Financial adviser

[rakthai]

FPC (Financial Planning Certificate UK) qualified. Seeking Employment in SE Asia. 'Commission only' position accepted.

[mrvietnam2001]

If by chance you stumble into someone who has what appears to be authentic Thai, Vietnamese gold coins, or Chinese auto dollars from the 1920's/30's, HK and Vietnam paper money at least 50 yrs old ( preferably older), and can do a site draft deal to a US Bank, let me know and I'll pay you a good finders fee.

Before you think it's not possible, I did a deal that originated in Hue ( Vnam) which turned into a multi-6 figure trade and we're now connecting the happy camper with a connection of mine that also buys ( on sight) specialty items of other old things worth quite a bit of $$.

Another fellow was able to get to me a Budhist burial gold medallion from the Tang Dynasty, ( out of my realm somewhat) and allowed me to research it in NYC. I showed it to a friend of mine and we agreed to pay $10K for it. The seller was previously offered only a few hundred dollars for it so it worked out real well for all involved.

I will also offer you a commish on sales and work with planners in the States, so maybe it's about the same?

Any questions please PM me.

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

[mrentoul]

Another fellow was able to get to me a Budhist burial gold medallion from the Tang Dynasty, ( out of my realm somewhat) and allowed me to research it in NYC. I showed it to a friend of mine and we agreed to pay $10K for it. The seller was previously offered only a few hundred dollars for it so it worked out real well for all involved.

You seem to have an interesting job!

[mrvietnam2001]

Took a long time to develop my business. And there's a lot of fakes, especially in Asia.

There's one guy in Saigon who has a huge private home filled with what seems to be antiques and atiquities. " 1 Million US Dollars" was the quote. I spent almost 3 full days cataloguing that stuff.

Not a single piece was authentic. A Korean investor went in after me and bought the deal and looked like a cheshire cat when leaving.

I'm quite sure he didn't look that way when he got that load of crap to New York.

The gold piece from the Tang Dynasty was cool as ####. My connection in NYC just looked at me and asked "how'd you get this one" while writing the check.

Mr Vietnam  

[mrentoul]

I imagine it's fun doing the research necessary to authenticate something.

You must build up a decent knowledge of particular coins from different times and places of the world; be able to recognise a good one when you see it (even if the guy selling it can't); and even recognise fakes.

[mrvietnam2001]

I started in 1969 when I was a kid. Wanna hear a story? Once upon a time, way back in olden days I was partners with a fellow in a coin shop in New Jersey and a rather "upscale looking" gentleman walked in looking to sell some US double eagles. The price we agreed on allowed my partner and I to make a few percent but the coins "looked" too good to be true.

Now mind you in those days I was pretty good at this but my partner was a genius. And we just couldn't quite be specific as to what it was about these coins that made us suspicious.

We weighed them and tested them and every variable looked just fine, but there was a "feeling" lingering. I asked the seller if he had any more and he replied, "oh yes, how many can you handle"? This was 1979 just as the world was going gold crazy. I told him that with a little advance notice we could handle any size transaction, in cash. I asked him if he could bring in a few thousand of these "twenties" and he replied " no problem" ( ! ) ( each was about 300US)

Gold content was perfect. Specific weight was as known. But they still had a "look" of being too nice. So we agreed that he would bring them in in a few days, and my partner and I set out to end this controversy and went to a huge metals dealer we were scrapping too in Manhattan and looked thru thousands of coins trying to come up with anything that was inconsistent other than the darn things being "too nice" and I did! Around the rim on all St Gaudens is the inscription " E Pluribus Unum". The "B" is somewhat mushy on every authentic St G we ever saw. Ahhh not so on the group in question. Sharp as a razor. ( ! )

In any event, the secret service was called in and they "requested" to use the coins we paid cash for as "evidence". They promptly set up their sting operation, caught the guy with millions of dollars, confiscated our St G's as evidence, thanked us for discovering the link to a counterfeiting ring coming from "Libya" and we called it a day a few thousand dollars ligher.

All in the spirit of "education".

Mr Vietnam  ???

[mrentoul]

Around the rim on all St Gaudens is the inscription " E Pluribus Unum". The "B" is somewhat mushy on every authentic St G we ever saw. Ahhh not so on the group in question. Sharp as a razor.

