Received a Very Nice Letter

[TomB]

It's always nice to receive feedback from people regarding numismatic transactions or the sharing of knowledge. Recently, I received a letter from someone I had met at the GSNA convention in NJ. I had met this person once before, at the GSNA show two years ago, where he purchased two nicely toned Washington quarters from me. This last show he stopped by with his wife on the first afternoon, we spoke for a bit, and he bought two nickels, one Jefferson and one Buffalo. He then came back on the last day of the show and we spoke again for quite some time. At the end of the day, while we were packing up to finish the show, he noticed a wonderfully toned Mercury dime. He was interested in it to buy as a gift for his wife or daughters. Since he had neither cash nor checks with him I simply told him to take it home and pay me when he had the chance. He was stunned since the coin was well over $1,000, however, even though I only knew his first name I also thought I knew something about him as a person from the conversations we had. He hesitantly took the dime home as I told him to kick it around his collection for a while and let me know if he was keeping it.

 

Well, shortly afterward I received a check in the mail for the coin along with a handwritten letter. The letter stated-

Dear Tom,

My wife and I both enjoyed talking with you over the weekend. My two daughters also love the dime. Hope to see you in Parsippany June 1. Will bring a couple of coins for you to look at. Look forward to many years of successful business. Have enclosed my phone numbers along with the check.

There are then included phone numbers and a signature. I thought this was very cool on the part of the letter writer. Not only did I get paid in a timely fashion but I also got a letter that made me feel good about the hobby/industry. I have to admit that I have never sent a handwritten letter to someone regarding coins. In this age of electronic media, I have communicated extensively with emails, coin posts and private messages but not by hand. I think it is very cool and makes me give kudos to the class of the letter writer.

 

So, who else has had experiences like this? Why don't you share them with us. After all, it seems like their are more threads about the negative aspects of human nature than there are about the positive aspects.

[Hoot]

I just received a very kind note from a person on these boards. A personal and genuine response to some of my frustrations of life/coins/boards, etc. This was a true bright spot in my day. The character of this person, as well as others, speaks of integrity in depth. This is what makes the world turn for me.

 

Thanks for sharing Tom.

 

Mark.

[braddick]

Tom, you are a true Gentleman.

"It is better to trust too much and ocassionally get burned then it is to not trust enough and live a miserable life."

[pmh1nic]

TomB

 

A wonderful story Tom. In spite of all the horror stories of ripoffs and shams there are a lot of genuinely good and trustworth people in the world.

[classicalman-migration]

Tom, you are a credit to the coin industry as a whole. Too bad more dealers/collectors or people in business as a whole aren't like you. congrats!! you have made a life-long customer!!! BTW, will you be at Baltimore in July for the ANA show?

[andy007]

Anyone can say what they want about people and coin dealers here and across the street, and that's fine, but only transactions and experiences, be it positive or negative, is what really matters.

 

I can tell you from personal experience that TomB, make that Dr. TomB is the best coin dealer I have ever dealt with, and more importantly, a great person whom is wiser than most of "us dummies" as Redd Foxx would say, myself definitely included. He is incredibly generous.

 

Truthteller is also an awesome dealer to work with, and is as his name suggests no doubt. He offered to browse the bourse for me for just a $200-250 coin, and I told him a brief background about what coins I look for, well he wrote back after the show that the primary coin I was looking for wasn't there(at least one with super eye appeal) so he picked up a different nicely toned dime that he sold me at his cost, a whopping $33. And this was the first time I had ever dealt with him, only through speaking on the pcgs message boards. He definitely didn't even have to bother himself for a $250 coin, much less a coin he buys and sells at cost.

 

Greg Margulies is another excellent coin dealer that is so easy to deal with and generous. Say what you want to about him and truth, but both of these guys are top notch.

 

With only one transaction with Jon Rosenthal, he definitely lives up to his billing and goes even farther with great communication skills and honesty.

 

Never dealt with Mark Feld, but have heard and see nothing but good things about him and Pinnacle.

 

[Catch22-migration]

Reminds me of the story Zig Zigglar used to tell about the Cadillac dealership in Dallas. The dealership went the extra mile with all customers. The owner's attitude was that anybody can sell a car, but what he wanted was to sell a person every new car they purchased for the rest of their lives.

 

It's nice to know there are still a few Toms out there.

[davefperry]

Good thread. It's nice to see again that there are good folks on both sides of the buy and sell fence.

[barberlover-migration]

You asked for more good dealer experiences, well here's mine.

 

Recently do to health problems i was let go by my 17 year employer, the only way i had to raise the money i needed fast to pay off a 401 k loan and other bills was to sell off a substancial portion of my collection, while several pieces went to different dealers, most of the coins were sent to the dealer i trust the most- Larry Whitlow and inparticular to Mike Printz. Mike is a real good guy to do buisness with both when buying and selling and the offer he made me for my coins border on the to generous side.

 

I have never had anything but pleasant experiences with Mike and would highley reccomend him if you have eye appeal coins for sale.

 

Dealers that appreciate you both when you buy and when you sell are dealers that will get repeat buisness from me. And besides all that Mike is a genuine nice guy. Not all good dealers are nice people, for me both parts of that equation are important. When i'm active in the hobby again some day, i will remember who treated me well recently, and who didn't. Les

[Todd-migration]

Tom you are a very trusting person, very honest and sincere. That is a great story to hear. You are very right about doing so much internet responding. I have not recieved any handwritten letters but have recieved much in kudos for doing my job and trying to give nothing but the best to our clients. I do enjoy to see people happy with their purchase and new addition to a set. However that is great what you did by allowing him to take the coin home. That is risky in this day in age. The few spoil it for the rest of us.