Do many dealers buy ancient coins?

Ive never tried to sell an ancient coin to a dealer and I’m hoping someone with experience doing so can answer this question.

Do many coin dealers buy ancient coins? Also does it help if the coins are slabbed by NGC? I imagine most dealers don’t have experience with authenticating ancient coins like they do with US coins but I am wondering if maybe the ones who lack experience would be more comfortable buying Ancient coins if they’ve already been checked out by the experts at NGC and given a pass.

It’s true NGC does not guarantee authenticity when it comes to ancients but I do know they won’t slab an Ancient unless their experts are pretty sure it’s authentic so at least it’s been looked at by an expert and given the thumbs up even if it’s not guaranteed.

Like I’m sure if I bought a bunch of fake Ancient coins from China and submitted them to NGC they would be sent back in body bags unslabbed so it’s not like NGC just slabs all coins submitted under the ancients category. They still have to get past the experts.

Anyway sorry for the long post I’m just curious if dealers are likely to make an offer on NGC slabbed ancients or if most dealers refuse to buy ancients at all.

Thanks!

 

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Honestly, I would say 80-90% of dealers wouldn't have any glimmer as to what an ancient coin would be worth.

 

Good point. I didn't think about the fact that there is no Red Book or Blue Book or Greysheet for ancients xD.

But they could always do an Ebay search for previous coins of the same type and grade and what they sold for right?

I also know one dealer who uses Heritage Auctions "sold listings" for making offers on things like US error coins so I imagine maybe that would work?

You're right though I never even thought about how difficult it would be to try to price an Ancient coin. Especially since even some of the same coins of the same Emperors are different. Like how Hadrian has normal denarii but also his super popular "travel series" denarii which may be worth vastly different amounts even in the same grade.

 

Your best option would be to consign them to an auction house or dealers who specialise in ancient coins (Vcoins vendors) or just sell them directly to the buyers.

 

Thanks Jay,

I considered that but I noticed most auction houses have a “minimum consignment” of like $1,000 and all three coins I am trying to sell are worth ~$400 max. I was hoping to get like $250 from a dealer for them so it left some room for profit for the dealer.

Selling directly is difficult for me since I only know of EBay and I’ve had some horrible experiences in the past on there that make me hesitant to use it.

But I guess I might have to do that if dealers tend to stay away from ancients.

 

Some dealers will buy coins but slabbed or not most dealers are going to attempt to leave quite a bit of margin and rarely offer what you might expect them to. Few dealers will even offer prices comparable to auction hammer prices in my experience.

When I need to sell coins like you're trying to sell I've always had good luck listing them on CoinTalk and Facebook groups like "Ancient & Medieval Coins Sales" and have always sold for more than I'd expect to get from a dealer and often more than I'd expect to net at auction after fees.

 

If you sell directly to a dealer that's knowledgeable about ancient coins (rather than consigning for auction), you're unlikely to be offered more than 40% of retail value. The dealer does want to make a profit, after all!

 

The only ancients worth selling to a dealer that is not a specialist in ancients are those that are worthless. People who are looking for the better ancients do not bother with shops with huge signs that say 'We Buy Gold'. The only place to buy ancients is from a dealer or a seller who specializes or has studied ancients.

40% would be a good return unless the coins were of a grade/type that sells itself. Consigning unimpressive ancients to an auction that has a minimum lot charge of $40 makes sending things worth even $50 unlikely to return a profit. I once knew show dealers that took coins on consignment at a better rate but that will take years to dispose of a group of a thousand coins worth $50 each. How those sell now, I do not know.

 

Thanks everyone!

Based on what you’ve all said I think I’ll just hold onto these coins and save a bit longer to buy the coin I want.

 

Sell 'em here

 

Well I mean it’s nothing very rare or special. Nor is it in great condition so I don’t think anyone here would be interested.

Like one of them is a Gordian III denarius in XF condition and most people already have Gordian III in MS condition since an annoyingly large number of his denarii survived in great condition.

 

The slab cost more than the coin!

 

Yup! I didn’t buy the slab though it came slabbed. I think I paid $20 or $25 for it just because I am collecting all the Emperors so I needed a Gordian III.

But I bought an MS one myself and I don’t need 2x Gordian III so I was going to sell my lower condition one and use the money to get some cash for a Ch XF* Tiberius denarius I have my eye on.

 

To test your question on selling Ancient coins, slabbed or raw, go to a large show
such as Long Beach, FUN, ANA, NYINC, Central States or Balt./Whitman. At these
shows you will find dealers that buy ancients. A good price might be 30-40% of
current market value. If you are trying to sell raw coins, make sure they are of the
quality of NGC 5/5, 5/5.

 

Good advice.

@Gam3rBlake , you bought it, so someone else might.

I wouldn't bet on it, and if they did, they might like a second Gordian III (or a tenth!) I think any ancient coin can sell on the CT sale forum if it is not overpriced. However, private collectors often seek a profit, regardless of the original price or current value, and consequently usually overprice their coins.

Dealers, say, vcoins dealers, have stocks of hundreds or thousands of coins that mostly don't sell at asking prices (The fixed prices you see are all prices at which the seller has not yet found a buyer) even with the huge audience vcoins has. If you have a few ancient coins to sell and a limited audience to possibly sell them to, they probably won't sell unless priced very competitively (i.e. low).

If you have a coin you no longer want, what is the downside to trying to sell it on the CT "For sale" forum?

 

Oh well I definitely don't plan on selling any coins for 30-40% of market value.

That means for example if I wanted to sell this coin and paid $1,500 for this MS Athenian owl tetradrachm I would only get like $450-$500 for it from a dealer at a coin show which would be me getting REALLY ripped off. Whereas not long ago I got an offer on Heritage for $2,383 for this exact same coin and so it would be like giving away almost $2,000 for free.

 

It is good advice but another factor is that I haven't sold anything on CT yet and so I don't have any references and I know for me personally I would be hesitant to buy from someone who didn't have any references.

I guess I'll have to sleep on it and decided how to proceed.

 

There are times when you may not have a choice. What a collector pays for a coin,
might not be his/her return on investment. Ask some of the members here about
their experiences. At 30-40% the dealer still has to make a profit and still give
the customer a feeling of getting a good deal.

 

30-40% still seems too low even with the dealer's profit factored in.

If it's a $1,000 coin and the dealer pays $650 for it they can still sell it for like $875 and make a decent 25% profit while still leaving the customer feeling like they got a good deal on the coin.

I know I would be happy to get a coin with a $1,000 market value for $875.

In fact for some coins paying 30%-40% of the coin is actually paying less than melt.

Like my gold solidus I paid $700 for. If a dealer gave me 30% that would be $210. A gold solidus has 4.5 grams of ~95% pure gold in it and gold is ~$58/gram so the melt value of that coin is ~$255 and the customer ends up getting less than melt for a 1,500 year old gold coin.

How could anyone feel good getting less than melt for a 1,500 year old gold coin? It actually encourages collectors to sell ancient gold coins to a refinery and have them melted down rather than passing it on to a dealer to sell to another collector since they'd get more for it as bullion than as a collectible coin.

 

I don't think anyone responding was thinking you were writing about $1000 coins. You mentioned Gordian III, not a nice $1500 owl or a solidus. It is about the same work and record-keeping for a dealer to sell one $30 coin as one $1000 coin. Of course you can get a much higher percentage of the sale value when dealing with $1000 coins.