210 Kilos Of Coins - Should I Buy Them?

I'd jump on 'em. Contact me if you need $$ support. I want to see clear, upclose pics of course. Anyway, that's an oppurtunity rarely offered. (getem all 1950.

If they have been stored well then I would say go for it but I have seen first hand what bad storage in the UK can do to coins. Pickfords had my collection in storage when I emigrated by the time they made it through customs and go shipped to me almost half had some form of corrosion on them... Green sixpences just don't look nice... Proof sets did not fair much better.

That sounds like a lot of fun to go thru all those. I suspect it'll take a while, but should be enjoyable. Keep us posted on what you find

For that many coins I would want to get a look at them first. If there not junk, than make an offer per kilo. I'd start at between $15-$20 per kilo. If you get them you might even save on the shipping if you can fit them in your vehicle.

Well you're obviously interested already so I take it you collect world coins. It would depend on how big you're collection is now and if you collect every year/mint mark of every type. Just think of all the German pfennigs and marks from pre-euro days. When I first started buying in bulk I would like to see 50-70% take up for my collection but that has now gone way down and from a lot like that I would now be lucky to get 5-10%.
Then again you could break them down and sell smaller lots of the ones you don't need.
Pricing them is difficult. How much per kilo? This was a few years ago but I would pay around 20GBP per 5 kilo lots on ebay but for a bulk lot like that I would offer a lot less. Personally I don't think the seller would get more that 500GBP in an ebay auction (but then again I could be wrong). Unless the seller is interested in splitting them and selling them him/herself then they may just take a scrap value to get rid of the things. If I did have the chance to buy them I would be thinking around 2GBP per kilo.
It goes without saying that if you do buy them then I'm sure we'd all be interested in hearing what you get out of them.

Yes Secret Argent Man, these suspicions that you seem to imply are some of the reasonthat I asked the question:




There are too many things that do not add up here.

Is a "family house clearance" a yard sale, a give away, or what? The friend got the coins, probably paid for them, yet has no interest in them....?!? Does not wish to provide pictures to interested parties..?

Personally, I would make no offers or throw any money at anything I was clueless about other than weight alone.

If it is going to cost you seventy pounds to get them sent to you, it is certainly going to cost you a lot less than that in fuel for the 700 mile round trip. Do you have any relatives or friends that you can visit along the way? Is it possible that someone else can inspect them for you before you buy? They do not have to be in any way coin experts, just have them look for you on your instructions. Isn't there a UK coin club member who could find out for you? Get in contact with a nearby coin club to the coins, and maybe someone would be willing to help. You could start this inquiry by going to your local coin dealer.

Thanks for all your replies. Got a small update this morning, managed to get a random sample read out to my friend- was about what I was expecting, new zealand, south africa 1948, ireland 1975, france,1948, india 1985, spain 1980, yugoslavia 1980, canada 1981, australia, burmuda, germany, ceylon, japan, china, greece.

I'll try an answer all your questions - they are right up in furthest north of England, in the borders area. Hadn't thought of local coin clubs - i'll take a look. Secret Argent man, I think you have just about covered every niggling doubt that I had and more, some very good points. As for origin, it seems they are the leftovers of a collection. The original collector sold his most valuable items, this are essentially his 'spares' - that removes the prospect of any silver/better older coins, but doesn't rule it out entirely. The person who collected these died last year and these have been left. Apparenty the weight is an estimation - they have simply weighed a couple of the boxes they are in and estimated - which makes more sense given the otherwise lack of detail.

Nohope587 - good point, especially if they have just been left in a garage, probably not too well sealed.

All in all seems best way forward is simply to go and look - seems the most logical next step. They arn't going any time soon so hopefully this coming weekend....... will keep you all posted with any new info.