Peace and Morgan Silver Dollars at Face Value

[PGHDigger]

Stopped at the convenience store to get a coffee on my way to work this morning... The cashier was arguing with some kid, when I got to the counter and realized what it was about I almost dropped my coffee as my heart skipped a beat... I am a regular and familiar with the cashier so I asked what's up... The cashier said the kid was trying to pass counterfeit money, the kid turned around and showed me what he had in his hand... It was actually 2 Morgan's and 5 peace dollars... I asked him if it would help if I gave him the seven dollars for them and he agreed... He bought his cigarettes and went on his way...

I just got home from work and got my first real look at them... Couldn't be happier...

Now all I need is the snow to go away and the ground to thaw so I can get out and detect...

 

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[M_d_in_guy]

Congrats on bein at the right place at the right time for the halves and dollars. I would a taken the deal as well even if I had to pay extra, now the unfortunate part is that it seems your thread has been taken over by the what if's.

What is wrong with y'all nay-sayers, it seems like too often the kangaroo court comes around in here throwing around nothing but speculation as they sit in the chair with the arm rests. Are y'all that unhappy with your surroundings that you feel a need to cast the what if's that really amount to nothing besides a personal judgement of sorts, which often is a reflection of your personal unease of self.

Sorry but I say it like it is and yes I do have a really good conscience and give back my finds to owners if I'm able to do so, however, there are times as such like the op's desire to share with his detecting community a situation that is what it is. An please stop with the call the police and detain him idea. Burden of proof needs to be stated otherwise you think the chief of that detachment is going to send out a cop to make sure the coins were his (come on, perhaps in fantasy land he would).

I now understand why I choose often not to post some of my finds in here, way too many pouncers, just waitin to pounce, end of my rant, that I believe is truly justified!

Cheers and c'mon give this guy a break will ya.

Jon

 

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[PGHDigger]

They do not stick to a magnet... I may take them to a local guy and have him check them out as well...

I want to thank everyone for their comments, both positive and negative... But I'm still taking this as a win... Being that I am a farm hand and it's the middle of winter... This couldn't have come at a Better time...

Talking about karma being a b***h... Maybe this is good karma coming my way... I like to think I earned a little of the good stuff through the years...

Regardless of your opinion... I thank you for your comments... Keep em coming...

 

[against the wind]

Wow,, I collect counterfeit money too.

 

[Trezurehunter]

How is anyone to know the situation & circumstances. Chances are they were stolen whether from Dads collection or someone outside the family. If they were stolen from dad, the punk will get his cause dads gonna find out. If they were stolen outside the family, what are you supposed to do call the police, report them stolen, then give them to the police to hold for 7 yrs. waiting for the owner to claim them, & chances are that wont happen because the police will want you to identify the coins by year. I dont know about everyone else, but I have so many generic silver coins, I couldnt tell you the dates on all of them if they were stolen. I would have done the same thing. Give punky $ 7.00 & walk away with some silver. It's just one of those situations that is going to be to complicated to solve, & if you dont take advantage of it someone else will. Not like it was $ 50,000 lost in a bank bag with someones ID in it. Thats another story.

 

[Plumbata]

When my brother was 8 he took a handful of my dad's silver quarters and tried to buy candy at the corner gas station, but the cashier lady had knowledge of coins so told him to go back home and return the silver.

I'm suspicious of silver dollars these days since the Chinese have gotten very good at making passable nonmagnetic fakes, but I likely would have done the same thing. Guy was an adult and decided he wanted to spend his legal tender on smokes. America is still a free country despite the best efforts of busybodies who think they know better how one's life should be lived, and trading dollars for dollars was a free and noncoerced exchange.

 

[Anduril]

Interesting topic here.

I don't know because I've never tried it, but if one were to deposit these coins into their checking or savings account, wouldn't the bank accept them at face value?
And if so, then it can certainly be argued that Digger acted no more or less ethical than your bank would have.

From the available facts, it seems like a win-win-win.
The cashier got (modern) money she was satisfied with, the guy got his smokes, and Digger got some nice old coins.

True, there might be a 'lose' here because we don't know if the coins were stolen.
One could also argue that the 'lose' here is the smoker, on at least two counts: 1) he smokes and the health consequences that go with that, and 2) he didn't realize he could have got a better deal elsewhere.

 

[DennisNJ]

My roommate, let some of his friends in our house when I was on vacation. When I got back all my silver dollars and gold rings were missing.

