What would your response be to this text? Bought the whole collection.
DNADave
Posts: 7,308 ✭✭✭✭✭
“Hi David this is S. W.. I'm S‘s friend with the coins. I'd love to have you look at them.”
A friend of mine gave my number to someone I don’t know. He knows that I buy coins and I trust him not give it to the wrong person, so I’m interested.
I went with this and wonder if I should have thought about it a little more.
On the other hand. I’m receiving pics as I type this.
”Hi S. I’d be happy to look at them.
A coin collection can be a lot things...from jars of loose coins, mint and proof sets, to an organized set of rare coins. Depending on the collection, it may be best to sell as a lot, small groups, or by individual coins.
To see how it will work best, can you send me a few pictures of what you have?
I’ve been primarily a collector since 1986, but also buy and sell.
Dave”
Comments
Meet me at the police station and I'll look them over.
I agree. I work at the police station so I usually get that out early. LOL
I personally do not respond to texts/calls not already in my contact list.
My friend would (who would be on my contact list) would need to call first to give me info on this other person who I will/may call. Or else, if this other person tries to do a cold call/text may automatically fall into the bottomless blocked list.
My two cents.
How do you ever get in contact with anyone? Does someone else pre-arrange all of your calls/emails/texts etc. and so on and so forth?
If you might be a buyer, your response is fine. Once you have a better idea what he has, you can proceed from there.
I would be concerned someone knows you collect coins
That's unfortunate, but there's not much he can do about it now.
The coffee is always good.
Did you contact your friend first to get some back story?
I would always give someone some heads up before sharing their info.
Other than that, get the pics. Vet him a little. Meet in a public spot. Stay alert. Be upfront and honest.
Good luck and keep us informed.
My response would be to get in touch with my friend. And politely let him know that it would have been much better to have checked and discussed with me first.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I’m not concerned about that. I even park a 40,000 truck in my driveway
More info
It’s a local business person in estate sales looking to clear a collection. There’s a couple of one pound silver rounds, some gold, and 58 Morgan’s plus others. Looks like common but movable stuff.
I’ll take a look. May be a buyer
If I initiate the contact then it’s on me, either in-person or I initiate the call.
Calls/contacts from “strangers” are taken with it’s deserved caution.
Casual contact is fine but I assume we were talking about coins of some value.
If I don't know who is calling I usually don't answer and if it's important they will leave a message. If it's a referral type call I'm expecting then I answer.
I would have said: Here's my phone number, lets talk.
bob
PS: I was in my police station last week. They are all behind 1" bullet proof glass with no door to the lobby. Their meeting room is about 10x10 and right there in the lobby open to all (no walls). I would never consider doing business in one of my police stations. Someone could rob me, and be out the door and on the road before a cop could somehow find his way to the lobby by exiting the rear of the building and then jumping a fence to get to the front door.
bob
Automatic mugshots
Just bring tons of cash in case he happens to have something of value. And meet somewhere remote so you won't be interrupted by anyone ekse.
I would just double check with the mutual friend before meeting the new person....The pictures look interesting... Good luck and let us know how it all goes...Cheers, RickO
Interesting thread. I've only been contacted a couple of times to "take a look" but in both instances we met at the mutual friend's house. This may not be an option for most...
Good luck and be careful!
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
I met her today. The seller was hosting an estate sale. The coins are from anther estate she’s working on.
Nothing to get worried over at all. I’ll look at them tomorrow and report back unless I get bushwhacking.
I bought a few Morgan’s off a local person on Facebook and we met up at a local Home Depot parking lot. She brought her husband and so I am sure she was nervous too. I pass along a coin guys name and write it on my business card (up until this month) as I worked at a large company. I don’t tell my contact because it’s a business name and folks hold on and take months before they reach out. So I would make it public place and bring your sidearm.
Best of luck,
Kathy
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Carry your own revolver and you won’t need to worry about that. ❤️
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I think if you want to act like a Coin Dealer that you need to do the things a Coin Dealer does. the advice you should listen to is the advice given by members who are Coin Dealers and respond to inquiries like this routinely.
I was curious about how folks would approach a possible purchase like this. In usual forum fashion, few are willing to say how they’d respond.
I usually make between 1 to 5 purchases a year of coin collections in the 1k to 5k range.
I don’t want to act like a coin dealer.
Everyone seems very worried about security. I don't see people get this worked up about buying a Macbook on facebook marketplace or something, which likely is worth much more than this assemblage of coins.
IG: DeCourcyCoinsEbay: neilrobertson
"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
Weapons are not allowed in our police stations...they have a window to turn them in for safekeeping. So, I'll be disarmed and the perp will not follow the rules/signs.
bob
I bought it. This was a very nice couple with a happy dog. We had a good conversation, I looked over the collection, and made an offer.
Anyone ever hear of ANICS photo certs?
Looks like a fun purchase. I would not hesitate to meet someone who a friend of mine gave my name to.
Looks very interesting.... Glad you came back and provided pictures. Cheers, RickO
I usually meet at my bank or the customers bank. Never had trouble using a secure room. Since most collections I buy are in a dab anyway it just works well to meet where they are located.
I live in a fairly small town in the Midwest with friendly accommodating banks
the "flags silver set" is way cool!
Lots of paranoia in this thread, jeez? I mean really, do some of you pounce and get in a defensive crouch every time you see a shadow or hear a mouse fart?
I've gotten several requests like this in the past, and all have turned out just fine. Most just wanted advice, but I did sell some for one of them, and purchased a couple coins from another.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
Coin photos can be pulled off from a jillion places on the Internet.
That’s rediculous. Here’s a pic of the 1pound silver coins with me pointing to the 5 ounce Jefferson.
I wanted to use different finger but don’t want to get banned.
What you label “paranoia”, I would call “reasonable caution” - at least on the part of the majority of the responses. I see nothing wrong with being careful.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Reads like I need to apply for a job at the police station and quit my day job at a coin shop.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5