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Sick of Dealers and Coins
This summer, a good friend and ethics professor at a prominent law
school invited me up for a weekend. During this visit he commented that it had been quite awhile since I had mentioned coins to him. I had been an avid collector. I told him the truth. "I am sick of dishonest, unethical and greedy people. So I have sold almost all my coins and am leaving the hobby. It is just too hard on the psyche" After a great deal of debate, I made an offer to him. The ANA convention would be in Baltimore in a few weeks and I offered to prove to him that finding an honest dealer was harder in the convention floor than in any court. The bet was on. We met up at the convention, and I explained what we had to do. I had two coins, slabbed by well-known services, that we would remove from the slabs and try to sell. Each would be in an Eagle holder. Our story was that these were my father's coins, and he was now in a home and needed some money. One would be an 1892-O Half Eagle graded AU-55 (value between $1500-$2000). The second would be an 1916 Standing Lib graded AU-58 (value between $4500-$5100). Over six hours we approached 40 dealers (one of which posts here on occasion - do you remember us?). We were lied to (10 dealers pointed to the price of an 1892 Half Eagle on their grey sheet instead of the New Orleans coin). 6 dealers gave us prices for the 1917 Standing lib. What did the others do? Almost every one asked us how much we wanted. One dealer even had similarly grade 1916 in his case - he purposely laid several papers over that area of the case while we chatted. Almost every dealer undergraded these coins considerably. They used the terms "very good" and "fine." At least 8 dealers said that they had been cleaned. Here are the lowest and highest offers: 1892-O Half Eagle Low offer: $250 Median offer: $650 High offer: $875 1916 Standing Lib Low offer: $50 (offered 3 times) Median offer: $550 High offer: $1300 Many of these dealers were good ANA members, respected, and heavy Coin World advertisers. Not a single one of them were ethical. One well-known dealer eyed the Standing lib for several minutes, declared it an "extra-fine" and offered me $900. "Are you positive about the grade?" "Oh, yes. I've dealt with thousands of coins over the years. My standards are very strict." "What about grading companies?" Many of his coins were slabbed. "They can be all over the map, but usually my grade matches theirs. Slabbing a coin is expensive, though." "So this coin is extra-fine, and you can give me $900 right now? How about $1100?" He pretends to think about it a bit. "I think I know someone who might take this. MMmmmmmmmmmm. Okay." "What if I told you I know this coin is actually AU, was purchased from B&M five years ago, and is worth over 4 grand?" If looks would kill, I'd be dead. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. A coin is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it." He had a few other choice words then had to call someone on his cell. This dealer was the only one we confronted. My good friend, the law profession, paid for drinks that night - and looked ill about our day. He agreed with me - in ANY other field what these dealers attempted would be unethical; in many cases even criminal fraud. One man's "caveat emptor" is another man's thievery. And I am sick of the lot of them. I just can't stand being around an entire crowd of people all trying to rip each other off. And certainly not any "fun." I've switched to wine tasting. For the record, I sent the coins back through the slabbing process - the standing lib came even back MS-63. Lol! I sold both of them - this time letting the dealer in LA know I knew what the coins were actually worth. The final price: 1916 Standing Lib: $5300 1892-O Half Eagle: $1600 Oh, and why did I take such a low price on the standing lib? I was actually offered more. Because I think the grading service messed up; in my own eyes it is a great AU, not a poor UNC. And ethically, I could not take more. I wonder if this dealer will discount the coin against the grade when he sells it . . . |
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