A Case Of Coin Telemarketing Fraud: Here’s What I Shoulda Done
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012By Jordann Fullerrs
One day back in 1985, I received an unexpected phone call at my office from a man named Gordon Carl (not his real name – but whose real name I’ll never forget). The thing that initially struck me the most about the polished Mr. Carl was his heavy New York accent, like something you might hear in a gangster movie. The purpose of his call: to offer me a “great deal” in rare coins. As a result of that conversation, I agreed to purchase five 1943 Walking Liberty half dollars Mr. Carl described as MS-65 specimens. Furthermore, he guaranteed that his firm would buy the coins back from me at any time of my choosing, paying 5% less than the “Grey Sheet” bid price. As an unmarried “yuppie” (now there’s a word you don’t hear much anymore), I calculated that I could afford the $1375 required to make the purchase. Perhaps more than anything, greed clouded my judgment, and like a fool, I trusted Mr. Carl and dropped a check in the mail the next day.
Later in 1985, Mr. Carl’s company changed names. Rather than interpreting this as a flashing red warning signal, I eagerly sought to add more coins to my portfolio. Being a gregarious sort of fellow, I attempted to establish a friendly rapport with Mr. Carl and his associates. Looking back after all these years, what has irritated me perhaps more than anything is how this shyster must have smirked every time he heard my voice, for what a gullible, willing dupe I was.
In 1989, I decided it was time to cash in my coins, so I called Mr. Carl. Not surprisingly, the company was operating under yet another name. I couldn’t get through to Mr. Carl, but ended up talking to his brother, Maurice, with whom I had never spoken. I informed him that I wanted to liquidate my Walking Liberty half dollars in accordance with the buy-back policy under which I had purchased them. Much to my disgust, he coldly declined, indicating his organization was not affiliated with those earlier companies, and was under no obligation whatsoever. In fact, he insinuated that he had never even heard of these outfits before, despite the fact that his brother, Gordon, factored prominently in these businesses. At that moment, the fog was finally lifted from my eyes: I had been scammed! Not knowing what else to do, I politely said goodbye, and hung up. I sat there, staring at the phone for what seemed like an eternity, in stunned disbelief.
Several days later, I took my 1943 Walkers to a local coin dealer, the first step in submitting them to a third party grading service. I didn’t expect them to grade out as MS-65, but if they came back as MS-60 or MS-63, I could at least begin there to cut my losses. The dealer studied a couple of the coins closely under magnification, and then sadly declared the coins were damaged due to improper cleaning. He advised me not to have them professionally graded, because the cost of grading probably exceeded the value of the coins. With few options left, I put the tainted Walkers in storage, vowing never to repeat this experience.
Let’s now flash forward to the present time. Normally, I don’t like antagonizing myself, so it was with some reluctance that I fired up the computer to play the game “What If?” That is, what if I had spent my $1375 with a reputable dealer in 1985 to purchase Walking Liberty half dollars? What kind of value increases would I be enjoying today had I been smarter back then? To answer this question, I first retrieved the historic value trend tables I researched in late 2005 for Walking Liberty half dollars. For each date, mintmark, and condition, I noted their values in 1985, and placed them next to their corresponding values in 2005, for a “before and after” comparison. In all, there were about 450 such comparisons. Next, I calculated an annual compounded percentage return rate for each data pair, and sorted them from highest to lowest. I then listed the top 20 for closer examination:
Date………..Condition….1985 Value….2005 Value….Annual ROR
1917-D Obv..MS-65…….$3000…….$27500……..11.13%
1921-S……F-12………$30.00……….$250……..10.62%
1919-D……MS-65……$15000……..$115000………10.19%
1917-S Obv..MS-65…….$5250………$35000……..9.45%
1918-S……MS-65…….$3000………$17500……..8.76%
1916-S……VG-8……..$30.00………$150………7.97%
1917-S Rev.. MS-65…….$3500…….$17500……..7.97%
1921-S……VF-20……..$200………$1000………7.97%
