Appraising an Estate

Through a series of events, I was offered the task of evaluating an estate of an acquaintance of mine who passed away earlier this year.

I had owned a special events company about 20 years ago and I had met this fellow who had a huge collection of militaria, antiques and odds and ends. I purchased a number of items from him for some of the events I designed. Then a few years later when I was an antiques/collectibles dealer, I ran into him again and he would sell me items that he had no interest in. After I closed the business I lost touch with him.

A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking to one of my customers at the restaurant that I work at and he was telling me about a client of his whose brother had passed away, leaving her with the task of handling his estate. There was a coin collection that she was having a difficult time with because she was getting offers from different dealers that she felt was way too low. He passed her name to me and I made contact. To my surprise, her brother was the same seller that I had dealt with in the past. I told her I would be glad to appraise the collection for her.

I went on Thursday night with a female friend and I spent a couple of hours going through the boxes of coins that he had collected.

It was mainly Canadian with a few U.S. silver dollars. Most of the coins were in 2X2's and had prices marked on them. I discovered the prices were all taken from a price guide and all were marked at BU or MS regardless of what the actual condition of the coins were. In fact there was only a few MS coins in the entire collection. The rest were fine or lower.

At melt value, there was over $2,000 in silver. The rest of the collection I estimated at around $1,000 using a percentage of Trends prices. The minimum she should be able to get would be $3,000 by unloading them quickly. If she sold them individually, she could double or triple the prices but she didn't want to be bothered with it.

Now comes the kicker. The highest offer she received from local coin dealers was $800 for the entire collection (remember there is $2,000 in melt value for just the silver!). I told her that I would consider buying the collection and would pay her $3,000. She has to discuss the offer with the rest of the family before she can accept or reject it.

It made me angry that not a single dealer that looked at the collection had the decency to make a fair offer.

 

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Well your a good, honest guy diggit! I applaud your honesty! There oughta be more dealers like you!

 

Thanks, v... but I'm not a dealer.

 

No, but there should be more people like you regardless!

 

Bravo. It would be neat to get so many new coins to your addition, but at a price. I'm sure you would not pay that much if you did not think it was a win win situation.

 

Isn't that the point of any transaction? The best business is done when both parties going away feeling like it was fair and equitable. Anyone that thinks otherwise, I hope never to do business with.

 

No argument here

 

I'm not going to pretend that there isn't potential to make money even at my offer. I could recoup my investment with a little profit by making the effort to search each and every coin for varieties and grades. If I spent a little more time to sell each coin on ebay, I could make a lot more money but then the time investment becomes a factor.

For $3,000 I would get a nice varied collection which I would be happy to own plus there is a lot in there that I could give away (in contests or whatever) that are interesting but don't have a lot of value or it's nothing I'm interested in.

The point I was making in the original post was that the sister was being taken advantage of. She could sell the silver for scrap and have $2,000 or more just by walking into the major dealer here in the city. The guys who low-balled her were rude to her, told her all the stuff was junk and basically, they would be doing her a favor by taking it off her hands. I'm familiar with one of the dealers who gave her a quote and I know his reputation (not good). How he manages to stay in business is beyond me.

 

Understand and sad to say this happens all too often with the seller getting takin advantage of.

 

Don't get me wrong - I think what you have done sounds fair. But I don't want to knock dealers because I have read and seen the way people bring in stuff to sell. Should a dealer really spend hours sorting and classifying a collection? See the life and times of clembo at one of the other coin forums. Read all the posts by clembo and you get a feel for what it is like to be a dealer.

 

Well, in general oughta be more collector's like you !:thumb:

 

I understand that. I was a dealer for years. The silver value is what bothered me because it was right there, easy to see and no trouble to figure out how much it was worth.

 

Update!

The woman who has the collection called me today. She still has one more member of the family to talk to, but it looks as though they will sell the collection to me!:b8nce: I find out in a few days.

If this comes to pass, I'll have to curtail my spending for a while but this collection should keep me pretty busy for a month or so.

 

Congrats, please show your favorite pieces from the group if you get it!

 

I know I am not a dealer but that sounds like fun. The search and hunt part of this hobby is the best part. Hope you find something in there that is an added bonus.

 

The funny thing is.... even though there's a lot there to fill in holes in my Canadian coin collections, and some U.S. coins, what I'm really interested in is the bag of old foreign coins. It's about 2-3 lbs. of 1800's French, British and German copper coins. Most are pretty worn but I really like the looks of them.

 

Doggone it!! WHY do so many out there get in line to take advantage when these things happen!! I can tell you, you get labeled with a great big giant BULLSEYE! Good for you, Ikandiggit. You are earning something other than the joy of the coins, and I'm sure I don't need to spell that out to you. Personally, I HATE getting taken advantage of..and I can smell it a mile away, they get a look when they're ready to do it, and then they try to make you believe they've given you a fair shake. Nuts. I'm learning how to call a spade a spade. Meek me. Right now, you are a godsend to that woman and her family. Sorting out unfamiliar things, trying to figure out their value, and how to dispose of them is the LAST thing that family needs to deal with right now. High five to you!
Lucy

 

Thank you, Lucyray.

Twenty years or so ago, I was a lot like those dealers. I was young and took advantage of the knowledge that I had to use to get the lowest price possible without any consideration of the well being of the seller. But, I learned about Karma. Karma always wins. If you screw somebody it comes back against you tenfold. However, when you're fair and decent, it also repays tenfold. The you can share those rewards with others.

Good Karma is better than Bad Karma.

 

+1

 

I am with you on some of the old European coins. Some of them are really-really nice, even circulated!

I also agree about the Karma thing!!! Treating people in a kind and honest manner almost always brings good things to you down the road!