We Aren't Going to Buy Things from You if You Don't Bring Them In

[Dips]

This is a conversation between Mr. Dips' co-worker and a customer of the coin store...

SC: [braggin] I've got a bunch of silver certficates. Are you interested?

CW: We aren't really buying silver certificates right now. We're selling them for about $1.50 apeice. [gestures to display]

SC: Well, I've got a pile.

CW: You could try...

SC: They're really old. From the fifties.

CW: Most of the ones we have are from the fifties and they really do have to be in good shape. No wrinkles, folds...

SC: [Interrupting] They're in great shape. They're worth hundreds of dollars apeice!

CW: Well. If you want to bring them in for us to look at, we can...

SC: [Interrupting] I TOLD you what they were worth.

CW: We can't make a decision about buying them until...

SC: [Interrupting] But they're OLD and worth hundreds of dollars each.

CW: We still have to see them first.

SC: I told you they're in great shape.

CW: That's nice, but...

SC: Well?

CW: Well, what?

SC: Are you interested?

CW: Bring them in and I'll tell you.

SC: They're worth thousands of dollars.

CW:

SC:

CW:

SC: Well?

CW: Bring them in.

SC: But they...

CW: We need to see them.

SC: But...

CW: We need to see them.

SC: FINE! MISS OUT IF YOU WANT TO BE IDIOTS! [storms out the door]

CW: [to the witnesses who watched the whole thing] Jeez! Did he listen to a word I said?

Mr. Dips: It's just as well. If he came in with them and we told we weren't interested, he'd NEVER believe it.

Nice customer: Like he could FORCE you to buy at whatever price he names.

CW: Yeah. Just as well.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Quoth Dips

SC: They're really old. From the fifties.

<snip>

SC: [Interrupting] But they're OLD and worth hundreds of dollars each.

I have a [1953] silver certificate. I got it for a buck. Because someone used it to pay me.

Mr. SC! I have some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to sell you!

[One-Fang]

I don't even know what a silver certificate is, but if Mr Dips is currently selling them for a buck fifty each, I'm not buying this customer's self-inflated value figure.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Quoth Dips

SC: They're really old. From the fifties.

The ones from the fifties are the newer ones. I have several going back to the 1899 series.

[AdminAssistant]

Quoth One-Fang

I don't even know what a silver certificate is, but if Mr Dips is currently selling them for a buck fifty each, I'm not buying this customer's self-inflated value figure.

It's a form of currency. I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that although they are legal tender, it's pretty rare to use silver certificates in a retail setting. They're mostly to collect, like bicentennial quarters, Kennedy half dollars, $2 bills, and the like. My Dad has quite a few that my grandmother gave him, but I have no idea how old they are.

[Boozy]

Hell, if you're going to try to close a sale on an item sight-unseen, why not swing for the fences? Tell them you have dozens of mint-condition old Roman coins or something.

[Gurndigarn]

Quoth One-Fang

I don't even know what a silver certificate is,

Once upon a time, it was a guarantee that there was an ounce of silver (ie, one silver dollar or the equivalent— this was in the days of the honkin' huge silver dollars) somewhere in the governmental vaults that you could get in exchange for it.

They stopped issuing them, and eventaully redeeming them, some time after silver started costing more than a dollar an ounce. They're worth a buck now, or maybe more to a currency collecter. If the owner had traded them in for a silver dollar, it would currently be worth roughly $13.50 just in melt value.

[Dips]

These things look like old style bills but have bits of them are stamped in blue instead of green. (pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Certificate) The value varies from about face value to big moolah depending on rarity and condition. Age really isn't a big factor in determining the value of any coin or bill.

Since these things are kind of novel, lots of people keep them instead of spending them. Thus they aren't that rare in and of themselves, because just about everybody has some.

However if you happen to have a novelty bill that has never EVER been folded, smudged or bent, keep it that way. Value goes WAY DOWN if they've been folded.

You can check for rarity by doing some research. There are plenty of sources. Just don't be disappointed if yours aren't rare. By definition most people's aren't, so you're in good company.

As for the guy who came in, Mr. Dips later told me he thinks the guy probably paid a shady dealer way too much for them. The guy probably suspects he got ripped off and is trying to stave off the certain knowledge for as long as possible. Denial is fun.

[VenomX]

Quoth AdminAssistant

They're mostly to collect, like ....... $2 bills

No need to collect $2 bills. You can go to almost any bank and get some. They are still being printed.

[Foxglove8778]

Once when I was working in a music store a kid came in to spend the money his grandmother had save up to give him for his birthday. It was a stack of $2 bills and a silver note $5. I told him I really doubted that his grandma expected him to spend them. Some of them were old enough to make a collector cry... and pay more than face value for them (one was a '76 with a cancel stamp). Stupid kid. He had bad taste in music too.

A few years before that when I worked at a Hallmark store one of my coworkers threw a fit when someone tried to pay for a magazine with a $2 silver note. Screaming about passing funny money despite anything the rest of us said to him. He was a "special" guy.