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A story----------Do you ever have trouble not laughing when a dealer quotes a price??
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
Last week I came across a guy out of the "Big Apple" who had a whole slew of counterstamped coins, 75th Anniversary for WRNC in Cleveland. I happened to have my c'stamped commems with me so I showed them to him and he acted smugly unimpressed as I asked questions about what he had and attempted some intelligent discourse about what I've learned about the club's activities. I mentioned that what I was interested in was an example of the 75th Anniversary stamp with less focus on the coin. I explained that I had seen some others but the stamp was either off center or tilted so as to not be fully struck throughout. He allowed me to look at a few while he looked at my Clevelands and we talked.
The coin he had that I hoped to purchase was a 1996 SAE which I thought was a decent stamp and would match well with a 1921-S Morgan I have that dates to 1971 and celebrates the clubs 50th year, their inception being 1921. He hedged and fidgeted as I asked for a price, ready to reach into my pocket if he was even close to reasonable. He mumbled that he would really like to sell the whole shootin' match at one time and seemed aggravated that I wanted only one piece. When pressed for a price that way, he said $3000!!!
Now really, there were 21 coins in various denominations with no value past the stamp, nothing rare and only one or two that were even silver. I held my composure...............sort of. As my eyes bugged out, my cheeks puffed up and the air made a rushing sound as it was expelled rapidly from my lungs!!!! "No way, that's just too much!!" is something like what I said. I managed a polite "Thank You" and moved to the next table.
But...............I didn't laugh, honest.
Al H.
The coin he had that I hoped to purchase was a 1996 SAE which I thought was a decent stamp and would match well with a 1921-S Morgan I have that dates to 1971 and celebrates the clubs 50th year, their inception being 1921. He hedged and fidgeted as I asked for a price, ready to reach into my pocket if he was even close to reasonable. He mumbled that he would really like to sell the whole shootin' match at one time and seemed aggravated that I wanted only one piece. When pressed for a price that way, he said $3000!!!
Now really, there were 21 coins in various denominations with no value past the stamp, nothing rare and only one or two that were even silver. I held my composure...............sort of. As my eyes bugged out, my cheeks puffed up and the air made a rushing sound as it was expelled rapidly from my lungs!!!! "No way, that's just too much!!" is something like what I said. I managed a polite "Thank You" and moved to the next table.
But...............I didn't laugh, honest.
Al H.
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Comments
edited to add:
in addition, clearly also an admirable display of self control
Great story.
Robert
Do you have a way of getting in touch with the dealer again? Why not counteroffer? He might have figured you were the one person in the world who would pay stupid money for the coins based on your indepth knowledge and interest, and figured he would take a shot. Once he knows that you won't mortgage the farm for the coin you want, he might reconsider.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
I do not know the value of these. My counteroffer would be $20.
Robert
Anyway.. I give you NO credit for not laughing. It simply blows me away that dealers will/would quote ridiculous prices in order to try and get someone to "bite". But to do it with knowledgeable collectors (of both the coins themselves and the maketplace), is simply stupid. What do they expect to gain? It s a waste of time for everyone.
Dealers are out their to sell coins!! So why dont they do it?
WWQ
<< <i>he said $3000!!! >>
what a nut. when that happens to me, i'd say "would you take twenty-nine-fifty?", & after his blank stunned look disappears & he blurts out "sure!", i pull out a $10 & a $20 and ask if he has change
K S
I was told $35.00. It took less than seven seconds to toss two twenties on the case!
hey Pat
i was already chuckling when i was opening the thread, anticipating a humorous reply from you, i've been on that side of the fence, also. under those conditions it's a different type of control i have to excercise--------move quite slowly so as to not arouse the sellers suspicion.
here's another funny one that took place about three weeks ago at the Cleveland Show. i was walking around with mdwoods and we stopped at a dealers case to look at some gold commems. i've been looking for a Sesqui, so i asked the price on the MS64 he had as i was looking at it. he told me $2200 and i thanked him, thinking that was very high, but knowing the coin took a jump around 65. we moved down a table to talk with Dennis from Jade Coin. the previous dealer looked kind of confused as we stepped away and turned to tap away at his laptop, coin in hand.
after a minute or two he got my attention and told me the REAL price of the Sesqui, explaining that it had been incorrectly mixed up with a 1917 McKinley MS64 a few coins down in the case.we laughed as he explained what may have happened if his wife had been watching the table and a collector had perused the Mckinley first!!! he was happy.
al h.
That might sound silly, but there have been MANY times when, had I not practiced this habit, I would have spewed all over someone!