Collecting Quandaries - Parting With Your Loved Ones In Your Collection

I agree that context is key. In this case I'd be making a little over 30%. But with my luck this coin will be worth half what I paid for it in 20+ years.

Every coin I have has a price. Some I would be way more reluctant to part with. That being said, my collection is not so choice that there are a lot of pieces that everyone wants, so this is a bit of a theoretical question. Also, in most cases nobody knows what I have. Most of it it quite commonplace and inexpensive: the effort finding everything is most of the value.

If I was very sure that I could get the equivalent for little effort and less than I was offered, then sure, but I would wonder why this person would not do the same. Perhaps I have some special knowledge that I can benefit from.

Unless you need the money, I'd hang onto it, JMHO. I've sold on three occasions, once to buy my first car in high school, secondly to pay past due taxes, and lastly to get my wife off my back. I regretted the last two. especially the last, price of silver doubled shortly after I sold. Might you give some indication, as to what kind of coin it is, or are you trying to keep it under wraps? I have a $10 dollar Charlotte coin, that my LCS has offered a huge profit, but it's probably the best coin in my collection.

Wow, I missed that. Could someone point me to that thread? Thanks. Also feel like you are one of the greats in this hobby. You deserve to have a carefree retirements enjoying things other than coins.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm just an old curmudgeon who was once a young curmudgeon. My wife is still a young'un, and if I want to live to be an older curmudgeon, I'll never question that.

We're not dead, though, just retired. I'll still be around here, pestering people.

None of our family collects coins, so it made sense not to make them try to figure out what to do with random old circular shiny things with pictures of dead people on them.

Don't worry, the Buff collection went to one of my longtime customers. He's been after it for years, so I know it's in good hands.

It's time for the next generation of young dealers to make their future in the hobby. (@GrapeCollects, Tag! You're it, kid!) And somebody else can have the fun of trying to find another coin that matches my unlisted early Lincoln RPM avatar. I looked for almost 40 years, and never found another. It rests in another collection now, still unique as far as I know. I just may tell its story some day.

The thread I posted the retirement backstory on was something about dealers we learned from or something like that. Maybe last week or so. I'll have to hunt it down. That reply was 279 fence posts and a half mile of barbed wire installation ago around our pasture.

Seriously, though, retirement really is a good time to part with the coins. It's a place where at least the discussion should take place.

I'll sell a coin to upgrade it. But there are certain ones I will not get rid of due to sentiment.

numismatic student-9k is a drop in the bucket for you so it's no big deal passing on the profit.

I've made few enough trades or sales I can recall many of them. One of earlier trades, when a common Morgan was worth about $6, involved me trading a roll of common wheaties for an 1888-P Morgan. Decades later, you can decide who got the better end of the bargain. (I still have the Morgan, BTW.)

Even if there is nobody in the family that loves to collect coins, that is not a reason to sell the collection during retirement.
Instead, I suggest placing the collecting in a Charitable Trust administered by the owner of the collection. That way, you get to enjoy the collection for a while longer, get a tax deduction, and when the owner passes away the charity will be able to sell the collection and used the cash obtained to fund their operation.