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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,707 |
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Valued Member
United States
320 Posts |
My grandfather recently passed, and the family wants to get his collection appraised. The idea is to keep it in the family and to keep it intact, not to sell it or split it up amongst the heirs...but nobody's real sure of the dollar value, so the thought is to get it appraised so that whoever ends up with it can basically "buy" the coins out of their portion of the estate. As I am arguably the most coin-savvy person in the family, and a non-partisan party I have been asked to facilitate... Now I'm nowhere near good enough with grading to feel comfortable doing this myself, nor would I want to get into the middle of it, lest I miss somethning that inflates the value 100-fold. Plus I'm not sure of the specifics as I've never even seen this collection. But I've been told there's "quite a few" coins there, notably a 1909 S VDB Lincoln which was supposedly evaluated a decade ago for $1500. With the probable noted exception of the 1909S-VDB, they're not looking for a professional grading, they don't need to be certified and slabbed etc... this is just supposed to be some sort of a baseline ballpark figure to help the family know what they have and ensure it is equitably passed down. With that in mind, my questions are-- -I'm planning on calling my coin shop tomorrow to see if they do it, if not, is there anything I should look for in an appraisal service? I would look for an ANA member, but is there anything else? -Anyone know what the approximate going rate would be? The family contacted a pawn shop who doesn't do coins but offered appraisals for jewelry... at $90 per piece. So of course the family is thinking of skipping the appraisal, because they don't want to spend hundreds of dollars...I doubt it would be, but if it is I'm thinking we could seperate out the key dates & have those done and kind of guesstimate the rest. -Anyone gone through something similar, maybe have tips? thanks! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Sorry about grandfather's passing. I'm no expert in appraisals but here's my answers: 1. Check to see if the shop owner is a PNG and/or ANA member. Check their website if they have one. Evaluate the shop and appraiser using your intuition also. Does it feel right? I know this is subjective but sometimes gut feelings mean a lot. 2. The jewelry shop's $90/piece rate is nuts. $90/hour is not however. A medium size collection would take several hours to appraise. I'd figure roughly $300 for it. Just a guess because I don't know the size of his collection. A small collection might be only $100. 3. My uncle passed away a couple years ago and a cousin in San Antonio took his collection to a major coin shop in that area for an appraisal. I don't know the details but from what I understand it was roughly a $50,000 collection and the appraisal likely cost $500. Hope this helps and best of luck. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
Sorry to hear about your Grandpa. But it's nice to hear the family doesn't want to just sell off the collection he took pleasure in building. First thing you may want to do is get an inventory. You can narrow down what really needs appraised from that, as some coins just don't have a large price differential no matter what grade they are in. Then you would have an actual number that "quite a few" means  and go from there. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
To save money on the appraisal, take every coin to a dealer, clearly stating you problem. Ask him to select only the coins that should be appraised. You should have enough confidence in yourself to value the lesser valued coins.
Shop around over the 'phone to find a professional to value the more significant items. That way, you won't need his services for ALL of the coins. Keep all of your activities as transparent as possible, so there are no disputes.
I was an executor to an estate of an uncle, where he had nominated over 20 beneficiaries, most of whom I did not know. I quickly realised that I needed to keep all of my activities as open to examination as possible to avoid comebacks.
"Where there is a will, there is a relative"
It's a bit like two kids with a bottle of soda. To ensure that each gets an equal share, they agreed: "You pour, and I choose"
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I suggest you DO NOT take any coins to a coin store or dealer until you really know what you may have. I suggest you simply get a copy of the latest Red Book, sit down and document what is what based on that book. Then as almost anyone knows the Red Book is basically about 20% over on prices, just deduct about 20% of what you come up with. Try to remember and note to all those concerned that thess prices you come up with are selling prices for a dealer, not a purchasing price. Regardless, since your family wants to maintain this collection, the over all value should be rather vague anyway. It is just for family and not for sale so a few dollars one way or another shouldn't matter unless your from a rather cheap, nosey, I don't care type of family. But you sound like yours may well be normal so they shouldn't think your trying to cheat them. The real problem with taking any coins to a coin store is in many situations they see this a lot and always try to low ball you on values. Even if you tell them they are not for sale, they still think if you have a not so expensive collection, you may actually really want to sell them anyway. I really just don't trust coin stores based on what I've seen myself. Same with most coin dealers since they really need to make a large profit and helping you just is not in their best interst. Sorry for my opinion to those dealers here but if your one, you know. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Sometimes, the attorney of record gets a % of the value of an estate, just for being on the will. Many attorneys setting up wills that way treat them as their retirement income.
If this is the case, you obviously want the appraiser/dealer to provide a lowball buy price. Since he will have all the basic data set up, you should be able to get a second retail/replacement number for a minimal charge.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
just carl: fair call, if you don't know the dealer. I guess my approach was not generalised enough. The dealer I would have gone to has been a good acquaintance of mine for over 30 years. The Red Book would be the best way to go, but obviously not for ancients, World coins, medieval, milled, hammered etc.. |
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Valued Member
 United States
320 Posts |
I called my coin shop, the one I do business with, and his answer was simple-- free. I pressed him a bit, because I've never seen the collection in question and don't know its scope and wouldn't expect him to donate his time in any event... and finally he quoted $50 per hour "if there's suitcases full of coins" or if it's going to be an exhaustive, documented thing. But he made it clear that if it's reasonable amount it's free even though I made it very, very clear that this is not going to be for sale period. I have bought from this shop before though and that seems in keeping with the overall feel of the place... so him saying free is surprising, but not.