My first thoughts from the above post was, they are missing from somebody.

 

[Joe hunter]

When I was a kid I took some of my moms silver coin to buy candy 35 yrs later my @$$ still hurts

 

[bigfoot1]

...nice score

 

[relic lover]

Why on earth are people so ready to use the word stolen or probably stolen or possibly stolen? Do you use that litmus test on every single item you purchased in your life. There's only one thing you can buy that you know is not stolen and that is something that is brand new. Every other thing you've ever purchased could have been stolen at one time or another.

 

[relic lover]

The idea of calling the police in this situation or detaining this person is asinine at the least. The only person who did any wrong doing was the clerk for not accepting legal tender.

 

[Owassokie]

Let's look at this a different way. What if this kid stole from you or your family and then sold it for nothing to someone like you.
Karma is a ..... ya know

I'll play the scenario game. I'd be mad at the kid, not the person who purchased the coins (without knowledge of where/who the coins came from. BTW, in the 'real' scenario, we don't know if the coins were stolen. The 'kid' may have been hard up for cig's and decided to cash in some old coins he inherited. I think all morality policing should be banned. Half will complain because he bought the coins...half will complain because he didn't pay more than FV. Come on...let the OP enjoy his good fortune.

Congrats PGH...Happy for you.

 

[Owassokie]

BTW, I don't mind discussing the ethics or morality of a scenario. We just shouldn't rain on a posters "find" topic to do it. It's not fair to them and it discourages people from posting in "Today's Finds".

 

[pepperdawg]

Nice coins

^^^this

 

[CRUSADER]

Really Crusader

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but like to answer all questions that I get, so here we go.

I would have asked more questions, its easy to work out whether the story makes sense. That's the first point, I've never assumed stolen or anything, because there are lots of possible explanations. So the stolen bit is irrelevant, unless proved otherwise.
My next point is, I would tell him they were more than face value, & offer him a 'fair' price - not full market price, but just more than he was expecting. This would not only light up his day but mine as well. I would not walk away happy any other way. Simple. However, I do realize I'm different.

PS. I'll give you an real life example. As a 13 year old kid, one of my teachers realized that I liked & collected coins. He gave me a small collection & said I could keep them all. On studying them I found a Gold Half Sov. I handed back this very expensive coin & told him how much it was worth, he said he thought it was a shinny farthing. Do I regret that, hell no. (it would have been the best coin in my collection at the time, by 100 fold)

 

[Owassokie]

I am just different than you...

Removing my "scenario" because it was dumb....I was irritated.

I will agree we are different but that doesn't give you the moral high ground. I can think of numerous 'reasonable' ways a person might handle the OP's situation: They could offer face value. They could offer melt value. They could offer fair market value. They could ask the 'kid' questions and go from there. They could decide to stay out of it. They could offer the cashier some advice. Any one of those would be reasonable, even if they don't fit my moral compass. The one thing that doesn't sound 'reasonable' to me is to make loose assumptions based on VERY limited information, detain someone, and call police.

 

[CRUSADER]

Since you are so 'different', I have a scenario for you. I'm guessing there have been women that buried or lost rings with the intent of retrieving them and kids have buried toys and coins with the intent of retrieving them. Maybe someone loses a ring and brings a friend with a metal detector, only to find the ring is gone. All MDers could be in the possession of items that would have been retrieved by the owner. Based on the moral high ground you stand, shouldn't we leave all found items in the ground?

Does this scenario sound ridiculous?

delete first thoughts....
But kind of a strange logic. But I would return as many rings as I could. That's one reason I don't beach hunt, I would spend most my time tracking owners instead of studying history...lol

 

[Jason in Enid]

You mistake me for someone preaching, I have no moral high ground, only code that makes 'me' happy. You can do as you please, not my issue.
Your scenario is ridiculous, not the fact that I would try & return every ring I could. Assuming you had something to work on, ie clues.

? he was quoting and responding to Jedi. I'm confused by your response.

 

[CRUSADER]

? he was quoting and responding to Jedi. I'm confused by your response.

Yes sorry, read the I'm different bit & thought me. Will delete, not paying attention.

 

[thrifty76now]

Of course you did not know the value of those SILVER dollars,but you gave up seven real paper ones for them.Did you even ask that KID how he came about them?And perhaps the outcome would have come out better?Should one just grab and then walk?