$20.00 gold coins at bank

Goes4ever

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what do you think about this story? I think it is a crock that the teller got fired, what policies were broke? I think he needs a good lawyer! Plus whoever refused these coins at walmart needs a head exam!!!!!!


Bank needs help finding owner of rare gold coins

March 26th, 2009 @ 10:02pm

By John Hollenhorst

SALT LAKE CITY -- Bank officials and police would like to know who the mysterious woman is who walked into a bank with a fistful of gold coins and exchanged them for only a couple hundred dollars. The coins, some more than a century old, are worth at least 50 times that much.
It happened last week at a St. George-area branch of Zions Bank. "A woman came into the branch and approached a teller saying that she had these coins," explained Rob Brough, executive vice president of Zions Bank.
She told the teller she had groceries waiting but the nearby Wal-Mart wouldn't accept her coins. The teller gave her face value, 20 bucks a piece, for 14 coins.



"At the bank, we don't deal with anything other than face value, and so she was just asking us to exchange the coins for dollars," Brough said.
But the coins are worth thousands, at least. Zions Bank showed us to see three of the 14, which date from 1875 to 1927.
All 14 are Double Eagles, $20 gold pieces. "There's some weight to it. There's about an ounce of gold here, so you get a little bit of sense that there's some value to these," Brough said.
Melted down at today's gold prices, each coin is worth, minimum, $900. Some very rare Double Eagles are worth tens of thousands, even millions. The 14 coins have not been appraised.
"It's just possible that this person didn't know how much value there was in these coins, but that's why we want to find the owner and make sure we get them into the right hands," Brough said.
The teller took the coins home, paying face value himself to the bank. He told us he didn't realize their value until he went to a coin shop.
The bank recovered the coins and fired the teller. They say he should have alerted management about the woman and her coins. "To insure that they really know what they're doing in terms of making that exchange," Brough explained.
A relative of another bank employee says the teller did show the coins to a manager, and his colleagues support him.
"They're upset and very afraid to say anything. It's talk among themselves more than anything, but what he did was not wrong. He didn't violate any policies. It's something they all do," Jannett Johnson said. The bank has surveillance video of the woman, but to protect her privacy they don't want to release it right now. She's in her late 20s or early 30s, with short dark hair, and about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a medium build.
If you think you know who it is, Zion's Bank has asked that you contact KSL.
 

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coinmojo

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Mar 18, 2008
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When I read the post earlier at work I only had a moment to respond and knew the CRH looking to get silver would in some narrow minded view be compared here but there is no comparison.

IT is a duty and a responsibility of a Bank / Teller to inform the person of the rarity and value of the coins they are trying to cash in. If they suspect them to be rare. And Heavy Gold Coins that say $20 on them fall in the rare category.

This guy clearly knew he was getting something rare and valuable. He proved that buy obtaining the coins himself for Personal Gain. The story said he took them to a dealer himself to inquire about their value.

IN this case he was simply acting as a fence. And buying what were clearly stolen coins.

People who cash in coins like this and come up with excuses like "I have grocery's waiting at WalMart for me and I'm in a hurry" Screams the coins are hot. How Many 20-30 yr old women do you know would possess (14) $20 Double eagles. Something like that would be a little hard to ignore.

Every time a teller tells me a story like this we all agree that this person is most likely unloading stolen goods. Because they wont go to a pawn shop or coin dealer to unload them as that's the first place police would check to see if a valuable collection got offered to them or sold to them.

The CRH buying a box and finding silver is a treasure hunt plain and simple. We do not set out to get one over on anyone. We are simply culling out what got overlooked by everyone else down the line.

I for one would not could not in good conscience do what this teller did.

What we should be talking about is the guy that got ripped off in the first place. I'm sure some of you have accumulated a nice little hoard and made some key purchases yourself. So if you have any sympathy for this Teller/Criminal/Conman/Devil than we are truly in sad shape.

What probably should have happend is the cops should have been called and this person detained for questioning. Just like the guy who cashed in $1000 in dumps posted here the other day. In that case it was a case of mistaken identity. Here it should have been a standard procedure.

