The Best Way To Sell A Collection

I agree with the dealer comment. They dont have all day to go through a big collection piece by piece. Sometimes you can find an honest dealer that if he offers a price and finds out he paid way too low, he will call you and have you come back in... But this is very very rare. I've seen this from only one of the many dealers I go to. needless to say, hes my favorite.

A couple things to add/ repeat:

-sell items piecemeal, you will get more for each selling slowly and individually
-avoid dealers, they rarely make offers that are competitive with what you can get in other ways; if you are in a hurry to get something out of the collection at the very least go to a coin show and get offers from a number of people.
-think long and hard about how you might use ebay: they charge pretty hefty fees, yes, but they also have a huge, worldwide audience. No other forum will provide that large a number of potential buyers. This tends to work in your favor if you are selling a key date coin or a coin in excellent condition. Common dates and ordinary-condition coins are the ones that can get under-bid and be a losing proposition for the seller.
-look into connecting with collectors in your area, there's nothing better than knowing some people locally who know something about coins and whom you can ask even the most basic questions to. Find out of there's a coin club nearby or a local bid board that gathers collectors on a regular basis, make some acquaintances.
-the faster you liquidate and the less knowledge (i.e. Red Book and other catalogs) about the collection you have, the less value you'll ever recover from the collection. The inverse is also true, you stand to extract a handsome sum from such a large and valuable collection if you go about it carefully.

Don't try to clean is probably the biggest thing to note.

Be careful and don't talk about what you now have, especially to friends and relatives. Do some homework and realize what you have and it's value. If you do sell, don't unload all at the same time. But, I hope you make his happiness your happiness by continuing to enjoy the hobby yourself.

Selling a large collection is a bit like selling a house. It takes consideration, cataloguing, time and an appreciation for what each coin is worth in the marketplace.

If you have very valuable single items, a good coin auction (not ebay) could be best. Such items need to have enough value to account for buyer's and seller's fees, and taxes. Quite often grouping a small number of related coins in a single lot can be a little more efficient.

Large amounts of low value coins could be grouped together and sold off in a album, perhaps on consignment, by a dealer as a single lot. I used this method to dispose of a very large collection several years ago. The dealer did not pay for any of my coins at all, he just took a percentage of each coin that he sold over a 6 month period. That way, neither of us were committed.

Personally, I am not keen to use ebay for coins, but there are some very good comments on this Forum regarding the use of this method. If do you choose to go down this track, search this Forum and read and read these comments carefully before you do. I would be well worth your effort.

All of the above comments before mine in this thread are common sense to me.

First off, Scott.

My condolences on your loss. All of the above is good, sound advice. Patience will definitely "pay off" in the end. Stay away from the easy way out " ebay". There are really good people her in the Forum that have the collectors interest at heart.

Hi Scott, Sorry about your loss. All the advice that has been offered is good and worthy of your consideration. There are three important thoughts that need to be addressed. The first is the time line of your necessity to sell the coins. The second is that you receive fair value. The third being method of sale. I had an emergency that required $17,000.00. I was unable to come up with the money. Took my inventory of coins to a seller and was offered $9100.00. I went to a friend that sold on ebay and after he became familiar with there system He listed my coins based on previous ebay sales prices and I had more than enough to pay my bill. BTW I had my money in three weeks after listings ended. He told me We might have made more but We could not imply grading in listing heading on ebay unless a dealer. I don't recommend this method if you can devote time using the Red Book and being able to grade your coins accurately. What ever method you choose remember there is help available on this forum. Good Luck

Vist a local coin club, plenty of help there too.