Any coin collectors out there...?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I received a box of old coins from my mother-in-law this past weekend. I’ve looked through it and found some seriously old US and international coins. One US quarter in particular is over 140yrs old.

Any advice on what I should do with these coins? I’m thinking of getting several graded, but I’m strapped for cash and can’t afford the service. (Ironic isn’t it? Here I might have coins worth several thousand $$$ and I can’t afford to find out :frowning: )

Also, if anyone knows of any numismatic databases for world coins, I’d really love a link.

Chrisbar

2

Go to any coin dealer and pick up the latest con value guide and do it yourself. You probably won’t get the conditions spot on but you’ll probably get a good idea. Then if you find something of potentially great value you can take it to a dealer (bring a friend as a witness) and get it appraised. Dunno if an auction house would be better than a dealer, but that’s worth a try.

3

Having been a coin collector once, I can tell you that you are unlikely in reality to get more than 50% of “Red Book” value. The coin dealers around here routinely pay $3-4 for silver Morgan and Peace Dollars, which are probably worth (in the condition I see them in) something around $20. A FOAF recently had 3 nearly uncirculated Morgan dollars that she took to a coin dealer. She was offered $20 for all three, but my severely out of date Red Book said they were worth about $300 total.

However, they are only worth what someone will pay. I told her what the book said they were worth, and offered her $100, which was all I could afford. Was I ripping her off? No, because I told her what the book said they were worth, and I offered her what they were worth to me.

As a side note, she passed on my offer, and sold them to the dealer for the $20 a few months later because I was out of town, and she “wanted the money then” and couldn’t wait another 24 hours. Oh well.

4

I used to be in the ancient coin business, and I came to learn a fair amount about ancient coins, but wasn’t much into the sales end. While ancients and U.S. coin markets have differences, there are similarities as well…

(However, I’d say, by way of example, that Michelle or Coosa’s advice about cats and dogs is far, far more expert than my advice about coins.)

(I used to work in Bruce McNall’s coin company. He owned the LA Kings. Then he and several others went to jail. company went belly up. Now I’m a paralegal…)

Anthracite is pretty much on target. Try looking at the Red Book value, but be prepared to get a fraction of that, particularly if you need/want to liquidate right away. This is often a problem when individuals want to liquidate an inheritance or if someone buys coins as an investment. They just aren’t very liquid (ironic that investing in MONEY isn’t very liquid).

Obviously, looking at a price guide will give you some idea how much time you should spend pursuing this. I certainly would not pay to have the coins graded unless they are certain to be worth it. (I do know that grades are far more standardized in U.S. than in foreign and ancients, and that a grade helps “set” the value of the coin–subject, again, to the liquidity issue above)

I don’t want to sound overly pessimistic, but even if your coin is old, it has to be fairly uncommon AND in very good to excellent condition to be worth all that much. There are some fairly nicely preserved ancient coins, some dating back as far as 300 A.D. Bronze. Worth about $50, maybe less. This isn’t to say that YOUR coins aren’t worth anything, but don’t get the hopes too high until you’ve looked at a price guide.

If your coins look like they might be worth the time to pursue this further, go to a coin dealer or two and ask how much he wants for them. If you aren’t in a hurry to get the cash, the dealer may take them on consignment, meaning he sells them and gets a commission off the sale price. He may sell them over the counter or in an auction. It may be possible for you to set a reserve, or minimum price, but be aware that if you put them up for auction and the reserve price isn’t met, the dealer may charge you a percentage of the reserve.

There’s probably more I could add, but this is already a long post. I really hope things work out for you. Let us know what happens, and if you have any further questions, reply to this thread or e-mail me (see my profile). But again, though I have some knowledge, I’m not an expert.

Hope this helps.

5

Thanks all for the help.
I’ll admit I got a little carried away after looking at some collector pricing guides. We’ve decided to take the coins to a local shop to see what they would offer us, but will likely keep them for now. Haven’t decided on whether or not to have them graded yet. Possibly a waste of money but it might help if we ever put them on Ebay.

Thanks again,
Chrisbar

6

Again, all I can do is make generalizations. Without actually seeing the coins, and knowing more about the U.S. Coin market than I actually do, but I’d say that it would be VERY difficult to sell your coins in any way except over the counter unless you do get them graded.

I do know the U.S. market is very dependent on grades–selling them in auction or in E-bay is not likely to get you the result you are hoping for unless the coins have been graded. A potential buyer for any U.S. coin worth much of anything is going to be very wary of purchasing coins in an auction or over E-bay unless he’s seen the coins or at least, knows that they’ve been officially graded and what the grade is.

And from what you’ve told us, yes, hang on to the coins unless you really have to liquidate them quickly. You’re more likely to gain than lose in price if you know more than you do now, and can afford to wait. Sure, it’s possible that someone might give you a better offer than you’ll eventually end up accepting, as with Anthracite, but it’s probably more likely that you’d end up being taken advantage of if you are impatient or not knowledgeable.

Best of luck. Hope it works out.