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Last year I purchased about $3,000 in assorted coins from a coin dealer I have known since I was 19. That's going on 38 years now. He is getting up into his mid-70's. He is like a beloved uncle to me. I bought mostly silver dollars and halves with a small amount of other coins in the mix too.

Anyway, tonight I finally got around to looking at the 90% quarters, dimes, and pre-WW2 wheat pennies portion of the buy from last year.

Here is what I found in my buy of "90%" coins:

2 copper-clad quarters out of 30 and 71 copper-clad dimes out of 114. And I paid for 90% coins!!

Oh, well. He is just getting up in years and is entitled to make a few mistakes in my book. I have made plenty of good deals with him over the years and am richer (both in money and in life) for having him as my friend. He gets a pass.

Next time I will carefully look at all the coins before I walk out the door!

You really need to make him aware of what happened. He may not know, or is confused.

Another dissatisfied customer might really give him a hard time for something like that.

Thogey wrote:You really need to make him aware of what happened. He may not know, or is confused.

Another dissatisfied customer might really give him a hard time for something like that.

You are so right. I can vouch for the man. I guarantee 100% that was an honest mistake. He probably got them from someone he trusted and then sold them in the same lot he bought them in. I will give him a call tomorrow and let him know.

I edge check everything I am purchasing just to be sure, then I go on to look at dates if they are Kennedy halves. Sucks you didn't notice before hand.

It took you a year to check your coins?

I'm with Thogey on this one. The quarters are almost passable, but the dimes? No way, that's well over 50%.

Hopefully he believes you and/or doesn't get offended.

A few of them can slip through. I found 2-3 clad dimes in a $500 bag from a well known and well respected dealer, which I just went through in detail. But it was close enough - I'm sure I got my weight in that bag, nonetheless. But the number you mention isn't acceptable - I suspect he got scammed himself, as noted above, and didn't check it before passing it on, as he should have.

You lost a lot of money on those dimes. I would go back to him and let him know. Since you have a good relationship, he should know you're being truthful.

68Camaro wrote:A few of them can slip through. I found 2-3 clad dimes in a $500 bag from a well known and well respected dealer, which I just went through in detail. But it was close enough - I'm sure I got my weight in that bag, nonetheless. But the number you mention isn't acceptable - I suspect he got scammed himself, as noted above, and didn't check it before passing it on, as he should have.

This happened to me with 90% JFK's. It was a $1000 face value bag. After sorting, I noticed there were ten 40% silvers. I took a picture of them, sent the pic to them via email. 3 days later and they sent me ten 90%s. They let me keep the ten 40%s to make up for the error.

Sorry to hear about this experience. I think it behooves you to tell him what happened, even if it's just a friend to friend conversation and not a customer-to-business owner conversation. About 3 years ago, I bought $100 face 90% silver from mintproducts.com in New Hampshire. I found one clad Roosevelt and called them to tell them. They were courteous and 3 days later, a mercury dime arrived in the mail. That's good service and it sounds like this gentleman could offer you the same.

RichardPenny43 wrote:It took you a year to check your coins?

I looked at all the big stuff (dollars & halves) before I left his store. The little stuff was like an after-thought to fill out the rest of the sale. I wanted to divest myself of as many FRN's as possible. I threw the bag of quarters, dimes, & and wheaties in the back of the closet and forgot about it. It really wasn't that much. And yes, all you guys are right... I should always look closely at all the coins before leaving the sale.

My relationship to this man is more than just a coin shop owner/ retail buyer scenario. We are almost family, and have worked on many projects together as business associates. He gave me my first real break into construction business management at the tender age of 27 and I will always owe him a debt of gratitude. (He was a full time Architect and part time coin & militaria dealer.)

And the $7.10 in post 1964 dimes? I have already converted them into Ike dollars this morning. I bought 41 Ikes and one 40% Kennedy at my favorite bank today.

I will talk to him, but I don't want anything in the way of compensation... I have already made out in Aces with the man.

I still remember when I was a kid (waaaay back in the 80's) I bought a roll of wheats at a local shop. There were maybe 3 coins in the roll that were not wheats. I went back within a few days and mentioned it while shopping around for more stuff. The guy had a smallish box of wheats there, so he dug a handful out and gave them to me. "That oughtta cover it, eh kid?" He hadn't been trying to scam me in the first place, but he sure earned a good reputation that day.

Interesting PS, the guy still owns a shop, but is now QUITE crazy.