This made me sick

[mical66]

While helping my brother do some remodel work on his house , i made the agreement that my son could MD his 1910 house. so while taking a break at lunch and enjoying the breeze on the front porch swing and watching my son MD , my brother made a comment he just sold a bag of coins to a local shop.
i asked what and how did he get them , he said " Ohh some 18 and 19 hundred silver dollars and 2 presidential tokens of some sort "
so again i asked howed ya get them , he said he bought them off a old farmer a few years ago for 50 dollars and since he sold them for 75 he thinks he worked out ok....

where i am happy for him and his good luck , since he knew my son and i ( mainly my 12 yr old son ) are into finding old coins , i wish he had let me see them or even have a chance to buy some..

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Oh Lordy, I can hear it now...

Feces occurs, and sometimes there's not a thing we can do other than cringe, and wish we had known
about it.

 

[Tom Bigbee]

Been there, done that...All you can do is let it roll off your back.

 

[mical66]

oh i am not going to say anything to him , he did not do anything wrong . but hes my brother and i have the right to me upset with him no matter what

 

[TreasurePirate69]

Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I had an aunt die and her late husband had been a coin collector. The executor of the estate (another aunt) just took all of the coins straight to the coin shop and sold them off. I doubt she had any idea what she had. The coin shop is fairly reputable but if you just take in a box of coins and dump them on the counter without knowing what they are worth then the coin shop isn't going to spend a whole bunch of time researching all of them unless you pay them to do an official appraisal. They usually thumb through them and assume there is noting spectacular in them which is reflected in their offer. The result? She got a couple thousand for them. My dad said there were hundreds of coins, many in graded holders. Did she get a good deal? Who knows? Perhaps they were worth $100K! And perhaps they were only worth $2K. But since she didn't have anyone else look at them we will never know. I at least would have liked the chance to have looked through them and offer her good money for the ones I wanted. I wouldn't have tried to rip off my own relatives. I would have taken the time to sit down and catalog them all out and determine a fair price for them. Whether she sold them to me or not, she at least could have had that price in hand when going into the coin shop. But alas, it didn't happen. Like others have said, you just have to let it go.

It's a double edged sword. On one hand you really don't want to let everyone know that you collect coins. Countless coin collections have been stolen due to loose lips. But on the other hand, if people don't really know that you collect coins then how will they know to consult you when they have coins to sell? In your case your brother should have remembered that you and your son like coins. But sometimes it just slips their mind or they don't want to be put in the awkward position of having to haggle with their own kin.

 

[mical66]

your right TP69,,guess the unknown is what bothers me the the most about this. i have no idea how many coins he sold so can nto even guess what they were , dates or values. i wonder what the presidential tokens were he told me about.

 

[ivan salis]

tell him you would have gave him a "better" deal -so in case he runs across another "deal" that he might think of you first.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

By the way, I read a really good article recently on one of the coin sites (can't remember which one) that talked about this and similar issues. Essentially, it recommended that coin collectors make sure they leave detailed instructions on how to deal with their coin collections after they die: expected values, rarities, where to sell them, and other such information. It is way too common that you spend your whole life digging for or collecting coins, but when you die some relative who doesn't share the same passion and doesn't know anything about them just takes them to the nearest pawn shop or coin shop and gets completely ripped off.

Coin shops see so many batches of worthless coins every day from people just coming in and dropping off collections that they always assume the worst. They pick out the graded coins, quickly thumb through the loose stuff, and come up with a general estimate that assumes none of the loose coins are special. They can't afford to sit there and do a full appraisal of every person's coin collection that comes walking through the door just to have that person turn down the offer and walk away. So even an honest coin shop will not dedicate the time required to really give walk-ins the best possible price. That's why you really need to know what you have before walking in. Anything your heirs can do to isolate and point out special coins can only result in a higher offer. You will only get top dollar for your coins if you have already had them appraised or done your own appraisal. They must be separated out into groups of graded, valuable non graded, middle value, and junk coins.

In your case your brother likely didn't have that many coins so the coin dealer probably looked at them all. Also coin dealers will typically isolate the silver dollars and pay a fair price for them anyway because they are so popular. But again, you just never know what really happened if you weren't there. And like you said, that's the part that really gets to you. Oh well, thanks for sharing the story. I feel your pain.

 

[TNGUNS]

That bites......have it happen often in the gun business. " Yep .....sold my pre 64 winchester model 70 Supergrade for $400 dollars and only gave $250 for it in 1957 ....boy did I come out or what". Then ya cry and go on .

 

[hvacker]

I guess Mical66 doesn't understand relatives.
Sometimes I ask myself, if these people weren't related to me would I hang out with them?
When something is sold don't forget to factor in inflation, upkeep if needed. Often no money is made at all.

 

[Arizona Bob]

...my brother made a comment he just sold a bag of coins to a local shop. i asked what and how did he get them , he said " Ohh some 18 and 19 hundred silver dollars and 2 presidential tokens of some sort"...

What does your brother collect? Wait a week or so, then tell your brother "My wife's grandfather (or some relative) left an old wood Winchester box filled with a bunch of old fishing lures (or whatever your brother collects) after gramps last visit. Say that you were showing them to a friend, and he gave you a couple cases of beer (or whatever) for the whole box of fishing lures. Tell your Bro that your friend told you that he just sold one single lure for $300. Now tell your Bro that you are happy because you paid nothing for the fishing lures and got a couple of cases of beer for free! Enjoy his reaction. You are welcome!