I am nearing the end

I am nearing the end---at 74. Also, failing kidneys and bladder cancer. I have a collection of ancient coins I need to figure out what I should do with---or, how to leave instructions to my 16 year younger sister/executor who knows nothing about ancient coins. Can anyone suggest places where she might find sellers who accept consignments---and can be trusted in dealing with someone who knows nothing about the coins she consigns? I asked for such a list via Moneta-L about a dozen years ago when it was more chatty than now----but, I would love an updated list of such sellers.

 

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The ancient community here will have an answer soon. Many good folks who will know what to do.

 

I suggest you contact @John Anthony , a member here who can surely give you good advices about what to do with your collection. And keep going despite your health problems, enjoy every little moments with your friends and family !

 

I'm very sorry to read of your current health condition.
The place you choose would depend much on the type of coins you have.
If you have high end popular coin types you may want to try CNG or Heritage (out of my league). However, if you have more of a hobbyist collection of mixed middle of the road coins I would recommend Frank Robinson. http://www.fsrcoin.com
He is honest and will pay honest prices.
I hope that helps.
Ps, if you have any Macedonian shield coins I'm always on the look

 

I find it very difficult to "like" messages that carry some bad news. I pray that you hang in there for many more.

 

Despite 'liking' your post (a somewhat arbitrary rhetorical construct, like most of them are), I would like to second everything else @Inspector43 said.
You just might have a while longer than the most glaring worst case. ...My two cents, for what they're worth.

 

I am truly sorry to read that you are in poor health and are having to consider what to do with your collection.

The first thing I would recommend no matter what else you do is to go back as much as possible and research when you bought and what you paid for as many coins as you can and record that somewhere. I include this information on the tag that I keep with each of my coins but some people just use a spreadsheet or other list type format. This should help your family to recognize which of the coins you own are more valuable.

There are a lot of reputable dealers that frequent the forum and I'm sure others will be able to provide a more complete list than me. If you are going to advise your family to consign to an online retail store you might get more bang for your buck but it might take years for the full consignment to sell. If you go that route a few possibilities:

@Ken Dorney : Not a member here anymore but reputable. He specializes in East Asian coins in addition to Classical Western coinage so if your collection has a lot of eastern examples he is possibly a good option. He has a Vcoins store and occasionally holds auctions as well. You can find his contact info at this link:
https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ken_dorney-52/ancient-coins/Default.aspx?#!/AboutUs

@Victor_Clark : A member here and a very reputable dealer that specializes in Roman coins. He runs a Vcoins store. Contact at following link.
https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/victors_imperial_coins-208/ancient-coins/Default.aspx

@John Anthony : A member here and very reputable. He holds smaller private auctions here on the forum and also has a seller presence on Ebay.

Marc Breitsprecher: Not a member here but a good dealer I would highly recommend. He has a Vcoins store but also runs his own website.
https://mrbcoins.com/aboutus.html
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Another way to go is to consign all or part of your coins to an auction house. Full disclosure: I have never consigned a coin to auction so I have limited feedback on the process. I know that the fee you pay to post a coin to an auction is different depending on the auction house you go with so I will leave it to others to provide feedback on that. Whether you go this route will highly depend on what kind of coins you own. Going the auction route usually makes the most sense for the consignor financially with mid to higher end coins because you pay a fee per coin auctioned so lower value coins might not recoup their value after fees.

The only auction house I can recommend with my experience is run by @Severus Alexander (Ancient & Medieval Coins Canada). https://www.amcoinscanada.com/​

In the end it might be best to use a mixture of the different methods and / or dealers posted above depending on your situation. I wish you the best of luck.

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Regardless of what you decide works best for you and your family in regard to your collection, I hope things work out for you. I also hope you feel free to share some photos of your collection here on the site if you wish to do so and tell us about your interests. Welcome to CoinTalk.

EDIT TO ADD: I would also highly endorse Frank Robinson as others have suggested. He is a very trustworthy and knowledgeable numismatist who runs a handful of auctions a year and maintains a website. Link below.
http://www.fsrcoin.com/

 

Mr Blake - I wish you all the best, stay optimistic and may we all post here in 2045.

