Where are the best places to sell your coin collection? 0

[Shadow Rose]

I was just wondering of other peoples opinion on this since i'm trying to sell off my grandfather's collection and generally where to sell them is confusing. It seems auctioning them is the best but i'm not sure what should be considered as auctionable. Also roughly how much should the grading cost of a coin be vs the cost of the coin itself? Whats the cut off on auctioning as well. Do i sell some $5 usa mint sets at auction or just the $70 silver sets etc. Should the us mint coins be graded or their sets? Do i even sell sets or lots of a specific coin or do i do it coin by coin etc.

 

I am reading up on it more but its hard to find a clear answer. Doesn't help that my ability to tell one ms from another is horrible either. Here's a morgan silver dollar that i found today btw. I say ms65 but i know im wrong right? Its just the only shiny morgan ive ever seen so its either polished or ms65 eh? I also dont understand polished coins at all. Are they worthless or not? Everything makes it seems like polished is worth almost nothing. Generally what percent would a polished coin go for or are they just considered a specific grade and then a percent of that grade?

 

Thanks for the help!

Edited August 31, 2020 by Shadow Rose

[Modwriter]

Check out Great Collections. 

[Shadow Rose]

4 minutes ago, Modwriter said:

Check out Great Collections. 

Yeah that's the only one i have heard of before.

[JKK]

27 minutes ago, Shadow Rose said:

Yeah that's the only one i have heard of before.

They have their good points. Here's the thing: auction houses, I believe, tend to gravitate toward higher value collections. Grading will cost you around $30 per coin when done in bulk, which means that unless the grading has potential to tack on that much extra value, all it does is make the coins easier to sell (most of the time). Depending on what you have, you may find that auction houses are not terribly interested.

If you have a local coin club, you might start there (at least, if you would if clubs were meeting...not sure what most do now, ours is having zoom meetings that don't interest me). What you really need is a seasoned numismatist to look over what you have and advise you on value. If you can't find one willing to do it just to be helpful (and perhaps for the possibility of buying it), another step would be to take it to a respected local dealer. Some will charge an appraisal fee if you end up deciding not to sell. I think the norm is for them to pay you 50-60% of what they expect to realize for it. An actual collector will tend to offer you more, but until someone looks at it and gives you some sort of qualified figure, you're not in a good position to know what order of value magnitude you've got. That I think is the toughest issue facing someone in your situation. Are we talking closer to $100, $1000, $10K, or $100K? You need to assess that--either develop the knowledge yourself, or obtain its benefits from someone who has it.

What is very important to understand is that nearly any alteration of a coin makes it less desirable and thus decreases its value. Polishing and cleaning tend to stand out like neon signs, and any collector with much knowledge will be able to spot these alterations in a hurry. As a general rule, there's a way the coin is supposed to look for its age and level of wear. If it is cleaned, it tends to be the wrong color, as in a worn-flat Mercury dime that shines with a brilliant blast white color. You must also, and I hate to say it because I know such matters are sensitive, be prepared for the possibility that Grandfather was not quite the brilliant numismatist he might have appeared to be. Let's put it this way: rarely have I seen the inheritor be pleasantly surprised.

[VKurtB]

I see your grandpa’s stuff is in Eagle brand holders. I love that stuff. Are you sure you’re not a time traveler and you’re MY unborn grand-daughter selling my collection that my son passed on to you?

Edited September 1, 2020 by VKurtB

[Shadow Rose]

1 hour ago, VKurtB said:

I see your grandpa’s stuff is in Eagle brand holders. I love that stuff. Are you sure you’re not a time traveler and you’re MY unborn grand-daughter selling my collection that my son passed on to you?

Lol.

I'm still using them to. Grandpa left an entire box of eagle cases so i've been putting any fairly valuable coins like the walking liberty half dollars in them.

I rather like their look.

[VKurtB]

2 hours ago, Shadow Rose said:

Lol.

