Not my wheat cents.

I had a telephone call this morning here at the DQ.

Me; Hi, this is Bill.

Caller; Yes, this is XXXX XXXXXXX. I hear you buy old coins. I have a
bunch of old coins.

Me; Yes! I can look at your coins, help you know what you have and give
you my offer.

Caller; Well, I have a bunch of wheatie pennies. They go back to the 40s,
some in the 30s, heck there's one 1929.

Me; Those kind of coins are really pretty common, but I'll be glad to take
a look and let you know what you have. I have bought and sold coins on eBay
and have some feel for market prices.

Caller; I have a 1941 wheat cent and I have a friend who looked it up on
the internet and he says it's worth $1,500.

Me; Well. I'm not sure about that. I can't think of a 1941 wheatie cent
that would be worth that kind of money. I can take a look.

Caller; I also have a 1946 wheatie, and my buddie says it's worth $2,500.
He looked it up on the internet.

Me; Well, I can have a look and give you an offer, but I can't imagine a
1946 wheat cent worth that kind of money. When can we get together? Are
you in a big hurry? I am tied up for a week with my business. Short of
help and I am working all of the next seven days. A week from tomorrow
would be my first chance.

Caller; We kind of need some money. We're broke, that's why we want to
sell some of this.

Me; It will be a week before I can give the time to look your coins over,
but I do have a price guide I can give you if you like. Come by the store
and I'll have it ready. If I'm not here, just let the employees know your
name and why you're here.




The caller makes sure he knows where my store is at (sounds like a new
resident of Seneca and he lives just outside of town).

I get April's copy of "Numismatic News Coin Market" and take it up to the
front of the store and instruct my employees what is going on. Back in the
office, I locate a roll of mixed date wheat cents, 1939-1958, all of which
are minimum of MS63 and full reds, except for the 1943, which is MS XX and
looks nice, not reconditioned. I also get a stack of 1917-S wheats, G to VF
together. My plan is to show the guy this coins and tell him how much I
paid ( $20 for the roll, 10 cents each for the 17-S wheats). I figured I
had a good plan to reveal the bad news, offering to sell the uncs to the guy
for 50 cents each and the circulated 17-S wheats to him for 15 cents each.

But, he was in and out before I knew he was here. I am sure he will look at
the MS65 column in the retail guide, but thank goodness even that will be a
lot closer to reality than what he is currently thinking.

Bill