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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,883 |
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
I'm not really good with pricing and grading. I'm in collecting more for the spirit of it. However, at an upcoming estate sale in my area there is a coin collection that I plan on bidding/purchasing and I'm hoping to get some of your estimates on what might be a reasonable price for this collection. This is all pretty nerve-wracking for me because I've never actually purchased coins before (only searching) and I've never been to an estate sale either! Any info would be a big help. I understand it's impossible to do an accurate assessment based on a few pictures. I also understand that one single coin or its condition might change the estimate by hundreds or thousands of dollars. Though I'm hoping people might still be able to chime in with an estimate on what they would expect to encounter from these pictures. Consider this about as accurate as a 'count the number of jelly beans in a jar' type contest. Your estimate will still be better than mine! If it's any help, from the pictures of the sale it appears to be a nice is a nice suburban home with lots of nice old wood furniture, hardwoord floors, many of creepy clown figurines, a stamp collection, a 1950-1960's magazine collection, and some kind of shiny bullion collection with automobiles stamped on each one? Here is the coins. I'm at this time there are no other pics/information on how full these albums or folders are or their condition.  I am assuming that the following pictures are of pages from inside two of the albums:   -I am going to assume that these are more good/fine quality rather than any kind of proof, mint, or circulated quality. -It also appears that some of those half-dollars have some green growing on them. -Unsure what actual coins are in there. I'm assuming it's not packed with key dates worth multi-hundred dollars. What do you think would be a respectable ballpark offer without getting laughed at? Do you think they'll try to sell the collection as a whole, by book, or by coin? What do you think the estate sale is expecting to make off of these? Any info is appreciated. Thanks! EDIT: I guess the above isn't working for people. How about this, don't estimate the unknown mystery collection. What do you think each of those collections labeled on those albums would be valued if they were in a fine circulated condition? Just any kind of baseline or benchmark estimate would be extremely helpful. Edited by trent
03/21/2011 09:05 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
WOW, you really are asking a real, real tuff question. Without inspecting those Albums or Folders and carefully, almost anything is possible. I'm even confused that the Books you showed did not say Half Dollars yet some of the Photos did show them. As for value, completely impossible to even make a guess. You would have to know how many coins there are, what grades they are, what denominations, etc., etc., etc. Just way to many variables. Remember that some coins can change from almost a few cents in value to hundreds by a few grades as you already stated. Or there could be a 1922 Lincoln Cent in there in MS grade. Or all just worn, cleaned, low valued coins. Quote:
Consider this about as accurate as a 'count the number of jelly beans in a jar' type contest. Your estimate will still be better than mine!
Not really. I think I could do better at counting the jelly beans in a jar. If they will not allow you to at least look through those, I suggest you pass on this sale. |
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Valued Member
 United States
355 Posts |
True I know this is difficult but please realize that I know nothing about prices. For example, I don't even know how much a link cents 1941-2011 is values in fair condition. Even a huge ballpark guess is helpful to me. If you don't feel comfortable with an overall guess, what about just one of those albums assuming fair condition? I really don't know.
Also, the first picture does show a half dollar book and I beleive the 3rd pic is from inside that book.
I will have a chance to look, it's just that sale is this upcoming weekend. This is only what their have on their website in advance and I'm trying to walk in there at least somewhat educated on how much I'd be willing to bid.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
The green stuff on the coins is almost certainly PVC damage. This was used in the plastic "sleeves" you see in the pictures. Over time, the chemical used to keep the plastic soft and pliable oozes out onto the coins. It damages the surface and can make them worthless. If the whole collection is stored that way, it's bad news and the coins may not be worth any more than their melt value.
I would be very cautious.
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
How about this, don't estimate the unknown mystery collection. What do you think each of those collections labeled on those albums would be values if there were in a fine or good circulated condition? Just any kind of baseline or benchmark estimate would be extremely helpful.
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
Thanks Ken.
I was assuming the same because it does look that they were all stored the same way. I think I'm really going to have to take a close look and maybe make offers on certain books or even certain coins depending on how bad off they are.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Carls right.....you can't even "ballpark" something like this (what we see) You have to know exactly "what" is in these albums......whether the coins have been cleaned.....what kind of condition (or grade) each and every coin is in. You could write down all of the coins and shotgun the grade..... THEN you could ballpark something. But just looking at a stack of albums doesn't tell us if there are empty holes everywhere in there, or if the albums are complete with key dates, etc. For example......if that Lincoln Cents album "is" complete and in "really good" condition with each coin.......you'd be looking at several THOUSAND DOLLARS just for that album ! If it's "incomplete", depending on what that is..... it could be worth about $10.00. Herein lies the difficulty..... 