1921-S……XF-40……..$1000………$5000……..7.97%
1921-S……MS-65…….$22500……$110000………7.85%
1918-D……F-12……..$8.50…….$40.00………7.65%
1918-D……MS-65…….$5500……..$25000………7.48%
1921-S……VG-8……..$17.50……..$75.00………7.18%
1921-D……MS-65…….$6500……..$27500………7.11%
1916-D……VG-8……..$12.50……..$50.00………6.82%
1938-D……F-12…….$25.00……….$100………6.82%
1938-D……VG-8……..$20.00……..$80.00………6.82%
1920-S……MS-65…….$3750…….$15000……..6.82%
1917-D Rev..VF-20…….$45.00………$175………6.68%
1938-D……VF-20…….$32.50………$125………6.62%
The Walker with the best return since 1985 is the 1917-D (MM on Obverse) in MS-65 condition. At $3000, it was well beyond the $1375 available to me to spend on numismatics in 1985, as were all nine MS-65 coins appearing on the above Top 20 list. However, the remainder of the Top 20 represented coins in circulated grades, and all were within my price range. Had I directed my hard-earned cash toward the purchase of a legitimate example of each of these coins, I would have spent $1421, just barely above what I forked over to Mr. Carl. Today, those same Walking Liberty halves are cumulatively worth more than $7000. In pure financial terms, this increase computes to an annual compounded return rate of nearly 8.00%. If only I had known then.
Take note that all 11 of the Walkers that I wish I had added to my collection in 1985 are recognized as key and semi-key dates in the Walking Liberty half dollar series. The fact that they are for well-circulated specimens (typically not the object of affection for promoters and speculators) suggests that what has propelled these coins to ever-increasing heights over the years is fueled by consistent collector demand. We can expect to see similar patterns in the future. If I were to conduct this same study in the year 2025, comparing retail values then to what they were in the year 2005, the Top 20 would probably strongly resemble the Top 20 in 2005.
What became of the 1943 Walking Liberty half dollars Mr. Carl suckered me into buying? Well, I still have them, squirreled away in a bank deposit box. I haven’t even looked at them in a decade or so. As I was writing the final words of this article, it finally dawned on me to ask one more question: how would my investment have performed had these been bona-fide MS-65 specimens? Taking the same body of data used to derive the Top 20 above, I started thumbing down the list. going down, down, and down some more. Finally, I came across the 1943 in MS-65 condition, on line 419. The annual rate of return of this coin since 1985 is a dismal -2.13%. That’s a NEGATIVE 2.13%. Ironically, even had Mr. Carl been an honest businessman, it still would have been a lousy investment for me.
There are two lessons to be learned here: (1) If interested in seeing your coins increase substantially in value in the years ahead, purchase coins that have already demonstrated a long record of consistent price advancements, which usually are the key and semi-key dates for a given series, and (2) Deal only with reputable people.
So what ever happened to the slimy Mr. Carl and his band of thieves? Well, perhaps there is some justice in this world, after all. In late 1989, about the time I discovered I was being victimized, the United States Postal Inspection Service began an undercover sting operation of the company. Apparently, I wasn’t the only unhappy customer, but my losses were minimal compared to the sums bilked out of others. In February, 1991, postal agents stormed the “boiler room” outfit, executing a federal search warrant based on a complaint involving the alleged fraudulent selling of coins through the mail. Mr. Carl and others were arrested and led away in handcuffs.
Postal authorities publicized that anyone with grievances against the company was encouraged to contact them, to help bolster their case against the defendants. Since I kept meticulous records, I had no trouble assembling incriminating documents and forwarded everything to the Inspector’s office, tied together by my personal story. I never heard exactly how the case was resolved, but it seems almost certain these crooked telemarketers got what they deserved. As for me, I won a small measure of satisfaction, knowing that I provided evidence to help expose them. Now, if I could just figure out what to do with those defiled 1943 Walkers…
Courtesy of Mr. Fuller. Read more of his work here How To Become A Jack Of All Trades and here The Best IRA Companies.
