bigtime400
Sr. Member
Hey everyone. Ususally I read posts in coins rather then post but I figured I would tell you all how I dodged a bullet today.
I went to a private rummage sale of a guy I kinda knew and who was also a coin collector and he had a bunch of diffrent stuff for sale. One being an 1877 indian head penny. The penny was in good shape in VG condition possibly fine. Liberty was there but kinda weak. Anyway he said he had to sell some stuff being tough times and all and he would sell the 1877 for $350. I didn't have my little 10x mag with me but he had a little dollar store cheapie so I used that. In the light that was there, with the magnification that I had avaiable everything looked great! So i bought the coin being that it was a great deal in that condition. Now for all of you that have heard the saying, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is", you would be on the right track. I got home took the coin out of the flip because that mylar or whatever plastic you call it are quite reflective. I turned on some good light on my desk. Got out my 10X glass out and about 2 seconds later I jumped up and headed out the door. I went down to the local coin shop he has said it looked suspicious and refered me to another shop close by. I took it to the next shop and he confirmed my fears. It was a fake...... or not neccessairly a fake but not a real 1877. Thats right the date had been altered. You could see a line above the date like they scrached it down and restamped part or all of the date. Which seamed wierd because only the last 7 looked oddly out of place. It was sitting lower then the rest of the numbers and looked a tad diffrent then the other 7. The big giveaway was the line above the date. It almost looked like dirt because the coin was a deep brown tone. I bet if they had a line that wasn't so straight across over the date and more random I would have probably missed or overlooked the 7.
So anyway. I went back to the guy told him politely that "we need to talk" and he was actually very understanding about the whole thing. He had also said that he had the same suspicions about the coin but never did anthying about it. Which then makes me wonder then why the hell are you trying to sell it as the real deal! But I didn't beat him up to bad about that because I was happy enough to get my money back. Plus i felt bad because I know he is just a regular joe coin collector who is probably out $300. I told him that he should get in touch with that dealer and either have him look at it closer or send it in the get graded for verification then there is no doubt. But I told him I was pretty sure it was altered. Also before hand he was talking about finishing his wheat set. I told him I had heard from that dealer alot of 1909 s vdb cents coming back as fakes so buy certified or get really good at spotting fakes. I hope that was one of the dates he was missing yet and I didnt ruin his day even more.
finnaly I guess I just want to say............... Its really to bad that this kinda stuff is going around in the coin world. The average joe who works for a living and wants to have a nice collection to put together and be proud of cant do that. When its so cutthroat that any coin thats of any particular value you have to buy profesionally graded and have it in a hard plastic case rather then fill a hole in your book. I bet that guy will never try to buy a coin like that again. It just doesnt sound like what a hobby is supposed to be. Fun and relaxing........
I went to a private rummage sale of a guy I kinda knew and who was also a coin collector and he had a bunch of diffrent stuff for sale. One being an 1877 indian head penny. The penny was in good shape in VG condition possibly fine. Liberty was there but kinda weak. Anyway he said he had to sell some stuff being tough times and all and he would sell the 1877 for $350. I didn't have my little 10x mag with me but he had a little dollar store cheapie so I used that. In the light that was there, with the magnification that I had avaiable everything looked great! So i bought the coin being that it was a great deal in that condition. Now for all of you that have heard the saying, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is", you would be on the right track. I got home took the coin out of the flip because that mylar or whatever plastic you call it are quite reflective. I turned on some good light on my desk. Got out my 10X glass out and about 2 seconds later I jumped up and headed out the door. I went down to the local coin shop he has said it looked suspicious and refered me to another shop close by. I took it to the next shop and he confirmed my fears. It was a fake...... or not neccessairly a fake but not a real 1877. Thats right the date had been altered. You could see a line above the date like they scrached it down and restamped part or all of the date. Which seamed wierd because only the last 7 looked oddly out of place. It was sitting lower then the rest of the numbers and looked a tad diffrent then the other 7. The big giveaway was the line above the date. It almost looked like dirt because the coin was a deep brown tone. I bet if they had a line that wasn't so straight across over the date and more random I would have probably missed or overlooked the 7.
So anyway. I went back to the guy told him politely that "we need to talk" and he was actually very understanding about the whole thing. He had also said that he had the same suspicions about the coin but never did anthying about it. Which then makes me wonder then why the hell are you trying to sell it as the real deal! But I didn't beat him up to bad about that because I was happy enough to get my money back. Plus i felt bad because I know he is just a regular joe coin collector who is probably out $300. I told him that he should get in touch with that dealer and either have him look at it closer or send it in the get graded for verification then there is no doubt. But I told him I was pretty sure it was altered. Also before hand he was talking about finishing his wheat set. I told him I had heard from that dealer alot of 1909 s vdb cents coming back as fakes so buy certified or get really good at spotting fakes. I hope that was one of the dates he was missing yet and I didnt ruin his day even more.
finnaly I guess I just want to say............... Its really to bad that this kinda stuff is going around in the coin world. The average joe who works for a living and wants to have a nice collection to put together and be proud of cant do that. When its so cutthroat that any coin thats of any particular value you have to buy profesionally graded and have it in a hard plastic case rather then fill a hole in your book. I bet that guy will never try to buy a coin like that again. It just doesnt sound like what a hobby is supposed to be. Fun and relaxing........