A Felony was committed here. And we should have been reading about the dumb Thief who tried to cash in Rare coins at a Bank. But instead we got the Greedy teller trying to profit from his position

Again these coins as I see it, were Hot Hot Hot. No doubt about it.

Wake up America. The next coins to show up at the local Bank could be yours.

No one on this forum should condone such an act.

Mojo
 

jim4silver

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Apr 15, 2008
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coinmojo said:
When I read the post earlier at work I only had a moment to respond and knew the CRH looking to get silver would in some narrow minded view be compared here but there is no comparison.

It is a duty and a responsibility of a bank teller to inform the person of the rarity and value of the coins they are trying to cash in.

This guy clearly knew he was getting something rare and valuable. He proved that buy obtaining the coins himself for Personal Gain. The story said he took them to a dealer himself to inquire about their value.

In this case he was simply acting as a fence. And buying what were clearly stolen coins.

People who cash in coins like this and come up with excuses like "I have grocery's waiting at WalMart for me and I'm in a hurry" Screams the coins are hot. How Many 20-30 yr old women do you know would poses (14) $20 Double eagles. Something like that would be a little hard to ignore.

Everytime a teller tells me a story like this we all agree that this person is most likely unloading stolen goods. Because they wont go to a pawn shop or coindealer to unload them as that's the first place police would check to see if a valuable collection got offered to them or sold to them.

The CRH buying a box and finding silver is a treasure hunt plain and simple. We do not set out to get one over on anyone. We are simply culling out what got overlooked by everyone else down the line.

I for one would not could not in good conscience do what this teller did.

What we should be talking about is the guy that got ripped off in the first place. I'm sure some of you have accumulated a nice little hoard and made some key purchases yourself. So if you have any sympathy for this Teller/Criminal/Conman/Devil than we are truly in sad shape.

What probably should have happend is the cops should have been called and this person detained for questioning. Just like the guy who cashed in $1000 in dumps posted here the other day. In that case it was a case of mistaken identity. Here it should have been a standard procedure.

A Felony was committed here. And we should have been reading about the dumb Thief who tried to cash in Rare coins at a Bank. But instead we got the Greedy teller trying to profit from his position

Again these coins as I see it, were Hot Hot Hot. No doubt about it.

Wake up America. The next coins to show up at the local Bank could be yours.

No one on this forum should condone such an act.

Mojo


What proof is there that the coins were stolen? If they were stolen, chances are the lady would know they are worth more than face and would have taken them somewhere else. Although many thieves are stupid, they usually know what it is that they have stolen and its approximate value.

Perhaps they came from a dead relative or something like that. Most con artist, thief-type people would not be so dumb as to take valuable gold coins to a bank and ask for face value. And if they were stolen, if they were simply raw, ungraded coins it would be near impossible to find the original owner.

Jim
 

coinmojo

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Mar 18, 2008
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Jim

There are lots of criminals out there.

Most of them are dumb.

This person had obtained $280 Face value. Thats a score for a common thief.

Pople die for a lot less.

Mojo
 

phrostie

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Dec 3, 2008
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klava,

that was exactly my point. If they are stupid and have something that valuable then they deserve to be ripped off, as in the bank customer (regardless if they were hot or not). If they simply did not know because the are unedumacated (like that one??) and found out that the coins were valuable then they don't deserve to be ripped off.

Coinmojo, are you saying that people don't come into your bank and drop off double eagles on a daily basis???? :tard: I thought people did that everywhere.
 

klava

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Mar 13, 2007
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Dan first of all i don't think anyone should be ripped off. I'm just trying to take the logical side of the issue. To say stupid people should be ripped off is just a terrible statement. You need to go back and reread my post and rethink your stance on the subject.

Mojo IMHO i would bet that these coins were stolen.

Past that. By some of the logic displayed here in this thread. Everytime a customer comes in with a wheat penny the teller should refuse to take it on the grounds that it is more valuable than a penny? The fact that it is obsolete currency really has no bearing. It is infact a $20 coin. She got its value. Not its melt value or numismatic value agreed, but its value. Not once last year did the bank, grocery store, or coffee house give me 2.5 cents for every copper penny i gave them. Which was the melt value at the time. And i surely didn't get a premium from anyone for a BU 1956 nickel? No of course not it preposterous to think the bank would turn me away for a transaction based on melt value or numismatic value of coins. It is simply not their job to know these things or to tell someone they have huge amounts of stress in their job the way it is.

