It recently got out through the grapevine of my family friends that I'm a coin collector, and I was asked to help appraise the inherited collection of an older gentleman - the grandfather of one of my friends. I've done informal appraisals for friends/acquaintances in the past, but typically I'll use sold prices on eBay as a reference point for values, assuming that whoever I'm giving the appraisal to will be able to sell their coins there if they desire. In this case, this gentleman is in his 80s or 90s and listing his coins on eBay may not be a viable option. I'd instead like to give him an idea of how much he should look to get for selling the coins if taking them to a coin shop. What should I base those values on? Should I buy a copy of the greysheet and give him the bid values, or take X% of those values? Not sure exactly what will be the most accurate reference here. He does have a few coins that are a bit more valuable (including what looks to be a genuine 1889-CC Morgan in XF condition), so I want to make sure he doesn't end up getting ripped off wherever he goes to sell them.
I would use the grey sheet, but use 80% to 85% of list for a fair offer. As for junk silver, check coinflation, but realize that the value changes constantly, and you only get a %'age of melt. Hey, they can't do it for free. Perhaps you could offer him a fair price to the coins, if you can afford them or even want them
It can be difficult as many dealers have their own pricing. I've seen dealers offer very close to greysheet and others are quite a bit lower. It also depends on the material. Proof sets and mint sets (especially non-silver) are often well below greysheet among most dealers (since everyone has some and they don't move too quickly). On the other hand, junk silver/silver bullion/gold bullion has had a spike in demand recently and the premiums on it are higher than average. Greysheet can be a good start (note: you can register for a free Heritage account and find greysheet numbers there if you look up each specific coin). Recent eBay sales are another good resource to have an idea of going rates (and if the dealer's offer is well below that number, selling on eBay might end up being the better option...although don't forget about the 10% non-store fee and the 2.9% from PayPal).
When it comes to offers from dealers it will also make a huge difference if the coins are graded or not. If they are raw, well, unless ya get lucky and find a really good dealer then the offers could be all over the map. Some of them a good bit lower than what you think they should be because everything will depend on what the dealers think the coins grade. And scarcities like the '89-CC, if it aint graded then don't hold out much hope because unless the dealer really knows his stuff, he won't trust his own judgement to even authenticate the coin, let alone grade it. And the Grey Sheet, many of their prices are liable to be higher than prices really are.
Yeah, I'm a little concerned about that. I know he could get probably double or more the value of the 89-CC if he gets it graded, even if it comes back details cleaned (tough to tell for sure, as all I have to work with are cellphone photos). But sending it to a TPG is probably not going to be a viable option for him either. What I may do is give him a couple of different appraisals - a conservative appraisal based on a discount applied to the greysheet values, and a conservative appraisal based on the low end of eBay sold prices. I'll offer to sell the coins for him on eBay on consignment (probably not charging him a fee), as I have no real interest in buying them straight up. Raw 89-CCs still go for good money on eBay, but I can evaluate whether it's worth sending to NGC once I have it in-hand.
What about using the BlueBook prices, then he, most likely, wouldn't be disappointed in the evaluation/sale. Maybe even able to get a little higher price. J.T.
