The Golden Rule. Honesty

[ffej]

Fisrt of, I know, I know, no pics it didn't happen.....well it did.

I have been CRH for about two months now 6 or 7 days aweek. I have only $500.00 to play with and keep spending it then dumping to buy new ones. Like I said, everyday I hunt with $500.00, I do $400.00 in nickels and $100.00 in pennies, sometimes dimes. I mix the combonation up to equal $500.00. I don't want any idle time when I could be sorting.

On Wednesday I do $1,500.00 in havles with the same $500.00. I pickup, then sort under a shady tree, dump,pickup,etc......I guess I'm trying to explain why I don't sit down and learn how to post pics and contribute more to this great hobby and site.

I've had some really good finds...walkers, Bens, large cent ( in a half roll ), steel pennies ( 20 in one roll ), indian heads, buffalo, barbers...etc..

Me being the paranoid ex-cop kinda guy, and with all the geotracting with picture and ISP, google earth stuff, I'm just quite at what I do ( so much for that now ), so here is what happened to me today.....

I went on a road trip to scout some new grounds. July has been kinda rough on a new guy. The silver has been tough to find in halves for me.

Stopped in my first bank and asked for halves or any large dollars. The teller said had $9.00, counted them out and I paid her. I waited till we were done and asked her if we were squared. She said yes and told me to have a nice day. I queitly told her that I owed her more money, she said no sir you paid for the halves. Being honest I told her these are not halves they are dollars, she said they are new halves. I then showed her where it said dollar and paid her the proper amount. She thanked me for being honest. I told her it was the golden rule and I'll get repaid somewhere down the line.

Next bank skunk, third bank A couple silver ( only 40%er ).....The teller was a young guy and I asked him to ask the rest of the tellers for halves or large dollars, he did and I got one more keeper, then he said I have one of these showing me the coin as he was walking towards the counter ( i'm thinking it's one of those chucky cheese tokens the mint calls a gold dollar ) then I heard him say but it's $25.00, I'm tired of counting it....I tried to stay calm and laid the worthless $25.00 on the counter as he slipped the MCMLXXVI $25.00 1/2 oz .999 fine Gold coin in my hand. He thanked me for buying it so he didn't have to count it ......The moral of this true story is Honesty is the golden rule,..... but don't be stupid

IT IS FLIPPING PURDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[50centman]

This is a very tough call and different from the case you sighted Mojo. I would have asked the teller if he remembered who brought the coin in. If he did, it's time to figure out what's going on. If not, do you buy the coin and talk to the manager? My guess is as soon as another teller or someone at the bank knows what this guys got, one of them buys it for 25$ and it's at home in the private stash. What do the rest of you think? What about you L J ?

 

[enamel7]

According to the rules no one is allowed to question whether anything is real or fake on an open forum. You can send pms to each other in private, but it is not to be discussed openly. I posted the link to this. I'm just saying take some time to read it. Maybe the rules only apply to some. Maybe there are just too many pots calling kettles black. The discussions were about the coin being possibly fake. Against the rules.
HH
enamel7

 

[coinmojo]

I guess I was just trying to play the Devils advocate on the moral obligation. But really, honesty had nothing to do with it. Karma might be in play here. There are 2 kinds or Karma, good and bad.

As I said In my original post finding silver in tellers trays and in boxes is what we are trying to do that's CRH by definition.

In the end we have to examine our own conscience. After weighing out all the scenario's you have to be comfortable with your decisions. Like I said for me it's a struggle against morality in cases such as this.

I can say I would certainly be put to a test when confronted with your scenario.

I wonder if buying the coin and taking ownership gives you claim on that coin. You can then report it to the bank afterwords claiming you relized that it was valuable after taking ownership, or the police, if there is no claim to it then it is now morally and legally yours. I know , sounds crazy.

Mojo

 

[FreedomUIC]

I guess I was just trying to play the Devils advocate on the moral obligation. But really, honesty had nothing to do with it. Karma might be in play here. There are 2 kinds or Karma, good and bad.

As I said In my original post finding silver in tellers trays and in boxes is what we are trying to do that's CRH by definition.

In the end we have to examine our own conscience. After weighing out all the scenario's you have to be comfortable with your decisions. Like I said for me it's a struggle against morality in cases such as this.

I can say I would certainly be put to a test when confronted with your scenario.

I wonder if buying the coin and taking ownership gives you claim on that coin. You can then report it to the bank afterwords claiming you relized that it was valuable after taking ownership, or the police, if there is no claim to it then it is now morally and legally yours. I know , sounds crazy.

Mojo

I really don't see any moral obligation, pay the teller $25.00, say thank you very much, place coin in pocket and out the door you go.

Works the same exact way with silver and don't try to say it is different, it is not. You will not find the owner, you will do more harm than good pointing it out to the manager and it truly is worth face value of $25.00.

Should be the end of the conversation...

