Buying Old Coin Collections

http://www.numismedia.com/ Red Book is way to high.
John1

I do not know how pawn shops price coins, but I know coin dealers use something called the "Coin Dealer Newsletter" AKA the greysheet. It come out weekly and lists the bid (buy) and ask (sell) for U.S. coins. I would NOT sell any coins to a pawn shop. You will get much more from a coin dealer.

The coin market today has the best of the best going for moon money and the rest, well, not so much.

So the value of a 'collection' is sort of a circular question and telling what it's worth will take work on your part, work that is really only going to reward you if the collection is worth something. BUT:

IF the collection is really worth something, it's work spending the effort to accurately categorize and then contacting a couple of the larger buyers to get the best realization.

IF the collection isn't really worth much, then everybody is going to offer low money because it's not worth it to them. Say the collection is 100 coins each retailing for $10. And your collector bought them 20 years ago for $1 each and they don't have old problems, bad cleanings, etc. Paid $100, worth $1000 is great, right...

Not so fast... out of that $1000 retail sales, the coin store, dealer, etc. has to make enough to cover the rent, the cost of the money s/he has tied up (vs. other usages of the $), and even a little profit to put food on the table for the starving children.

If it's good stuff, easy to sell, you might be offered 70% of retail. The next bit of reality is that even if they are all honest $100 coins, some things sell, others sit, and the dealer, recognizing the difference will offer less - time value of money.

If you are willing to invest the time, you can maximize your return. If not, you are essentially paying somebody else to do the work and that means you will receive less. Either way, you are never going to be offered Red Book prices. Just get past that.

I recommend two pricing resources...

/0/ PCGS Online Photograde - http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/ - this has photos you can compare to the actual coins in your collection to figure out what they are and what grade they are (a "FINE" coin shows a fair bit of wear and is worth a lot less than a "MINT STATE" coin with no wear, just as it came from the mint).

/1/ http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml - NumisMedia's FMV is a RETAIL price, about what you would expect to SPEND in a coin store.

/2/ The GreySheet, https://www.greysheet.com/ (you can buy a single current digital issue for about $7).

The GreySheet shows - for most commonly bought & sold coins - dealer BID and ASK prices. The BID price is about what the dealer will offer to buy it from you and the ASK price is about what the dealer hopes to sell it to another dealer for. And RETAIL is what they want you to pay.

Let's take something at random, oh a 1905 Barber half dollar in FINE. Scrolling through this month's Grey Sheet, that's where the mouse stopped...

It will look more like this: http://www.pcgs.com/images/photogra...er50-15o.jpg
than this: http://www.pcgs.com/images/photogra...er50-20o.jpg (see how the laurel leaves in the head are much more worn in the FINE than the VERY FINE?)

GreySheet Bid/Ask: 72/80, FMV 89

(Secret: Click on the 89 and it takes you to a page showing all of the prices for that grade and the history of increase/decrease over the last 30 days - http://www.numismedia.com/cgi-bin/c...e2=pricesms)

So the dealer will probably offer you 65 or 70 and hope to sell it himself for 85 or 90 or sell it on to another dealer who has buyers looking for Barber halves for 75 or 80. The quick $5 or $10 vs. the slower $15 or $20.

I wouldn't use Numismedia. That is the prices you would normally pay but seldom find at dealers. The Red Book has been in the past excessive with prices but is slowing getting better. I use a 2010 Red Book to evaluate coins in my collection. I also use that as a guide when purchasing coins. It is by no means the best for prices but then all guides are just that, guides.
Buying those coins you mentioned will and should be just based on do you want them, do you need them, are you willing to pay for them if over what you expect? Never and easy thing buying anything from someone you know.

I will answer this. Don't go to pawn shops ever with coins.

This thread demonstrates the very fine line between treating coins as business and as a hobby. Tensions get tight and people get a little crazy. Tread carefully. If you have good "business sense" then you will be fine.

JerseyBen=================




Then there are the ones' who want-hope-desire-wish to have it both ways.

Collect some.

Hoard some.

Sell some.

If you get 'em at face you are free to do all of the above.

My personal opinion is all persons should do what THEY want to do.

No insult intended to anyone.