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 Replies: 17 / Views: 2,384 |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
I recently inherited my grandfather's coin collection when my father passed away this spring. I am working on getting an idea on the value before I have it appraised. I am looking to liquidate it some or all of it. It seems to be a quite a large collection of coins. I have some questions and appreciate any advice offered. I have gone through some of what I have and here is a portion of what I have. Complete Proof Sets 1956 - 1964, 1968-1971, 1976-1980. Special Mint Sets 1965-1966 Mint Sets 1968 - 1981 Ike Silver Dollars Proof 1971 - 1972 Ike Silver Dollars UNC 1971, 1974 Buffalo nickel 1928, 1930 1936,37 Roosevelt dimes 1955, 1963,64 Liberty Head Nickels 1903,08,10 Washington quarters 1963,64 Booker T Washington Half Dollar 1946 Rolls of Indian Head Pennies 1900 - 1907 Morgan silver dollars - 1885, 1921 Liberty Silver Dollars - 1923 Several rolls of pennies and quarters from various dates 1940's 1950's & 1960's I have contacted a local dealer that is certified with the Numismatic Society. I've been gathering some info on prices etc but there are so many variables, condition and MM. Now to my questions. I can get individual prices for each coin/set, but does the value increase when there are series of dates together. The Mint sets and Indian Head pennies for example. Since many of the coins I have are in rolls (plastic tubes), should the appraiser/buyer go coin by coin to get the value of each one based on condition. Or is it customary to offer a 'bulk price" for each roll? |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
 For coin by coin or roll by roll it depends. If its a sealed roll doing it by the roll is standard if you dont open them to search yourself, but if its a plastic tube they should check them but they wont. They will hope theres something special in there they get a deal on. Try and check some of the coins against ebay completed listings and see what theyre selling for. http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml is also a good sight for ball park figures. But definitely check ebay and then see how the dealers offer stacks against the market price. Youll then have to decide if youd rather just sell it all for the easier sale but more than likely less than half of what youd get on ebay or if youd rather sell them yourself and end up with more in the long run. Sorry to hear about your father |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Regardless of selling or keeping, there are some things you should know. First of all selling coins is sort of like selling a house or car. You really should know what your doing. 1. Purchase a thing called The Red Book by Whitman Publshing to get an idea of what you have. Available with Amazon.com, Walmart Book web site, almost any coin store, etc. 2. Remember the prices in that book are exagerated and usually what you would pay, not sell for. 3. Do not take your coins to a coin store for an appraisal. They will nomally say less than half of what it is worth. Less if they know you don't know. 4. Try to look for a coin show or coin club in your area. You can use Google to find one. Go there and ask dealers questions. If a coin club, might even be someone you know there that you can trust to look over your coins. 5. DO NOT tell anyone you discuss coins with where you live, your phone number or anything that can be traced to your address. 6. You may want to try the email set up here to try to find a member that lives near you to help you with this situatioin. Lots and lots of things to learn about coins prior to selling them. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
Welcome to CC! Carl offers sage advice! Get yourself a Red Book and go through each coin to make sure you don't have anything really valuable. Based on what you've listed, it looks to be all common stuff. A dealer would probably offer you about half what you can get if you sold on your own. |
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Valued Member
291 Posts |
To find the approximate value of your coins, get the Blue Book by Whitman. Note that dealers are unlikely to pay those prices but it gives you a ballpark figure. If you want to sell them, try ebay. |
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New Member
 United States
6 Posts |
Thanks for everyones advice. I have done some poking around on various sites to get an idea of values, but when I check ebay it doesn't look like much is moving for the prices I've found. For instance I found a site that stated 1900 Indian head pennies go anywhere from $1 to $26 per coin depending on the grade. I have 2 X50 tubes. Randomly examining them I guess I could say the average (uneducated) value would be $4. So should be able to sell them for $400.00. However looking on ebay it seems people can't give them away in bulk, unless I am looking at incorrectly. In total I have 550 of these coins in plastic tubes dates 1900 - 1907. That is in addition to individual packaged UNC coins of various types. I guess it seems like they should be worth more. I will try to post pics of the Liberty and Morgan silver dollars at some point as well. As far as a dealer goes. I have someone that is will to travel across town this week to take a look them. They seem to be reputable and they consign. SO I guess I will see what he has to say. BTW. If economic times were better I would not be so quick to get rid of these coins. It seems to be a pretty nice collection even if it is not as valuable as we thought. I do find it fascinating. However this is only 1/5 of my grandfathers collection. I have other heirlooms from both my father and grandfather that are much more precious to me. