Sigh, reason #32-a why I wish I could go to Baltimore this weekend...

Stork

really just a way-wah-wah-woe-is-me thing.

I've been eyeballing a coin on the XXXXXXX site For A Long Time (as in well over a year) and today I just got some unexpectedly good news (REALLY good news) about my tax return so I decided to ask about the coin. Unfortunately it's on it's way to Baltimore and 'if they still have it', will get back to me 'at the end of the week'. I don't want to wait until the end of the week.. I want it NOW . Is that whiney enough?

Does anyone want to be a coin buying agent for me in Baltimore?


Cathy

(edited to remove dealer name, I'm just complaining)

cladking

Just practice saying, "Well, if you couldn't even sell it at Baltimore then the price should be dropped 15%".

Good luck.

Stork

My problem I suppose is partly that I emailed them an offer for 10% below the asking. For a coin that's been sitting on their webpage for over a year I thought it was a reasonable offer....if nothing else they have my offer and don't have to dump it in Baltimore for too much less. I was just aggravated that I FINALLY decided to pull the trigger and the silly coin is on it's way to Baltimore. I better let them know it's a solid offer through the show they keep that in mind...or if one coin really matters that much to them.

(Basically I thought I might owe 2X, but was prepared for 4X. The CPA had given me a preliminary 'it's only X' which I was already pretty happy about. But, when I showed up today it turns out we're getting a REFUND for X...with all our moving, selling a house, change from active duty to retired...I was way off on my guess, and her preliminary hadn't yet factored in that as active duty the 2/5 rule for a house sale can be extended to 2/10 because we were overseas for 4 years. By fuzzy Stork-Math I'm 5X ahead! This is one refund that is getting spent on fun stuff only. The 4X money I had in the bank can be treated responsibly).

Cathy

Swampboy

EVillageProwler

Cathy,

I'll be there Thursday afternoon, leaving Saturday around 11am. Email me offline if you want, but I don't think I've ever seen Teller at the Baltimore show before.

EVP

Stork

SYRACUSIAN

Good luck Cathy. I think that EVP will deliver and that he won't let you down!

Stork

Thanks Dimitri...I was mostly venting (after a glass of wine). If I had time to get anyone the money to really buy it for me, well then I would have gotten it before the coin went traveling .

Normally I would just pass on the coin--another company (cough, NEN, cough) was kind enough to sell me a coin that was in transit to Baltimore once. They just set it aside to send to me when the show was over, though I happened to be able to pick it up in person instead. NEN rocks and has always treated me and my small purchasing habits well and there was no 'we'll see if we still have it when the show is over' type of thing.

Anyway, my first thought was to be disappointed about waiting and/or the coin might be sold. However, my second thought was 'gee, am I that unimportant as a customer??' I really aught to just let this one go and find a different seller. Editing the first comment to take out the name of the dealer as it's not really important. It's just a little disappointing to be the backup plan--or at least feel like the back up plan.

Yorkshireman

Read John Agre's CRO "Road Report" about losing a coin you really wanted, but getting another chance to buy it.

Stork

Well in the end it was a communication thing.

What sounded like a brush off in the email was not...I got an email back yesterday saying the coin was mine (at my offer price). The coin was getting mailed back from the show and as soon as they got it back in the office they could ship it. In retrospect I don't think the gal answering my email meant to make it sound the way she did...

So, for anyone who saw the name of the dealer before I edited it out yesterday, please disregard! I was responding to the casual tone of the email and the company is being very helpful.

It's funny, I was poring over this coin and looking at the Heritage archives...I'm about 99% sure this is the exact coin I was the under bidder on in 2011. The price I offered in would have been the next higher bidding increment, assuming the 2011 buyer didn't up their next bid. The NGC census is only four in this grade and I missed on two of them that year. HA.com is illuminating. I'd bid on a lower grade the year before.

The moral of the story, don't get your panties in a wad until you are sure the wadding is warranted.

Edited to add...still wish I could have gone to the show...I may have been able to do a pickup AND had fun.

Zohar

Good outcome!

Now... which coin are we talking about... perhaps hint and I will find it on their website

Stork

Yorkshireman...I just spent a long time reading some of the CRO site...very entertaining! But, which report should I read for that story? I started jumping around between reports.

