I had (and still have) an excellent coin dealer whom I found trustworthy and fair. He saved me a lot of money on what was for me (at the time) a substantial purchase, Rich  operates a real bricks-and mortar  store-front, and shows a genuine love for numismatics. His personal favorite coins were Indian Head Cents as I recall, but his general knowledge of all coin types was really strong.

 Anyway, Rich knew that my interest was in Large Cents, and one day, as he was thumbing through an old copy of -

 "Penny Whimsy" (The bible for older Large Cent Collectors, and usually out of print at that) by William Sheldon.

 He tossed it to me and said "you really ought to buy this and use it before you buy another Cent".

 The price was fair, and it looked interesting, so I bought it. Good thing!

It just so happened that at that time, I had amost finished making payments on a nice VF 1811 Cent from another dealer who operated a couple of coin tables at a local flea-market (I know, I know, but understand: I was new to coins). Anyway, I soon  finished paying off the coin, took it home,  busily looking for it in Sheldon's book to properly I.D. it...except it was not there!

"So," thought I, "It's either an undiscovered variety (yeah right),  or...it's a fake!"

Just to be sure, I stopped by Rich's store with coin and book in tote. I told him what had happened and handed him the items.

Well, Rich looked at the coin with a 10X loupe, and pulled his eye from it in only two or three seconds. The look on his face was one of sad disappointment.

"It's an 1814 Cent with the 4 cut down to look like a 1", he said. Yikes! He was dead-right.

Rich watched me start to get boiling mad over being ripped off, then asked me whom I had obtained the coin from. When I confessed to him where I had gotten it, he replied: " Oh, you mean _____ ? He's not a bad guy- probably didn't know it was altered. Just bring it back and tell him I confirmed the problem."

I did just that, and Rich was right- the guy was mortified it was not an 1811, and gave me a full refund right away. It turned out he was a real honest fellow(imagine that), and was just as disgusted as I that someone would alter such a nice coin for a few more bucks!

Later, as I thanked Rich for selling me a book that saved me a lot of money, he told me that the flea market guy actually bought bulk coins and baseball cards from him on occassion- probably not someone to seek higher dollar items from.

The lesson here is an old one, but still prevalent: ALWAYS BUY THE BOOK FIRST! It could save you a lot of money!

If you collect US Coins, and have not read Penny Whimsy, you might want to give it a try.

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Click on my screen name below and you can read a brief review of "Penny Whimsy" By Dr. William Sheldon.