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Never hurts to see what they have to say. Just dont let him talk you into unloading anything for pennies on the dollar, could get lucky though and actually get a really good offer. Worse case you waste some time.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
For values you can simply the process by using Numismedia. It's one of the better online price guides IMO. Remember, all book coin prices are approximations. Nothing is hard and fast in terms of pricing with numismatics. http://numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtmlI understand times are tough, your story is one of many after the last 4 years. I'm sorry that you feel pressured to quickly sell. If you take your time, you just might be rewarded with an interest in collecting coins and learning to make more money from the sales. The general rule: The faster you have to liquidate, the less money you'll get. The slower you do it, the more $$$ you'll make. You should also consider keeping only the best coins of the lot. Having a stash of decent coins can be a little safety net should you ever be pinched for money again.  Edited by BadThad
09/05/2012 11:51 pm
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Thanks again. The guy never showed or called. It may be a blessing in the long run. I am going to take the advice given and slowly research what I have. I may just sit on them for 10 or 15 years. The value can only go up over time.
Edited by Zaushd
09/07/2012 8:59 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
Well, now you're thinking straight....TAKE YOUR TIME. A lot people make the mistake of instant liquidation for the cash. That's fine if you're really desparate for money but if you're getting by just fine, the best thing to do is to LEARN about what you have and catalog it.
At this point, my advice would be to check for any important key date, variety, error or high grade coins that could have significant value. Also decide if anything has sentimental value. Then learn about the values of the common stuff and sell it slowly to maximize what you get out of it.
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
I just finished cataloguing just about all of it. there are few oddities, Some Hamilton Mint Thanksgiving comms and US Mint John Wayne coins and medals. I also have some Olympics mint sets. But also found some rolls of pennies and quarters marked as UNC a lot more Buffalo nickels and Barber and Merc Dimes. I did a better job of adding the MM marks towards the end, so I need to back through the individually packed coins. I have a spread sheet with 215 rows and a total of 4792 coins! Now my head hurts. I need a magnifying glass I think. I'll post some pics in a new thread as I go through and have questions. Thanks again. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
"I have other heirlooms from both my father and grandfather that are much more precious to me."
Zaushd, this trumps any and all value of your coins.
And, at the risk of totally alienating myself from this group,
coins are LESS important than other family treasures.
Your kids and grand kids, now or in years to come, nieces, nephews and the like need to treasure their
family much more than they need a few coins.
Of course, follow the advice given here.
Edited by matthewvincent
09/08/2012 5:08 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Zaus get a high powered loupe or magnifying glass your eyes and head will thank you. When I first started roll searching I did it with the naked eye and definitely got harder with every coin. Now I just use the loupe for the date and mm and its much easier. Theyre pretty cheap too, even Amazon has them for just a couple bucks |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I would say the proof sets (especially the earliest ones) will sell for more when kept together instead of busting them up and selling them seperate
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
I don't think it's been mentioned yet so what ever you do
Don't clean any of your coins, the vast majority of the time cleaning severely harms the value.
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
All great advice. Thank you. I was debating on cleaning the more important ones up, but now I won't.
I was also thinking of hunting down some missing dates to complete sets. I'm jst not sure its worth the effort if I end up selling it all anyway.
A lot to think about. Thanks again. I'm going on vacation this week and will have to re-examine what I want to do.
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Replies: 17 / Views: 2,384 |
Posted 09/05/2012 10:01 am
