Putting a Value on My Collection

kanga. Smoking = Bad, Quitting = Good. Unhealthy lifestyle ? Change that, bid farewell to junk food, and you'll be "vegged out" in no time. - Do disregard this advice, if longevity isn't your scene !

 

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Like Mountain Man I really couldn't care less what my wife does with my collection after I'm through with it. As far as I am concerned she can melt it down and make silver bullets in case of a werewolf attack. I make sure she is financially taken care of before I spend dollar one on something as frivolous as a coin collection.

As for "so many people will rip her off if she doesn't have the least bit of information", I am forced to ask "How? It is a logical impossibility for her to receive less than what the collection is worth TO HER as any price she accepts--yes, even face value--will at a minimum be at or above her valuation of the collection. Otherwise she wouldn't sell at that price. And as the seller her valuation--not any given market value--is the only one that truly matters.

 

On top of what Doug just mentioned, Kanga is planning here for what happens *after* his eventual demise. His wife and family don't know about coins and wouldn't have any idea what to do with them - hence the reason he is planning now.

 

First, he didn't say that he had 1000 to 2000 coins. Second, auction houses typically undervalue the coins you submit to them then charge a commision on top of that. And, if you're smart, you should take pics no matter who you submit them to. And, if you've been collecting for a long time you should already have them cataloged. I do. It makes it so much easier to check the values from time to time instead of going to the bank and getting them out and returning them every time. I will check the ebay fees. I recently sold a 1930-S SLQ pcgs MS-64 FH for $400 and my paypal was credited $360. Sorry, I meant 10% not 2%. It also isn't guaranteed that the auction house will sell your coins either.

 

Classy. His family doesn't know about coins. That's my point. They wouldn't know if they were being taken for a ride or not. With ebay you're more likely to get a fairer price.

 

He said that he had a very large collection, without specifying the number of pieces or exact value. We're speculating that he's talking about several hundred or more pieces.

And I don't know what auction houses you've dealt with recently, but the commision is based on a percentage of the hammer price. The auction house doesn't charge up front - they take a percentage after the auction occurs. The value, and commision, are entirely up to the bidders.

 

Depending on what type of material we are talking about, Ebay is absolutely the right or wrong choice. For high end, scarce material, Ebay is not the right venue - it just doesn't attract the right type of buyers. If you're talking about coins in the couple hundred dollar range, or if your talking about common coins, then you can do alright. But I absolutely disagree that you will get the best price on Ebay, especially for high end or rare material, and especially for specialist material.

And the whole point of this discussion is that Kanga is trying to come up with a good idea of his collection's value, so that his family knows that aren't getting taken.

 

Unless one leaves their spouses a ballpark idea of what the collection might draw on a sale and sources to go to, they are guaranteed to get taken to the cleaners in high fashion. You don’t have to worry about that.

 

That is probably true, but if they are willing for that to happen, then they will simply take the first offer they get and not worry. For some, the pressure and time it would take to learn a true value and go for that may not be worth it.

 

The person I am recommending to my wife is MFD (My Favorite Dealer).
He put together my FE/IHC set.
Those of you who see my occasional posts know whom I'm referring to.
That set alone is worth a good amount since the lowest grade is MS-62 (the 1856) and all of the others are higher grades.
I am recommeding him because I trust him.

 

I would use PCGS and NGC online price guides and resources. Unless you get a subscription to Numismedia then you don't get all the grades. If I used Numismedia, without a subscription for my dime collection, there is no FMV for full torch designated coins. PCGS and NGC price guides give you all that information and more for free. NGC has a better auction result mostly for the large amount of results. PCGS auction results contain E-Bay auction results. I won a coin on E-Bay and it showed up in the PCGS auction results for that coin.

You could start a registry set on NGC. They have bulk uploading of coins and it is pretty quick. It gives you a place to put the price you paid for the coin and it also gives you the NGC price for the coin. You can easily compare what you paid for a coin to what the going FMV is. I haven't tried the PCGS registry so I don't know about it. The NGC registry allows you to print out reports on your coin collection. It also has fill-in forms for insurance purposes. Try it out. It is free to use.

 

NGC Registry Sets went on my black list when they no longer gave points for PCGS coins.
I had 10-12 sets listed but I took them all down.

 

The exact same point at which I considered “white listing” the idea.

 

I do recall now, you saying something about that. I wouldn't be happy either if I spent all that time to set it up just to get the rug pulled out from under you.

 

Sad but true.

 

@Santinidollar put it best. My wife has no idea what my coins are worth and would have no idea what value to put on them. She would be forced to accept a valuation of someone else. Walking into a coin store with no knowledge and hearing $1,000 might sound like a great deal. If the coins are worth $10,000, then that person is going to be taken advantage of.

 

Just ballpark it using numismedia fmv and that'll save you and her time as well as get a decent return. The more time you put into it the more money you will get. If you put no time into it then she will likely be taken advantage of (but ignorance is bliss). Spending a very little time ballparking it with numismedia and discounting it a bit will maximize return vs time ratio. I think you are already on the right track OP.

 

a lot of collectors sell on ebay lots of bidders and yes everybody wants a coin as cheap as they can get it dealers included, auction houses cost way to much .I have collected for 50 plus years all the info you get wont get you more money and yes I have lots of certified coins I put what I paid for them and when I am gone who ever sells them has a record of it . problem is coins are a hobby not investment.some people put inflation factors and all that other garbage in there especially silver unless they are a rare one . if they get what I paid they gain if they don't they still gain as I am the one who paid . cost them nothing. bottom line you will get what a person is willing to pay and nothing more
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That's just it...if she is willing to sell for 1000.00 then that is what they are worth--TO HER!

I guess it comes down to the fact that I really don't care if some dealer makes a windfall profit from my heirs. Anything that they receive for it is more than what the collection is worth to them.

As for the proverbial "poor widow needing rent money"? I have a much bigger problem with the idea of some collector spending 20 grand on a hobby instead of securing her future before hand than I have with a dealer making a profit--even an vastly inflated one.