so when my dad died 10 years ago he left me some old stamps and coins he collected them for years, on the weekend i went through this stuff and opened one folder with stamps....full of them but on the first plastic folder was an old coin by himself, so i figured well maybe i´m onto something here and went to that coin store directly next to my work, i went to the counter and showed the coin to the lady behind bullet proof glas, she looked at it and went straight up told me "one moment" and was gone...i was thinking "ooooohhhhh jackpot", well it turned out much different, after 2 minutes the boss came back and asked me where i got this coin, i told him where i got it from and he said that this exact coin was stolen, he bought it online and that package by mail never showed up, he even showed me pictures of it saying that this is definately the one, i said "well thats bad for you but this the coin from my dad who died 10 years ago, he said "no not possible i will call the police because of receiving" ( i hope thats the right word for it, had to use google) , he has that big security guard for safety reasons in the room, he blocks the door and calls the cops, 10 minutes later they showed up, took my data, kept that coin as evidence and told me i will receive a paper in the next few weeks and that this will probably go to court.
i havent reached a lawyer from my insurance company yet and since i have no clue about old coins, is it not possible that my coin looks exactly the same ? i´m so stick to my stomach right now, i haven´t done anything wrong and this clown will now take me to court.
what a ****ing way to start the weekend
-
-
-
lol **** you, that made me laugh..thanks
-
Not a problem brother.
That's literally what I'm here for. Good luck recovering the coin. -
I feel you may have just been swindled.......def contact an attorney asap. Never know with these types of establishments.
Tone_E, Alex13 and Vengeful Odin like this. -
Ya I would definitely get a lawyer. You have no idea if they were being honest. IMO not your fault but I wouldn't have taken it to just any coin place. There are legitimate businesses who could've evaluated the coin for you and wouldn't have put you through that, even if your coin was "stolen". Sounds fishy to me. I think you were had. They probably won't even take it to court.
-
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
Unless your coin has some identifying mark or is unique (almost unheard of) there is no way they could say for certain "this is the same, exact coin". It would help your case if you have an inventory of the stuff you got from your Dad as I did with my Dad's coin collection. Then when I took it in for sale, I knew what it was I had.
I am not sure you want to announce it online but specifically, what was the coin? Country, denomination, year, mint, and general condition? -
I would agree, especially if it was a particularly valuable coin. Taking it, and then holding onto it seems really strange to me. Seems like a scam.
-
I'm not a lawyer, but just FYI:
In theft by receiving stolen property, you generally have to know or believe that the property was stolen. As your dad had this in his possession for over a decade and didn't tell you he stole it, you should be good to go.
Were you cited or arrested for anything? What reason do the police think they have for saying you would be summoned to court?
I would definitely retain a lawyer and ask what you can do about this. It sounds pretty damn shady to me. -
I know nothing about coins or the law, but this sounds crazy shady to me. I think these bastards are screwing you over as they probably have many before you.
-
i´m really not into coins, i still have no idea what kind of coin it is, the only thing i found out the guy apparently bought it online for 129 € so its not that much of a treasure, the police kept that thing the whole time for sure he didn´t change it, i had my eyes on it the whole time, man i really had a bad night of sleep because of this, will definately contact a lawyer on monday.
the thing i want to know, can he prove that there is not one other exact same coin in the world that looks like the one he is missing ?
thanks guys for all your tips and help, i need it right now -
no they just took my personal data, it was like a movie 2 cops, one guy played the good cop, the other was the bad cop, when the one guy said "this will all figured out pretty soon", the bad guy would say "but in the end it could still end in court"....that guy had a presence....made me really nervous
-
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
Almost assuredly no! The only reason, I hedged it at all is there are some kinds of unique marks on coins which do set them apart. Some get hung up in the stamping line when they are minted and either get double struck or struck off center. Most times they get caught and are simply melted down and re done. A few make it into circulation and are prized by collectors. Having said that, the value of your coin suggests strongly this is NOT one of those. They run into the high 6 figures and up.
So unless your coin has a mar on it which is distinguishable or the like, again a very, very rare occurrence, then one sample of a particular coin is very similar to another. I am aware that with very high value coins, high res, high def pictures are taken to prevent forgeries but again, your coin, while valuable, is not so high value that it warrants that kind of treatment.
You have no idea what it was? Not even a nationality? -
well i just saw the police put the kind in the protocoll they call it "Georg Wilhelm 1/4 Taler" its a german one from around 1690
-
So I had a similar situation when I was about 16 or so with a basketball card. I knew I came across something valuable when I looked up the price for it and I brought it to the local card shop where I got the card. I was dont remember if I had my permit yet but regardless my dad was with me. The guy wanted to take the card to the back and inspect it. My dad said something like you'll inspect it in front of me. I think it was about then I lost my innocence. This dude tried to hustle me over a basketball card. Bottom line, never let your property out of sight and know what youre dealing with. I guess with a coin its harder to approximate value but you could have taken pictures of it before bringing it in.
What i would do now is explain to a lawyer the sentimental value of it since it was handed down to you by your dad and see if you have a case against the business owner. And demand your property back. Unless this coin is so rare that maybe a handful of them exist and the odds of someone coming across one are so slim, he had no right to take possession of it, no right to accuse you of taking it etc. This clown sounds like a piece of work. -
the thing that makes me so nervous is that he showed pictures of the coin to the police, that he got from the guy he bought it from and they kind of agreed that it is looking the same, by my luck this is exactly looking like mine and this will go to court, but when i think of it now, i wrote in my first post that the lady went away with it behind a wall where the boss is probably sitting, thats a good point, maybe he changed it behind the wall...that could be a good point.
-
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
A 1/4 Taler is the rough German equivalent of the British half a crown or five shilling piece, I believe. Medieval coinage is way outside my bailiwick. When I collected, it was US with a little early British.
Again, I will reiterate that unless it has some distinguishing mar, it is likely indistinguishable from any other piece of the same era. Now if he took it behind a screen, it could have been switched, it could have been photographed and then claimed. There are any number of scams. When I sold my collection it was all done in front of me and if either of us had to go to the rest room, we both left the room and locked it. And the most valuable piece I had was only worth about $500.
Get any documentation you might have and a lawyer may need affidavits from family members who can testify to your Dad being a collector. Evidence of the rest of your Dad's assets and collections will likely help. Make sure your attorney counter sues and demands legal fees for your efforts.Alex13 likes this. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
-
hey thanks for asking, i have my "interview" at the police department this coming tuesday at 10 a.m local time, lets see what happens
-
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
I'll keep thinking good thoughts!!!!
-
-
What a **** sucker. Report him to the news, yelp, anything....don't let this scum get away with doing this to someone else.
-
As I was reading through this thread, this is exactly what I was thinking. I'm not sure if Germany has Yelp or anything like it but if so, post a detailed review of what happened to you with this business, including the outcome. It may very well prevent this from happening to someone else, and will have a very real impact on this shady business.
Glad this story had a happy ending!