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 Replies: 12 / Views: 2,421 |
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
Thank you all who answered my other question and welcomed me to the forum. I was wondering, when I want to sell all my coins what's the best way to do it? Should I sell the complete or partially complete folders of the lincoln set, Jefferson set, buffalo set and so on? Should I pull all the key coins out of every book to try to sell and just put all the other stuff not worth much back in circulation? I'm having a hard time with this, a while back I took a collection my dad and I thought would be worth about $600 to a coin dealer in Worcester mass. He only offered $125 for it, is this typical?
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
If you look at my answer to your other question, you will note that I started young. Lots of coins that I started with would have been worth next to nothing, but I kept them for up to 20 years. After that amount of time and learning, I had some quite valuable coins amongst the low value ones, but they were all interesting.
That collection was disposed of on consignment to a coin dealer, who valued them at a retail price, and sold them for me, taking 25% of the sale price for himself. The nearly worthless coins went into his scratch boxes on the shop counter. I did not get much for those! He took about 9 months to sell most of my collection in his shop window and through the post.
The proceeds returned to me were enough for most of the down payment on my first house!
The coins that did not sell (just a few), were returned to me, and were the start of my next collection, which I still have.
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Moderator
 Australia
16806 Posts |
One of the strange paradoxes in coin collecting is that you will always get more money by selling individual coins than you will get by selling bulk lots or complete or partially complete sets.
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
Australia
21786 Posts |
That is why you allow a long time to sell your collection, if you have to.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
If you can provide some detail and photos of your sets we can probably give you a fair market value. Much will depend on the condition of each key date coin and, also, the average condition of the set. Easiest way to do the sale would be to put the set on ebay and a set a minimum bid that you are comfortable with. If it does not sell, no big deal. If it does, you will probably get a good price since ebay is loaded with frenzied buyers. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Note that most set sellers on ebay will enumerate the date and condition of each coin. Example from a current listing: 1909 - 2010 Lincoln Cent Collection Penny Set, 1909-VDB(EF-40) DO NOT HAVE 1909-S-VDB, 1909-S(EF-40) 1909-P(G) 1910-P(G) 1910-S(VF) 1911-P(G) 1911-D(VF) 1911-S(VF) 1912-P(G) 1912-D(G) 1912-S(VF) 1913-P(G) 1913-D(G) 1913-S(VF) 1914-P(G) DO NOT HAVE 1914-D, 1914-S(F) 1915-P(F) 1915-D(F) 1915-S(XF) 1916-P(G) 1916-D(G) 1916-S(VG) 1917-P(G) 1917-D(G) 1917-S(VG) 1918-P(G) 1918-D(G) 1918-S(VG) 1919-P(G) 1919-D(G) 1919-S(VF) 1920-P(G) 1920-D(G) 1920-S(G) 1921-P(F) ... ETC (!) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
All methods of selling have pros and cons. Dealers are quick and easy but you won't get the best price. ebay has a lot of buyers, but the fees and work involved with photography,listing,and shipping can quite frankly be a pain. Dealing with the public on Craigs list and through newspaper ads has its own obvious problems. Selling here requires a bit of a commitment that a non-coin collector probably does not want to get involved with. Albeit this is my favorite place to buy coins. That leaves family and friends which is dependent on your particular network. And yes, you'll get more money if sold individually, but that does not facilitate a quick sale. Me, I would sit on them and wait for someone to come to me, or sell here. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1213 Posts |
I agree with upstate - list them individually and post them here. I'll bet you find quite a few buyers.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I am curious .. as to how you and your Dad came up with the $600 value.
I am not saying this at all in a negative way. Just curious as to how you
came up with the value?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
GoldRush58 has a really valid point...you really need to know the fair market value before you sell and that takes a bit of knowledge and research. We might be able to offer better opinions if we knew where the $600 figure came from.
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Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
List the coins individually (best method for realizing the most $). I agree, to better evaluate what you have, it would be nice to know where and how your father came up with that figure. I never sell to dealers no matter how reputable. Everyone has their opinions on selling though.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
You definitely won't want to put buffalos back into circulation! If you do that, you will make some roll hunter somewhere super happy :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
958 Posts |
yes finding the true value of the coins is what you have to do .
many people look at the guide books and dont understand the grading sytem and how their coins fall under the grading system.
A collection of coins in XtraFine condition with a actual FMV of $600 might only be worth $300 if the coins are only Veryfine and $ 200 if the coins are Fine.
The value scale on some coins doubles andtriples the coins value from one grade to another
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Replies: 12 / Views: 2,421 |
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Posted 12/03/2010 08:50 am
