A couple of weeks back, I ordered a 1/4 ounce gold coin on Apmex.com. The coin was to come from a random mint of Apmex's choosing, and was to contain at least 1/4 troy ounce of gold of .999 purity. I used my Apmex Bullion Credit Card to earn 4% back on this $575 purchase. The coin arrived two days later, with free shipping and insurance. I ripped open the package and found...the coin pictured above.
The coin that I received was a 1976 Canada 1/4 oz Gold $100 Olympic BU. This coin sells on Apmex for >$800! I paid $575...so I scored, right?
This Canadian coin is part of a series of collector's coins which were struck to commemorate, and help to finance, the 21st Summer Olympiad, held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Coin Highlights, per Apmex, are:
Contains 0.25 troy oz of .583 fine gold.
Obverse: Right-facing profile of Queen Elizabeth II, and year (1976).
Reverse: Olympic time span, Olympics 21 (in Greek), an ancient Grecian athlete being crowned with a laurel wreath by the goddess Pallas Athena, and face value ($100).
So, I paid $575 for a coin for which Apmex charges >$800 ($836 with credit card) BUT, instead of .999 fine gold, it contains 14K gold (14K/24K = .583). If I was a coin collector, I would consider myself lucky. But, as a bullion stacker, I felt cheated. So, I called Apmex and arranged to exchange this coin for a random mint 1/4 ounce .999 gold coin.
What do you think? Returning the coin seems to be the honest thing to do, and exchanging 14K gold for 24K gold actually fits my goals better. I do have to admit that I felt like an idiot explaining the situation to Customer Service: "So, you want to exchange an $836 coin for a $575 coin?"
Would you have exchanged the coin? Tried to sell it at a coin shop, pawn shop, or eBay? Just kept it and counted your blessings? Let me know in the comments.
Source: Coin specs and images were taken from Apmex.com.
I would've done the same thing. If they then refused to exchange it, then I'd sell it and keep the profits. Either way, I would've done the right thing, and my conscience would be clean.
I think the only reason you felt like and "idiot" is simply because such a level of honesty and integrity is so rare that someone "wise to the world" would've assumed it was a scam.
Good job for doing the right thing when it would've been so easy to not offer to correct their mistake!
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Customer service said this type of error has happened before. She said they have honest customers. It was definitely a mistake since the sku on the package was correct for what I ordered and different from the coin they sent.
Too bad you couldn't have found a buyer for more than what you paid... Then you could have ordered another 1/4 ounce .999 Fine Gold Coin...
I checked eBay, and there are a few for sale, but I had already contacted Apmex about exchanging it.
So, was it a mistake, or did they run out of the 1/4 ounce Coins...???
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Not sure what I would do either way that's a great deal !BBH
You're correct. With gold hitting an ATH, either way is a great deal.
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Do what you think is right, @kunschj !
I would do the same thing you did. You ordered at least 1/4 troy ounce of gold of .999 purity and you should receive the correct specification.
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My wife would tell me it's my Catholic guilt ;)
You have an upright conscience! Not many people have that!
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Selling coins here in Japan is a pain in the butt, especially gold, so even if I wanted to sell it myself, pocket the profit, and rebuy, it'd just be so difficult to do that I'd rather not. So for that alone, I'd probably do what you did. Let them sort it out. Plus honesty is always best. The good karma will come back to you someday.
Good looking coin anyway!
I was really happy with the design when I opened the package, but it looked more brassy in person than gold. I assumed it was 24K, but then decided to look it up and, lo and behold, it is 14K. I'm with you on the PITB aspect of trying to sell it and rebuy. In this case, the lazy way is the honest way is the best way.
NOt sure how big your stack is already but gold is gold. In time you will get the melting value (more or less) so no real reason to change it.
This coin seemed to have more numismatic value than melt value. I think I'll be happier with 0.25 oz of .999 rather than .583 even though, as you correctly point out, 1/4 ounce is only 1/4 ounce and, as a stack grows, it all averages out.
Its a very nice gold coin, I'm not a big sports fan but I'd rather get a bullion coin over a numismatic one as far as gold is concerned. Gold has a specific role to me as purely for wealth preservation. Numismatic value can be nebulous that you may not get the expected Numismatic price for it when you need to sell.
Well said, and exactly my thoughts.
I personally like the purer gold, but they sent you that likely because they had too many in stock and were looking to reduce how many they had laying around. It's very unlikely it was an error. It's not a bad looking coin, I might keep it just for numismatic reasons. Either way you'll end up with a nice coin for sure. Sometimes the coin of their choice will be worth more than you pay just because of what they have overstocked!
I never thought of that, but you might be correct.
As a long time eBay member (2002),
I would have sold it and ordered (or tried to) order another!
But that's my business mind, if doing business with a business.
If I was doing it with a human, I would have done the same as you.
😅
Have a great upcoming week!
Thanks for those thoughts. I wish you a great week as well.