One of the most knowledgable posters on coin talk listed a number of rules or guidelines about the hobby, one of the guidelines was to actually sell some coin, not just remain a buyer but participate in the hobby from the other side of the transaction. Considerring the source and the inherent sense in the advice, plus the fact that I am involved in settling my fathers estate, this last week I sold coins to the general public, not to coin collectors, not to people who know the value of coins. I needed to do this not only because it is good advice to know both sides of a transaction, but because my dad left me so much and as much as I like coins there are only so many war nickels and 1943 walking liberties that I want to retain for my collection. I want to be fair, to give a good deal to others, but I also do not want to be a "welfare office" so last week I checked the spot price of silver and took a bunch of coins and placed them in 2X2s, I did a bunch of mercury dimes, a load of quarters, a bunch of halves, and a few clad kennedies and Ikes, I priced the dimes at a dollar except for a few 1916s I made a misstake and priced the quarters at 3 dollars, though I actually meant to make the price ten times face. Walkers were 6, Frankies 5.50 64 kennedies at 5, The 40 percent kennedies I priced at 2 bucks, the clad at 75 cents, and the Ikes I priced at 1.25. The war nickels I also made a misstake and priced at a buck though melt was more like .75. I also had a few worn common buffalos and those I priced at a buck though dealers only offered me .60. I went to work and mentioned to people that I was selling some coins, here is what happened. The Ikes sold out completely, the walkers and frankies sold good, the buffalos went fast, the mercs sold well, the roosies and the kennedies did not sell as well, the war nickels barely sold at all. I mentioned I misspriced the war nickels, I am going to offer another bunch for .75 each and see what happens. While this was going on I also was selling some tools and household goods, I put a few more c notes into the estate account but let me tell you that selling could be a full time job, trying to work a 55 hour week and managing other things means that you just do not put the time you should into selling to do the best job you can do. I guess the point is that selling coins can give one a new appreciation for what a dealer has to do. I was only selling low priced coins, and did not have to deal with people wanting to offer me their old circulated Ikes for ten bucks each and getting angry when told that the best I could do was a nickle over face. People tend to think old equals more expensive, but I did have a few mercs from the late teens that I priced a little above spot and those did not sell as fast as the later ones. I was upfront with people, I told them that I could sell those coins for 9 times face but I was giving people a chance to buy them for less than they would have to pay at a regular dealer for sometimes 20 or 30 times face. I found an interesting thing in regards to heritage and culture, the hispanic mexican friends bought all they could, hoarding must be a tradition down south of the border, while not as many americans would take a good deal. One friend told me that they love to get a silver dime in change now and then but they would never pay a dollar for a dime. The quarters did not sell at all, I accidently priced them at 12 times face, instead of ten, maybe that is why, but I also suspect that it was because of the common look of the coins, the walkers sold much much better than the kennedies, though I priced the walkers at 6 and the kennedies at 5. I was a bit surprised at how well the buffalo nickels sold, I am out of them except for 5 real good condition ones I saved for myself. But they were not silver or gold, people bought them not for the metal content, but they were the first things that sold out. Overall I would rate my experience of selling coins to the general public as a good one, people do not seem to care much about silver content or market values, but they did buy coins that were obsolete, the ikes, walkers, frankies, mercs and buffalos, they also seemed to tend to the lower costs, buying more dimes then quarters. more kennedy clads than kennedy silver. The next step in selling is to sell to collectors, now bullion investors are one thing, but collectors are another, to sell to them I am going to have to be able to post good pictures, pictures that show the coins good and bad angles. This step is one I would take even more carefully then selling to friends and coworkers, I would think that there would be some things to consider, one is that I would consider it a good deal myself, the same criteria I had with selling low end silver and other common coins, the other is that without a doubt most collectors would know much more than I do about the coin, and therefore would more or less let me know in a way if I was being successful by if a price was ignored then I obviously was overgrading or being too optimistic, or otherwise if I offered something and was besieged with offers that I was undergrading and being too pessimistic about the market. First things first though, before I get to that next big step I have to dispose of the other things, it never makes any sense to sell your best things first, always sell the lower end stuff first. I got that wonderful piece of advice from a reccomend from a poster on this site about a book called coin collectiing for dummies, co-authored by Ron Guth from PCGS, he basically states that offerring everything all at once leads to people cherry picking the best stuff and then you are left with selling the leavings. Best to get the drudgery out of the way first, and in my case that is junk silver, I feel that selling for ten times face is a good chance for people to buy silver coins for a good price, plus I make a little bit more than if I just took the whole collection to a dealer and sold it for 9X face. I know there are a lot of people who can fly into things where I am at best creeping along, but I have found that what works best for me is to take things slow, step by step and eventually I will get there, I may not be first but I do finish,
I have seen some comments regarding the % of silver. Didn't coins in 1965 have a little more silver than coins later on? Where can I find info on this. I've done a search here but can't seem to find anything.
