Moral Dilema.......Opinons Needed

give coin_master his coin back Patton tell him to use the dollar to put gas in his moms car.
 
To those who are saying "hey he found it anyway" or "he doubled his money" or "it cost him nothing in the first place" let me ask you this. You are detecting at the beach and pull up a gold ring...you found it, it cost you nothing - would you sell it for a buck? No? Why not? A buck would be more than you had before you found the ring, right?

The difference is that you are an adult and know that selling it for a buck would be ridiculous as it has a much higher value. We're talking about a kid here that obviously has no idea. I don't think you can really use the "hey he named his price and I paid it!" justification on a 10 year old can you? :roll: Yikes. The OP also asked the kid if he wanted to sell it, it's not like the kid had a little coin stand set up and was actively selling stuff (though even here I wouldn't feel good paying a kid 1/12th of what something was worth).

You know why we pay 2 bucks for a lemonade that's probably 'worth' 10 cents when little Mary and Johnny down the road have their stand set up? Cuz they're kids...and it's worth it.
 
To those who are saying "hey he found it anyway" or "he doubled his money" or "it cost him nothing in the first place" let me ask you this. You are detecting at the beach and pull up a gold ring...you found it, it cost you nothing - would you sell it for a buck? No? Why not? A buck would be more than you had before you found the ring, right?

The difference is that you are an adult and know that selling it for a buck would be ridiculous as it has a much higher value. We're talking about a kid here that obviously has no idea. I don't think you can really use the "hey he named his price and I paid it!" justification on a 10 year old can you? :roll: Yikes. The OP also asked the kid if he wanted to sell it, it's not like the kid had a little coin stand set up and was actively selling stuff (though even here I wouldn't feel good paying a kid 1/12th of what something was worth).

You know why we pay 2 bucks for a lemonade that's probably 'worth' 10 cents when little Mary and Johnny down the road have their stand set up? Cuz they're kids...and it's worth it.
Mary and Johnny sound like capitalist pigs at those prices..............But I agree with your post.............................
 
The kid was crawling around on the floor, and found 50 cents. Scrounging around like that, probably meant that he didn't have enough money for what he wanted to buy. Now, would he have spent that coin for face anyway? Even if the General pointed out it was 40% silver, and worth around $12? To get that $12, he'd have to find a place buying silver (pawn shop), or get his parents involved. Parents probably would have questions, the kid may or may not get to spend any of that $12, least not anytime soon. He's right there in the store, and probably wanting something now, and has cash in hand.

There are still halves in circulation, and likely silver as well. People hunt rolls of coins for them, there are posts about halves everyday. I'd rather believe the kid was unbelievably lucky, instead of pilfering a coin collection. Is a 64 really a collector item, or just the silver content?

Just seems unlikely that kid was going to walk out of that store with that half dollar, regardless. The store clerk or someone else was going to end up with it anyway. A kid with an unusual coin, and an interest in such things, would never have let it go cheap. It was just 50 cents to him.
 
The kid was crawling around on the floor, and found 50 cents. Scrounging around like that, probably meant that he didn't have enough money for what he wanted to buy.

I had to chuckle here. Every one of us has crawled around on our knees scrounging in the dirt for a penny before. Come home filthy after digging in wet ground for 8 hours boasting to our wives that we found $2.38 in clad and a junk ring. LOL Seriously, I would do whatever my conscience tells me to do. In my case I would have given him more for the coin.
 
Regardless of what something is "worth"..when it comes down to it it's only worth what someone else is willing to pay..
 
Regardless of what something is "worth"..when it comes down to it it's only worth what someone else is willing to pay..

I'm willing to pay $1 for a new F250 diesel.

Seriously people pay $10+ all day long for that coin. Check ebay.

Only Patton can judge if he is comfortable. I believe he took advantage of the kid. Even if the kid might have spent it on candy.

We don't take advantage of kids because we can or because the kid will probably do something stupid with the coin. Take it as a teachable moment. Let the kid know what he has. You can justify it any way you like. It is still taking advantage. Just because it is only worth $12 doesn't change that truth.
 
