$20.00 gold coins at bank

[Goes4ever]

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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[mrs.oroblanco]

This from the man who just recently said, in another post:

Older Banks should = older clientell, Which should = grandma cashing in an old hoard every now and than.


Mojo


and suggesting that a fellow crh'er 'tip' a teller because he got a roll of all new pennies and made a bundle,

and, who just recently paid $1000 for a roll of KNOWN silver dimes, and bought a 1935 dollar from a bank,

and knows that even the greenest of tellers would scoop up silver dollars before they hit the counter,

I don't understand your view.

B

 

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[Jimmy@romega]

What if this woman had something else like a 1955 double die wheat penny or a 1909 s vdb penny or 1916 d mercurty dime and had no knowledge of what it's worth but somehow it switches hands at the bank would anybody feel any different about the situation?

 

[mistergee]

what if they did tell her they were worth more than face value and she still wanted to get rid of them? should the bank refuse to take them?.....and if so what would stop her from going across the street to another bank?

 

[XX]

Hey, so how is the progress on shutting down the places like

cash4gold, mygoldenvelope, silverandgoldexchange, etc..... as they pay as little
as 20% to 30% of melt for the gold that people send in. They also do it in a way that
the victim doesn't know what they are getting before hand, and they have little chance
of undoing the exchange after the fact.

 

[coinmojo]

This from the man who just recently said, in another post:

Older Banks should = older clientell, Which should = grandma cashing in an old hoard every now and than.

Mojo

and suggesting that a fellow crh'er 'tip' a teller because he got a roll of all new pennies and made a bundle,
and, who just recently paid $1000 for a roll of KNOWN silver dimes, and bought a 1935 dollar from a bank,
and knows that even the greenest of tellers would scoop up silver dollars before they hit the counter,
I don't understand your view.
B

Again big difference here.

Tipping a teller who is nice enough to order 24 boxes of penny's for a guy who is looking for old penny's and has the fortune to end up with 24 boxes that are selling on e bay for $400 a pop is a far cry from a teller knowingly buying 14 rare gold double eagles for $20 ea and than immediately taking them to a coin shop to find out how much he just scored.

I never paid $1000 for a roll of silver Dimes. Nor did I ever know that any rolls that I buy on speculation contain any silver. It is part of the Treasure Hunt.

IT is what we all do here.

I have a clean conscience. If I am lucky enough to find any Silver in rolls there is nothing I can do to track down the owner and pay them melt.

I always offer to buy any silver for a reasonable price form tellers and or costumers who bring in silver coins.

On several occasions I have had tellers give costumers my # and I offer the same thing that a coinshop would offer or better depending on the coins.

When I buy Boxes from Brinks or loose rolls from banks that is called speculation. Even the tellers are unaware of what is in those rolls.

Many times I am on the losing end of the game. As In Penny's in dime rolls, Rolls being short, Canadian other Foreign coins or objects like washers in those rolls.

I'm not saying that none is missing out on the true value of silver coins when they cash them for face at a bank. But it does happen and even an honest teller can't controll what coins are contained in rolls that costumers have brought in.

Also many silver coins are passed through coin counting machines at Banks and Credit Unions every day all over the country. and no one ever even sees them till they come back to us in the form of a box from Brinks or loomis.

And yes they could Be Grandpa's collection or Granma's collection or a stolen coin collection. The front line of defence from someone making a mistake should be a teller. I believe it is there duty to inform someone that they are cashing in a $1000 coin for $20 if they don't than they are......... Thief

Again the Gold coin Buying teller in this story is a Thief.

I am a Speculator. Not a thief.

Mojo

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Sorry - it was a bag of quarters that a teller told you definitely had silver in it.

That's not a treasure hunt, the 2 tellers had already opened the bag and told you there was silver in it.

Don't get me wrong - I would have bought it too.

But ...........................................

B

 

[coinmojo]

Sorry - it was a bag of quarters that a teller told you definitely had silver in it.
That's not a treasure hunt, the 2 tellers had already opened the bag and told you there was silver in it.
Don't get me wrong - I would have bought it too.
But ...........................................

B

And the teller only saw them because this bank needs to crack all the rolls open and put them in the bag. No one knew there was silver in those rolls till that point, who brought them in or when.

It's not like someone brought in $1000 silver quarters form the 60's and the tellers knowinly bought them just to pocket them for personal gain.

She merly noticed them when preparing the bag to ship. She thought there were at least $30 worth of them. She also told me that the bag weighs 50 pounds. thats how they count, by weight. So I' would be at risk because the bag could be short.

Well it was. and allthough I knew there were some keepers you never know what else lurks there. The bag did contain $15 in silver quarters. wich more than covererd the shortage. and the more than $10 in Canadian Quarters.

And funny thing it still felt like a "Treasure Hunt". Even if she had not told me there were keepers in that bag I would have bought it if they offerd....... Because I am hopelessly addicted to The Hunt.

Not trying to take advantage of anyone here.

Mojo

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Hey, no denying it still felt like a treasurehunt - like I said, I would have bought it, too!

I'm just saying, you knew you had some winners, above and beyond the face value, and it was circulating currency.

That's all.

B

(PS: can you tell that I like to read your posts?)

 

[coinmojo]

What if this woman had something else like a 1955 double die wheat penny or a 1909 s vdb penny or 1916 d mercurty dime and had no knowledge of what it's worth but somehow it switches hands at the bank would anybody feel any different about the situation?