 

[ivan salis]

silver or gold --both coins are worth far more than "face value" --in both cases stupid people turned in the coin for less than it was "actually" worth precious metals wize * --- if a 1 dollar silver dollar is worth 12 times "face value" -$12---- and a 1/2 oz gold $25 dollar coin is worth ratio of 24 times "face value " at $600 bucks -- whats the differance ? both are worth far more than face

say he had found 25 silver morgan dollars ( most likely from a "dumped" collection -- which might or might not be stolen who knows?) at face value of say $25 bucks --that when cashed in a a silver dealer would be worth $300 bucks --everyone would go way to score !!! --so just because its a 1/2 oz gold coin worth $600 --its somehow wrong or evil to do this?

 

[Mentone Grizz]

silver or gold --both coins are worth far more than "face value" --in both cases stupid people turned in the coin for less than it was "actually" worth precious metals wize * --- if a 1 dollar silver dollar is worth 12 times "face value" -$12---- and a 1/2 oz gold $25 dollar coin is worth the exact same ratio of 12 times "face value " at $600 bucks -- whats the differance ?

say he had found 25 silver morgan dollars ( most likely from a "dumped" collection -- which might or might not be stolen who knows?) at face value of say $25 bucks --that when cashed in a a silver dealer would be worth $600 bucks --everyone would go way to score !!! --so just because its a 1/2 oz gold coin --its somehow wrong or evil to do this?

$25 times 12 is $600?
Grizz

 

[jim4silver]

I guess I was just trying to play the Devils advocate on the moral obligation. But really, honesty had nothing to do with it. Karma might be in play here. There are 2 kinds or Karma, good and bad.

As I said In my original post finding silver in tellers trays and in boxes is what we are trying to do that's CRH by definition.

In the end we have to examine our own conscience. After weighing out all the scenario's you have to be comfortable with your decisions. Like I said for me it's a struggle against morality in cases such as this.

I can say I would certainly be put to a test when confronted with your scenario.

I wonder if buying the coin and taking ownership gives you claim on that coin. You can then report it to the bank afterwords claiming you relized that it was valuable after taking ownership, or the police, if there is no claim to it then it is now morally and legally yours. I know , sounds crazy.

Mojo

There is no difference between keeping this gold coin and keeping rolls of silver halves. Although the gold may be worth more, the "karma" would be the same.

There is no proof the gold coin was stolen. It could have been found by an heir after some collector died and the heir cashed it at the bank not knowing any better, just like what happens with silver coins.

The only difference between ffej keeping the gold and you keeping silver is the gold is worth more.

I have seen posters here in the past find gold rings in the coin machine reject bin and keep them without karma being brought into question, and that scenario would be closer to your argument than paying $25 for the gold coin in my opinion.

Jim

 

[diggummup]

congrats on your find, if only the tellers that I go to didn't enjoy counting gold

Yeah, if only the tellers I go to didn't enjoy counting silver...... and cherrypickin it for themselves.

 

[Mentone Grizz]

Bottom line?
You're a lucky son-of-a-gun, ffeg, and the whole bunch of us are jealous!!
Your transaction was entirely on the level. You won't be losing any sleep over this, or paying for it in the afterlife! Congratulations on a sweet find, and welcome to the forum!
- Grizz

 

[coinmojo]

There is actually a difference between Circulated silver coins and a 1986 fine gold coin that was never intended to be used as currency but a an investment vehicle. The only thing that comes close to that in the silver department are the $1 silver eagles. Not intended for circulation. Which i personally have found on 2 occasions. I got a $14 coin for a $1 4 years ago and recently bought 1 for $16 from a teller in a bank parking lot. I'm am not without sin. I'm just saying there is a slight difference.

In 1964 most all of our $.50 .25 and .10 coins contained 90% silver but I'm pretty sure there were no regular circulating coins in 1986 that were .999% fine gold.

To me there is a difference, putting the moral issue aside. Just talking about investment gold coins vs. circulated common coins.

But if everyone wants me to say this was a great score so be it.

GREAT SCORE! I'm Jealous. lol Lighten up I'm just putting it out there. Obviously I'm in the minority so you can all rest easy. Majority wins. Welcome to 2010 American style.

And again ffej Thanks for sharing your story and welcome to the board. There are lots of stories here that aren't clouded in controversy.

Mojo

 

[gotgot]

ffej welcome to the board and as you can see nobody acts over the age of 14 here.
As I read through this thread I was like "wait a minute..they are going to ban this guy?" I am glad it didn't happen. This board is getting to the point that unless you are one of the elite 25 (or pay your obligatory 20 bucks) if you post anything at all you get banned.
Luckily you have been spared!
I have no problem with what you did. If the bank didn't do something about it at the time that coin came in its yours. If you did that to a person on the street I would say you are a thief and a jerk. You didn't. You did it the right way. Any moral hazard is on the institution and the person who deposited it originally if they weren't the original owner (i.e. theft)
As the I Ching would say, No Blame.

 

[2Cents]

In 1964 most all of our $.50 .25 and .10 coins contained 90% silver but I'm pretty sure there were no regular circulating coins in 1986 that were .999% fine gold.

Mojo

.999% fine gold would not make a good coin for circulation. It would get beat to death.

 

[Mentone Grizz]

Actually, the American Eagles are 22K. More copper would make the coin somewhat hardier at .9167 gold content. Not splitting hairs......just sayin'......
- Grizz