Whats the best way to sell a coin thats worth a few thousand bucks?

A friend of mine inheirited a single gold coin. I took a look at it, and its worth quite a bit of cash. I encouraged him to keep it since it belonged to one of his grandparents, but he definitely wants to sell it. Whats the best way to sell such a coin?

 

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Crazy to sell it. Whatever the money gets blown on will be worth about half as much next year. This sounds like a huge regret story in the making.

What is the coin?

 

I used to say Heritage, but from what I have seen lately, slab it and sell it on eBay.

 

Is the coin slabbed? If so, he could sell it on Teletrade. Coins on Teletrade get fairly good exposure and bring a reasonable price. I think their seller's fee is 10%.

 

I think Heritage has a $5,000 minimum. That might be a good choice if the coin is worth $5,000 or more (or if your friend has additional coins that bring the total value to $5,000 or more).

 

Agree with the Teletrade option. They also will have the coin slabbed for free if it isn't already.

http://www.teletrade.com/

 

Well, my friend's coin is an 1879-O $10.00 gold piece. I don't know alot about grading gold, but using the ANA grading book, I would conservatively grade it at least XF-40. So I believe it is worth a good five grand.

P.S. The coin has not been slabbed. I had planned to advise my friend to send it in to NGC.

 

My opinion

Behind the scenes, contact a cpl people that you think have good reputations buying and selling. Chances are, if the coin is desirable and popular, they can produce the same amount of cash in an offer as the coin could bring at " auction ", after fees, and save you the months of wait time .

Only after you exaust ( sp) your immeadiate contact resources, then think the auction house route.

Ebay is not a bad idea either, if sold with a seller with a track record of selling SIMILAR items at full retail price, and you consider the commisions beforehand or have a healthy reserve.

$5000 is a great amount of money, but the " biggie " houses spend more than that at lunch

 

Grey Sheet on that coin in XF-40 is $3k. That is the dealer-to-dealer wholesale price. Naturally, retail is higher but you are unlikely to sell it for retail.

 

FWIW, and it may not be worth much.... now may not be the best time to sell. Is it something he has to move quickly? It just seems to me we're in a buyer's market right now. Selling anything can be tough at times and usually expectations should be tempered. Especially if there's a rush to move it.

It'd be hard for me to let a third party rake in the fees on it, but maybe that will be your only route.

 

get it certified (many older coins have been monkeyed with, that would be my biggest fear), they try Ebay with a high reserve. It couldn't hurt to try Ebay and you may get a good retail price.

 

The $5,000 minimum for Heritage is to get it in a signature sale. You can still get the coin in a Heritage Sunday or Tuesday Internet only sale as long as you are a member. Don't forget, the seller pays 5% commission and the buyer pays 15% commission on every Heritage Lot. I think if it is one coin, it should be sold on E-Bay with a reasonable reserve.

 

I learn something every day. Thanks for the clarification.

 

For selling valuable coins, E-Bay is viable only if you have significant recent sales with perfect feedback. If you've never sold a coin on E-Bay before, this isn't the right coin to start out.

Who would pay premium dollar to a seller who has zero coin sales feedback ?

 

Teletrade is very reputable; I have never had a problem with them either buying or selling. Great customer service.

They only auction certified coins. But it's true you can consign raw coins and they will have them certified for you. Normally $11 / coin*, but they have a freebie deal right now.

But there's a catch...

Once the coin is graded, you are committed to selling it through them. Who can blame them ? They send it to the TPG, and the TPG sends it back to T-Trade. They then list it for auction.

Wouldn't it be good to know the market grade (and thus, value) before committing to sell ?

Right now, the holder of this coin is dealing with an unknown. He doesn't know what he has. It's tough to make the optimal decision.

I say get in the know on what you have before making a decision. Have knowledgable, trusted people cast an eye on it. That will probably lead to having it certified.

At that point, most variables are gone and you will have a much clearer idea of what the coin is truly worth. Then you can make an informed call based upon your personal circumstances.


* much lower than normal TPG rates

 

Great points, .900fine. Agree 100%.

 

Sell it on ebay (no need to slab it IMO), I bet you will get the closest to retail price for the coin there. Make sure to set a minimum acceptable price. Have real good pictures of the coin and be completely honest about it, if its quality, people will see it and it will sell. Make sure to offer money back...and make sure you have GOOD quality pics.

 

whats the best...........................................

....why not here?

http://forums.collectors.com/categories.cfm?catid=7

 

Here is an excerpt from a letter I just received from Heritage. If you are a member or know someone who is, this sounds like a better deal than the rest I have seen here.

 

Well, I actually think this coin might go as high as mid-AU level. Like I said, I was being very conservative when I said XF-40 since I don't have much experience with gold.