So, you feel it is time to sell your long-time coin collection, or you
have inherited a collection and you know nothing about coins and you
want to sell them. As with the sale of anything, you want to make sure
you get a fair price. Sounds simple enough, right? In the area of
numismatics, when the time comes to sell, offers for your collection can
vary greatly. The following tips will help guide you to getting a fair
and reasonable offer. I will talk more on the term "reasonable" a little
bit later. Coin Dealers, like any other profession, number in the
thousands. From part-time single person businesses to huge companies
that buy and sell millions of dollars worth of coins annually. And like
other professions and industries, we have a few crooks. By following the
general tips in this article, you should be in a better position to
realize your collections value. So here we go!
First and foremost, you need to know what you have. Why? If you do not
know what you have, how do you know you are getting fair value? If you
have thousands and thousands of wheat cents, I am not saying you need to
inventory them all. In fact, it may not be worth your time. The chances
of finding a key coin are slim at best. But you should know how many
pennies you have. How? Simply weigh them. Wheat pennies come to about
148 pennies per pound. The same rule can apply to other common coins
such as pre 1965 Roosevelt Dimes and Washington quarters. For the rest
of your collection, you may want to count the number of each piece. Make
sure you have a complete list of your collection.
OK, time to contact a dealer? No, not yet. How do you know you are
getting an honest one? Before contacting a dealer, you need to do some
homework. Does the dealer belong to any organizations and clubs such as
ANA or BBB? How long has s/he been in business? What is their
reputation? Check out a couple of dealers before you make that call.
Also, just because they advertise in a major coin collecting
publication, does not make them honest. I know of one dealer who
advertises in a major publication and sells cleaned coins as BU/Unc
originals. Most novice collectors would not know the difference.
Now that you have done some research, it is time to contact the dealer.
This can be done in many ways. You can give them a call or if you are
the shy type, just send them an email. In your email, identify yourself
and that you have a collection for sale. Include in the email the
inventory you completed. This may come as a shock to many, but some
dealers will NOT want your collection. Many dealers specialize in
certain types or series, or just may have too many coins in their
inventory. If your collection is an average collection of common coins,
you may be disappointed to learn that many, if not all of the big
dealers simply do not want to bother with you. It is too time consuming
to sort the common collections and the margins are too small. Do not
fret, all is not lost. Many smaller dealers will welcome the chance to
obtain your collection. Many of these dealers work in mail-order only
and may have only email or a PO Box as contact information. While they
may appear shady, these folks generally are quite reputable. As before,
contact the dealer and ask if they are interested. If they are not, just
move on to the next dealer. If they are, ask them for their "buy price"
list. Many dealers will publish a list of what they are willing to pay
for certain coins.
After some hard work, you have a couple offers on the table. The offers
are not anywhere near what you expected. Remember what I said above
about a "reasonable" offer? Here is the painful truth. Coin Dealers are
in business to make money. Sure, many of us chose this profession
because we love it, but like everybody else, we still have mortgages,
car payments, and college for kids, etc. Many people will look in the
latest Coin Prices magazine to come up with an idea of what their
collection is worth. Magazines such as Coin Prices are really a list of
prices of what you can expect to pay a dealer for a specific coin, not
what you can expect to get paid. Markups can range from 20-50% or more
for smaller denomination coins such as wheat cents. As I mentioned
earlier, some dealers just may not want what you have. Also, many, if
not all dealers, reserve the right to revise the offer on inspection of
the collection. If you think all your Morgan Dollars are BU, but they
are really AU, this would make a huge difference in price. Grading is
highly subjective. Also, for larger, more diverse collections, a dealer
may spend a considerable amount of time reviewing the collection to
ensure a fair price.
So, what to do? Take the best offer and run? Maybe, maybe not. If this
is an inheritance, and you have no emotional attachment, you can just
sell and never look back. If this is your collection of 50 years, well
this may be painful. You can continue to contact different dealers and
wait for a better offer. If you feel your collection is really worth
more, you can always consign it for auction. With some of the fees the
major auction firms charge, it may not be worth it. You can also try
your hand at eBay but unless you have a strong feedback profile, many
buyers will not bid on your items. You can also locate eBay members who
will auction off your collection for you for a percentage of the take.
Sometimes this works out well and sometimes not.
For now, lets assume you have a reasonable offer and you decide to sell.
By the way, this should be a written offer sent via the mail or sent
via email. Many times, the buyer may be located in another city/state.
No buyer will send you a check until they have seen the collection. If
the collection is large enough (many, many thousands of dollars), some
buyers will come to you. If not, your very viable option is to send the
collection to the buyer via mail. Yes, that is right, via the mail. Wait
you say, that sounds risky. It can be, but if you take precautions, you
will have no problems. First, package the collection up very well. Make
sure there are NO LOOSE coins jingling around. The sound of jingling
coins is music to a thiefs ear. So be sure to wrap them up well and
tight. When sending via the mail, the USPS is fairly safe. Usually, you
will want to use USPS Priority Mail. Contact your local post office as
you can usually get free boxes. Generally, you will want to use the Flat
Rate options as you can ship up to 70 pounds for under $10.00 (not
including insurance), but ask your local postal clerk for options. For
your protection, you MUST insure your package and pay for delivery
conformation. Include in your package an itemized list. Most dealers
will appreciate this as they will audit the shipment to the list. If all
is well, you can expect a check in the mail in no time.
In summary, here are the tips
1. Know what you have, prepare a comprehensive inventory 2. Research
some dealers before you contact one. 3. Talk to dealers before sending
coins to gauge interest 4. Send your coins. Package them well and insure
them 5. Review the offer 6. Collect the cash!
As always, happy collecting!
Keith Scott has been a collector for over 30 years and owns a small mail-order internet-based coin store.
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