No comparison

what if they did tell her they were worth more than face value and she still wanted to get rid of them? should the bank refuse to take them?.....and if so what would stop her from going across the street to another bank?

Than there is nothing he could have done, But he can choose not to be a Con Man.

(PS: can you tell that I like to read your posts?)

As long as someone is reading.

I like to post. And read others. I especialy like to see the "TREASURE".

Mojo

 

[sfwusc]

The teller doesn't have to pay market price for goods. There is no law that states that fact. If there was, then he would likely go to jail. The teller paid the price that the seller wanted it was fair transaction.

He didn't do anything wrong. You think someone should pay FMV, then that is your right. Calling someone a thief for not doing so is wrong. He didn't steal anything as he paid for it. You can look up stealing, but it doesn't mean paying below FMV. It is up to debate if they got cheated, but they got their asking price. Again, if I am the buyer, then it isn't my job to make sure the seller is getting a good fair deal. That is their job. My job is to make sure I get the best possible price. There is a flip side that maybe if you get too good of a deal that they won't do business with you again, so you need to weigh that in your dealings.

There was another act that made the gold and gold cert. legal tender again, so that is a mute point. It also made trade dollars legal tender as well. It was done in 1982 http://www.usrarecoins.net/trade_dollar.html
according to that site. That is why those paper notes are legal tender now too. Otherwise they would be illegal to own under the 1933/34 act. Actually the person that keep those gold coins broke the law by doing so, which would make that person the only person in this example that broke the law.

-SWUSC

 

[coinmojo]

OMG

The tellers job at the bank is to do the banks business.

They represent the BANK.

It is not or SHOULD NOT act as a fencing operation.

There actually should be a Sign at the door that says.

"We can only accept coin at circulation / Face value.
Coins that have numismatic value which is above and beyond anyones wildest dreams should be taken to a reputable auction house.
We would instruct customers to do so if we deem it to be the case. Any coins over 50 years old would be subject to this policy. As it is bank policy to protect the interest of our clientell and always act in their best interest".

(An example of this would be someone unknowingly attempting to cash in 14 1oz pure gold coins that are over 80 years old and obviously are worth more than the $20 stamped on them.)

Respectfully Yours. "Bank of Integrity".

Thanks.

Mojo

 

[taropatch]

"We can only accept coin at circulation / Face value.
Coins that have numismatic value which is above and beyond anyones wildest dreams should be taken to a reputable auction house.
We would instruct customers to do so if we deem it to be the case. Any coins over 50 years old would be subject to this policy. As it is bank policy to protect the interest of our clientell and always act in their best interest".

So every bank teller has to memorize and watch for "key dates" or even look at dates of coins and paper money? Like a 1916D Mercury Dime ? Or would this policy be just a warning to customers and not something forced on them?

 

[DAS7NY]

Sorry - it was a bag of quarters that a teller told you definitely had silver in it.
That's not a treasure hunt, the 2 tellers had already opened the bag and told you there was silver in it.
Don't get me wrong - I would have bought it too.
But ...........................................

B

And the teller only saw them because this bank needs to crack all the rolls open and put them in the bag. No one knew there was silver in those rolls till that point, who brought them in or when.

It's not like someone brought in $1000 silver quarters form the 60's and the tellers knowinly bought them just to pocket them for personal gain.

But you can buy them for personal gain? The teller can't. Doesn't make a difference to the bank. You did the same thing as the gold coin teller.

 

[50centman]

Mojo,
I agree with you completely. What you are witnessing here is the theory of relativity, or the " Your truth is good for you and mine is good for me" crap that people have been taught in schools for many years now. It is all coming home to roost. Gold coins are not silver coins that are still legal tender and still in circulation. Businesses have to have standards that their employees follow. The teller stepped over the line, erased it, then ran as fast as they could. I would be interested to hear what LJ has to say about this circumstance.

 

[coinmojo]

Mojo,
I agree with you completely. What you are witnessing here is the theory of relativity, or the " Your truth is good for you and mine is good for me" crap that people have been taught in schools for many years now. It is all coming home to roost. Gold coins are not silver coins that are still legal tender and still in circulation. Businesses have to have standards that their employees follow. The teller stepped over the line, erased it, then ran as fast as they could. I would be interested to hear what LJ has to say about this circumstance.

50

Funny I was thinking the same thing. What Would LJ Say.

So every bank teller has to memorize and watch for "key dates" or even look at dates of coins and paper money? Like a 1916D Mercury Dime ? Or would this policy be just a warning to customers and not something forced on them?

No. I'm just saying, In a Nicer World where people and Businesses Act with Integrity. And not out of Greed. That if someone brings in coins that are Obviously Old or Rare. There should be a rule of ethics.

There is no way to stop someone from running coins through a counting machine, Or are turning in rolls. Which aren't verified on the spot.

But if I walk up with 14 Rare coins, than the policy should be invoked.

Mojo

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

You think the bank would have taken them for "value"?

No. They only give face value.

An old dollar bill (before they became Federal Reserve Notes) will be exchanged for - $1.00, and one dollar only. Silver dollars will be changed in for one dollar only.

Anybody watch Antique Road Show? Do you think that lady who bought the $350,000 side table for $2.00 owed that money to the person at the yard sale she bought it from?

Come on -

B

B

 

[Mentone Grizz]

WWLJD??

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

WWLJD What's that mean?

B

 

[Mentone Grizz]

It's the pivotal, philosophical question that CRHers wonder about when immersed in moral dilemmas such as this one......What Would LJ Do?
- Grizz

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

LJ being Little Jesus?

B