Now that's what I call a find! Well done. Great story.

I used to enjoy a show on TV about a British collector. It involved similar investigative work, though of course it was fiction.

I think it's a bit rough of those secret service guys not to reward you for all your hard work.

[mrvietnam2001]

It's what government does. Steals from us.

Speaking about a British collector and please forgive the following as it's not meant to be a shot at anyone other than the specific people ( yes another story!)

In 1933 the US Government banned gold ownership ( roosevelt) and the few double eagles they struck were supposedly melted down. However a couple of them ( a couple is speculative) escaped the melting pot and one of them was thought to have escaped the USA entirely and was placed in the collection of King Farouk of Egypt. When Farouk was finally told to "get outta town" ( paraphrase) his collection was seized and sold in Cairo in 1955. Ah Ha! The alleged 1933 St G was reported and the secret service dispatched. The SS ( strange how they have the same initials eh?) was detained at the airport and the alleged 33 St G disappeared! Lost in the wonderful world of numismatics and away from the thieves in government.

I offered the coin to a client of mine app 8 yers ago. My cost from a British dealer was 400-500K and I offered it with the understanding that I would need to make 100K on the coin and the buyer would have to pay that. The deal would HAVE to be set up as a smuggling deal much like what some "other" businesses do:) My client felt I was being too greedy and passed.

A year later, the coin surfaced in New York City.......during a "sting" operation involving a jerk dealer from Kansas City, the British dealer and a secret service agent. The dealers were attempting to sell the agent the coin for 1.5 Million. All conducted at the Waldorf Astoria. Arrests were made, the coin confiscated, and the dealers put in jail to await bail. ( Yes I sent copies of the news to my client who told me I was being too greedy, and yes I told him he was an idiot)

I mean really. What idiots. The coin was like drugs. They werre doing the deal at the Waldorf? Why not give it a ticker tape parade down 5th avenue and have it blessed at St Patricks Cathedral while they were at it! I was intending to bring the thing to Georgetown Grand Cayman, do a cash deal, hide the thing in a box there, make a few "donations" to certain Congressman to get the law repealed and it was my guess the coin could be a 5 Million dollar prize after all that.

Alas, the US Government sold the coin at public auction after they repealed the law for themselves last year, and the coin sold for a little over 6 Million! The government further made the community laugh by saying the 6 million was going to be used to "reduce the national debt".

But I was greedy. Arghhhhhhhhh.

I would have written a book about that one.

Gotta go. We're closing on a house today! Hanh and I are already excited as heck. Hopefully in a year or two we can both return to SEA and get one there ( I'm not telling where yet though:)  hehehehe:)

Have a nice weekend!

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

A plug if you don't mind

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com

Not the biggest, but for real.

[mrentoul]

What a great tale! Cloak and dagger stuff.

I'd like to see that in that in print myself. I'm a journalist working in Bangkok.

If you'd like to see it in the paper, contact me next time you are in town. I am sure we could dream up a Bangkok ''angle'' if you are interested.

[mrvietnam2001]

Cool. I don't plan on BKK though. I hate the place.

But Saigon?

There's a lot going on there. Unfortunately due to big big bigger than big government crappola with regards to spousal visa's in the land of the free and home of the brave ( barf), I am stuck back in the western "woild" ( as they would say in brooklyn) with my wife until we can get her the famed "green card" ( costs enough it should be a gold card).

I was originally going to buy the place we were living in on Samui. And if it were populated by Brits, Americans ( now expats are different aren't we:) ), Vietnamese or even refugees from Mexico, I would have stayed. But Thai's?

Where do they think they are!

If and when we get to know each other better, I'll turn you on to a few places that will blow you away. But as Otis would have said, I "gotsta" wait right now.

A story in the papers would be interesting though and we could make it a quasi-series.

Regards and really gotta go now. 3 hours to closing and the butterflies have started to fly in  the stomach.

Mr Vietnam  

[mrvietnam2001]

Hmmmm, it'll be interesting to see if you caught what I said. The thing about print is it can't be erased and the perceptions can be so easily distorted.

