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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,579 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1373 Posts |
I've looked around some and haven't found an answer.....yet. I always try to write down the costs of every coin I buy. I don't sell coins, so the main reason I keep records is so my heirs will have a better idea of the costs of my collection, when the time comes. The problem I have is figuring out how to cut the cost of a set to single coins. I have purchased many US Mint and RCM sets and change my pricing thoughts each time I look at them. Here is my latest brain-teaser: I just bought the Canadian 2010 uncirculated set; primarily to get the CENT (it completes my Canadian cent collection, as the 2010 steel cent is only available in UNC or Specimen sets). My cost for the set was $26.50. What do I write down as the cost for the penny? A) $26.50 (It's really the only coin I was looking for) B) $22.60 (The face value of the 2010 set is $3.91, so I took $3.90 from $26.50) C) 7-Cents (cost divided by face-value) D) $3.78 (One-Seventh the cost (there are 7 coins to the set)) E) $4.82 (Using Charlton value {$10} / set value {$55} = .1818%, * cost {$26.50}) F) ? (Many other possibilities) I've also checked out ebay for recent sales and found the following average costs for 2010 UNC Canadian coins: Cent = $22.50, Nickel = $3.30, Dime = $3.00, Quarter = $4.30, Half Dollar = $3.25, Loonie = $4.35, and Twonie = $6.30. ((these are all rough averages)) From the ebay info, I can place my cost for the cent from the $26.50 set to be around $13.00. Naturally, I have many other dilemmas, like how much does the US cent cost from the 2016 Silver Proof set, or what's the cost of a Kennedy half dollar in the 2016 clad Proof set. Your guesses are welcome! |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
I think what I would do is,at the time I buy a set I would check ebay sold values and come up with an average value for each coin and log that amount into my records. John1  |
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Moderator
United States
188770 Posts |
If it is something I bought direct from the mint, I typically divide the price up proportionally to face value. If there are silver coins in the mix (like the silver proof sets), I use the spot price (at time of purchase) to adjust the proportions.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1747 Posts |
Are you keeping the other coins? or selling them? if you sell them off, then you could deduct what you get from the total and work that way?
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Valued Member
United States
282 Posts |
I haven't bought sets per se but I have bought lots of coins when I may have only really wanted one or two. I will generally calculate the value of each coin using actual sales, ebay auctions, or my own personal opinion. And then total up the values and prorate the cost based on the value. I believe that is your option E. So for example if I buy a lot of 3 coins for $20 that feel is worth $28. Coin A is worth $16 to me: 16/28 X $20 = Cost of $11.43 Coin B is worth $8 to me: 8/28 X $20 = Cost of $5.71 Coin C is worth $4 to me: 4/28 X $20 = Cost of $2.86 If you truly don't want some of the coins and they aren't worth much you can always disregard them in the total. Edited by syeb
06/09/2016 1:29 pm
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Moderator
United States
188770 Posts |
Quote:
Are you keeping the other coins? or selling them? if you sell them off, then you could deduct what you get from the total and work that way? I sell nothing.  Proof sets are cracked and coins placed in the appropriate Dansco album. This is the only reason why I would need to know the cost per coin. I do not bother to calculate an individual cost for any OGP sets which remain intact. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1119 Posts |
I would base it off the going rate of what similar coins have recently sold for
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
A brain teaser... Please don't, my brain hurts!  Anyway, what I would do is to just write the simple line you wrote to us on why you bought the coin and how much you paid for the set. So don't put a price on every individual coin, as it's bought as a coherent set and not as 7 individual coins. And then, in this case, also the current ebay values of each individual coin, as it's easy for them to understand why the set should be about 7 times face value and that indeed the cent is regarded much more special (and thus expensive, in this case) than the rest. Not writing anything and letting it be regarded as a cent is waste, just giving it a fractional price of the set (option C, D and E) does that as well. Creating understanding for your strategic decisions will be key, I believe. Just make sure you write a first rule in your 'numismatic will', stating that they should always check the latest developments on ebay and other sources before putting a price tag on when selling. Now to tease your brain a bit: do you keep the set complete as it is or do you split it up in individual coins? What are you then doing with the other coins? Have you also adjusted your buying prices to current day values or at least mentioned the year you bought them? A dollar now is worth much less than for example 20 years ago and the numismatic landscape has changed quite a bit since... |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Actually you may well be wasting time. IF the purpose of all this is for sales of someone that ends up with your coins, regardless of what you think, want, like, they will do as they want. You will not be around to argue about their decision. If you think your just giving them something to go by, simply leave instructions to verify all coins via ebay or check with Numismedia or coin web sites. Your best thing to do is find a family member or someone you want to end up with your collection and tell them what you'ld like for them to do with it all. |
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Moderator
Australia
16832 Posts |
In my database, the cost of set coins is entered as an average, with each coin in the set considered as being worth exactly the same. This is mainly because of my own laziness, as I can't be bothered trying to calculate some kind of proportional value to each coin in the set that adds up to the actual amount paid. Also, some sets are kept "as a set" and therefore entered in the database "as a set" rather than as individual coins, so there isn't really any way to allocate specific values to specific coins in that case.
So in your example, the answer I would use is D) $3.78.
It does create some strange anomalies in the database: "grossly overpaying" for some coins and "massive bargains" for others. Especially for sets where specific coins in the set are abnormally high in value.
This does assume I end up keeping every coin in the set. If, in your example, I were to buy the set, strip it, keep only the one cent coin and sell / give away / spend the other coins, then I probably would enter the full set purchase price as the price paid for that one coin I kept. But this would be a highly unusual occurrence for me personally - I think I may have done it once or twice, but only when I've acquired a badly damaged or corroded set (yes, Franklin Mint of the 1970s, I'm looking at you) and only kept the undamaged coins.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Very interesting subject. A lot of thoughtful replies. I think I would look up what it would cost me for that one coin and use that number. There are no rules .... Do what you like  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1373 Posts |
I have read all of the postings and (unfortunately) AGREE with all of them!  I think the main thing I learned is that it really doesn't make a big difference. Of course, I change my mind a lot. There are days when I really don't care and then others where I get totally picky of things. For now I will pencil in $13 for the cost of the steel 2010 cent. This will turn my total cost for the complete Canadian small cent set (1920-2012) to $129.19. If I add in the $228.26 I spent for all the large cents (1853-1920), my total for the complete Canadian cent set is $357.45. ((The 1936-Dot is not included, as my Whitman folder has the hole 'plugged')). BTW, I just got the 2010 Can. set in the mail yesterday, just after I entered my opening post. If I cut the cent out to plug into the folder, it would basically 'destroy' the 2010 set. For now, I'll just put a checkmark on my folder and keep the final cent in it's current spot in the yearly set. Also, I do have a separate 'cost list' for all of the yearly sets I've bought and have not opened/broken for certain specific coins. |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,579 |
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Posted 06/09/2016 11:20 am
