Selling Big Collection and Need Help

Hello members of cointalk,

I am in need of some help. My grandfather has asked me to sell off his coin collection that he has been collecting since he was a child. I am not a person who collects coins and I have been lurking on this forum for a week or so now trying to gain some knowledge on coins and what to look for in coins. i have not bought the coin book like everyone says you should and I intend to do it soon. My grandpa does have an older version of this red book but I am guessing that since the time that one was published prices have changed and other things have been added.

We are in the middle of fully renovating his house and this week I intend to go through his coin collection and take a picture of each individual coin while we have someone coming to install linoleum. But for right now I have an excel spreadsheet that has not been updated since 1993 with what coins he had up to that point. He told me that he has gotten more since then, so this week I will update it to what else I find. This spreadsheet is taken from notes that my grandpa gave my dad and he typed this spreadsheet out.

Here is the link to the spreadsheet:
http://bit.ly/dFDKr0

I do have other questions regarding dealers. I am located in Michigan and I am not sure if anyone lives in MI from here and knows any places around here that I can look into. From the majority of everyone here they say to look at multiple dealers and as always do NOT clean the coins. I will not do anything like that.

I appreciate any of the input on this topic and I know my grandpa would greatly appreciate any help that is given here. Thank you for reading.

RJ

 

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Welcome.
First off, I am hesitant to download a program link from a new member, so I haven't looked at your list. Sorry.

Be very careful as you move forward.
There are plenty of folks out there that live to prey on uninformed heirs to valuables.
Secure your items while workers are in the home.
Items could leave the house in toolboxes and pockets, or word could get out that valuables are in the home, setting up a burglary situation.
I am not trying to scare you, or make you paranoid, but this stuff happens all the time.

Also, my experience with dealers is they (the ones I have been exposed to anyway) are just as eager to prey on your lack of knowledge, so use caution and don't take the first offer you get on anything.

The best thing I can suggest to you is educate yourself thoroughly before moving anything at all.
My experience selling off my father's collectibles was that people focused on trying to get the rare items quickly, before I knew what was happening, and ignored the common stuff. So even moving one item at a time can hurt you big if you let someone talk you into moving your most valuable item(s) right away, before arming yourself with info.

Good luck

 

Welcome to the forum. I suggest you join your nearest coin club and go to some meetings for a couple of months. Most clubs have coin auctions every couple of weeks. Also, you can get an idea what your coins are worth by checking out ebay steadily for a couple of weeks. If you just "watch" the auction till it ends it may help, but it's not definitive tho'! If you have Morgan silver dollars look on the reverse and if they have a CC mintmark they are worth alot more than regular Morgan dollar prices. Don't sell until you know! good luck!!

BTW, have you thought about selling them on ebay? :thumb:

 

Welcome to the forum! Ask your grandfather if he feels up to selecting out the better coins. His knowledge is probably such that it would take you much longer to come to speed. If he feels that the better coins deserve high consideration in pricing, call a good auction firm such as "Heritage Auctions" or others and talk to them. The prices they can get if the coins deserve it most often offsets their fees over trying to sell them piecemeal yourself. If you have a newstand in town, get a copy of "Coin World" and you can see auction houses ads. The lower grade coins, if silver or gold are at a good time bullion price wise. My worse case would be trying to sell them almost individually. The Coin dealer's newsletter gives price ranges that many use as bid/ask
http://www.greysheet.com/cdn/grey.asp and a single issue can be purchased. Prices are subjective in that a visually attractive coin is worth a premium over such listed prices. Hope this gets you started! I am sure others will chime in. Hello to your Grandpa.

Jim

 

I opened the xls file and put it into a pdf so others will feel safe viewing it.
You can view it here: http://www.statworx.com/mattsuhcoins.pdf

 

I thank everyone for the advice. Don't worry, all of his coins are up in the 2nd floor. The workers are going to be below on the first floor and my brother and I are basically going to be playing PS3 upstairs and removing wallpaper the whole day while not leaving the workers alone downstairs. As I am on spring break and my dad is at work, that is the only reason why we will be there.

I can understand as well that you would be hesitant to download a file from a new member. That is my personal website, I just did not want the link to be so long. Here it is again from my website, its an excel spreadsheet:

http://www.reflectinginthechrome.com/ryanj/coincollection11-1993.xls

Some of the readings do not make sense to me, he also said some of the stuff would be good to just melt.

I'll respond proper in a few hours. I have to drop some schoolwork off in East Lansing.

I will also ask my grandpa. The thing that is hard is there are so many coins (at least I think there is) and he is on the other side of town by my home because a month ago he broke his hip and is in a rehab center. His home is about an hour away from where I live.

