I have a friend that dropped of approximately 1000 old coins wanting to know if I would be interested in buying them. They are all circulated coins in all kinds on conditions, loose in plastic bags. I have no idea how to come up with an offer for them. He does not need money so I'm not going to steal them. I think he ended up with them after his mother passed away and coins just don't interest him. Here's somewhat of a rundown of what is there. 500 - silver dimes, mostly Roosevelts 200 - silver quarters, mostly Washingtons 100 - silver halves, mostly 1964 Kennedys 50 - buffalo & silver nickels 100 - old pennies, mostly wheaties with a few steels and indian heads 1 - 1882 Morgan dollar in VF condition according to my 25 yr old guide What would some of you experts do if you were me? Would you make an offer without going through each and every coin? Would you use some multiple of face value as a basis for an offer? Be brutally honest, because I may refer my friend here to show him how I arrive at my offer. I don't want to pay more than they are worth, but I would like to come up with a deal where we both think we did ok. BTW, what would be a good publication for me to buy so that I can get an idea for a coins value? Thanks for any help you can give me. Pat
Well I'm not an expert but here is what I did when I bought part of a hoard... Here is what I would pay: $0.25 per silver dime $1.00 per silver quarter $2.00 per silver half $0.25 per nickel (maybe a little more if the Buffs have dates) $0.03 per cent $8.00-$9.00 per silver dollar. (this is about what I've seen dealers offer) When you offer make sure you offer a little lower than your total--the guy that I bought from is a builder and had just hoarded all kinds of coins and knew nothing about them at all...I looked through and picked out what I wanted and made an offer..he counter-offered and I said fine...I still got the coins at about 50% of what I would have had to pay today...to this day he says I got too good of a deal...I just tell him he made the last offer I just took it If there are better date coins I would look in an old red-book (2002-2003) and go by that price...that is about what graysheet is sometimes. Speedy One tip---don't look at dates and mint marks if you can buy them all! I couldn't buy the whole lot of coins that I looked through because it would have been $1,000.00+ and that was only a little part of the real hoard...no gold and he didn't bring the 100 ounce bar of silver I saw him buy (when silver was $4.00 a ounce)
Here is how I would come up with the offer. This is just my opinion: The silver coins I would figure at bullion value (6.50 as a round figure. The market closed on Friday at 6.89 with a low of 6.57). The figures below reflect the amount of silver in each coin: Dimes: 500x.47 = 235.00 Quarters: 200x1.18 = 236.00 Half Dollars: 100x2.35 = 235.00 Silver Nickels: ???x.36 = _________ Buffalo Nickels: Check for earlier dates and offer .50 each for 1927 or newer except for the 1931S (minimum $10.00 if G4, if higher, offer depends on condition). Varieties (doubled dies, 3 1/2 legged buffalo, 3 legged buffalo, and many dates prior to 1927 need to be evaluated per coin). If you don't want to take the time to evaluate the earlier dates, I'd offer 1.00 each for the earlier dates. This is contingent on having readable dates. Dateless, I would offer .10 each. Indian Head Cents: At least separate these out from the wheaties. There are some more valuable dates and varieties. It is up to you if you want to check for these. I would suggest it. If not, offer at least $1.50 each. Wheat Cents: I'd offer .03 each if you don't want to search the dates. This is based on the going rate that I have seen for dealers buying 5000 at $165. Morgan Dollar in VF, I'd offer $10 if it's just wear, $5.00 if there is damage. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. Hope this helps.
Thanks Susan for the welcome and thank everyone so far for the advice. I'm open for more opinions if anyone else has one. Thanks, Pat
Susan set out a price structure for the bullion silver, thats probly the best way to purchase if you can make it work. Rick
I guess this was meant for me I do it because that is what they are worth to me...if you have a silver nickel you have more silver then if you had 2 sliver dimes. Also dimes from 1946-1964 are common and why pay more for coins that aren't worth it?? If the dimes are older then 1946 I will pay more then $0.25...I pay what I think is fair and that's all....sorry if my views are other then yours. Speedy
Actually, Speedy, there is more actual silver in a .90 silver dime than in a .35 silver nickel. It's an easy mistake to make because of the difference in size between the coins. The nickel has a total of .05626 oz. whereas the dime has .07234 oz.
Ah I see where I was wrong--I was always told that the silver war nickels have .350 silver in them where as the dime (1946-1964) has .07234...But I see where you're coming from and I'll think about it Thanks Speedy
Also of note, as a percentage of melt, war nickels trade for less than dimes,quarters and halves as the metal is "junkier" and thus costlier to melt and seperate. Same for 40% halves. (In the case of the silver-clad halves, it has to do with the coin being clad)
The .350 is the fineness of the silver - it's 35% pure. The .07234 is the troy weight in ounces of the actual silver in the dime. You can't compare fineness to mass.
yes you can, (as evidenced by Speedy's comparison) it is just a worthless comparison. lol Remember there are people who insist on comparing apples and oranges. Sorry, I guess I'm really just a smart aleck deep down, I just couldn't resist commenting.
