Coin Apprasing Dilemma

Hello and welcome.

Post pics of your coins in the various sections on the forum and the members here can identify and offer opinions of value for you. As for what to do with them after that, it depends.

Taking them to a local coin dealer is the quick and easy option. Most dealers will offer you a "free valuation" - that will in effect be their buy-it-now price. The dealer will in all likelihood only give you 50% to 70% of what they think they would then sell the coins for; that's how dealers make their money. Don;t be afraid to shop around to several nearby dealers to find the one that offers the best price. The advantage is that it's quick, and you get the cash straightaway. If you're not in a hurry or there are no coin dealers within a comfortable travelling distance to you, consider other options.

A "coin show" is a conclave of coin dealers coming together to buy and sell coins to each other and to collectors. If there's one of these happening in your town or area it's worth checking out; it saves you from running all over the place searching for the dealer that will give you the best price, since they've all come together in one place.

Selling them on ebay will usually get you more money for your coins, since you're selling directly to the collectors that are prepared to pay full price for them. This method takes time, however, since you've got to go to the effort of listing all the coins (individually, for maximum value), posting them out, dealing with customers... in short, you'd become a coin dealer yourself, at least until you ran out of coins. Unless you've got a lot of time on your hands or you're already fairly experienced as an ebay seller, consider other options.

A "mid-way path" is to consign them with a coin auction house. You'll usually get more money at auction than by a direct sale to dealers, and it's less stressful than selling them all yourself. The drawback here is you have to wait the longest for your money, since you have to wait until the auction house conducts its next auction, which might be a couple of months away. Another drawback is that auction houses generally don't handle the "small stuff"; your collection might have to have a minimum value before they'll consider accepting it.

You could also consign them to a dealer who would try to sell them for you. For example, the folks that run this coin forum are coin dealers that accept consignments; they do most of their selling online and on ebay.

Another thing to be wary of is dealers who do 'appraisals'.

I deal (and collect) in another area, and I do provide appraisals. But, before anything happens, I establish up front whether the person is looking to sell, or looking for an appraisal. The numbers I quote are generally different, depending on their desire. One thing I do (and a lot of people think I'm crazy for doing so), is if someone is offering a rare, or extremely collectible item for sale, I'll suggest a 3rd party appraisal. And, I explain upfront that as a dealer, I would generally expect to pay between X% and X% of that third appraisal amount. I find that when people really understand the difference between a selling price, and an appraisal, they generally take the selling price, and come back again and again.
And, it keeps me honest.

Geobaldi: You have to keep those coins. They are part of your grandfather's memory, even if he is still alive. If he was in New Guinea in WW2, some of those coins would have been Australian, and perhaps even one or two .925 New Guinea silver shilling with the central hole.

Perhaps those coins are common enough, but should be worth keeping anyway. If they were of little value numismatically, they would not help much with the rent anyway. Keep them as a family keepsake. After all, you are the family custodian of them.

These coins could easily form the nucleus around which you could build a collection. Suggestion: how about starting a U.S. type set which covers your grandfather's lifetime? Such a set would be complimentary to the coins you already have.

You mentioned you are planning on selling them. You may consider trying to become a coin collector also. Regardless, I think you should try to find a coin store and purchase a Red Book by Whitman Publishing. With that book or similar ones you could sort of get your own idea of what you have. Might not be exact, but better than walking into any place with no info at all. First get an idea of what you have, approximate values, amouhts minted, etc. Then when it comes time to sell, you would have an idea of what is going on.

Thanks all, I'm going to give collecting them a shot I think. Granted I should have started younger but what I have here is a good start I think. I'll borrow my brother's camera and get some pics up of what I have and get them posted...

My grandfather passed away before I was born, unfortunately. His legacy does include a 1942 Austrailian penny, tho. You could warp your spine carrying a pocket full of these.

I'll have to look up a Red Book, maybe I can get one from the library for the time being...

That one would be helpful with US coins. If you have a lot of World coins you should get a Standard Catalog of World Coins (Krause Publications or similar), that would be more comprehensive for all kinds of coins.

And welcome to the coin hobby!