You and I had differences before. Hope this one doesn't get out of the realm of where I meant it to go:)

Rgrds

Mr Vietnam

[mrentoul]

Let me think about how we can do this.

This might be the first piece I've written entirely by email. Pictures can be sent via the Net these days.

But enough of this shop talk. I'm starting to read like an advertisement.

[rakthai]

This topic seems to have gone off in a tangent!!  Could I ask the group to address my original question. Thanks.

[mrvietnam2001]

Off what tangent? You "were" offered a shot at selling coins ( or buying them) to your alleged customer base on commission.

Forget it. You're in no position to represent anyone in the financial services business.

Here, these people pay a salary  http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/burger.htm

Good Luck

Mr Vietnam  

[SeaVisionBurma]

Now now, Mr Vietnam,

rakthai asked a simple question - you hijacked it.  Be nice.

and I've never had such good service at Burger King...

[mrvietnam2001]

Hahaha no, but at Chesters Chicken I have:)

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

P.S. I have two clients who are planners and they make over 50K a year selling coins to their clients for me BTW so the offer wasn't a hijacking it was very much for real.

[rakthai]

Off what tangent? You "were" offered a shot at selling coins ( or buying them) to your alleged customer base on commission.

Forget it. You're in no position to represent anyone in the financial services business.

Here, these people pay a salary  http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/burger.htm

Good Luck

Mr Vietnam  

Steady on old boy !! I will assume you are under some stress!

Financial Advising in my world does not involve dealing in "coins" I suggest you approach a "Gem dealer" or the like. I personally wouldn't go near that kind of business, it's too risky. Sounds like ( from your experience) people have had their fingers burnt before. So why the need for others to risk it!

Can I suggest you are more constructive with your comments rather than critical! You are sounding like a hyped up very young, over zelous 'double glazing' salesman trying to convince the housewife next door !!!!!

[mrvietnam2001]

Uh thank you for further  illuminating your lack of experience in the financial world. Perhaps now you might consider going back to the karaoke bar and searching for your true love. Maybe you'll have better luck there.

Jerk

Mr Vietnam  

[pnustedt]

experience in the financial world.

Ugh!!  Where's "the financial world" - anywhere near planet earth?

[rakthai]

Uh thank you for further  illuminating your lack of experience in the financial world. Perhaps now you might consider going back to the karaoke bar and searching for your true love. Maybe you'll have better luck there.

Jerk

Mr Vietnam  

Ermmgh ??? Jerk? I guess you must be American by using this word.

Think about this, If you are so successful why do you spend every day trauling this website????

You must be a dreamer!!!!  Coins running through my mind, ha ha ha !!!!

See you!

Financial Adviser (FPC)  Oh you wouldn't know what FPC was would you???!!!!

[robertT]

rakthai

You right...mrvietnam sounds like some jive hustler that should take his pyramid scheme elsewhere.

[mrvietnam2001]

Don't whine. You can't afford to be a customer either.

Loser. You wouldn't know fantasy from reality.

Mr Vietnam  

[robertT]

Ha ha...I love it...we live in a fantastical world mrvietnam.

Just want to point out to yourself and to other readers that expats usually work long hard hours in inhospitable circumstances...many times we come from failed marriages away from our homes and children. We usually get good money from our jobs and we then become 'marks' for 'financial consultants' and other unscrupulous types. Most expats that have cred can see you comin' all the way up the block and no one believes that we can get something for nothing.

So...I propose that the site initiate another category "Your hard earned wages and how they can be taken from you'. Ain't nobody gonna get rich in Thailand.

[mrvietnam2001]

Which is why you're only an "expat" physically ( maybe)

The fact is that being an real expat is the same essentially as being PT. But you don't know that because you're just running away geographically.

It's the idea and the movement of your "self" that defines expat.

And as an expat it doesn't matter where you are geographically. Your wits or lack thereof determine the place where you choose to be.

Ciao

Mr Vietnam  

[robertT]

Jaysus, Yusuf and Maria...am I supposed to understand this?

[Roger13]

I am finding it difficult to follow also

What is PT ?

Mr Vietnam - do you have to post in Parables?

WHAT exactly are you trying to say?

Roger