Assessing A Coin Collection

1. Authenticate them.
2. Determine originality (not cleaned or damaged)
3. Grade them.
4. Find auction results for as many as possible; consider that price as 100%.
5. For the rest value them using a reputable pricing guide; percentage depends upon date and rarity but don't expect more than 80% for the rarer items, 70% for older but more common items; much less common 20th century coins.

Presuming this is to help out an heir to an estate, and a sale of the collection is likely, I agree with the post above, but wanted to add, check with local retail prices as well as auction results, and do note any rarities or special items that need to be separated from the collection and sold individually. Be sure to itemize it all and write it up, explain what you did on paper and sign your name to it. Something like 'the collection, as itemized in Schedule A, attached, is a mid-level collection of Canadian coins 1900-1965, what appears to be a youth collection of US pennies, 1909-1972, and three moderately-scarce dollar coins in original condition.', etc., etc. Do contact the local shops and inquire about buy prices, you can't rely on a bid sheet for that, the odds are the collection will be sold locally and you should take that into account.

It's more than just adding up the values in the book, it's a assessment of the collection, and an appraisal of the likely selling price. Enjoy it, you'll learn a great deal by doing it.

You're welcome.

Better add some discussion about the local market, then. They don't want to sell their stuff there, sounds like. You'll know more about referrals once you've seen what they have. The next big town is the place to start.

Enjoy your project. It's good to help folks out when they need it.

I dislike attempting to valuate something like a coin collection. There are to many variables involved. My thought though are to make a somewhat honest valuation would be to actually look up each and every coin on a place like ebay. This would possibly take a long, long time and may still not be accurate. When done, you would end up with the POSSIBLE present selling prices of those coins. HOWEVER, you must remember that those are the selling prices and to buy those coins to sell means a reduction of some amount.
This is why I dislike attempting to evaluate something for someone else. You could be way off and considered a crook or way off the other way and be considered a dummy.

Essentially what you have there is a collection of silver, which any LCS would only pay silver value for (assuming no key dates or near key that are in exceptional condition) and coins worth face value.

Since they sell most silver for bullion, I could buy it all from them for about $1300 (neglecting the silver sets, since you didn't say how many you had). Clearly they would pay less than this if they bought it.

As an appraiser there are several different kinds of valuations

One type is preparatory to making an offer for purchase. That one would be based on what you believe you can sell the items for less your overhead, profit and the value of the time that you've expended in making the estimate. With this type of estimate you typically just get a flat number: I'll pay you $1,500 for the lot.

The second valuation is for insurance purposes and would reflect what you would expect to pay to replace the items. This valuation is the one closer to the retail prices you found in the books, auction estimates, etc. This is typically what you see on Antiques Roadshow.

The third type of estimate/valuation is as an independent third-party, so that the heirs have a basis to evaluate estimates of the first type. I think this is the one that you're talking about. Properly done this kind of appraisal should also indicate specific items of high value that should be pulled out and sold separately for example at auction.

If the heirs are going to sell everything as a single lot, following good practices and getting several actual bids of the first type, this kind of valuation gives them a ballpark. As the appraiser, you get paid for your time (hourly is best, paying a percentage gives an incentive to over value items).

You'll also see appraisals that mix the types. For example a major collection may be sold by a major auction house and they may (for a fee) advance you part of the expected proceeds ahead of time. To do that they need some idea of what they would have to pay to buy the collection for themselves to sell it and some idea of a more independent valuation and some idea of the replacement cost so they can pull a number out of the air to stick in the catalog.