Did I miss out on a goldmine or avoid a huge waste of money & time?

[Immy]

Stopped to pick up a pizza on the way home and while it was being made I went next door to a Smith's to kill time and check out their Coinstar.

First thing I see is a guy with a shopping cart in front of the machine. That means a huge dump. As I get closer I see the guy is sorta homeless-looking, the cart has two 5-gallon plastic buckets and as I walk by I glance inside. Hoo boy...they're both about half full - one with nasty, corroded zincolns and the other with larger-sized coins, but also equally corroded and filthy.

I walk by a second time to get a better look, but at the same time trying not to spook the guy, and sure enough, chock full of messed up coinage. The guy notices me and I say "That looks like a whole year's worth!" to which he reponds "Yeah" in a guarded way and subtly pulls the cart closer to him. Ok, I get the hint, and I walk away, but still drooling at the contents of these buckets.

Now I've got a quandry. Should I make him an offer for everything he's got? But do I want this crud? Would it be worth it? Plus, negotiating might take some time, and I've got a pizza waiting for me in a few minutes. Picked up a 2 liter bottle of soda to go with my pizza and headed for the checkout and to see the progress of our coin hoarder. A store tech was helping him unjam the machine and she was clearly frustrated. But she got it working again and he commenced dumping.

I eventually decided to bail on him, because I wasn't sure how much to offer him. Was $100 too little? $500 too much? Plus while this might be a trove of fun hunting, the ROI probably wasn't there. I do wonder what was in there though...

What would you have done?

 

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[Kantuckkeean]

I’d’ve gotten the soda, the pizza, and gone home to enjoy the pizza. Messed up, corroded, filthy coinage doesn’t sound too appealing and he probably wouldn’t have accepted your offer. If he had, you’d be stuck with a bunch of messed up, corroded, filthy coinage to dump, probably causing the machine to jam and irritating the attendant. Who knows, you might have even overpaid. I think you did good.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[huntsman53]

I agree and you probably saved a lot of money for future sodas and pizzas! Besides, even if there was a somewhat rare coin or Variety coin in the buckets, the value of the coin would likely be half or only a quarter of a similar specimen due to being dirty and corroded and any type of cleaning would reduce the value even more.

 

[vpnavy]

Not me! I would have gone back in, got a bag of popcorn and sat on one of the benches until he left. OMG - you might have passed up on a hundred year old gold coin!

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I can imagine you at home with your family eating pizza and digging through corroded urine soaked clad hehe.
Always give them the sniff test first!

 

[Tommybuckets]

I listen to the reject chute then decide lol

 

[Megalodon]

IMO, you were right to walk away. I would have done the same, but would have left with beer, not soda...