Coin collection question

[Penguin]

I inherited a coin collection from my uncle a couple of years ago. I want to at least get an idea of what it's worth. What's the best way to go about it? I am wary of collectors because I am worried about a "Pawn Stars"-esque low-ball bid.


Am I better off just going through the collection, one by one, and estimating the value from a book?

[olevetonahill]

OUinFla. and Curly Bill had some good info in a thread the other day.

[olevetonahill]

It were in THIS thread

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155760&highlight=liberty

[hawaii 5-0]

Coins are graded as to the quality. You need expert help for a true value of your collection.


5-0

Trump/ Ben 2012

[StoopTroup]

It were in THIS thread

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155760&highlight=liberty

The dude that started that is freaking amazing.

[Breadburner]

I inherited a coin collection from my uncle a couple of years ago. I want to at least get an idea of what it's worth. What's the best way to go about it? I am wary of collectors because I am worried about a "Pawn Stars"-esque low-ball bid.


Am I better off just going through the collection, one by one, and estimating the value from a book?

Pawn Stars always get apprasials on stuff...They are in biz to make money...If they gave full retail the would be out of biz...

[hawaii 5-0]

I was into Morgan Silver Dollars for a little while. I got out when I saw how expensive it was getting.

Buying stocks is more fun.


5-0


Trump/ JP 2012

[En_Fuego]

Here is a link for ya.

http://www.pcgs.com/prices/default.aspx

[En_Fuego]

And some words of wisdom;

Never take them to a Pawn Shop
Never Take them to a Coin Dealer

Find out as much information as you can about what you have.

Coins are graded from a 1-70 scale. A 70 coin is suppose to be perfect. But there are some very rare and expensive coins in the 30-40 grade.

For example.....An 1893-S Morgan Dollar is worth $6000 in a 35 grade.

[Soonerus]

I am a coin collector....

[StoopTroup]

I am a coin collector....

Which is the best to keep the Silver ones or the gold ones?

[Soonerus]

Which is the best to keep the Silver ones or the gold ones?

Depends...

[En_Fuego]

An ounce of gold is $1506.00

A 1913 Liberty Nickel (in grade) is $ 4 Million Dollars

One sold at auction a few years back.

An ounce of Silver in 2001 was $4 bucks it's now $34

An ounce of Gold in 2001 was a little over $200

What a price increase in just 10 years......Gold prices will keep going up with our National Debt at trillions.

[StoopTroup]

Depends...

i can tell you know your stuff...

[lexsooner]

I inherited a coin collection from my uncle a couple of years ago. I want to at least get an idea of what it's worth. What's the best way to go about it? I am wary of collectors because I am worried about a "Pawn Stars"-esque low-ball bid.


Am I better off just going through the collection, one by one, and estimating the value from a book?

What kind of coins do you have? You can go coin by coin and look at the book if you think you can reasonably estimate the condition of each coin. Unfortunately, coins are like many other hobby items - they have low liquidity or translation into hard cash. A collection may be valued or appraised at $10K, but it probably means you will get just a fraction of it if you tried to sell it. Buyers are almost always sellers too and they want to turn a profit, so you will get nowhere near the appraised value. The Pawn Stars low ball offer is probably typical unless you have some coins which are so special that some hard core collector just has to have it and is willing to pay full value. Of course there are other exceptions such as coins which are high in gold or silver content. The precious metals themselves will help the coins hold much of their value. But otherwise, Penguin, you are probably going to be disappointed with the offers you get because everyone wants to make money. TV programs such as Antique Roadshow have helped deceive people into thinking the appraised value translates into the cash selling value, but it just ain't so.

[Jacie]

I inherited a coin collection from my uncle a couple of years ago. I want to at least get an idea of what it's worth. What's the best way to go about it? I am wary of collectors because I am worried about a "Pawn Stars"-esque low-ball bid.


Am I better off just going through the collection, one by one, and estimating the value from a book?

Yes. Get a current copy of price guide including a description of what the various grades mean for each kind of coin*, a good magniying glass, sit down and start grading them.

* As an example, I have a Morgan dollar that looks absolutely pristine but the guide mentions one of the first places to look for wear is the hair over the ear and sure enough, as good and bright and shiny and detailed as that coin looks, some of the lines in the hair that should be there are worn smooth so the grade drops from MS-65 down to MS-60 or AU-55, a huge difference in value of the coin. Also on Morgans, the feathers on the eagle's breast are among the first details to be worn away. This is the kind of stuff you need to be aware of when grading coins to determine their worth.

