Um, This is pretty amazing.
CUSTOMER: So this is a rare find, then?
Well, that's if it's real.
CUSTOMER: 400?
I'm looking online, this thing is worth $1,000!
Were you able to sell into your computer?
RICK (VOICEOVER): A guy brought in an extremely rare 1861 Half
Eagle.
That is if it's one of the few minted in North Carolina.
So I called in my coin guy, Mike, to take a closer look.
Just to make sure it's not a counterfeit.
MIKE: What's up, Rick?
RICK: 1861 Charlotte.
MIKE: That's a rare one.
1861 Philadelphia, there was over 700,000 of those.
We're talking five, six hundred bucks.
With a "C," we're talking a whole lot more.
20 times as much.
CUSTOMER: That's good news. That's great news.
MIKE: Yes, yes, absolutely.
CUSTOMER: So this is a rare find, then?
Well, that's if it's real.
I'd like to take a look at the mint mark and--
Oh, a-- absolutely.
OK.
RICK: How's it look?
After looking at it, yes, I believe that it is a, uh,
authentic Charlotte minted coin.
That's awesome, awesome news.
COREY: So, what's it worth?
You could get about 15,000--
Wow.
--for this coin.
All right, beat it Mike.
MIKE: (LAUGHS) Hey, nice to meet you.
CUSTOMER: No, hey thank you.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Good luck, guys.
What do-- What do you want to do?
$7,500.
Mm, no.
12.
I think you'll do just fine.
RICK: I still have to send this off.
Things can pop up when I send it off.
I end up assuming all the risk.
Let's somewhat split the difference.
How about 95?
I'll go eight grand, not a penny more.
I'm good.
Eight grand. - All right.
Good doing business.
COREY: Come on man, I'll write you up
You got it. All right, thank you.
CUSTOMER: How are you?
RICK: Pretty good.
I have a coin from the Byzantine Empire
I'd like to sell.
RICK: Um, this is pretty amazing.
Where in the world did you get this?
CUSTOMER: I actually bought a group of books
from an antique store a while back, and in one of them,
that was actually inside the spine.
How much do you want for it?
CUSTOMER: I was thinking about $1,900.
I'll give you like 800 bucks for it.
Nah, that-- that's a little bit too low.
I mean, th-- that's a thousand years old.
Can you do like, 16?
RICK: I'll go $1,100.
11?
Yeah, I guess we can do 11.
OK, $1,100.
All right, I'll meet you right over there.
RICK (VOICEOVER): My go-to guy for ancient coins, Dave,
is here to give me a grade and a price.
Hey man.
How you been?
RICK: Good.
Here's the coin.
Ah, it's fantastic.
This is a coin of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX.
He's on the reverse, and Jesus Christ
is on the obverse, the front.
So is it the real deal, or?
DAVE: Looks good.
RICK: Big question. What's it worth?
DAVE: These are not always worth what
people might think they are.
OK.
I see these going typically, in the marketplace
today, for between 700 and $1,000 in this condition.
RICK: That's it?
DAVE: It should be worth thousands.
And I think you just ran into a market that, at present, is
terribly undervalued.
RICK: All right.
Not the news I was exactly looking for.
Lesson learned, I'll call you next time. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, call me first.
All right, thanks man.
Thank you. COREY: What you got?
It's an 1874 chop marked trade dollar.
COREY: So, where'd you get this at, man?
Actually, I got it at a coin trade show
in California a few years back, up in San Francisco.
OK.
The whole reason these things came about
is because China, and a bunch of other countries in Asia,
they didn't like our currency when we would go
over there and trade with them.
But believe it or not they actually
liked the Mexican peso more because it
had more silver in it.
We started making these, we put a little bit more silver
in them so they would actually prefer
these over the Mexican peso.
They would take them and they would take a little tool
and they'd put a chop mark in it.
And that's how they kind of tested the silver in them.
They were never meant to get into the hands of normal
consumers in the United States.
But what ended up happening is, you know,
silver prices started to really fall
so China threw all their old trade dollars on some ships
and brought them into the United States
and traded them for gold.
CUSTOMER: OK.
So what do you want to do with it, man?
It's time to sell it.
All right, uh, I'd be willing to give you around $400 for it.
400?
I'm looking online, this thing's worth $1,000!
Were you able to sell it to your computer?
CUSTOMER: I mean, can you come up a little bit?
Like, at least 800.
COREY: I'll go like 450, man.
750.
The problem is, is that it's chop marked.
There's a big debate on whether or not a chop mark is just
part of the coin's history, or if it's
just damage that was done to the coin by the Chinese government.
Uh, that being said, the most I'm gonna go is $500, dude.
Well, $500?
500.
Come with me, we'll write you up.