Hmmm. I would act disinterested and haggle the price down to $18.00. People go to garage sales every day looking for bargains to resell. I guess it is ok if the value in a modest range of $10-$100 dollars, but not more?
Besides, is there some goverment mandate that says a 1893-S has some high intrinsic value beyond its face value? No, it is a relative value based on moronic collectors believing that it does. The fact that dupes all over the world believe this value, and you know that they believe it, gives you the ability to sell it at the assigned value. That is called knowledge and we pay people in every walk of life a hell of a lot of money for it.
<< <i>This actually happened to me... sort of. About 20 years ago, I was able to buy a box of coins at a garage sale for $40. $40 was a lot of money to me back then, but there were a few coins in the box that I KNEW were worth more, so I dashed home, begged mom for the cash, and bought the box-o-coins. Inside was an AU 1839-o half, a F/VF 1802/1 dollar, and an unc 1931-s cent, among many other semi worthwhile coins. I sold the dollar for $350 bucks and paid my mom back, who thought I had done about the coolest thing ever. Years later I sold the coins to buy schoolbooks. I think the dealer offered me $500 for the 1839-o half. The rest of my stuff went for peanuts. Whoop! Whoop! >>
Yea - but that's just it...it was 20 years ago...now with the internet it's just too easy to check the value of an item such as this...and too easy for a scammer to buy fakes to sucker in naive buyers with the seller pretending to be a babe in the woods. I'm not saying that good buys, bargains, couldn't be found at a garage sale...but on popular collectibles such as coins?...not in today's world.
This question certainly leads to some of the ethics of the hobby. Where it comes to "cherrypicking", is there a difference between buying something from an unsophisticated seller, and a dealer? Seems like there might be.
I collect 1/2 cents by variety. I observe that most dealers, at least nowadays, are 'up' on the varieties of this series, but that wasn't always the case. Back in the '80s and even into the early '90s it was frequently possible to score a scarce or rare variety from a dealer for the price of a common. I generally didn't have a problem with that, figuring that dealers were, or should be, responsible to know what they had if they cared. If they were just flipping $50 coins and making between 20-50% on the deal, they should have no complaints and if they really wanted to get serious and study their inventory they were certainly not prevented from doing so. Sometimes things can turn into one of those ironic reversals......."Let the seller beware!"
Just one of many personal examples, in 1995 I plucked a $1800 vennini Italian glass bottle from a garage sale for $15. I know for a fact I've sold things far far too cheaply for lack of knowledge: a $8,000 pair of chairs for $900 to another dealer to be exact, but that was my asking price and they cost me $65. Happens all the time.
I'd take the 93-s and smile.
We're all born MS70. I'm about a Fine 15 right now.
Bob have to agree with you and buy the whole lot at reasonable prices with no haggling. Also I think your signature is right on and too bad that the USA seems to be heading in that direction. Hopefully these TEA parties send a message!
work it like a rib and shake those juicy doubles!!!
From a little old lady who's husband just died at a garage sale?
You cherrypick from professionals. When you cherry pick amateurs, it's called "Unfair advantage". Confirm the coin isn't counterfeit and offer about half the retail value of a PCGS certified one, which is about normal for a raw coin.
If this situation arose and the 93-S was authentic the most likely way this scenario occurred would be the death of the original collector in the household with the surviving family member(s) ignorant of the coin values.
Considering the number of thread of read in the past about how most people on these boards can not get any of their family interested in their hobby and for some the resulting concern of the coins being sold for peanuts after their own passing it is somewhat saddening to see all those that would take advantage of such a situation.
As much as I have done to avoid this situation, inventory and giving my family the name(s) of trusted friends that could assist in my demise the fire sale situation could still occur in the distant future. Looking at my own family members that have passed, including my parents and grandparents, if their were not other collectors in the family, past collections could have sold for pennies on the dollar. Just considering how all my grandparents circle of friends had pass and most of my parents it is very possible 20 years from now that my trusted friends may not be around to assist my family and there are no other collectors in our small family.
And since not everyone can make it to The Antiques Road Show it sounds like there would be slim hope for my family to get fair value if with the passing of time measures fail.
A surviving family member (perhaps not only under financial stress, but emotional stress) is not comparable to a dealer (whom also may be under financial and emotional stress).
This view may be taken as naive by some and false by others but that is how I look upon this situation.
<< <i>If you happened to visit a garage sale or amateur-estate sale - and found a 1893-S Morgan in a bin with other coins, what would you do?
Options: 1) advise the seller the coin is worth more than the $20-$30 he is charging (asssuming he is unaware of the true value of the 1893-S), 2) buy the coin and run to your car, 3) work out a deal with the seller (quid pro quo so to speak?), 4) or___?
Professional dealers have (I'm probably naive here) a responsibility - if they are at the location during official work hours. But what does Joe Sixpack do?
