Posted: 12/6/2007 7:47:42 AM EDT
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My late FIL had a large coin collection that was split between my wife and SIL. There is some silver that will be kept but there is a lot (100's) of sorted and sealed pennies, nickels and other coins. Any suggestions on how to sell the entire lot or do we need to go to EBAY and sell individual coins. I know nothing about coins other than silver coins prior to 1965 have higher silver content etc. Any ideas from collectors/sellors would be appreciated. |
Sounds like more of a "hoard" than a collection. Without knowing more, it sounds like most of this "collection" is worth face value.
You need someone who knows coins to help you with this. Otherwise, any gems will be lost in the dross, or plucked away from you for pennies.
Fixed it for you  Actually, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars have silver (90%) '65 to '69 Kennedy half-dollars are 40% silver.Oh, and pre-'92 pennies are worth nearly $.02 because of their copper content
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Offer them up for sale to prospective buyers. Don't let the buyers know that actually you are just seeing which coins they are interested in. Do not complete any of the deals, politely tell the buyer that you want to get a 2nd opinion / have another guy coming 'tomorrow' to see them also. Should give you an idea of which coins he showed the most interest in. I would think 90% of coin buyers are out to low ball people just like yourself who have no indepth knowledge about coins or their market value. After 3-4 prospective buyers see the collection you will have a better idea who you should / should not trust as well as an approximate value on various items. best of luck Edited to add: My mom left me a pretty big coin collection. I never considered selling it, they are worth alot more to me getting them out occasionally and looking them over and wandering how / why / where she got certain ones. Funny thing is ... she was never interested in collectiong them when I was a kid living at home. She got into it later in life. I never even knew they existed until my dad asked if I wanted them. I ain't really interested in them as coins / value .... just the fact that my mom liked them makes them interesting to me. |
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Couple of suggestions, 1.Record every coin that you have in your possesion. 2. Buy a current rare coin price guide. 3. Spend some time doing your own research and try and weed out potential valuable coins. 4. Take them to a dealer and PAY to have them proffesionally appraised. If required pay to have some professionally graded. 5. Be very clear that you have no intention of selling these coins only preserving them. 6. Once you have a good idea what they are worth you can decide what to sell them for. Remember, you have only the apprasial/grading fees into these coins. Dont be afraid to pass on a little of your savings to a buyer, they will sell faster that way and with less bickering over price. 7. Dont expect to get the whole app value. Rarely happens. Be realistic and understand that a coin collector or dealer still needs to make a little $$ as well. A collector may pay a little more to get a certain coin but thats not always the case. 8.Lastly, understand you will have to put some time into this unless you dont care about getting ripped off or what you get for them. Good luck! |
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Coin dealers can be just like some gun dealers you read about on here. My mother inherited a lot of coins from her mother. One of them was a coin that none of us had seen before (USA). She took it to a dealer and told her it was fake, but he would take it off her hands for $500. Looked around on the internet and turns out it's worth around $23,000. She still has it. Get more than one opinon. |
+1 An old friend who recently passed away was a coin dealer. He told me once to get a book and study EVERY coin in the collection because most coin dealers were the biggest crooks you would ever meet and they made their livings off of gyping other people out of their inheritances. |
Hence paying for an appraisal and making it clear you have no intention of selling them. If they make any offers on any coin after that is on the table you'll know that you should look closer at that coin. |
| Some might scoff at this, but I'd suggest you never disclose anything about the address where this coin collection is kept. Do your resesarch, buy some books, learn the details of what you have and which ones are of value. Who knows, you might get interested in it as a hobby. |
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Can anybody recommend a decent book for do it yourself appraising? I have a fairly decent collection of Morgan silver dollars that has been stashed back in the safe since my grandparents passed. Numerous other US coins dating back to the early 1900s...one coin that dates back to early 1800s but all you can read is the date. |