Anyway, from what I gather here $50/hour seems reasonable, and free is...well, free...plus I know this business and feel OK with it so I think this is the route I plan to take.
I may or may not take the above advice to go through and pull the commoner coins that I know aren't worth much, to ensure we stay in the free range...I'd like to keep things transparent and if I take out the common coins it may look like I'm cherrypicking out the good stuff sothe appraisal is artificially low... so I'm not sure on that piece but either way I'll take a family member or two with me (whoever might like to go) and we'll go from there.
thanks all for the input.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:just carl: fair call, if you don't know the dealer. I guess my approach was not generalised enough. The dealer I would have gone to has been a good acquaintance of mine for over 30 years. The Red Book would be the best way to go, but obviously not for ancients, World coins, medieval, milled, hammered etc.. True on all accounts. Usually if you know a dealer really well, that does make the difference. Just walking in off the streets is not the smartest way to go if you don't know who your dealing with. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Free appraisals are a mixed bag. They can be dealers doing it to promote business, or to lowball when buying. Just like free car inspections that manage to find hundreds of dollars worth of problems that sound like you'd be taking your life in your hands driving six blocks home.
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Valued Member
United States
499 Posts |
If you truely trust this dealer bring him EVERY coin. This will avoid the other family members from suspecting you of doing anything underhanded. Transparency is th key in a situation like this. Explain the entire situation to the dealer and ask him to put a fair price on the lot considering the good, the bad, and the ugly. Whatever member ends up with the coin collection is taking it to honor your Grandfather by keeping the collection intact. If I were expected to pay full retail I would never do it because although you are honoring grandpa there are probably a good percentage of coins in the collection that you wouldn't buy if collecting for yourself.
That being said, since the recipient is getting the collection at less than market I would put a stipulation on the deal that if they ever decide they don't want the collection anymore they have to offer it to all other members for the same price set in the deal befor selling to anyone else. My Grandfather's stamp collection went to my brother and when he needed money he sold it for cheap change. I would have gladly bought it off him had I only known.
Just my thoughts
Richard
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3184 Posts |
why not see if there is a member on the boards here who lives near you who could do a appraisal for a cheaper price? Help another collector.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
Free appraisals are a mixed bag. They can be dealers doing it to promote business, or to lowball when buying. Just like free car inspections that manage to find hundreds of dollars worth of problems that sound like you'd be taking your life in your hands driving six blocks home.
That made me laugh. Someone I know took their car in due to it was leaking something. They gave him an estimate of several thousand dollars to fix it all. A neighbor that knows cars lifted the hood, tightened a heater hose and all is now OK. Quote:
The idea is to keep it in the family and to keep it intact, not to sell it or split it up amongst the heirs... I'm a little confused with this. Someone in the family has to hold on to that collection, right? And intact, right? Now if it's you and you decide to be a coin collector you would be adding value to that collection continuously, right? So now regardless of what you come up with for a total value now, how does this effect everyone else tomorrow? Suppose one of the others needs money and wants you to sell some or all so they can get their share and you've increased the value by adding. Now what? I suggest you really sit down with all those others in the family and discuss just who is to be the guardian of this collection and who is to make any future decisions about the future of this collection. Hate to say this but might just be a good idea to put it all in writting, just in case. One more suggestion is as already noted. You may want to consider attempting to find a memmber of this forum to give you that estimate. Some or many of the coins may be foreign and there are members here that are fairly well into those. However, kind of something most wouldn't do to trusting a stranger. |
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Valued Member
United States
320 Posts |
Well, thanks all for the input, but it looks like it is out of my hands at this point. Which is fine by me... my aunt (not the one getting the collection) found some other coin shop to take it to. I know nothing of this place, but that's OK, it takes me out of it.
And then like I say the plan is for the recipient to "buy" the collection with their money out of the estate, with the proceeds split between the others. So with the recipient "buying" it from the estate and the others "selling" it to them, there is no coming back later for more... if you sold your share that's it. Everyone agrees on that. And everyone agrees that it needs to stay in the family, so if it ever changes hands again it will be to another family member. Not sure of the pricing at that point, but one issue at a time.
Luckily, I am 99.999% sure there won't be any bad blood over this, it should be an easy transaction. The appraisal was just needed to ensure everyone got a fair shake and because while several family members collect coins, none of us (till myself recently) really collect with an eye toward monetary value. It's more about the enjoyment... so value-wise everyone's a bit stumped.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
Suppose one of the others needs money and wants you to sell some or all so they can get their share and you've increased the value by adding. Now what?
You're missing the suggested solution. Once a disinterested third party assigns a value, that is added to the estate total, and everyone gets their share, with the collection going intact to one person. For example, let's say there are three kids, $150,000 cash and $30,000 in coins. They don't get $50,000 each and debate a custodian for the coins. Two kids get $60,000 each, one gets the coins and $30,000 cash. If more than one kid wants the coins, they can bid against each other. Let's say one is willing to pay $45,000 for the coins. The estate is now worth $195,000, two get $65,000 each, one gets the coins plus $20,000. We did something similar. The son who lived there all his life got the house at appraised value, the other two got equivalent cash, then the rest was divided three ways. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
And then like I say the plan is for the recipient to "buy" the collection with their money out of the estate, with the proceeds split between the others. So with the recipient "buying" it from the estate and the others "selling" it to them, there is no coming back later for more... if you sold your share that's it. Everyone agrees on that. And everyone agrees that it needs to stay in the family, so if it ever changes hands again it will be to another family member. Not sure of the pricing at that point, but one issue at a time.
Great idea and it appears all ends well. Are you planning on buying it all? |
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,707 |
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Posted 02/24/2011 12:38 am
