How does one become a coin appraiser? I know I could google this but I trust coin talk people and feel you all would set me straight. Anyone who is an appraiser, I would love to hear your experiance
When you become an expert on grading, counterfeit detection, variety attribution, value and know how to properly liquidate coins, you can become a appraiser. I'm not trying to knock down your desires, just trying to let you know how hard it can be to do it properly. If you want it, go for it, good luck.
You have to know alot about the subject that you are appraising. If its coins you have to know how to authenticate if a coin is authentic, has it been cleaned, does it have damage, has it been wizard, tooled etc... then you have to know how to properly grade it and determine a fair market value of the coin. And if you are appraising to purchase you have to know how much you can afford to offer below fair market to make your profit. there really is alot to it.
Thank you for your answers. This helps me to know what to look for when going to a dealer and or appraiser. I would like to maybe going thru the proscess to learn more about coin collecting. This would be more for personal gain than to actually work as a appraiser.
Micro - Becoming someone qualified to be an appraiser is a long difficult task that takes many years of study. I think what you actually want to know is how to determine fair value for coins. That in itself is hard enough, but it's no where near as hard as becoming qualified to be an appraiser. To determine fair value for coins you have to first learn how to grade accurately and consistently. That alone can take years. Then you also have to understand and know the coin market. To do those things you have to spend some money, a lot actually. You have to buy a lot of books, read them, study them, learn them. You have to subscribe to the trade magazines, you have to subscribe to CDN, you have to study the coin market every day, you have to familiarize yourself with and belong to the electronic dealer trading networks. You have to follow all the major auctions, all the time. You have to go to a lot of coin shows. And you have to buy, and sell, a lot of coins. And I don't mean on ebay. Now honestly, most people aren't willing to do that, they're not even willing to do part of it. Most people won't spend a couple hundred dollars on books, let alone spend $400 on just 1 book. But to really do what you want to do, you need to spend thousands on books. And that's just the books. You still have everything else. Again, this is why it is so very, very, important that collectors establish relationships with respected and trusted coin dealers. The coin dealers have already done all this, and they continue to do it every day. It seems like many people think coin dealers are the enemy, but coin dealers are, and should be, your best friend. Use them. What you want to learn is what they do for a living. You can still study and learn about coins. And I strongly urge you, and everybody else, to do so. But to not take advantage of the very best tool that you have at your disposal, that just doesn't make any sense.
One thing you could do is get a job at a coin shop. A good coin shop. Spend a few years there and you'll see just how much there is to know.
You'll also need to become a paying member to a bunch of numismatic groups so you can place an alphabet of initials after your name. Doesn't mean that you're an expert in appraising coins, but for some reason people seem to believe that you know what you're doing because of the alphabet of initials after your name.
Any good profession requires such years of study and dedication, and the most interesting ones have no formal college program.
Fasinating answers, and a good reality check on what it takes to be an appraiser. Time will tell as the interest of coins goes on. Thanks!
