Why coin dealers SLIT THEIR WRISTS !!!!!
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
Dunno if I ever related this here before, but....
One day oh back in probably 1981-2 I got a call.
Guy wanted to sell his collection.
He described it to my mouth watering anticipation. Described the 1796 quarter AND HALF and a bunch of other stuff.
Common CHAIN CENT kinda stuff.
So.... I tell him to bring it in.
"Can you afford to pay me?"
YES,
"Well, I hate to carry it around because I've had it so long and it IS pretty valuable."
Just bring it in. Or bring in SOME of it. Just BRING IT IN!
"Will you be there all day?"
yes
"Okay"
Next day another call. "I couldn't make it but how about today?"
sure
NEXT DAY.....same thing! 
For nearly a WEEK. More descriptions of neat stuff. And more hesitance to carry it around. 
Halfway into the NEXT week, ..... "I'm coming today."
I tell him to CALL when he's coming.
But he doesn't.
So....finally.... a day or so later I have a dentist appt.
And ...THAT'S....when he comes in.
My wife calls me at dentist and tries to get him to stick around.
Nope..... too nervous. And I...SAID... I'd be there. AAAAGGHHHH
So.....he hies off to my competitor and GIVES it away there.
And....my competitor loses no time in telling me about his great new purchase.
I used profanity. 
Comments
That’s awesome. He had all this time to take his time, and then in the end he didn’t.
I was constantly amazed at the number of people who were scared to bring CASH in to buy gold bullion.
I would ask them what about the bullion you will be carrying ...OUT?
Usually a pause and then an "I see" moment.
Could you have said I'll come to you? For coins like that maybe a field trip would have been in order. Just a suggestion.
Why coin dealers go:
ARGGGH!
BHNC #203
Oh absolutely. In fact, I did.
When you get a "Nervous Nellie" there is no reasoning with them.
Hard to forget the ones that "get-away." Waited for a deal once for 5 years. We talked back and forth many times over the years. I went to his home and Bank and looked through it all. It was mostly common 90%, 1934 bills, etc. he pulled from circulation from when he had a liquor store. He has since passed away and I never heard from the kids even though he said he left specific instruction to call me when they were going to liquidate. This was years ago and I never heard a thing. Makes we wonder which pawn shop got he stuff.
Ahhhh....now you tell us.
I thought that "Why coin dealers SLIT THEIR WRISTS !" was to get nice red large cents.
Based on what you said he had, good thing the pawn shop got it!
You should have given him this:
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
Wow... Now THAT is a frustrating experience.... Unbelievable... what a weird guy. Cheers, RickO
This just confirms the fact that dentists are evil ......
Why didn't you go see him?
Oh geez. Sometimes I wonder why I type words that are not understood.
Glad you got to the dentist though. Your floss was the other guy's gain.
I'm not a coin dealer, but deal with the public...so I'm going to join you...ARRRGHHHHHH
Probably the local bank.
bob
Dealing with the public is what made me sell my part of a shop. I actually had one customer I told not to come back. He would want something rare and difficult to find. I would go to a big show and find it in the grade and price-range he wanted. Then he told me he really didn't want it - he just didn't think I would be able to find it. So, when I sold it to someone else - which wasn't difficult to do because it was something in demand - he decided that he did want it. Or he would want something, then sell it back. When I re-sold it very quickly, he would tell me that if he knew it was in such demand he would have kept it, and ask if I could buy it back for him.
They say the customer is always right, but they don't have to be MY customer!
Well its been 35+ years since your story. I guess you're doing ok? Wrists and all....
My guess is you've got a few stories of a great outcome for you.
Just goes to show you that collectors are nerdy people who have their foibles. You should have given him a "price range" over the phone on one or 2 key coins to get him excited. Sure it's a risk but in the end you don't have to buy it and he doesn't have to sell it. If you shoot him a price range any other offer will make him wonder.
There is probably a word for customers who claim to have a high end collection and raise false hopes with dealers....Dealers where many hats if they work their jobs long. You can't be a fortune teller, mind reader or psychic too.
... So this guy calls, says he has inherited his dad's Lincoln book. All holes filled. He'll be at the shop in an hour.
Two hours later he shows up. Smoeone told him that Taco Bell sauce shined up coins real pretty, so he stops off for lunch and scrubs the hell out of each and every coin.
Gack. Your story's better, tho.
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
Aw that was going to be a good one. My turn Your getting sleepy.
Hoard the keys.