<< <i>Wasn't there a thread about how Mad Marty pulled a 93-S Morgan from a pawn dealer's junk box? >>
Not out of a junk box, the pawn shop guy bought a tube of circ morgans for $7 each, he quickly looked through them and I offered him $8 each. I guess $20 is $20, and he flipped them. Yes there was a XF40 93-S in there.
It is not exactly cheating, I prefer to consider it creative problem solving!!!
I would buy the coin. It's easy to tell if it's authentic, so I wouldn't be worried about that. Anyway, I would have the coin graded by PCGS and sell it. I would then pay them a visit and give them some of the money I made and why. IMO anyone selling coins at a garage sell needs the money or they're selling for a good cause.
If I wanted to keep the coin then I would give them more than they asked and why. I don't feel in either case that I need to pay or tell them exactly how much the coin is worth or how much I made on the coin. However, I think as a kowledgeable collector that I couldn't just pay them $20-$30 for an authentic 1893-S and head for the house. But that's just me.
I believe that we as coin collectors have very specialized knowledge about a hobby that can be enormously profitable in a heartbeat due the most minute detail on a small disc of metal, That the general public knows little about. The garage sale situation reminds me kind of like a 16 year old dealing with a 6 year old for some expensive toy or Ipod or what ever. The 16 year old knows the actual value of the item to the 6 year old it is just little machine he listens to music on. And he would rather have a candy bar. The level of knowledge is an absolute mismatch. You would not see two 16 year old's trade an Ipod for a candy bar because they are on the same level of knowing the value of it. We are the 16 year old's in this situation and the garage sale person is the 6 year old. Just my two cents. Plus as I have learned on this board there IS such a thing as coin Karma.
After reading through several of these "ethics" threads, I think I'm developing a different take. Sometimes these little financial rips are the gods telling you that you might need the money somewhere down the line... case in point: My wife and I were celebrating our 10th Anniversary on a beach in S. Florida. My wife was seashell collecting when she stumbled on something that looked like a gold earing. She was quite suprised when it turned out to be a dinner ring... we were even more shocked when the stone turned out to be a 1 carat diamond! Since there was no one around to "tell", we chocked it up to our good fortune. I had the stone set into a pendant and bought a gold rope chain to go with my wife's "Anniversary gift" and she wore it proudly for some years. Fast forward to two moves and one kid later, we found ourselves needing some capital fairly quickly and we sold the diamond. Interestingly, several jewlers were only going to pay us a fraction (1/10) of what we ultimately got at a more reputable place.. sound familiar?
I suppose if you believe in karma... #2
also, I suppose if you believe in karma... #1... My wife put some harmonicas into a yard sale we were having. It turned out they were worth substantially more than the $10-20 we were charging... our loss I suppose.
Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;
Wowser: thought today was my lucky day went to a yard sale and low and behold a box of coins labeled your choice 15.00 each. 1893 -S morgan dollar 1913 V nickel 1943 copper penny 1909 - S VDB
sprained my wrist getting the 60 bucks out of my pocket.
Then ran to the car were I jumped in and slammed the door on my hand breaking two fingers. got home took the coins out of their 2x2 the S promptly fell off of the 1893 morgan and 1909 lincoln penny. The 43 copper penny, the copper paint was still wet and the 3 fell off the 1913 V nickel. then I cussed kicked the chair and broke my big toe, got the address of the yard sale and will be sending them my hospital bill.
Comments
Besides, is there some goverment mandate that says a 1893-S has some high intrinsic value beyond its face value? No, it is a relative value based on moronic collectors believing that it does. The fact that dupes all over the world believe this value, and you know that they believe it, gives you the ability to sell it at the assigned value. That is called knowledge and we pay people in every walk of life a hell of a lot of money for it.
Grow a backbone you spineless do-gooders.
Tyler
<< <i>This actually happened to me... sort of. About 20 years ago, I was able to buy a box of coins at a garage sale for $40. $40 was a lot of money to me back then, but there were a few coins in the box that I KNEW were worth more, so I dashed home, begged mom for the cash, and bought the box-o-coins. Inside was an AU 1839-o half, a F/VF 1802/1 dollar, and an unc 1931-s cent, among many other semi worthwhile coins. I sold the dollar for $350 bucks and paid my mom back, who thought I had done about the coolest thing ever. Years later I sold the coins to buy schoolbooks. I think the dealer offered me $500 for the 1839-o half. The rest of my stuff went for peanuts. Whoop! Whoop! >>
Yea - but that's just it...it was 20 years ago...now with the internet it's just too easy to check the value of an item such as this...and too easy for a scammer to buy fakes to sucker in naive buyers with the seller pretending to be a babe in the woods. I'm not saying that good buys, bargains, couldn't be found at a garage sale...but on popular collectibles such as coins?...not in today's world.
