Richard Hokanson - Rare Coins Rare U.S. Coins & Currency Misrepresented coin refused to refund. Agreed to refund if coin was not accepted. Southold New York

A high profile client reached out to us for a specific coin, "1853 $10 900 Gold U.S. Assay AU50 NGC". Posted a thread on 'Collector's Corner.  I got a response from Richard Hokanson saying he had an "1853 $10 900 Gold U.S. Assay AU50 NGC" (this in turn turned out to be COMPLETELY false. As the coin is not an AU50 and is Whizzed which he did not mention on the original header, it was also linked to his website where the coin was also labeled incorrectly. He also ONLY had pictures of the coin itself, NOT the holder.

Asked if he would send the coin to be viewed by client. Originally said yes, then changed his mind. Would only send if payment was sent. Promised to refund if client didn't like. 

Client recieves coin and questions grade of such, as well as "what does whizzed mean?" Client takes coin to coin dealer and says that "Whizzed" meant the coin had been improperly cleaned by a wire brush and made to look newer and cleaner than it actually was, that was why it was on the label. He told client, the coin could never be given a TRUE GRADE, because of this and that the "AU details" simply meant that it had some aspects that would have been graded AU had the coin not been brushed/whizzed. Client immediately asked us to return the coin for a refund which we did as a reputable company should.

 On February 25th, 2014. I called Mr. Hokanson to ask him if he had time to think about our situation and if he would honor his written word to me in an e-mail and refund our money upon receipt of the coin since he chose not to send us the coin on memo. He refused. I told him I had it in writing that he would refund, he told me to "go get a lawyer then". I told him that we need to think about the long term aspects of business and that I had a want list of coins about 10 deep that I would send to him if he refunded the money. He said "send me the list anyway". I said not without a guarantee of a refund. He asked me why I didn't just tell client he had to keep the coin and not offer him a refund. I told him, because our previous deals with client and the long term aspects of having his business outweighed this one deal, and additionally, a refund was the right thing to do. Richard than said, "You California guys do business like p******. If you were man enough to stand up to your client, you would not be in this situation." He then said he did not believe person was our client at all, and to prove it, he wanted me to give our client's phone # to call him. I refused, told him he had no integrity or morals in business or otherwise and that we would never do business with him again and tell others not to do business with him again. He then hung up on me

I would  advise other business', and customers dealing with Mr. Hokanson in the future to proceed with caution after hearing our tale.