I really could use some good advice to help a very nice senior citizen. My wife and I have a friend who has some Morgans, Peace Dollars and several rolls of silver Roosevelts that she "needs" to sell. I've had only enough time to quickly look through the dollars to see if I could identify any "key date" coins that would help her get some quick cash, but I found none. What she has are a hand full of possible MS Morgans out of two rolls of them and a few AU Peace dollars and the rest are WELL circulated many AG - Good. I'm going catalog her coins and preserve the coins that may bring the highest and then try and figure the best way to sell with out 1. Getting cheated and 2. Having to spend money she doesn't have to sell them. She doesn't have internet access to sell on ebay, and I haven't yet offered to help with that. What I really would like is some wisdom about, because I collect, I don't sell not even junk silvers, is this: The Morgans that she has that are AG at best and are not Key date coins, should they be sold for spot silver price? Or should she try to sell them in the coin collecting market like ebay and hope someone will give more then spot? I would love to help her get a fair price and I have already refused to take any payment for doing a good deed, please help me help her. What would you do or what do you all do when you sell coins of this grade? Thanks in advance.
I have had good luck selling silver like this on ebay. The way I did it was just grouped the like coins together and put them out there as lots. The dollars that are not so good will just be thrown in with the rest. With the price of silver as it is, the bids will come. I too have sold some stuff on ebay for other people and just pay the selling fees with the money made and ask for nothing else. I commend you for helping this person:thumb:
Selling them on ebay would likely bring the highest prices, assuming you were willing to do that for her. But the ebay fees and shipping fees ( and yes the shipping fees count even though they wil be paid by the buyers because the buyers will likely discount their bids to make up for the shipping fees they pay ) would probably eat up any difference above what you would get paid by a dealer. So it may turn out just as good selling them to a dealer all at one time and not having to go through all the ebay crap as well as the time you would have to invest.
Thanks for the quick replies. All you guys that have replied so fast are one reason I have made CT my home choice for "coin talking". Every reply so far has been worthy of serious consideration. If she wants me to try and sell them for her I will probably do just that. GDJMSP ideas where really the only things I could think of and eventhough I have yet to sell anything on ebay I know it costs to sell there. At least here I could post good pics and maybe let "her" accept or decline offers and it wouldn't cost her anything but time and postage. Thanks again to all.
As already stated ebay would probably be a waste and to involved. One thing you may want to try is to just use your computer to type in coin shows and your state in Google or Yahoo. Also, coin dealers. If there are any coin shows in your area just go to one and test out what you might be offered for thoes coins. However, just as with a car, house, toy, etc. first get a book with approximate values of coins to see what might be an approximate value. If you suspect a value then at a coin show, dealer, etc. you can say you know they are worth X and you would like to get X-? due to the understanding that a coin dealer has to make a profit on the resale. If you feel the coins are really worth only Silver by weight, you may also want to check into jewlers that make their own. Also, as mentioned you may want to check out this forum for someone that would buy them. Lots of honest people here whereas if you go to a coin show, coin shop, etc. you will be dealing with someone that may be a used car salesman for a first job.
The ideas above about posting them in this forum or taking them to a local dealer seem appropriate in this situation. However, if I was going to take them to a dealer, I don't think I'd take them all at one time. I would probably take a group of the lowest quality coins first to establish a base price. Then I'd work my way up in quality, expecting to receive at least a slightly higher price with each group as the quality increased. Otherwise, I'd be afraid that a less than saintly dealer might offer a flat price per coin for the entire batch that might not refect fair value.
