk with his partner (without my coins of course)...the partner came out and summed up everything that dealer #1 had previously said.
Dealer #1 offer; "We'll give you $500.00 just to take these ugly things off your hands"...."Wow...500 bucks huh...I don't know, maybe I'll just keep them for a while"...I then proceeded to the exit door...."WAIT...the dealer shouted (at the last second).....I was just looking up some prices and I think that $1500.00 would be a better offer, whadyathink sir?"....I said "I thought you guys said they were junk coins" and then said "NO thank you" and left

Dealer #2 Same basic scenario as above - $2500 top offer

Dealer #3 (Pawn Shop specializing in coins and jewelry) Same basic scenario as above - $1800 top offer

Dealer #4 (small "Ma & Pa" coin dealer) This man was way more on target and at least pointed out correctly what the coins were and their basic retail value...still his top offer was a low $12,000

OF COURSE I DID NOT SELL MY COINS...nor did I buy any from these dealers. I have become very picky as to what dealers I will buy my "CC" coins from...my personal choice has been narrowed to one...in Reno NV of all places!

Anyway, my little day-off of fun "testing" only goes to show how many unscrupulous dealers exist out there. If a numismatically challenged person walks in these places with valuable coins, they will be taken!

It was a fun day though - it really opened my eyes and it slightly improved my acting skills
In all fairness, the majority of coin dealers in the United States are fair and honest...and I really played up the "dumb" act. I purposely acted that way in order to see if they would take advantage....I got my answer...try it for yourselves sometime.


Knowledge is power, let the buyer be ware and most importantly, when you do finally locate a fair honest,, knowledgeable, passionate, expert coin dealer, treasure them!

the drummer

Drummer,
I must say that that this happens out here on the East Coast as well. I can only imagine how many rare coins have been unscrupulously taken from paople by these sharks. I know that it bothers my fatehr-in -law so much that he has said that he would park his vehicle outside one of these events just to let people know that they are going to get ripped off. We need to spread the word.
I knew you would not part with your coins, how insulting they were too.

Loosechange

Mike, to paraphrase what they say on the Coin Universe forum, you should at least "out" the first dealer and out them at CU too. That is wrong on so many levels, I dont know where to start. :S

But on the CU forum there is always someone who is willing to rationalize what the dealers did and turn it around on you. :laugh:

Looks like you have fought that fight before on CU Garry.


Loosechange

Hi Garryn

What you said is so true...unscrupulous dealers will never shoulder the blame.
I'm very glad I did this little "test"...it was truly an eye-opener

the drummer

Drummer, How could you contain yourself with such an insulting offer???




Loosechange