Unrealistic expectations are so annoying

I was on holiday last weekend and we were staying in a little town (population of a couple of hundred). The town had an antique shop so I thought I'd pop in to see if he had any coins. He had a small clutch of British and French coppers that had been hideously stripped and were glowing red, a couple of holed British threepence coins, a holed South African shilling and one decent coin, a reasonable Haiti 1 cent coin.

I asked him how much they were and he replied "I'm selling them on behalf of someone and he'll take any reasonable offer." So I looked up the value and told him the Haiti cent had a book value of $3-$5 and would he take $5 (meaning to be generous) he replied "Oh no, I couldn't sell it for that! The man I'm selling it for was thinking along the lines of $10-$15 per coin"

That sucks. The holed silvers are worth melt, you'd be lucky to get $1 for the ruined coppers, and the nice Haiti cent will end up mouldering in his shop because I doubt anyone would pay $10-$15 for it.

People watch a movie and think everything that's old is worth a lot just because of it's age... I was like that too when I inherited my collection but with a little time and a lot of research I learned at least the basics... But still, anyone running an antique shop should know what the realistic price for those coins is, even if he's selling them for someone else he should at least explain to the seller what to expect, this way he's undermining his own credibility...

He said he didn't know anything about coins so he just went by what the guy wanted.

In the warm months, there is a local antique market I visit regularly ("Canada's Oldest"....ah yeah, I'm sure ).

It has several shops with coins. Some like yours Neil where they're selling them for a friend, always over priced. One Dealer and one semi-collector whom are both over priced but, I can sometimes talk the semi-collector into a reasonable price for some Canadian Cents that I am after.

One stall has the same coins sitting there every week. "I can sell those Silver Dollars on ebay for $18 a pop!!" And I always remind him that after his labour, shipping, etc. he will make less than melt. (I think I'm wearing him down).

Another stall had several "fake" Trade Dollars (thanks Numista). I informed them that they were fake and the next week they were gone. I hope nobody purchased them.

My best luck has always been with those stalls that have everything and anything. You find little treasures that they are totally uninterested in keeping, they want to move inventory. My favourite $2.00 purchase so far.......

An ante-dated Imitation "Bust and Harp" Colonial Token.

For myself, it is a day out for some exercise, good conversations, and some "hunting".