Coin Collection Appraisal

Hi All, I am fairly new to the site and although I have done some looking around I did not see this questioned addressed specifically. I have been collecting for 35 years. I am the "unsophisphicated" collector. Mostly have been a change sorter, US mint buyer and roll sorter. A banker friend of mine said I should have my collection "inventoried, appraised & sealed" . This way the set will be covered properly for loss (insurance) or could be used as collateral for lending. My question to the forum is of the nuts & bolts of the process. How does one get a certifed appraisal and what are the dynamics of the process. Do you drop them off and say see you in a week? Do you hover over him while he does the work? Will he want to grade every coin? Like I said my collection is far from professional. Besides the mint purchased items, most of my coins are bagged loose in qt sized bags and I honestly don't know what all I have. I worry I could very easily be taken advantage of. I called two local coin dealers and both were eager to have me bring them in but they were short of details. When I told one of them I was not looking to sell, just get an appraisal, he said he did not due that type of service. I of course expect to pay for the appraisal, if I can find someone to do it. Please guys, whats the process and any advise would be great

 

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hi where are you located ?, what you can do is find a ana registered numismatist that can teach you to grade. GD is right each coin would need to be looked at..and it may be a bit expensive but if you post pics of some of the coins we here a ct will help you with as much of it as you can.

 

You should create a spreadsheet inventory of the items you have on your own before you do anything. I would suggest a categorizing the loose coins by denomination and year. The US mint items will be easier to evaluate than the loose coins. Do you have any silver or gold? TC

 

One other thing that warrants mentioning is that once you have gotten an appraisal, you will need to insure the collection. Most standard HO policies do not cover collectible coins while others have strict limitations. It is possible to have a rider added to your HO policy, but the cost is usually prohibitive for the coverage you receive. The best coverage for collectible coins is through the ANA with Hugh Wood.

Chris

 

I understand and have talked to my insurance man about it. My banker says to do the aprraisal and just drop that particular collection in a safe deposit box. $50 a year rental may be cheapest insurance! He says with the appraisal if I ever needed to borrow I could use the collection as collateral (not likely something I would do)

 

So you just leave your safe full of coins with them? Problem is I don't have a real grasp of what I have. I would not call them "unsearched" but fairly close. Guess you need to find someone very reputable or inventory them yourself.

 

Iam trying to understand how i could grade my own coins and someone would loan me or insure them for what i say they would be worth?Seems you would need someone with a name that is a dealer to do this and it would be more cost than most of our coins would be worth.What would you tell the bank when you wanted to use them to borrow money?I have these coins i graded them at this amount and want to borrow this amount on them.The bank in my town would still be laughing right now.

 

You have a lot of work ahead of you if you plan to do any of this for real. And no, if your planning to bring a safe, you can also plan to bring it home. Unless the quantity is small and quality high, no one will allow you to just drop off bags of coins and leave the problem at their door step. Of course if you don't care how much they charge you, that may change their mind. You are going to have to separate and inventory them, educate yourself about them, and take some protective measures now, so they don't get damaged from your handling and from trasportation. As Doug said, they charge by the hour, so being organized in your approach will cut the time down on the bill. You may need coin holders, folders, flips or at least 2x2 cardboard protectors on them. However, if you know how to separate your very common pieces, you may cut down on that step as well. Hence, you will need reference books, price guides, even certain magazines and the like, to use and educate yourself. Then shop around to various dealers for apraisal costs, or ask them who they can recommend for that service. Then a few personal phone calls (and visits) and you may have a good handle on what it may cost you and maybe a guess to the collections value. ONLY THEN do you make the decision to go ahead or not. 35 years ago, if you had been keeping records and storing your coins properly, most of this would now fall in place for you. Unfortunately, you are going to have to do it now to get the job done in the right way.

 

Ask your insurance agent if they will insure "non-specific" coins for a fixed amount of coverage. Most won't or it is very costly. Hugh Wood, through the ANA, doesn't require an itemization of the coins. You tell them how much coverage you want, and it is fairly inexpensive.

Ask your banker if the bank will cover the "numismatic" value of the collection rather than the face value in the event of loss.

Chris

 

The bank does not insure anything you place in a safe deposit box. It's not covered by FDIC, or any other insurance from any bank.

You insure it at your own expense.

 

Suffice it to say, getting a professional appraisal is not what you see on the reality shows on t.v.

In the real world, you must leave the collection with the appraiser and however long it takes them.