 

I haven’t had much good experience selling, but I think Frank Robinson is pretty good if you have some more hobbyist level coins (aka three figures and below)

for the four figure ones you’d want an auction house of some sort, or a more intensive dealer

 

I am sorry to hear of this. I have the same concerns. My wife knows what to do with my collection. I have been fortunate to have had a relationship with a dealer who lives nearby. He knows what I have as he sold me a number of these coins. He knows that someday my wife is going to walk into the shop with the whole kit and caboodle. She knows to leave it in his hands what to do with it and he and I have have the kind of trust to know that he will market the collection either in his shop or on his website and forward the proceeds, less his well deserved commission, to my wife.

 

Sorry to hear this. I'm 75 and far from the oldest member here. If you have some you particularly like, there is a "sale" forum here and you could be sure the coins would go to someone who will appreciate them. Stick around and read some on here...caution...it is addicting.

 

If you feel your time is getting really short and death is imminent, I would advise to get the process of deciding which way to head and which coins go where yourself and not leave someone who has no tangent to numismatics and coin collecting start from scratch in a domain they'd be in over their heads. I think that if you oversee at least some of the process and decide or at least propose a course for your executor to follow, chances are your collection would earn more. And perhaps you could enjoy this closure as a last project.

 

Very true. When my grandfather died, he left behind quite a bit of US coins that the rest of family had no interest, or no knowledge in. I was pretty young at the time, only 15 or so, but I was by far the family's money expert. If it was left to anyone else, I suspect many of the coins would have been dumped into circulation or at a cut-rate pawn shop.

 

I would second this recommendation John is a good guy, a well known member, and I know he is well respected in this hobby.
I am sorry to hear about your health issues....wishing you all the best at this trying time.

 

I’m sorry to hear about your health, and wish you nothing but the best.

The appropriate venue to sell your coins will depend on the coins themselves.
Some of the good people mentioned above will not lead you astray.

The good news is yes, there are an abundance of good sellers and more info on your location, focus of collection, approximate value of coins will help us help you as much as we can.

A collection of premium Greek silver goes to an entirely different type of dealer/ auction house than a collection of Late Roman Bronze in average condition.

In most cases I’d also suggest sticking to a dealer or auction house close to home, all other things equal. Shipping an entire collection internationally is not fun.

nVb

 

I am sorry to hear of your medical situation.

A lot depends upon the quality of the coins. Coins that list retail over $200 each (say, using vcoins to judge retail) should be treated differently than coins under $50. If there are numerous such coins--enough to make a very valuable consignment--a major firm, like CNG, could be used to auction them. On the other hand, there is a minimum seller's fee which is too large to sell $50 or $80 coins (and they don't want them). For that sort of coin I have had good dealings with Marc Breitsprecher. marc@mrbcoins.com I'm sure others, including Frank Robinson, would work well for you.
I highly recommend you do this yourself as soon as you can. Make the phone calls, ask about commissions, and maybe have some photos ready to e-mail so the dealer can know the types of coins you have. (I have seen collectors value coins at $300 that were really worth only $75. No dealer can trust the opinion about dollar value from a collector completely unknown to them.)
Do as much as you can now. Expertise matters and no relative one can learn fast enough to be happy to have to do this. You had fun with you coins coming in. Now, decide to have fun making your coins go back out. It wouldn't be fun for your heirs.

 

Many of us are not far from where you are now, or worrying about what's coming. If done with knowledge, your heir will get a sizable chunk of money. Buy a car, or half a house, or at least several good family dinners. If not, well...

You can help and sell now, or if you are enjoying coins still (I think now I would, in your situation), tap the shoulder of one or more of the coin sellers mentioned above, and talk about this with your sister, give her all the documentation. Valentinian's is very sound advice.

 

Fortunately, we have 6 children that grew up in dad's coin collecting environment. The oldest is an avid collector on his own. The others and my wife understand the value of the stuff I have collected, coins and all. Simple things like a rare WW II bayonet is fairly important. It looks like a long knife to most people.

I am 77 and still want to "play" (dads in the den playing with his coins) with my collections.

 

Everyone has offered very good advice. My prayers are with You and Your Family. Heritage Auctions are excellent....if you do decide to sell. I hope that you will keep on collecting and beat this illness.
John