Realcent.org

HI everyone,

I have been looking for the last month or so for a .999 Silver Australia or Canada lunar rabbit for my daughter and son for Easter without much luck. I posted a WTB here on Realcent and only had one bite (thanks Black Rabbit but the 2 oz coin was too much for me). No one had any locally and the premiums online were pretty high. I gave it my last shot today at a LCS I had yet to visit. No lunar rabbits there either. I asked if they had any Canadian coins mentioning the 1967 commerative nickel. This was my last chance at a rabbit, so I thought I would change tactics. The shop owner announced his disdain for Canadian coins. His son however sifting through a collection at the time produced the Canadian nickel I had hoped for. He ended up giving it to me. I would have gladly paid for it. I know the coin has very little value, but to my 5 year old little girl, it will bring a smile to her face and more interest in the hobby. It will also fit nicely into a plastic egg.

PS The shop owner had "a ton" (his words) of Canadian 80% which he hated, but would not sell me any of it... (My daughter loves the "young queen" design.) He said he was waiting for silver to go back up over $30 an ounce and then send it to be melted. I offered to buy it at its current melt value (more than he gets from the refiner I am sure), but he declined. This was a first for me. But I am sure it happens alot.

That is a cool nickel! I am sure she will love it! Have a great Easter!

I use one of those on the golf course...it's my lucky ball marker

Awesome find on the bunny nickel...i'm sure your daughter will love it. But i'm wondering why the guy would bother telling you about the 80% if he had no intention to sell. It just seems a bit rude to me.

dannan14 wrote:Awesome find on the bunny nickel...i'm sure your daughter will love it. But i'm wondering why the guy would bother telling you about the 80% if he had no intention to sell. It just seems a bit rude to me.

He was a nice enough guy, but I thought it was weird. Why tell me he has it in stock but won't sell it? Strange...

blackrabbit wrote:That is a cool nickel! I am sure she will love it! Have a great Easter!

Thanks Black Rabbit, Happy Easter to you as well.

Silver Runner wrote:

dannan14 wrote:Awesome find on the bunny nickel...i'm sure your daughter will love it. But i'm wondering why the guy would bother telling you about the 80% if he had no intention to sell. It just seems a bit rude to me.

He was a nice enough guy, but I thought it was weird. Why tell me he has it in stock but won't sell it? Strange...

probably because he knew that some dates are .925, but didnt know when the cut off date was for sterling. So, it would make sense he would send it in for melt. When the "buyer" posed interest, he said why yes I have some, but then realized, his buyer [probably] wouldnt inform him of the dates that were 80% and the dates that were 92.5%.........Coin stores pretty much dont trust anyone, and that is good business practice anyway......in today's world if you trusted everybody that walked into your shop you would be out of business almost immediately.

Its simple hes one of those shops that would rather gamble then make profits off of turnover like Apmex or tulving where they sell at any price- as long as they make their turnover.

As for the dates- 1919 and before is 92.5% for Canada, not to difficult to pull those out. ALL Queen Victoria, Edward coinage is .925 and most George V which all have different patterns then later 80% coinage.

frugi wrote:

Silver Runner wrote:

dannan14 wrote:Awesome find on the bunny nickel...i'm sure your daughter will love it. But i'm wondering why the guy would bother telling you about the 80% if he had no intention to sell. It just seems a bit rude to me.

He was a nice enough guy, but I thought it was weird. Why tell me he has it in stock but won't sell it? Strange...

probably because he knew that some dates are .925, but didnt know when the cut off date was for sterling. So, it would make sense he would send it in for melt. When the "buyer" posed interest, he said why yes I have some, but then realized, his buyer [probably] wouldnt inform him of the dates that were 80% and the dates that were 92.5%.........Coin stores pretty much dont trust anyone, and that is good business practice anyway......in today's world if you trusted everybody that walked into your shop you would be out of business almost immediately.

In my original post, I specifically asked to buy "young queen" coinage (Elizabeth, maybe i should have specified that to readers). Those start in the 1950s well beyond the move from sterling to 80%. He also had a Krause World Coin book on
the counter. I was in no rush, I looked around and talked for 30min. If he wanted to make a sell, he made no effort to look up composition.

I don't like the insinuation that I would be a predatory buyer. I think most of that comes from the other side of the coin counter when widows and uneducated sellers bring in collections. Just my observation of some coin shops I have been to,
many however are reputable and fair. I also came straight from work wearing my Army Uniform. It has 4 important pieces of information that most locals know: 1- US Army, I represent my country 2- my name, I represent myself 3- my
rank, I am an officer and manage millions in property 4- my combat patch, I have served our nation in war. Not all Soldiers are honorable and honest, but by the time you reach my age, most of the bad apples have been sorted out... I am sure the coin store owner knew allot more about me at first glance then I knew about him...

I think Robaron's reasoning is more online.. The coin store owner is gambling on the price to go back up. Very few other businesses do that... If you are not selling, money is not coming in...

So how did the Bunny coin go over with your daughter?

dannan14 wrote:So how did the Bunny coin go over with your daughter?

She was very happy about it! She said, "I didn't know the Easter Bunny was on coins".

Silver Runner wrote:

dannan14 wrote:So how did the Bunny coin go over with your daughter?

She was very happy about it! She said, "I didn't know the Easter Bunny was on coins".

That's awesome! Makes me want to put together some "starter sets" of various foreign and US coins to give to my nieces and nephews the next time i go back East.