Some collections can take months to go through. A friend of my mothers was a collector and had a very extensive collection of high valued coins, many CCs, St. Gaudens gold pieces, even some rare world coins.

The appraiser is still working on it to this day and she died 6 months ago.

 

I didn't mean the bank "insured" them. What I meant to say they are most likely safe from harm in a safety deposit vault. I have no doubt they would be safe there

 

This is going to be more intensive than I had thought! I now know from reading all of the comments that they must be inventoried and presented in another way than bags of coins. I called a couple of the closest coin dealer/shops today and apparently no one is interested in appraising several thousand coins for a fee. Being someone who has never frequented coin shops I don't have any kind of relationship with them and that's probably part of it. I am getting the impression they would rather buy and sell than offer services. What does someone do when an estate needs to be settled? I can't believe it really takes months to get a value. I am going to try a bigger city tomorrow and maybe send some inquiries via email. Thanks for all the tips so far guys

 

If its for an estate and no one wants them, take them to a coin show and get three or four offers for the lot. If its common stuff like bags of wheats and junk silver, and the like they will give you their buying price. Most good coins are good, meaning the purchaser has them in holders. Anything in a holder a buyer will look at separately, but bags they assume are in bags for a reason. A buyer is not going to go through a junk silver bag coin by coin to see if there is a 1916d in there, he assumes it junk.

Maybe I just see different kinds of groups of coins than others do. Most I see from people are an old cigar box, or a mint bag full of coins that are easily sorted through by an experienced hand. Yes, if your bags have some high value coins mixed in they need to be sorted through, but again most coins in bags are there for a reason, they have already been grouped into like kind and value.

My suggestion is to make sure any collectible coin is NOT in a bag. It is labeled and put into another storage medium. When going through folders or boxes of coins I go much slower and pay attention to each coin, but bags are assumed common stuff. If you have bought a bunch of better coins over the years, then thrown them into bags, I would HIGHLY recommend you pull them out. Even if you don't get an appraisal right now, your heirs will not get very much value for those coins is my fear.

Just my opinion.

Chris

 

What about an inland marine policy? Anybody use one? If you felt your collection was worth 5k and paid for 8k, replacement cost, wouldn't you be covered fairly well and get the full 8k if you ever had to use it? I think you still might have to get an appraisal every few years.
I'd like an appraisal on my collection but this sure sounds like a hassle. How many have went through an appraisal and who would even be qualified to do one? What does it take to be qualified? I don't know how somebody else is going to be any more qualified than me. What resources are they going to use that aren't available to me?

Anybody have experience with the ANA's insurance? Do they have an approximate annual rate per/$1k that could be shared here?

I'm glad the OP brought this thread up. I've actually been thinking about this too.

 

"Suffice it to say, getting a professional appraisal is not what you see on the reality shows on t.v."
mmmm, had NO idea that there is such a thing like a "professional appraiser for coins".
There is NONE. there are some with better reputations like others. BUT there are NO professionls in that field.
Every single TPG will have somewhere in the contract a little disclaimer like: "In our opinion".
Please do not mistake that for a authenticity certification.
why are there no profewssional appraisers? Simply, there is absolutely NO norm in law of what to base an appraisal on. there is no legal guide lines established. There is NO lawful paper which says exactly what minimum requirements a MS62 coin , or any other grade, has to meet!
What every numismatic appraisal gives you, is someones OPINION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, that opinion is based on a solid reputation and tons of experience.
Such experience is usually based on many years as a collector or a dealer. Over time, grades of coins have sort of become acceptable and many papers exist where grades are listed and what the grades should reflect in a actual coin.
BUT, remember, as long as minimum grades are not based on law and norm, there will always be shysters taking advantage LEGALLY of the words: "in our opinion".
the best example is this: look at a same type AU55 coin from either PCGS or NGC.. there are probably differences noticable. You would say it is a AU58, your friend would say it is a AU50.
And along comes a certain basement grader, perhaps NNC. that same AU55 coin is now miraculously elevated to be MS63. All in their opinion and perfectly Legal !!!
as far as your insurance company goes... I would suggest to get in writing that the opinion of the grader / appraiser you select will be excepted as full and true value in case of a loss.
personally, I can identify every coin I own valued at over 200 dollars. I would be able to positively proof it is my coin should thew need arise.
How??? macro photography. 5 different minor blemishes are put into a formula. there is NO way that these ever will change, unless the coin is manipulated so badly that it does not matter any more.
good luck
H

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