Edited by eaglefoot
03/21/2011 09:09 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
How about melt values for the silver coins? With silver at $36, that puts half dollar melt right around $13. Multiply by the number of coins and that's the highest I would even consider at this point. So if it's a complete Franklin set of 35 coins, that's $455. Sight unseen, I might go 50 cents to a dollar each on the Indian Head cents. ebay's completed listings search may help you with the Lincoln cents, 1941+, Buffaloes and Jeffersons, if they are complete sets or close. Be careful though. Great deals can be had at estate sales, but that's not a guarantee. Set your max and stick to it. I've seen people bid $20 for a well worn common Walker that they could have had for $11-$14 at the time out of the local dealer's silver bin. Good luck! |
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
^^ Thanks for that info OneBowl. I guess the melt value is a good and easy baseline to go with on a good chunk of that collection. I guess that only applies to the half dollars though, right? I'm assuming that from the first pic the collection is mostly nickels and cents with no potential silver. Also, I agree on the Indian Head cents. In my brief research, on the majority of them, that might be a good upper limit to shoot for (excluding a few key years). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1388 Posts |
Also, if you don't know the key dates of a series you could make a loss of the venture anyway. My advice would be to make a short list of each of the series' key dates and take it with you. If the key dates aren't there you could get these with a lot less money. Just an idea... Good Luck
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
I would bid melt for the silver and look for key dates in the grou and bid 75% retail on those. Other than that, nothing else counts.
if you cannot inspect the collection coin for coin before bidding - just don't bid.
If you do not know which coins are the keys and how to find them, don't bid.
It really sounds to me like you are not ready for such an undertaking, and you are VERY likely to be taken to the cleaners if you don't know exactly what you are doing here. You need to bring someone else into this deal if you don't know any more than you are leading us to believe you know. Bidding hundreds or thousands of dollars on a coin collection in an estate sale is NOT something for the beginner.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
This is only what their have on their website in advance and I'm trying to walk in there at least somewhat educated on how much I'd be willing to bid.
OH, OH. Now that is a possible real problem. If this sale was on a website, possibly hundreds or even thousands have seen this one. You would possibly be getting professional bidders in on this one. This does not sound like a typical neighborhood estate sale but a professional run situation. For sure I'd pass. |
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
Trust me, there's going to be no bids of hundreds or thousands of dollars. I might go $80-100 tops if I see enough to merit it but I still really have my doubts. Really depends on coins/condition. I think I'll be going more after silver or specific key dates as others have mentioned.
It is just a normal estate sale and in 2011 I'm sure the majority of them all have websites listing the location, dates, and some pics of what's for sale. I don't see a website as a concern. If there's professional bidders there going after green corroded coins, well, they must be really really bored. It's not an auction, but from what I understand at these you can often place a bid if you think the tagged price is too steep. I'm assuming I'm not going to pay the tag price (whatever it may be) and place a bid if I can. This info is helpful because I only have one shot (I think) at the bid. So thinking about it in terms of silver melt and 75% of key date retail will help me formulate a good bid. Thanks.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
I like coppercoins' advice - find out if there are any "key" dates in the collection, and then bid according to his guidelines.
However, I'm not understanding the nature of the sale.
Is it an auction? Set your predetermined price and stick with it. Don't get carried away with the pressure of the bidding process. Don't bid against yourself - when the auctioneer is calling a price, it's the asking, not the current price (which he'll mention once before the bidding price). Never bid first. NEVER!
Is it a tag sale, where everything is priced? Same as with the auction, but at least you know what the top price is already. And if the sale runs three days or longer, you may be able to get a discount on the last day (if what you want is overpriced to begin with - and people who sell creepy clown figurines aren't to be trusted, lol - of the sale.
Is it a silent bid situation? Bid low to start, but keep an eye on the bidding, and try to bid last and highest (below your top estimate) close to the closing bid time.
Good luck!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
If this is an estate sale in any reasonable sized town I can guarantee there will be people there that buy & sell for a living. Most estate sales hand out numbers and/or have a sign up sheet that starts an hour or more before the sale......and the pros & hoarders will be standing in line for a good bit of time before that. That's the bad news. The good news is that in general most of the pros/hoarders aren't coin experts, & neither are the people running the sale. Actually that could be more bad news because that means some will pay more than the coins are worth.
I work with an estate sale company. We have an email list with over 400 people on it, approximately 150 of those will show up at least 45 minutes before the sale. Out of those 30-40 are serious buyers that will be there 1 to 2 hours early.
Get there early enough to be one of the first people in the house. If at all possible ask the people running the sale which room the coins are in before they start letting people in. As soon as you get in the house go directly to the coins. I wouldn't pay any more than melt for the silver & wouldn't touch anything else unless it had key dates in the albums.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2764 Posts |
I couldn't agree more than all of the above comments. Just one last input (just in case you haven't have the answer) regarding "key dates in the albums": Since you already know which albums are for sale (w/ the year range), it's just a matter of go to the internet to search for the "key dates" for each series/albums (base on the year range). Once you have those info, go to here http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml and search for those specific coins for the "fair market value" of each coins, then apply the rule of 75% price to come up with a table listing all "key date" coins w/ price you want to pay for. For value on silver coins, go here: http://www. (124) Not Allowed - Auto-Removed .com/silver_coin_values.html and either print or write the value of each type of coin then do the math. Good luck buddy. |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,883 |
Posted 03/21/2011 08:54 am