Zohar... I'll post it when I get it in hand . It's not my normal Japanese stuff, in fact I'm not sure I ever really talk about these. Dimitri knows, he sold me some nice coins for my set. I have no idea how it started but it's a set that has been entertaining me for at least 8 or 9 years. I imagine someone may have posted the lion or eagle coin and I just like the design and it went from there.

Or, possibly it was the 100 Fr gold coin...that had it all, deco style, horse/chariot and a nekkid dude. Back in the day the BBL coins (bare breasted ladies) were frequently discussed on the boards here, so I had my NG with Horses (sovereigns fit the theme too). Funny but the BBL actually got me into my mommy medals too. So, there is the board history lesson of the day .

So, the secret theme....it's the Albanians. Seriously. And, more specifically the non-provas from 1926-1940ish. Particularly the 1926-7s. I've been missing the 5 Franga. I had a fake for awhile, those are very common.

Anyway, the website pictures were not great, the Heritage ones a bit better...and from 2011 I think they were still working on photo quality. This coin has a few toned spots in front of Zog's nose which is why I'm so sure. The overall toning will be a good fit for the 1 & 2 Frangas I have, so they can all look pretty together in the SDB.

Zohar

Oh I know the type - wonderful series !
Lets wait for it once it arrives - congrats!

SYRACUSIAN

Congrats on the nice outcome Cathy! It's funny, I've just read EVP's report on the show, and the reason that he didn't buy anything, or even looked at anything at XXX's dealer's booth, was the rather rude way he was ignored by the person who was at the booth at the time he happened to pass by it. I've only been once at an ANA Baltimore show, in 2003, and the said dealer was present back then, (I had actually bought that gold £2 pounder, raw,and a nice raw yen from him that I kept for a few years and that graded MS64 a few months later, and 3 truly great Greek coins -from another dealer- that wiped out my entire coin budget for the next 12 months) . Maybe he stopped going in between, and restarted now, otherwise EVP seems to be a regular and he surely knows his habits better than me.

On the coin itself and the entire series, you probably know that you were bidding against Italians mostly, (who designed them, minted them and counterfeited them) ,and other world discerning collectors, but not against any Albanians, of which I have yet to meet a coin collector and they are plentiful in Athens. One day they will wake up, but it will be too late.

D

Stork

That wasn't the 2£ I bought from you was it??? THAT would be funny. Oh boy, that was an act of faith. It had to be in late 2003, and I only joined up here in April. I only remember because of where I was living and I stuck it in my pocket to take on vacation. There was a coin show going on so I went, and while there had it entombed in old school ANACS to test my grading "skills". They were the only TPG there. (It was a good guess on my part).

I'll have to go back and check out those PMs...did I really send a check to some Greek guy from the internet? That is another coin on my forever-keeper list .

As for the current coin, maybe I should have offered less, but after all these years drooling over it, it was worth the money to me. Two of my favorite coins will have come from them (the other is an 1870 yen, type I).


Cathy

nicholasz219

You know, if someone says something about you, it's them being a jerk. If several people are all saying the same thing about you, maybe it's you...

I've never had any dealings with the dealer in question, but I will say that anyone who treats me like they can't be bothered with my business makes me feel like they can also not be bothered with my money. And I will always blow my budget with the dealer who is kind, fair and maybe recognizes me from the last time. If you are nice to my daughter, here comes the plastic.

SYRACUSIAN

Cathy, it was an excellent guess. Of course it was that same £2 pounder. it was an impulse buy, and the flip was at my buying price, or slightly less, just because I had been so greedy in that show and unfocused, at a time when I needed to be focused.


Nicholas, said dealer is an exception. He's one of the finest dealers in the business. He just happened to employ a guy who sounds like he isn't very qualified to manage such a serious booth. If in 5 minutes he lost the opportunity to deal with a collector such as EVP, imagine how much total damage he did to Marc T. during the entire show.

Stork

Well then, assuming I like the new coin (the check has been cashed...) as much as I think I will, or even half as much, then three of my 'forever keepers' will have come from the same seller. I don't know if it was a strong price back then, but I can't complain about how the coin has appreciated! My other two were upper end pricing, and the yen at least is a superb example and worth it.

