Advice on Inherited Coin Collection

Hello, all!

I've recently inherited my grandfathers coin collection. He collected a hoard from 1984-1986 as an investor, not as a numismatist. I've gone through the collection and reviewed for Cherrypicker's varieties. I am looking to liquidate the collection and am looking for advice on several issues.

The collection is comprised of:
- (3) 1941-'47 Walking Liberty 50C in Dansco albums (20 coins each)
- (3) 1971-'78 Ike $1 in Dansco albums (32 coins each)
- (174) "Mint" Morgan $1, including:

- (20) 1882-CC GSA Hoard
- (40) 1885-O​

- (22) "Mint" Peace $1
- (2) 1941-'45 Mercury 10C in holders (15 coins each)

1) The king of the collection is a 1941-S/S Walker. Sent it to PCGS and it came back as "Genuine Cleaned-UNC Detail". Any advice on how to go about marketing this coin? Do I submit to NGC to get a grade?

2) I sent may of the more valuable Morgans and Walkers to PCGS. Per the original invoices from the coins, they were "mint". PCGS is returning them as AU55/58, or even worse, as "Genuine Cleaned-AU Detail". Similar to above, what is the best way to market coins. Also tips on detecting a AU58 from a MS63. I look for full luster, but must not have trained myself enough.

3) For the 1882-CC Morgans, should I even bother to grade the MS63/64 coins? I cherrypicked the best 2 from the 20, and got a MS65 and MS64.

4) For the Dansco albums, is it best to sell a full album, or to sell the best coins piecemeal?

5) Is it worth the effort to sell coins individually, or to sell in bulk to a dealer?

I have many more questions, but these are the main ones.

I appreciate any advice!

 

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Many, many questions here, and some of them are tricky. No easy answers!

First, I'll offer condolences on the passing of your grandfather. He seems to have been quite a collector, judging from the size of your collection. Second, welcome to this forum, and I sincerely hope that we will be able to help you on your quest.

In order to best help you, we will need to see pictures of your coins. It's easiest to take this one by one - so, lets start with the 1941S Walker. Chances are, if PCGS called it "cleaned" then it has been cleaned at some point in its past. Pictures will help us determine how harshly. PCGS recently has tightened their grading considerably, so what once may have been "market acceptable" no longer is. If there are obvious signs of cleaning, then resubmitting it to NGC won't do you any good - they'll just say the same thing.

As for the Morgans.... again, pictures will be necessary to help you more. Many coins were sold as UNC which weren't (unscrupulous dealers looking to make a quick buck will sometimes use unethical practices). They were just really nice looking AU coins. If your grandfather wasn't the most discerning buyer, he may have been scammed by these folks. Telling AU from UNC is difficult, but with practice you can learn.

To determine the best method of selling the coins, we need to know your goals: are you looking to dispose of the collection quickly, or are you looking to maximize what you get out of it? Are you enjoying learning and studying, and perhaps may want to take this up as a hobby for yourself? If so, you may want to consider keeping the best pieces, and starting your own collection. What you want, and how much effort you want to put into it, will determine what method you choose to pursue for selling. So, tell us what you think.

I realize that I haven't provided a whole lot of answers yet - but like I said, there are a lot of variables. The more information you give us, the better we can help you.

 

Even put some of the coins and articles on this site and see what you can sell.

 

I very much disagree. Once you get a good lighting/photography setup, factor 1 minute to take/edit photos, 1-5 minutes to research the going rate for the grade (easy to do with certified coins), 5 minutes creating an eBay listing (having a template will greatly help you), and 3-5 minutes to package the coin when it sells (and certified coins are more likely to sell). 10-20 minutes per coin. It will take a bit of practice to get to this point, but it really isn’t that difficult.

There are several Facebook groups which have tons of Morgan collectors, so PM me if you want to go that route.

But the step of getting a good photography setup is of utmost importance! Pictures are what sell your coins. You have to make them look as good as they do in hand; if they look better, your buyer will be disappointed, if they look worse, your coins will be harder to sell.

 

He seems to know how to do this quite well.