[OUinFLA]

Check the PCGS site for current sales info.
Buy a "Red Book" to get an indication of how to grade a coin.
Do not expect to get Red Book prices, nor PCGS prices.
Check ebay for current auctions and check asking prices.
Then use ebay's "recent sales" to see what similar items actually brought.

Once you have a general idea of a coins worth,
Find a couple of reputable dealers and take a few of your coins and
get an "offer" not a value.
Go to a coin show where there will be dozens of dealers and ask for an offer.

At coin shows, there will be a wide variance of offers. Dealers have customers working on collections and if your coin clicks with theiir needs, you will get a better offer from that dealer.

I took a $100 gold certificate to a coin show and had offers between $1100 and $1800 from 5 dealers who were interested. I sold to the highest offer.

Grading is everything, and everyone grades somewhat differently.
Only a collector with a need for "your" coin will pay near "true" value.

Good luck

[oudanny]

Great advice from OUinFla. I would only add to take your time and enjoy the research. Don't make the final result only about the monetary value.

[OUinFLA]

Great advice from OUinFla. I would only add to take your time and enjoy the research. Don't make the final result only about the monetary value.

spek to you. I've often lost sight of the uniquiness of the coin in my possession. No one else has "it". They may have one like it, and even better than it, but they dont have "it". I do.

Collecting is a hobby that should be enjoyed. Get your coins out and look at them closely, read about how the coin was designed, how many were made, where they were made (hopefully not China), read the history of coins in our Nation, it's interesting.

Investment, on the other hand, is a process that requires great expertise to make a profit.
Numismatics is a field where you can actually combine the hobby with the investment potential..


On the other hand.......... boating.....my real hobby, is throwing a bunch of money into a hole in the water.
BOAT = Bring On Another Thousand

I should have bought more silver 10 years ago and forgone the boat. :)

[Penguin]

Check the PCGS site for current sales info.
Buy a "Red Book" to get an indication of how to grade a coin.
Do not expect to get Red Book prices, nor PCGS prices.
Check ebay for current auctions and check asking prices.
Then use ebay's "recent sales" to see what similar items actually brought.

Once you have a general idea of a coins worth,
Find a couple of reputable dealers and take a few of your coins and
get an "offer" not a value.
Go to a coin show where there will be dozens of dealers and ask for an offer.

At coin shows, there will be a wide variance of offers. Dealers have customers working on collections and if your coin clicks with theiir needs, you will get a better offer from that dealer.

I took a $100 gold certificate to a coin show and had offers between $1100 and $1800 from 5 dealers who were interested. I sold to the highest offer.

Grading is everything, and everyone grades somewhat differently.
Only a collector with a need for "your" coin will pay near "true" value.

Good luck


Thanks for the advice! To be honest, I spent maybe 10 minutes glancing through it and it's been sitting in a safety deposit box ever since. Of course, I'm not holding my breath that I'm going to find a life changing coin. But, it will be nice to at least have an idea of what's in there.


To be honest, I was never explicitly given the coin collection in my uncle's will. We just found 3 boxes full of coins in his house after he died. Nobody else wanted them, so I took them. The problem is that the collection is in a family owned safety deposit box and recently I've started hearing "Why don't we just take the coins to a collector and get rid of them?" My fear is that a family member will just decide to go grab them and sell them to a random collector for who-knows-what when we have absolutely no idea about what we have.

[OUinFLA]

In dealing with some inherited coins my father had that he had written a price on to sell at a flea market, my sis and I sat down with them, agreed to go with the price he had on the coin and I took one, then she took one of like value.
You might agree to an appraisal by a coin dealer on each coin and split the coins up among the heirs by chosing around the table like I did.
Then there will be no pressure to sell on anyone at any time, it will be theirs to deal with as they wish.
Or, you could arrange an offer from a dealer and chose to buy out your fellow heirs for their portion. Then you control the whole collection.
Doing this will keep any family ill-will from developing.

Can you imagine how they would treat you if you said, Ill take the coins when no one else wanted them and you found a few multi-thousand dollar coins in the collection? You buy a new house, and they still are driving their 10 yr old cars? That would make for bad family relationships.