 

You can either spend money by selling them to a dealer for less than "what they are worth".
Or spend time by educating yourself and researching the coins, after which you will probably get "hooked" and want to keep them.

 

Best case scenario!

 

As much as I would like to, my grandpa wants to sell them. I have no say in this. I would be more than happy help him sell his collection as he has done so much for me.

 

Have you told him you would like to learn the hobby and maybe have some of his to start your collection?
I am sure he might let you have a few anyway if you put it to him like that...
Much of what you listed has very low to only moderate value.
There are a few expensive pieces there, and if he is trying to raise money for some reason, he would probably not 'give', but there is plenty there to get and cherish as part of your collection and remember him when you have kids/grandkids.

 

Nice collection, sorry to see it broken up. I wish he would allow you to take it over, be it's steward and continue his hobby. That's my hope for my kids as I got hooked after my wife's dad died and had some awesome coins. Best wishes on the collection!

 

My father collected a few different things, and stamps was one.
When he passed, stamps were in a (and still are) down market, so they were worth little, relative to what he paid and what they were worth to us sentimentally, even though we didn't collect them.
So now we are stamp collectors, spurred on by dealers that offered us very little for the collection, even though catalog values were high.

Your GF might feel that many of those items are just not worth selling compared to what he gave for them.
Even the proof and mint sets you list are worth about the same as their issue price, if not less.

 

Well, I feel sort of lost here, all coins pretty much new, and I'm wonder how old
grandfather is?

 

He is 86. Back in the early 70's most of his collection was stolen when they were on vacation unfortunately.

He is not trying to raise any money. He is moving out of his house and into something smaller because he cannot take care of it anymore. So he wants to get rid of his coin collection because he never looks at them anymore.

 

Sorry about this, it's really no fair for person who collect for long period of time
and at the end , could not even look on it.I guess he lost best part of collection.
Just for you to save some time, you do not have do the pictures for any coins that worst basically silver ( and it is all new coins for the most part), so just check price on ebay, and if look interesting for you, do the picture, otherwise , no reason

 

My suggestion is simple. Since you have very limited knowledge and experience in such matters , it might be more prudent of you to assign this task to a " professional " . A starting point would be seeking out an " appraiser " . Liquidating an entire life's collection usually is quite a task , not to mention the responsibility of making certain your getting Fair Market Value . There are many , many other threads on here about this very same issue . It might be wise to read through some of them. If you desire , some of us can probably provide you with the names of a local Dealer or Two, with whom we are familiar with their business ethics . Good Luck.

 

This seems like a good time to talk with your grandfather and mine his knowledge. The vast majority of grandkids who end up selling off their collections don't have access to a resource like that!

I would recommend getting a copy of the Blackbook Guide to Coin Values (a 2009 or 2010 should be very cheap or even available at your local library). You may also check for a Krause catalog (ditto on the library).

 

Many on the forum probably would agree with this, but if you did plan on selling to a dealer, many collectors would pay you the same price, probably more. This way, you bypass the dealer, and bypass "oiling the machine," so to speak. There are a few dealers on here, I've noticed, and I mean no disrespect. Without coin dealers, there'd be no hobby. However, it's true that dealers need to make a profit on the coins, so they will commonly pay less than a collector. Just saying.
Also, if you're looking to sell locally, I'm in MI, Detroit area. I'd match a dealer's price.

 

Thanks everyone. Sorry I have not been around to reply. This last week we have been getting ready to have the carpet installed in my grandpa's house and have been removing wallpaper. The excel spreadsheet on the first page is really outdated. We were throwing some stuff out of his house and actually found a few more boxes of coins. So I know that it had to be updated.

I have had a little time to talk to my grandpa about everything. My mom actually bought the 2011 red book for coins (forgot the title, its at his house) for my grandpa. I believe that is good to start off with? I understand that a dealer needs to make a profit on the coins. Would I like to have someone in the coin collecting community buy them? Absolutely. I know that all the coins are pretty much normal coins and are easily attainable.

@Lon Chaney - The coins are also in the Metro-Detroit area. So, do you know anywhere I can go to get this stuff appraised (or just go off the redbook prices?)?

One more thing, my grandfather seemed to have bought a lot of stuff from the Franklin Mint. I assume that all the stuff from there is worthless and really has no value, more of just coins to have than anything.

Again, I appreciate everyone's input. I will try and have a better list to show.

 

Check your pm. But I am also in the Metro Detroit area. If you want a dealer to review your items, My suggestion is 'The Coin Cove' in Roseville (10 and Gratiot). Gene along with his wife Mary, has been there for decades and is very honest. At least, with my dealing with him.

About Franklin Mint stuff- Yes it is overpriced and not very collectible to 'coin collectors', however be sure to look up the Franklin Mint stuff and check its compostiion. They did/do put out a lot of silver.