I'm still using them to. Grandpa left an entire box of eagle cases so i've been putting any fairly valuable coins like the walking liberty half dollars in them.

I rather like their look.

If you ever want to sell Eagle 2x2 boxes, I believe called the Eagle 36, I’m interested and will ever remain so.

[Coinbuf]

@JKK has given you the same advice that I would.  From your earlier post I think you have some items of value but it needs to be evaluated before you can really develop a plan on the best steps to move forward.  You can also call Great Collections and ask to speak to Ian (the owner) and see what advice and/or services he can provide, Ian is top shelf and will might be able to point you to someone that he may know in your area of the country to help with an early assessment.  If you have not already I suggest that you make an inventory of what you have using excel or something similar to help you sort and track what you have. 

[Shadow Rose]

5 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

@JKK has given you the same advice that I would.  From your earlier post I think you have some items of value but it needs to be evaluated before you can really develop a plan on the best steps to move forward.  You can also call Great Collections and ask to speak to Ian (the owner) and see what advice and/or services he can provide, Ian is top shelf and will might be able to point you to someone that he may know in your area of the country to help with an early assessment.  If you have not already I suggest that you make an inventory of what you have using excel or something similar to help you sort and track what you have. 

Eh really?

I never would have expected that you could just speak to the owner like that.

Also i did start making an inventory today thanks to you. Seems like it will take a few days

Thanks!

[VKurtB]

48 minutes ago, Shadow Rose said:

Eh really?

I never would have expected that you could just speak to the owner like that.

Also i did start making an inventory today thanks to you. Seems like it will take a few days

Thanks!

Most places, maybe not. But Ian is exceptionally approachable. I see him only seldom, but he always greets me warmly. 

[JKK]

3 hours ago, Shadow Rose said:

Eh really?

I never would have expected that you could just speak to the owner like that.

Also i did start making an inventory today thanks to you. Seems like it will take a few days

Thanks!

I can confirm that. I helped a local lady sell her dad's gold coin collection through GC and there was zero trouble getting in touch with Ian. The thing I liked most about GC was Ian's know-how of likely grading outcomes and recommendations for those that did not slab the first time, or did but he felt were worth shooting for a CAC sticker (indicator that the coin is on the high side of the grade, and can make it more desirable).

Also had conversations to evaluate Heritage, but they wanted to buy most of the coins outright rather than auction them. My takeaway from that was that they felt they could sell them for a profit, which same there is nothing wrong with that, but that also means that would be profit I would rather have seen my client realize. They were polite and professional, but when I did all the analysis, I felt my client would realize a better outcome at GC and she accepted my recommendation.

[Shadow Rose]

3 minutes ago, JKK said:

I can confirm that. I helped a local lady sell her dad's gold coin collection through GC and there was zero trouble getting in touch with Ian. The thing I liked most about GC was Ian's know-how of likely grading outcomes and recommendations for those that did not slab the first time, or did but he felt were worth shooting for a CAC sticker (indicator that the coin is on the high side of the grade, and can make it more desirable).

Also had conversations to evaluate Heritage, but they wanted to buy most of the coins outright rather than auction them. My takeaway from that was that they felt they could sell them for a profit, which same there is nothing wrong with that, but that also means that would be profit I would rather have seen my client realize. They were polite and professional, but when I did all the analysis, I felt my client would realize a better outcome at GC and she accepted my recommendation.

Thanks!

I didn't think heritage would just buy them instead of auction them. Aren't they supposed to be an auction house or is it a kinda fake auction thing?

Just discovered a coin graded as a 2007 Silver Eagle 1st Day of Issue Burnished Planchet MS 70

I googled the different words but nothing seems to mention if its good or bad.

Oh and another graded one had a little bit of the eagles rays from its sun missing. I wonder if that's bad...

Edited September 2, 2020 by Shadow Rose

[JKK]

1 minute ago, Shadow Rose said:

Thanks!

I didn't think heritage would just buy them instead of auction them. Aren't they supposed to be an auction house or is it a kinda fake auction thing?