He has sent most of them off for grading, so that part will be easy. PCGS Photograde would be a valuable resource for raw coins.

He seems intelligent, and the biggest venues are very straightforward.

 

Thanks all for the feedback. I've been making heavy use of PCGS Photograde and Coinfacts for research. The two biggest issues I've had with attribution are 1) being optimistic with a MS63 actually being a AU58 slider and 2) identifying when a coin is cleaned. Any tips on this would be helpful.

Graded coins are easy to value based on previous auction sales using Coinfacts. The issue I'm having is with cleaned coins. I know harshness of the cleaning is a big factor. Does anyone have any rough value guidelines for cleaned coins (e.g. 25%

My primary goal would be to liquidate the vast majority of the collection an keep a few choice pieces based on quality.

I've been playing around with a light cube and a light table, so hopefully will be able to post some images of the '41-S/S Walker on here for review.

 

I don’t think there are any tried and true parameters you can place on the value of a cleaned coin. There are many that would completely shun a cleaned coin. There are others that still may Be drawn to the coin dependent upon the eye appeal. I am one of those. Suffice to say for the most part a cleaned coin will bring what another is willing to pay. That isn’t much of an answer really..... Really it is just a different market. A young person that wants desperately to fill a hole in his book may be more than willing to buy a cleaned coin at a deal. The sophisticated numismatist would likely not be your market for a cleaned example.

 

Try using two or three independent light sources. That will make the luster show up the best

 

I'd consider greatcollections. I've used them for Estate work and have been extremely pleased. You can very quickly eat up any value on grading fees only to get gennie cleaned which generally do not sell very well.
GC offers discounts on grading, and they do all the selling.
In my experience, I've done all the attribution work before sending them off. They also work with CAC and like them or not, getting 2x normal price with the bean maximized profits for the estate.

 

Josh, none of these questions have to be answered in public, just in your head.
~ How soon will you need the money from the transaction for needed things?
~ Are you sure you want to give up family coins ( unless the answer to first question was now) which are memories ?
~ Is this an area where you have or might develop more knowledge later and regret selling when you did and what you received.
~Preserved, their value will probably not change much if kept in a secure place.

Many of us probably kicks ourselves for selling a coin we later realized meant more than the price. Jim

 

Ebay.

 

And to expand on that a little it depends on how the damage\cleaning looks to the person buying. If the damage is hard to notice, you will likely get more for it from a private individual. If it screams over dipped, then the price drops significantly regardless.

Give us a couple pictures at a couple different angles with good lighting and focus and we can probably give you an idea of how obvious the cleaning is. Regardless, if selling to a private individual your price will vary based on their experience and need. To a dealer you are more likely to get hit harder regardless because then they have to sell a damaged coin.

 

Also you might want to see if there is a coin club in your area. Ask a dealer or go to a local coin show and ask around. This might be another good source for a local buyer.

 

It sounds like you are dealing with mostly AU/BU coins, so the biggest giveaway for a cleaned coin is going to be hairline scratches from being wiped or rubbed. Get a 10 power jewelers loupe and examine each coin, rotating it under a light source. The hairlines can be easy to miss with the naked eye sometimes, and sometimes only stand out when the light hits them just right.

 

I ran into a similar situation with an elderly friend who inherited her mothers coin collection and knew nothing about coin. I spent the better part of a week going through over thousands of US and foreign coins. I was able to weed out a few of the more valuable coins and send them to NGC for grading; I figured i could help her sell those in an online auction (Great Collections), getting more money than what a dealer would give her. After organizing the rest of the collection I took my friend and her collection to a dealer friend who bought everything except the coins that got slabbed and sold by Great Collections. My dealer friend and I spent about 6 hours going through the lot. My friend was there during the process and learned a lot about what her mother collected. Of course, the many gold coins had the most value. In the end my friend ended up with a check that was many times more than what she expected and felt very comfortable about the whole process.

Sure, I could have helped her sell the coins going the ebay route and probably ended up with more money (maybe) but it wouldn't have been profitable considering the time and effort that would have been involved on both our parts.