A couple weeks ago my 11 year old bought a token lot at a coin auction. Included in it is a far 1864 civil war store card from O.G. Metcalf in Belmont OH. It is listed in Fuld as OH 070-A-a1. Apparently it's R-8 meaning it's a fairly rare coin. It's also from a single merchant town and it's an 1864 which I'm told helps as well. Quick searches on the 'ole internet shows that in F-VF these have been selling in the $1,200-$1,900 range over the last 5 years. Our is not as nice as those examples, probably more in the G range. I've never sold a coin in my life and really don't know how to get the most money for something like this, being rare but also appealing likely to only a very narrow market. Any thoughts on how to maximize value on selling this piece is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
First, welcome to the neighborhood @Joe Campbell ! It's really hard for anyone to guesstimate what the maximum value may be. I've seen many coins sell for 3-, 4- and 5-figures one week and only half as much a couple of weeks later. It can often depend on how many people are interested in it and how many people really want it. Rarity scales don't have much meaning for me. I've found too many inconsistencies when someone is touting them while trying to sell a coin. The only thing I can suggest is that you document previous sales and take good photos. Chris
eBay. If there's someone interested they will most likely be searching eBay. Use keywords in the listing title and description so your item comes up in peoples' searches. Heritage has zero fees if you're a combat vet like myself so that's another option. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"Heritage has zero fees if you're a combat vet like myself so that's another option." I did not know that, how does one verify their combat service?? Thanks.
@jester3681 is a CWT specialist (and likely not the only one in these parts) and may be able to advise you. Good luck, and congrats on the find! That's awesome. Some pictures, of course, would help those who would help you.
PS - to address your primary question, I would sell it via true auction on eBay, with excellent or at least very clear photos. I would start it off at 99c and let it find its own price. Take this advice with the proverbial grain of salt, but it's what I'd do. I would then promote the auction by linking to it from ad threads in the buy/sell/trade forums of the various coin forums, being mindful of the rules and etiquette of each forum, of course. You take some risk by going true auction with a low start, but the low start price will bring multiple bidders flocking to your item if it's any good, and if two or three decide to compete over your piece, the ending price will be higher. Often the action in an online auction doesn't happen until the last moments. Here I describe one of my auctions of a rare token on eBay.
Appreciate everyone's advice. We've listed in on eBay (and some of the other tokens that came in the same lot) so we'll see how it goes. I didn't start it at $0.99 so maybe that was a mistake. Thanks everyone.
Shoot me a message with a link to the auction and I will check it out. Not listing it with a low start like 99c isn't an error; it just means you'll get fewer bidders. This is fine if the bidders you DO get bid well. I just find that a low starting bid gets more attention (and watchers) in the early part of the auction, with the theory being that a few of those watchers hopefully will bid later - and better yet, start a competition between bidders. Bidding wars are GREAT, if you're the seller!
Yes. You're DD-214 or show them your veterans card. I sold some nice sports items a few years ago and I wasn't charged anything. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Should have updated this a while ago. I listed it on eBay as a 7 day auction starting at $200 with a $750 buy it now price. After 5 days it hadn't sold but I had several people indicate that they intended to bid on the token. One individual asked to buy it now for less than the $750. As I had no bids I chickened out and sold it to him for $600. Maybe a great move, maybe a mistake. My thought was if it was going to go for much more than $600 someone would have jumped on the buy it now. As auction price is set by the 2nd highest bidder, and that we paid $0.28 for the token, $600 seemed more than reasonable. Thanks for all the advice.
Now comes the hard part - convincing your 11yo this is the exception rather than the rule. I suspect a new collector is born, though.
The He operates at a level of fortunateness that few people will every attain... He found an 1830 bust half at the bank, found several Merc's and Indianhead penny's at the grocery store. It's the third buy we had in a 3 month window that was ~1000x the buy price. Good news is he wants to use the money to buy a lawnmower so he can start his own lawn mowing business which is a surprisingly sensible answer. Thanks.
He sounds lucky and enterprising. That's a good combination. If numismatics is fun for him, then even better.