I wouldn't attempt to buy those other coins, with high end coins like that (assuming he has them) his parents will come after you once they notice them mussing and grill him and chances are the courts will rule in their favor. I'm not sure what or if any laws apply to sales like that but I know persons under 18 cannot legally sign a contract, even if they do sign it the contract is void so a 10 year old selling a rare coin might somehow fall into a legal issue like that. As far as the Half, I probably would have told him nice coin and made sure he held onto it or if for some reason I was to purchase it given a better price since 10% of the value is ehhhh. In the end a silver half is not worth the drama if his parents find out you're buying his coins at 10% of the value. :grin:
 
I told him I collected these and I asked him if he wanted to sell it. "Sure, he replied." How much I asked. "I will take a dollar for it he replied." I bit my tongue and said ok. Later when my wife got home I told her the story. She feels I should give the coin back or pay him more dough. She wants to see what the other members on here thinks. I do feel bad, but he FOUND the coin! Its not like it was in his collection. (If he really has one.:roll:) Patton

It doesn't matter where he got it from.
You knew what it was worth, you know what he asked, you said nothing and paid it.

The second statement shows me you regret that decision.

Don't really know how asking for other opinions will help, in your head you already know how this transaction made you feel and you probably can't change it no matter what anybody says.

If you really don't feel bad about this, you will forget about it pretty quickly.
If you do feel bad about this, and it seems to me like you do, learn a lesson, and maybe if you're lucky you will see the kid again and can make amends one day.

Situations like this have popped up in my life from time to time, maybe a little more than most because I was in retail for so long.

I decided a long time ago to deal with most people in a way that will always let me sleep well at night.
What goes around, comes around...So treat others the way you would want to be treated yourself.
 
When I was younger, my brother raided my coin collection and bought candy for face value of the coins. The candy shop owner refused to give them back to me.

Does the saying "taking candy from a baby" mean anything to you? I'll bet the coins you got were taken from an adult collection. I'd contact the boys family.

Well, first I have to find the little rascal. I only know his first name.
 
In KT's mind this is fair and square and here is why....you asked him a price. He could have said $10 or $2 but he said $1....BUT if you back in that store and see that kid, ask him if he would like to have a slushy or candy bar or whatever. He will be happy and you will feel better. In fact, make that a habit until you are within a couple of dollars of salvage silver value.....then you will have squared it all with him, AND made a new friend! You could then ask him exactly WHERE did he find it! LOL Could lead to more!

I ran across this same situation when I was in college, I was working along a railroad track when to 10 year olds walked up to me and said, Look mister! We found a gold ring! I looked at it with my lens and it certainly was...a mens ring...pretty large...14 K and no initials in it...had a large synthetic ruby stone in it...my birth stone.

I said, you want to sell it? They said yeah! They said, how much? and knowing that all I had that day with me was 2 5 dollar bills, I said, 10 bucks, 5 for each of you!

They pounced on it. I later took the ring to a local jewelry store and was offered 50 bucks for it and i took it....gold was hovering at around $40 an ounce at the time so I knew he was not going to scrap it but polish it up and put it in his retail stock....and to a college kid whose school stipend was $60 a month, that $30 profit was a God-send!

Thanks, King.
I like that ideal. Hope you are doing well my friend. You are on our prayer list.
 
Thank you for the grown up perspective. Of course you are right. The child is in no position to barter intelligently with an adult.

If I know my friend Patton, and I think I do, he will do the right right thing. I have seen him deal with stuff like this before and he always does what's right.

Of course, he could always take my offer of $2... :lol:

Done! You can track him down. We live in a small town.....:yes:
 
Desperate people do desperate things. Are you really that desperate that you have to cheat a 10 year old for a coin? And then hope to cheat him again by giving him your card? Wow a whole buck Lmao I hope he was in a penny store, can't get much for a BUCK.
 
He then proceeds to tell me he has a Morgan Silver Dollar worth $17,000, two $20 Gold pieces, and dozens of other coins.

Tends to make me think he knew what he had or else he was selling of his dad's stuff. I would be on the fence about that . Maybe call up his dad and find out for sure. I would probably just keep the coin and chalk it up to good fortune

Good advise but again, I don't have a clue who this kid is. Only his first name.
 
Hey General, you're ok. What you did was perfectly fine. You made an offer, he accepted. and if his not happy it just a good learning lesson for him. Which I doubt his even worried about.

Yeah, he sure seemed happy with the buck I gave him. Thanks!
 
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