>>>My Collection
I collect 1/2 cents by variety. I observe that most dealers, at least nowadays, are 'up' on the varieties of this series, but that wasn't always the case. Back in the '80s and even into the early '90s it was frequently possible to score a scarce or rare variety from a dealer for the price of a common. I generally didn't have a problem with that, figuring that dealers were, or should be, responsible to know what they had if they cared. If they were just flipping $50 coins and making between 20-50% on the deal, they should have no complaints and if they really wanted to get serious and study their inventory they were certainly not prevented from doing so. Sometimes things can turn into one of those ironic reversals......."Let the seller beware!"
I'd take the 93-s and smile.
<< <i>#2
It's called cherrypicking... >>
From a little old lady who's husband just died at a garage sale?
You cherrypick from professionals. When you cherry pick amateurs, it's called "Unfair advantage". Confirm the coin isn't counterfeit and offer about half the retail value of a PCGS certified one, which is about normal for a raw coin.
Free Trial
Considering the number of thread of read in the past about how most people on these boards can not get any of their family interested in their hobby and for some the resulting concern of the coins being sold for peanuts after their own passing it is somewhat saddening to see all those that would take advantage of such a situation.
As much as I have done to avoid this situation, inventory and giving my family the name(s) of trusted friends that could assist in my demise the fire sale situation could still occur in the distant future. Looking at my own family members that have passed, including my parents and grandparents, if their were not other collectors in the family, past collections could have sold for pennies on the dollar. Just considering how all my grandparents circle of friends had pass and most of my parents it is very possible 20 years from now that my trusted friends may not be around to assist my family and there are no other collectors in our small family.
And since not everyone can make it to The Antiques Road Show it sounds like there would be slim hope for my family to get fair value if with the passing of time measures fail.
A surviving family member (perhaps not only under financial stress, but emotional stress) is not comparable to a dealer (whom also may be under financial and emotional stress).
This view may be taken as naive by some and false by others but that is how I look upon this situation.
<< <i>If you happened to visit a garage sale or amateur-estate sale - and found a 1893-S Morgan in a bin with other coins, what would you do?
Options:
1) advise the seller the coin is worth more than the $20-$30 he is charging (asssuming he is unaware of the true value of the 1893-S),
2) buy the coin and run to your car,
3) work out a deal with the seller (quid pro quo so to speak?),
4) or___?
Professional dealers have (I'm probably naive here) a responsibility - if they are at the location during official work hours. But what does Joe Sixpack do?
I really don't know what I would do......
Assume it is a fake.
<< <i>Wasn't there a thread about how Mad Marty pulled a 93-S Morgan from a pawn dealer's junk box? >>
Not out of a junk box, the pawn shop guy bought a tube of circ morgans for $7 each, he quickly looked through them and I offered him $8 each. I guess $20 is $20, and he flipped them. Yes there was a XF40 93-S in there.
If I wanted to keep the coin then I would give them more than they asked and why. I don't feel in either case that I need to pay or tell them exactly how much the coin is worth or how much I made on the coin. However, I think as a kowledgeable collector that I couldn't just pay them $20-$30 for an authentic 1893-S and head for the house. But that's just me.
If it's real, I buy it.
Done deal.
Ray
That the general public knows little about. The garage sale situation reminds me kind of like a 16 year old dealing with a 6 year old for some expensive toy or Ipod or what ever.
The 16 year old knows the actual value of the item to the 6 year old it is just little machine he listens to music on. And he would rather have a candy bar. The level of knowledge is an absolute mismatch. You would not see two 16 year old's trade an Ipod for a candy bar because they are on the same level of knowing the value of it. We are the 16 year old's in this situation and the garage sale person is the 6 year old. Just my two cents. Plus as I have learned on this board there IS such a thing as coin Karma.
Stew
I suppose if you believe in karma... #2
also, I suppose if you believe in karma... #1... My wife put some harmonicas into a yard sale we were having. It turned out they were worth substantially more than the $10-20 we were charging... our loss I suppose.
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.
1893 -S morgan dollar
1913 V nickel
1943 copper penny
1909 - S VDB
sprained my wrist getting the 60 bucks out of my pocket.
Then ran to the car were I jumped in and slammed the door on my hand breaking two fingers.
got home took the coins out of their 2x2 the S promptly fell off of the 1893 morgan and 1909 lincoln penny.
The 43 copper penny, the copper paint was still wet and the 3 fell off the 1913 V nickel.
then I cussed kicked the chair and broke my big toe, got the address of the yard sale and will be sending them my hospital bill.
<< <i>If you bought it, and it turned out to be fake, would you get your money refunded? I think not.
Pay the $20 and take your chances. >>
This sounds about right. Anyway if you pay full price it's hard to get a you suck award.