Tips on Where to Sell Silver Coins
By Maslin Seldon
Silver coins are always often considered as a good investment funds prick. And considering the silver toll picking up, many peoples purchase and keep silver coins to meet any pressing need. However, there cant be a better time to betray silver coins as the current Au market place is at its topmost in the last decade. It might be weird, but when you look for where to betray silver coins, the first thing that comes to your brain is your local jewel shop class. Well, you can definitely get speedy hard currency against your silver coins, but you cant be assured that its the best deal for you.
Selling your silver coins to the silver refinery is the most secure, safe and profitable choice. However, you got to be selective while selecting where to betray silver coins. There are many refiners who file processing fees, which importantly bear upon the payout total. You need to be instructive about it before approaching them. Here are a few crowns which help to know where to betray silver coins.
Check out the Au terms update from external market place like US and London. Ordinarily they cite big book of silver coin terms. So you can know the spot price.
Coins are easy to betray and they get higher terms as compared to other silver jewellery due to their purity factor. Coins with 24karat seal get the most of gilded damage as its in the purest form.
However, in some portions like in developing areas, bullion bar fetch higher terms than silver coins. The small amount of admixture nowadays in silver coins makes them less desirable for jewellery.
There are on line silver emptor where you can sell silver coins. Many have their web sites where you can get all the point processes how to betray your silver coins.
There are more and more silver coin shops and bullion traders who proffer higher terms than regular storehouses. Hence its a good idea to sell silver coins in these exclusive entrecotes.
Your second option where to betray silver coins is through commutations service. Here, you can advertize you silver coins and appeal traffickers.
Auction sale land sites like eBay are another choice where you can betray silver coins. However, you got to have some experience in on line vendee; else the bargained raft might not be the most profitable one.
Maslin Seldon reviews on how to sell silver coins Online . For more information on dollars for gold; please visit www.sellgoldonline.ca.
Selling Silver Coins Made Easy
By Vence Boyle
Silver is not really by far the most common merchandise or even the most costly merchandise on the sector lately; as a result, they can be incredibly hard to eliminate. On the other hand, the best way to rid by yourself of one’s silver jewellery, accessories, and coins, primarily, should be to offer them and produce a minimal revenue from it simply because offering silver coins is really a great method to make some speedy income; on the other hand, not everybody knows the right strategy to promote their silver coins. This article will as a result, give you with some easy techniques for promoting silver coins.
The extremely initially matter you will need to know is that after you are offering silver coins is you have to know the kind of coin which you are advertising, it is advisable to find out the age on the coin, and attempt to consider back to whenever you initially received the coin to understand where by you received it from. Understanding the answers to those questions can help you establish the value from the coin but you may also should look and feel into another uncomplicated concerns to aid identify just how highly-priced these coins are.
Now that you simply know exactly what your silver coin is value, you need to think about the most effective avenue for you personally to promote them and fortunately enough there are several obtainable for you. Your to begin with solution will be to promote them to a vendor or an antique keep; on the other hand, you have to know that the majority of these dealers will attempt to purchase your silver for tiny to almost nothing therefore you will not obtain the total that your silver coin is absolutely really worth. Consequently, your other choice is to offer your silver coins to some jeweller or to an internet based retailer whose specialty is dealing with selling silver coins.
Even though silver is not in as fantastic a need as gold, they may be still really worthwhile therefore you will be amazed with the amount of money you may have laying about your property. Selling silver coins could make you a large profit; nevertheless, this is dependent significantly on the handful of items. These kinds of as:
. The level of silver you have
. The value of these silver coins along with the very best technique to know the value of your coins should be to have them appraised by a licensed appraiser.
Apart from realizing the ideal value in your coins, you have to discover one of the most appropriate industry for selling silver coins. This really is in which you must do a little study and don’t attempt pawn retailers because you will under no circumstances get the legitimate selling price to your silver coins there and no matter how considerably it look that what they’re supplying is often an appropriate value, it never is.
Check Selling Silver Coins and Awesome Information about selling silver coins, junk silver coins, silver coin values and more…
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