A customer came in and wanted FRN's for her coins. She got the exact dollar amount for what she had. She was not ripped off and there is no good argument for it. Is it the tellers job to be a coin expert and tell everyone who comes in what its worth? Give me a break! And if he bought them from the till later well IMO they are his coins now. wtf is the cops doing involved anyway? Everything was legal. It may have been against bank policy but no laws were broken. Unless the cops figure the girl stole them to begin with.

I understand that the part about this being a bank teller is the big reason people are up in arms. But i guarantee you if you went to a yard sale and someone had 14 of these coins for face you would gladly take it without saying anything about there true value. Hell you might even try to offer even less lol
 

pgill

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Imagine if it was your Mother / Father / Sister etc who did not know better who went to that bank and got the same treatment from that bank teller? I dont think you will say the same thing then...... It was wrong of the teller plain and simple, there was no excuse for what he did.

God bless
Peter
 

Darth Walker

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Hey guys, all of you that think we must not take advantage of stupidity or ignorance must retire from CRH and must return your CRH coins to the banks telling the managers from the banks from where you got the CRH coins that you are willing to pay silver value since you all got the coins at face value and took advantage of an old men/lady/whatever that deposited the coins not knowing the real value.


What is the difference, if you find at a bank a dream box of 90% halves you buy it for $500 and you can sell it for about $5000
Then you get a double eagle for face value $20 even if it is worth $900

Just my two cents

DW
 

50centman

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Feb 25, 2008
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Mojo,
Well said, couldn't agree with you more. Funny what a little gold will bring out in all of us.
 

silvercop

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i don't have to worry...i never run into stupid people like this.....the only ones i usually come across are the ones at the flea markets that want 10X what the coins are actually worth.
 

jim4silver

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Apr 15, 2008
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Darth Walker said:
Hey guys, all of you that think we must not take advantage of stupidity or ignorance must retire from CRH and must return your CRH coins to the banks telling the managers from the banks from where you got the CRH coins that you are willing to pay silver value since you all got the coins at face value and took advantage of an old men/lady/whatever that deposited the coins not knowing the real value.


What is the difference, if you find at a bank a dream box of 90% halves you buy it for $500 and you can sell it for about $5000
Then you get a double eagle for face value $20 even if it is worth $900

Just my two cents

DW

Here is the difference. The teller here worked for a bank who had a duty to a customer. Gold double eagles are not circulating currency nowadays, unlike half dollars (silver and clad). As far as comparing this specific case to us CRHers, we as CRHers do not owe a duty to whomever owned the halves before we got them. Further, we don't know who owned them. In this case the teller personally dealt with the lady and knew who she was.

I am not saying the teller is bad on a moral level (although I see how that could be argued), but the issue was whether the teller should have been fired. As far as the teller getting fired, if he had just left them at the bank I would not feel he deserved to be fired (maybe he was just confused and didn't know better). But by him buying them it looks more like he intentionally took advantage of a dimwit customer. This is not ILLEGAL, but if you owned the bank would you want your employees doing this in this EXACT set of circumstances, and having your bank get the reputation that it takes advantage of dimwit customers?

I own a business and know the importance of public perception with respect to the company or firm's level of integrity. If the bank here had let this teller get away with it and not fire him it could have had a negative influence of the public's view of the bank. A bank is not like a corner grocery store where you just walk in, buy stuff and leave. It is a place where people put their life savings, valuables (safe deposit box), and sometimes go for investment advice, etc. There should be a higher level of fiduciary duty and trust between a banks' employees and a customer than a grocery store or gas station.

Again, my position on this is limited to the EXACT facts as described in the original post.

For some reason people here seem to keep comparing the bank to an individual CRHer or someone going to a yard sale for flea market, which is in no way related to the story as set out in the original post.

Jim
 

mrs.oroblanco

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Gold double eagles are not circulating currency nowadays


I have to disagree - on the grounds that they, like half dollars, are, in fact - legal tender.

B
 

jim4silver

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Apr 15, 2008
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mrs.oroblanco said:
Gold double eagles are not circulating currency nowadays


I have to disagree - on the grounds that they, like half dollars, are, in fact - legal tender.