On a MUCH smaller scale I went into a local coin shop on a hunt for some flips (I seem to be suffering from the I Want Things Now problem so no internet buying for a change). I read the online reviews for the two locals, and one dude sounds like a real grouchy, borderline nasty old fart. But his was the store next to the pet food shop so I popped in. It's clearly a one man show and he certainly was a bit curmudgeonly. I checked out his cases while he was talking to a customer and had two pleasant surprises.

First he had tons of darkside...I'm planning to go back and to recheck a couple of 10 sens (I couldn't remember if I needed to upgrade that one) and a few other coins. I also totally on a whim grabbed a German notgeld , the 50 million mark coin and a nice looking 1958 100 yen for no reason. He was perfectly fine once he realized I had an interest in something off the wall.

Second, I shamelessly eavesdropped on his conversation with the other customer he had when I walked in. He was being nice enough in selling him some old mint set or other, but the guy was telling him about an old lady with a circulated hoard of Morgans and Peace dollars, and how he was going to buy them. The guy was fishing for an ask price and clearly was looking for a bit of a score... The shop owner wouldn't name a price but gave the guy a little education about generic silver and how common circulated silver dollars are. The guy's plan sounded like an offer about 20% below melt while hoping for a catalog price in return. The guy didn't understand at first about melt or calculating out melt in general, and what catalog meant to a dealer. If the shop owner had been a total jerk (like the online reviews said), he would not have told the guy anything educational, or worse told him a real rip of a price with an offer to buy...basically the final plan sounded like a melt offer for junk silver.

Now, he was a little lacking in the social graces but he did teach the guy something and did not work an angle for himself. He was perfectly reasonable with me once I asked to see a coin or two...but I can easily see he'd be off putting to a person walking in off the street and not talking coin, or not be willing to listen or act all hurried and important.

It's all about what face you put forward, if you are a crotchety dude who won't massage egos, that will get out and the average joe customer may not come visit. Fine if that's your own shop and that is how you want to run it...but if you have employees that are acting in a non-conducive fashion that will hurt you. I would have been peeved if I'd had EVPs experience at the show...and I would have walked before seeing anything I wanted. My email interactions were more my own impatience coupled with an east vs west coast discrepancy.

The grouchy guy was actually fun to talk to in the end...he just doesn't appear to suffer fools. A style I can appreciate. Someone being dismissive is not. Or dishonest...asking strong prices for good stuff is fine, trying for a rip is not. Good communication helps, but different styles and skill levels are out there.

Back to my original post/follow up..I was more anxious than usual in a bigger buy situation. The sellers rep was very casual, but ended up fine. I certainly don't want anyone to over read the situation or think there were any real problems...EVPs experience would have gotten me peeved, but not my own...and they sell stuff I like apparently

SYRACUSIAN

What is it with this weekend? It seems like most online members are having a collective epiphany!

Cathy, I really enjoyed your post. All I want to say, is that I think that I detect some hospital field experience in the way you describe (client<->dealer) relationships, or maybe it was the massage egos expression.

Edited to add:

The grouchy guy was actually fun to talk to in the end...he just doesn't appear to suffer fools.

He's not the only one with zero tolerance for low IQs with inflated egos, right? The older we get, the less time we have to waste.

EVillageProwler

I don't want to make too big a deal about my perceived slight at the recently passed Baltimore show. I have own personal opinion about that dealer XXX, but the truth is that if he has a coin I want at a price I'm willing to pay, then I don't mind a minor slight. It was Saturday morning, and many dealers are winding down by then. Maybe he just needed to have a little bit of downtime. He was, after all, the only person manning that booth. (Yes, that guy wasn't a named person of the firm.)

This may also be partially my fault, since when I go to shows I tend to be anonymous on purpose. I think I was badly unshaven and looked like a tire-kicker. The only reason I went to that booth was because Cathy inadvertently got me to look at their inventory online and something caught my eye and I wanted to see in person. Through the case, that piece looked good enough that I wanted to take a closer look. If it had played out nicely, I probably would've asked for a price on it. (It would've been a duplicate, but it's of a series that comes conditionally challenging at that grade level.)

In hindsight, this is probably for the best since I'm beyond tapped out financially. I feel like Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ukraine all rolled into one. Somalia, East Timor and CAR are doing better than I am financially.

EVP

PS If that dealer had been more observant, he'd have noticed that real skanky tire-kickers don't walk around toting a very nice laptop case. Elementary, my dear Watson!