Selling coins from Mom & Dad's colection (Vienna: sale, insurance)

[sjankis630]

Hello,
I just had my mother die recently and she had some coins left over from my late Dad's collection. This is a small collection and my brother sister and I are trying to sell them. I am in Northern Va and I didn't know where around here I could have them appraised/sold.
I noticed a coin shop in Vienna VA - on the corner of East St and Maple ave. I have not been in there but are there any others that anyone would know of?
Thank you for any experience that anyone has had in this before.

[LynchburgLover]

We had old books and one suggestion was made. Have one appraiser tell you the value but do not trade with them. There might be a small charge for the appraisal. Sell to a separate dealer. Harder you to be taken advantage of.

You could also call an estate liquidator and see who they recommend.

[Ffxdata]

Dealers and appraisers are different things. An appraisal would generally start at $200 and could very easily go up from there depending on size of the collection. An appraisal also won't be the most helpful thing since most appraisals are done to calculate the insurance value of something. Some estates require that an appraisal be done. Appraisals are not as good telling you the fair market value of something. Even if you do ask and receive a fair market valuation for the collection, you are not going to receive that price from any dealer. The dealer wants and needs to make a profit so they will be buying way below that margin. You have to understand that going in.

A general idea of cost could be done by an auction house for free as part of their estimate process, however, I can't recommend any area auction houses for quality or return.

The best way to make sure that you aren't going to get screwed is to do the basic research yourself. Separate the coins into silver and gold coins (if there are any) and the rest. You could also separate into US and foreign. Start by looking up the silver and gold coins. Those at least have metal value. Perhaps your parents had a really great collection worth north of $1000. If so, possibly reach out to a company like Heritage Out of Dallas. More than likely, they have a middling collection from the mid-20th century that includes some silver coins and may fetch around $200 with all the proofs included.

You will also get a lot more for the collection if you take it to a seller sorted at least in some ways.

Get some quotes from different shops in the area, and don't trust anyone who says there offer won't stand for a few days after its made ("this deal isn't good once you walk out that door" stuff). Hope that helps.

[boyd888]

Are these graded coins in slabs or just a shoe box full of old coins? If it's the latter I'd agree with the above that they probably just worth their metal scrap value.

It won't take much of your time to take the coins in to the shop and they'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether you have something of real value or not. Be prepared for not.

[convextech]

I'm interested in how you8 deal with this. I have boxes and boxes of my dad's treasured coin collection and stamp collection, but I've found they aren't worth much, according to my online searching. They are US minted boxed sets and USPS gold leaf stamps.


What kind of coins are yours?

[choff5]

If they are US Mint coins, commemorative coins or proof sets put out by the US Mint, boxed or sealed, you can search eBay to see what they are going for. Those can be sold. As said above, if it's loose coins, etc. probably not more than metal value.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by choff5

If they are US Mint coins, commemorative coins or proof sets put out by the US Mint, boxed or sealed, you can search eBay to see what they are going for. Those can be sold. As said above, if it's loose coins, etc. probably not more than metal value.

Yes, they are all boxed and in nice display cases. They are going for next to nothing on eBay. I have dozens of ring binders with some in nice mint envelopes. Same with the US Postal Service gold stamps.


I can't bear to get rid of them. He'd been collecting them since the sixties. Years and years of them.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by convextech

Yes, they are all boxed and in nice display cases. They are going for next to nothing on eBay. I have dozens of ring binders with some in nice mint envelopes. Same with the US Postal Service gold stamps.


I can't bear to get rid of them. He'd been collecting them since the sixties. Years and years of them.

If you can't bear to get rid of them then don't.

No professional is going to increase the worth of an item because of the owner's emotional attachment.

The problem is that every baby boomer (and parent of a baby boomer collected stamps and coins. Stamps are even less likely to be worth something. eBay auctions (not the Buy Now prices) give you a good idea of market value. If they aren't going for much on there, they aren't worth much offline either.

Of course you will make the most money going through the pain staking process of sorting and individually selling each coin. You have to decide if that process is worth it to you. It isn't for most people.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

If you can't bear to get rid of them then don't.

No professional is going to increase the worth of an item because of the owner's emotional attachment.

The problem is that every baby boomer (and parent of a baby boomer collected stamps and coins. Stamps are even less likely to be worth something. eBay auctions (not the Buy Now prices) give you a good idea of market value. If they aren't going for much on there, they aren't worth much offline either.

Of course you will make the most money going through the pain staking process of sorting and individually selling each coin. You have to decide if that process is worth it to you. It isn't for most people.

He has them all catalogued and everything, I just don't really see a point in going through all of the trouble selling them on eBay right now. I've done the eBay thing back in the early days when it first started, but shipping prices & eBay fees these days are ridiculous.


In the future if I am strapped for cash or something I may do something about it. Maybe by then there will be no real money or mail and then this stuff will be worth something. LOL Haha.

[choff5]

Originally Posted by convextech

He has them all catalogued and everything, I just don't really see a point in going through all of the trouble selling them on eBay right now. I've done the eBay thing back in the early days when it first started, but shipping prices & eBay fees these days are ridiculous.


In the future if I am strapped for cash or something I may do something about it. Maybe by then there will be no real money or mail and then this stuff will be worth something. LOL Haha.

First off, forget stamps. My DH father sent us and his other children first day covers for decades. They are worthless. We are getting ready for an estate sale and he has bins full of first day covers. The woman doing the sale looked at those and the stamp albums and said she'd put them out but doubt if much would sale.

Coins that are sets by the US Mint can sell on eBay but it's work. DH just sold an uncirculated proof set for $9.50 and a set of Oylmpic coins from the '80's went in the $60's. The nice thing with single coins is the postage is first class and not too bad so you can advertise free shipping and factor it in. eBay is definitely a learning curve but the postage is easy to do as long as you have a postage scale at home. If you do that just look at it as a long term project.

Now, don't get me going on getting rid of Bradford Exchange plates! I did that to myself and they are not only worthless but take up a lot of space!