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I am due to come into an inheritance pretty soon and there is an extensive coin collection. I could care less about collecting coins and my brother feels the same way, so we are hoping to sell it. What would be the best way to do that without getting taken?
I was thinking we'd start by making an inventory and looking up values on the internet, but is that really the best way? We could advertise the whole shebang and let someone make us an offer but we'd probably really lose a lot of the value to someone who knows a lot more about what its worth than we do. I have even thought of traveling to some coin shows and selling some that way, but again, my lack of knowledge would be really obvious to collectors, though it would be fun for me b/c I like to travel and there are some cities I'd really like to hit. Or we could just put it all back in the safe deposit box and save it for my kids. (My brother has no kids.) I think both me and my bro would rather have the money than the coins though and my kids don't seem to have any interest in coin collecting either. Anyone have any ideas of how best to approach this?
Also, while we're on the subject, there is some jewelry too--diamond rings and some gold jewelry and such. How would one go about selling those? To a jeweler or a pawn shop?
Most decent sized cities still have a couple of legitimate rare coin dealers. Often times you can call up your home owner's insurance company and ask for their recommendation for an appriasal purposes. The same firms that will do the legitmate appraisals are generally well connected to the honest rare coin dealers.
Of course it would be foolish to NOT take the time to catalog / inventory everything ahead of time and look-up some values on the interwebs, but there is no reason to actually sell the collection on-line / swap meet style, especially if it has any value...
Most decent sized cities still have a couple of legitimate rare coin dealers. Often times you can call up your home owner's insurance company and ask for their recommendation for an appriasal purposes. The same firms that will do the legitmate appraisals are generally well connected to the honest rare coin dealers.
Of course it would be foolish to NOT take the time to catalog / inventory everything ahead of time and look-up some values on the interwebs, but there is no reason to actually sell the collection on-line / swap meet style, especially if it has any value...
This.
Rather than just sell the thing willy-nilly, I'd become an expert. Buy some valuation guides first, THEN join an online forum, then talk to dealers. Look up specific coins and see what they're fetching on eBay. But I sure as hell wouldn't just stroll into a dealer with a bag of coins and say, "Hey, how much for these?" I know the OP wouldn't do that, but one never knows.
I dated this girl who was the sole heir of her aunt and uncle, who happened to be promotional folks for the circus--and total packrats, too. She moved into their house, and it was literally piled waist deep in stuff. Posters. Original 45s of artists from the 50s. You would literally stick your hand out at random and pull something out that would be worth at least a couple of hundred bucks.
Mind you, this was all pre-Ebay, but the girl asked me what I thought she should do. "Get it appraised, one room at a time. You might not ever have to work again." Well, she didn't take that route. She took the path of least resistance and just sold off the contents of the house to some guy who specializes in estates. I think he wrote her a check for somewhere around $20,000.
She got in touch with me on Facebook a couple of years ago. She's now a substitute teacher in Florida and barely scraping by. When I think of the pile of money she was sitting on and practically threw away, I just have to shake my head.
Good points from both. I've got to say though that I'm seeking a middle ground between becoming a coin expert and just stupidly selling off a valuable collection cheap to someone to get quick cash. I do think it would be fun to hit some coin shows though and may do that w/o coins in tow first just to see what it's like. Then I'll figure out what many are worth and go from there. I think. I guess it doesn't really matter how long it takes though as I'm doing fine financially.
Educate yourself a bit. Get some 2012 coin books and do internet searches. It will give you an idea of values - at least auction values. Then you will have a better idea if you are getting a fair price. Remember, a dealer will give you no more than an auction (fair market value) price. A collector will be willing to pay more.
Get yourself both the Blue Book and Red Book. If you are selling the coins yourself to collectors; you could expect to get a price somewhere between the Blue Book and Red Book values.
Learn how to grade your coins. The books should tell you what to look for. I haven’t bought a new book for years (about forty or fifty years). You can turn to a professional grading agent; like this one mentioned on Wikipedia: Numismatic Guaranty Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Be very cautious of who you talk to about your coins. There are many that will either take advantage of you or just out right rob you.
This is all a big help--I had never heard of any of it, and though I think I knew that there is a difference in the price you can get from a dealer and a collector, it was good to be reminded of that.
Pick up a coin world magazine, and check out the consignment sellers. Some specialize in large collections, and you know your coins will be getting full exposure. NEVER sell to a "traveling buyer" and be very wary of your local "coin dealer". Mine drives a BMW, wonder how he paid for that? And remember, if you aren't precisely sure of it's value, DON'T SELL IT.
Pick up a coin world magazine, and check out the consignment sellers. Some specialize in large collections, and you know your coins will be getting full exposure. NEVER sell to a "traveling buyer" and be very wary of your local "coin dealer". Mine drives a BMW, wonder how he paid for that? And remember, if you aren't precisely sure of it's value, DON'T SELL IT.
Not all local coin dealers are disreputable. Years ago I gave back the 32D quarter to a dealer in the change I paid him. He called me immediately and told me of my mistake. He could have just pocketed and resold the coin. There are a few honest ones still out there. That doesn’t mean not to be skeptical.
Gosh! This thread helps me, too. Thank you for starting it OP. We have a bunch of old and foreign coins (and paper currency) that came to us when my MIL passed away. We don't have a clue what to do with it.
I am a little confused because when I look on Ebay to see how much some of our items are selling for there... they are up in the 100's! How can a coin or piece of paper currency be worth that much?
Should you insure your collection even if you don't really know how much it is worth?
It's also overwhelming because we just don't know who to talk to or who to trust.
Someone mentioned the "red book" and the "blue book" - what is that?
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