Just discovered a coin graded as a 1x 2007 Silver Eagle 1st Day of Issue Burnished Planchet MS 70

I googled the different words but nothing seems to mention if its good or bad.

It's not a fake auction thing--they're absolutely for real--but I was surprised at how many they just wanted to buy outright. It's not like they were definitely declining to auction them, but I'll never really know because I didn't push it; that's when I began to back away. You saw my logic above: sounded like a car trade-in offer, where you know you are getting less for the car because they know they can sell it for more. That difference, that profit, I wanted for my client, not for them. Maybe if she'd been in an urgent hurry for the money it'd have been different, but she was not and my marching orders were to get her the best outcome.

[Shadow Rose]

2 minutes ago, JKK said:

It's not a fake auction thing--they're absolutely for real--but I was surprised at how many they just wanted to buy outright. It's not like they were definitely declining to auction them, but I'll never really know because I didn't push it; that's when I began to back away. You saw my logic above: sounded like a car trade-in offer, where you know you are getting less for the car because they know they can sell it for more. That difference, that profit, I wanted for my client, not for them. Maybe if she'd been in an urgent hurry for the money it'd have been different, but she was not and my marching orders were to get her the best outcome.

Ah okay. Bit odd they would do that for a few coins though considering their massive auction house.

[JKK]

7 hours ago, Shadow Rose said:

Ah okay. Bit odd they would do that for a few coins though considering their massive auction house.

In this case a few was about $75-100K worth. The collection ultimately hammered for a grand total of just under $150K.

[Shadow Rose]

17 minutes ago, JKK said:

In this case a few was about $75-100K worth. The collection ultimately hammered for a grand total of just under $150K.

Wow. That's a lot.

[JKK]

3 minutes ago, Shadow Rose said:

Wow. That's a lot.

You can see why I was at pains to make sure I got her the best possible outcome. We weren't talking small change. A 1% difference in the total would have been enough to buy a new phone at full retail with money left over to hit Panera and buy five bottles of really nice single-malt. While we could have taken them to local dealers (advertising the sale to local collectors would not be able to avoid safety issues, and I don't particularly care to carry a gun nor contemplate using it), the drag there is that the lot was too large. Many dealers wouldn't have the capital to pay what it was worth; the honest ones would have said so and offered on a portion (if on any), while the dishonest ones would have offered what they could afford hoping the Big Money Today would make us stupid. My client was content to wait a couple extra months for probably a $30K difference in outcome.

[Shadow Rose]

3 hours ago, Lancek said:

Great Collections only sells graded coins.  And not all of those will be worth grading.  Although sometimes they will let you send raw coins and they will send in for grading.  At their lower cost.  They also have a low commission.  5%. But they do also charge a 10% fee to the buyer.

Heritage only wants the very high dollar stuff.  Leaving you with the bulk of your collection.

You could check with local auction houses.  Many have sold off estates with large coin collections.  A few in my area have gotten pretty knowledgeable about coins.  One holds coin only auctions 2 or 3 times a year.  So he has a pretty regular set of coin collectors that show up.  I used to find some real bargains there, but as word has gotten around, thing now go for retail+.  They generally charge 10 to 15% commission, but they don't charge a buyers premium.  So things might sell for more.  Lower end coins that aren't worth grading would sell better with them.  

Also, there are hosting sites like HiBid and Proxibid that have dozens of coin auctions each month.  From a variety of auctioneers.  My local auctioneer started listing all coin sales on HiBid.  Best of both worlds when selling.  You get local buyers that can pay more for coins because they aren't paying a fee.  And online exposure for the rare/high dollar coins that may attract a certain type of buyer.

 

 

Nothing within 250 miles of me on hibid and it doesnt seem like theres anything within a few hundred of me on proxi either. The downside of living in the middle of a desert i suppose. Might be a nice way to sell off the other stuff i have though.

[Mythoclast]

I also recommend Great Collections, I only transact with them, they are reliable.