My Wednesday "Wierd Encounter" at the ANA. Ever had this happen??
keets
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This happened about mid-day on Wednesday:
I was taking a breather by the food court area, checking some prices and figuring what tables I might visit next. A 30-ish guy comes up to me and asks if I'm a dealer or a collector, says a dealer down the aisle is jerking him around about a coin. He explained that it was a holdered Large Cent he needed for his set and the guy wouldn't sell it to him. The price was around $500 and he wanted me to buy the coin and then sell it to him!!!!
I told him to just forget about the dealer and look for another coin, one would show up, probably at this show. He pressed on saying he really wanted this coin and he'd show me the dealers table. He said he'd bought from the guy before and couldn't understand why he was being such a jerk. I explained that I wasn't going to buy the coin for him and he shouldn't concern himself with giving that dealer any more of his money if he was treating him rudely. He continued the full-court-press and I finally told him forget it, move on and look for another coin. Then I walked away and it was over.
I assume it was a con and I'd have been holding the bag had I helped. In retrospect, I should have had him lead me to the table so I'd have known who the dealer was and what the coin was. Then perhaps I could have done something with the show chairman. As it is, I'm wiser for the experience and if it ever happens again, the hunter will find himself ensnared in his own noose!!!
Has anyone ever been approached in this manner or heard of the scam being done on someone else??
Al H.
I was taking a breather by the food court area, checking some prices and figuring what tables I might visit next. A 30-ish guy comes up to me and asks if I'm a dealer or a collector, says a dealer down the aisle is jerking him around about a coin. He explained that it was a holdered Large Cent he needed for his set and the guy wouldn't sell it to him. The price was around $500 and he wanted me to buy the coin and then sell it to him!!!!
I told him to just forget about the dealer and look for another coin, one would show up, probably at this show. He pressed on saying he really wanted this coin and he'd show me the dealers table. He said he'd bought from the guy before and couldn't understand why he was being such a jerk. I explained that I wasn't going to buy the coin for him and he shouldn't concern himself with giving that dealer any more of his money if he was treating him rudely. He continued the full-court-press and I finally told him forget it, move on and look for another coin. Then I walked away and it was over.
I assume it was a con and I'd have been holding the bag had I helped. In retrospect, I should have had him lead me to the table so I'd have known who the dealer was and what the coin was. Then perhaps I could have done something with the show chairman. As it is, I'm wiser for the experience and if it ever happens again, the hunter will find himself ensnared in his own noose!!!
Has anyone ever been approached in this manner or heard of the scam being done on someone else??
Al H.
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Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
he was clearly asking me to put my cash on the table and then bring the coin to him where we could square up.
al h.
<< <i>he was clearly asking me to put my cash on the table and then bring the coin to him where we could square up >>
In that case, what would the harm be of countering with the suggestion that he give you the money before-hand?
For it to be a scam, he had to be in cahoots with the dealer and the coin had to be worth much less than $500!
Either way, you were brewin' for a screwin" and were right to follow your instincts.
Gotta be some kind of a con.
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Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>More likely, the collector was a brutal haggler (or otherwise obnoxious) and he got bounced from the dealer's table. >>
Maybe it was a $1,000 coin the guy was trying to buy for $500 and needed somebody else to stand there and say "I'll give you $500 for it"
But since he wanted you to spend YOUR money, the smart move was to pass.
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I wonder what made you the mark? It doesn't take long to recognize a serious collector vs. a casual or newbie collector. Con men always study their mark before the scam. Seems like non-serious collectors would be easier marks. I agree this is very odd. That fact you were selected makes me think it may have been on the up and up. Did you ever see the guy before he approached you, or later at the show? I, like you, would have declined, but maybe it was not a scam. Sometimes (not often
I was there wed and had the same thing happen but different coin...what did he look like?
Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill
I'm trying to think of how the scenario could possibly play out to be an actual con, but I can't think of anything plausible.
That's just too much work in order to sucker someone into paying too much for a coin. I suppose the guy could give you counterfeit bills to pay for the coin, but then the dealer gets conned and not you.
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 ask the person in question to go to another dealer and buy the coin I want for close to the same dollar amount first just in case it is a scam. If it is not a scam then just give me the money first and I will buy it.
But I usually hestitate at that anyway since I always worry that the cash is countefeit.
It is a VERY old scam going back to the 1960's.
When I just moved into my neighborhood, a stranger approached me when I was at the market. He
claimed to be my neighbor, and asked me to 'loan' him some $ & he'd get it back to me later that
day.
Right. I asked him at what address he lived (the address he told me didn't exist), and then I asked him to tell me what was my wife's name (I don't have a wife). He left shortly after that.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
i like your role reversal thought!!! some respondents act as though if they were approached in the same manner as i was that they'd just say, "Sure!!! You just wait right here" and I'll go risk $500 on someone I've known for 39 seconds!!
personally, i'd never do what the other guy did, but i think if it were legit the character would have at least introduced himself, perhaps offered some identification and talked to me for a moment. it reminds me of the guy working a show i was at helping the local dealer. he wanted to buy a Modern Gold Eagle set with a money order and no ID!!! of course we turned him down, and then we watched as he worked the floor till he found a sucker. we heard about it from the sucker at a subsequent show we did and he wasn't too happy.
apparently this has been pulled before. maybe it'll serve us well to remember to excercise caution first and try to be helpful second.
al h.