B


Circulating currency and legal tender are not the same thing. Just because something is legal tender does not mean it is circulating currency. When is the last time you were able to obtain US gold coins of any kind from your bank? Receive them in your change? Ever?

Jim
 

phrostie

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Dan first of all i don't think anyone should be ripped off. I'm just trying to take the logical side of the issue. To say stupid people should be ripped off is just a terrible statement. You need to go back and reread my post and rethink your stance on the subject.

Stupid people get ripped off everyday...it's just life. Theory of evolution my friend, survival of the fittest. My point was if they know the intrinsic value and insist on selling them for face then they deserve to get ripped off.
 

Yinzi50

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I found a picture for the story:

1007565.jpg

You can see the comments from the readers in a SLC newspaper.

http://deseretnews.com/user/comments/1,5143,705293512,00.html

Quote from one of comments:

Were they stolen in a heist? | 6:56 p.m. March 27, 2009
These rare gold coins just might be loot from the robbery and murder at Jordan Allgood's coin shop in St. George around 2002 or 2003. If I recall, there were many gold double eagle coins stolen in that robbery/homicide. SGPD should REALLY check this story out!
 

coinmojo

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Mar 18, 2008
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Thanks for the link Yinzi

I guess I could see the teller and costumer confusing those coins for the Saq's or the new golden dollar ............ NOT

He did pay her $20 ea.

Mojo
 

sfwusc

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Mar 20, 2008
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I think the bank has a right to fire the teller. In South Carolina, you can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. That is the law here, which I agree with.

So I think the bank had every right to fire the teller. If I was the teller, then I would have bought the coins and said screw the job. What is an $8 an hour job, when you are making $13,000 on the trade. If the coins turn out to be stolen, then you are going to have to give them back to the true owner (and be out the job). You basically are betting $280 to $14000 that they aren't or can't proven they are stolen. There is a chance they inherited them. They don't have to be stolen. Some people don't few coins as anything more than money at face value.

I don't think the teller did anything wrong. They are legally worth $20. The collector value is a market to market price between a buyer and a seller. That happen in this case at face value.

I don't see a problem with what happen. I don't think anyone did anything wrong. There was a lot of stupid things done, but they weren't wrong. I am assuming the woman was of sound mind, so she could have done research on the coins if she had wanted too.

A buyer does not have to inform a seller about their product. It is a seller's job to know their product. If the seller is stupid, then that is their fault. A seller can't screw the buyer. That is under the commerical code in most states. This is assuming the seller is a merchant. In the case, then it is all fair game. Based on my understanding, from my business law classes.

The teller should have done the transaction out in the parking lot without running it through the bank. It might have gotten him fired, but he got fired anyway. At least that way, the bank wouldn't have been able to throw so much of a fit.

-SWUSC
 

jim4silver

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Apr 15, 2008
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People keep saying that gold double eagles are legal tender or legal currency to justify why the teller should not have been fired. I believe that the Gold Confiscation Act of 1933 signed by President Roosevelt changed the status of gold double eagles and from that point on they were no longer legal tender or currency. These were the coins people were ordered to turn in. Before that time the Gov set the price of gold at $20.67 per ounce (a double eagle contains just under an ounce of gold; the extra 67 cents made up the difference). Once the Confiscation order took effect the Gov then upped the fixed price of gold to 35 bucks an ounce. People were allowed to keep a small amount of them from what I have read, but the rest were supposed to be turned in. From this point on they were no longer circulating currency or legal tender in the US. When taken to the bank you got 20 bucks in paper money. The citizens were only allowed to keep gold coins that were considered rare and having numismatic value, but that term was never defined and certainly did not apply then to double eagles.

Jim
 

coinmojo

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Mar 18, 2008
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You know somehow deep inside me I'm holding out hope for this society.

I do feel that there are good honest people out there still.

But I gotta say, based on some of the comments here Defending the tellers actions and what they would have done. And how the person selling the coins got what they deserved. All I'm hearing is Greed.

All I can say is......... WOW........ I might just be wrong........... There may not be hope for us........

As I see it there should be nothing to debate here. Guilty.

God help us all.

Mojo
 

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