Introduction to Selling to Coin Experts: Selling a coin collection can be an intimidating process. It is difficult to trust what you read online and it is even tougher to trust the local coin experts. In fact, many people get so overwhelmed by the idea of selling a coin collection that they don’t do anything with it and the collection ends up sitting in the closet for years. Our advice on how to best sell a coin collection is below.
Step 1: Figure Out What Type of Collection You Have
There are essentially four types of collections:
- True Collector Coin Collection — This is a group of coins that was put together by someone buying from dealers or at auction. There was an intelligent goal to the collection and real time and money were spent to assemble it.
- Coin Assemblage or Hoard — Something that a picker or opportunist put together. Most of these types of collections have lots of 90% silver and/or heavily circulated coins from the 1800s and newer.
- Mint Products Collection — This consists of proof sets, mint sets, and bullion products from the 1960s and newer that were purchased directly from the US Mint or its resellers.
- Late Night TV Collection — These types of collections usually have Franklin Mint products, coins that are framed, certificates of authenticity, etc.
It is important to understand what type of collection you have. The amount of money you can get for your collection, and the dealer interest in your collection, will strictly depend on what type of coins you have. If you have a true collector coin collection with a couple dozen coins with a total value of over $100,000, then you will have a line of dealers looking to pay lots of money. If you have a junky collection then you might only get 50 cents on the dollar and you might have a tough time finding anyone even willing to quote a price. Common and ugly coins are just flat out difficult to sell. Rare and attractive coins are easy to sell. It is that simple.
Step 2: Understand Spreads and Profit Margins
Different dealers require different returns on their time and money. A dealer working at a flea market might be willing to pay $4 for a coin he can sell for $5. A large national dealer who sells several million dollars’ worth of coins on an annual basis might not even pay $1 for a coin he should be able to sell for $5 — it just wouldn’t be worth his time. On the other hand, the flea market dealer might only be able to pay $500 for a $4,000 coin, but the large national dealer might be able to pay $3,750 for the $4,000 coin. If you show the same coin to ten different dealers you will probably get ten different offers. The person who offers the most money isn’t necessarily the most honest — it just means that he has the best market and ability to sell the coin at a price that justifies his time.
Step 3: Create an Inventory of the Coin Collection
It is much easier for us, or anyone, to make an offer to buy a collection if we know exactly what is in it. A big group photo of album pages or plastic containers really isn’t especially helpful, and neither is sending hundreds of pictures of individual coins. What we really need is an inventory (typed on a Word document or Excel spreadsheet) that details exactly what is in the collection. Just listing the year, mintmark, and denomination is a huge step in the right direction.
What we really need is an inventory that details exactly what is in the collection.
Having an inventory of the collection is a signal that you know what you have and are serious about getting a real offer.
Step 4: Have Realistic Expectations
There is a lot of misinformation floating around the coin hobby, and it can get especially bad when dealing with an inherited collection. Just because a great uncle paid $35 for a coin in the 1980s doesn’t mean it is worth significantly more today. And just because a coin is listed for sale on eBay for $5,000 doesn’t mean it is worth anywhere close to that. Coins are priced based on how much money they have sold for in the past. If a coin regularly sells at auction for $2,000 then it is worth $2,000, and it is reasonable to expect someone to pay within 10-25% of that price.
Step 5: Get More Than One Opinion, But Be Fair
If you have a late night TV or modern mint products collection then you can price those fairly accurately without any expert assistance. However, if you are deciding on selling a $50,000+ collection that has some nice collector coins in it, you don’t want to walk into a coin shop with no knowledge and just accept the first number you get. Every coin dealer understands that he is likely not the only person making an offer, so you aren’t going to offend anyone if you tell the dealer you are taking other offers. At the end of the day, the goal is to get as much money as you can for the collection, and any coin expert will know that.
Step 6: Sell to the Coin Experts You Choose
Once you have decided on the two or three dealers and/or auction houses you want to get a quote from, explain the situation to them: “Here is the inventory of a collection I am looking to sell. I can provide more details and pictures at your request. I am seeking a couple of offers and I wanted to get a price from your company.” That is a 100% appropriate introduction that will always get a positive response from coin experts. The people who have the most success in painlessly and profitably selling a collection are those who take their time, screen the people they involve, and honestly represent their intentions.