Answer to “Was I screwed by a reputable dealer” NO --- Must See -

washunltd

Subject: Answer to “Was I screwed by a reputable dealer” NO --- Must See -à

Yes, the answer is a big fat NO. NO, I was not screwed by a dealer…. this time. I have been screwed by dealers in the past and I promise to not mention any names.My career as a collector began in 1960 when I started with Tokens. Yup N.Y.C. subway tokens. They were the cutest little things, about the size of a dime. Sometimes when a new shipment came in you could get them Gem BU. They still only cost .15 cents BU or AG but if held for a few years they could be sold for as much as $1.75 around 1976. They went up in value to .25, then .75 and so on. I used some of my profits to buy rolls of silver coins in 1963. Boy those were the days. Silver ran up to around 50 bucks, then came down even faster to $5. Tokens were better…they only went up. From my silver profits I started to get into numismatic coins, straight from the red book. I only kept coins that were either better grade, old, low mintage or nice toning. I saved a decent number of coins paying face.
Then things went awry. I started buying from those dealers that had these full-page ads in
Coin World and Numismatic News. Hey, they had “bargains”: Choice, Gem, BU, UNC, PQ coins. Mint state older business strike coins that were never ever in circulation. I went for these bargains hook, line and sinker. Only more than a decade later did I figure out that most of them were one of the following: slider, AU, cleaned, polished. I should have known that there is no such thing as a bargain. Maybe there is such a thing as a deal, but that is certainly NOT what I was making. This made me bitter, suspicious and not trusting of dealers.

In the past 10 years I have dealt with a bunch of Fair, Honest and Reputable dealers. However, since 1960 they are still in the minority.
I almost made a BIG mistake and came close to accusing a dealer of switching a coin on me. Thank goodness I never named the dealer so hopefully she/he will never know. If you have been following the thread about getting screwed by a dealer you might think I have over reacted, but can you blame me? I have been burned too many times so I am cautious. I seldom speak out but this time I was not a happy camper. The people at PCGS helped me figure out how this occurred. I took it for granted that the dealer would send in my coin in its original green holder, then it came back in a blue holder with a different Certification number.

What’s a paranoid, gun-shy, distrusting of dealers type of guy, who is a dealer himself, supposed to think?? You got it, “The worst scenario possible”. The dealer must have switched coins on me. Well, she/he did NOT.

What actually happened is quite simple and I probably should have figured it out for my self. The dealer cracked out the coin and sent it in RAW. This explains the 2 different numbers. From what PCGS told me, if the dealer ever turns in the old green label from the holder then the population for the coin will be adjusted.

So, I learned a lot from this experience and thanks to all of you that responded.

Regards, Peter

solid

Not to make you paranoid, but...why would a dealer do that? From what I remember
or your first post, this was a coin that you purchased from the dealer, and it had a
damaged holder. The dealer told you they would get it reholdered.

Now, reholdering a coin costs $5. Cracking a coin out and getting it regraded costs
more, and there is always a chance the grade will change. If the coin comes back a
lower grade, would you still want it for the same money you already paid? What if
it comes back higher...

something doesn't sound right to me...

Ken

cointime

solid,

I could not have put it any better. My exact same thoughts.

Kenny