Hi, I recently inherited 5 10$ Liberty Heads MS 63 Graded by NGC. I am trying to find out what the value is and what is the best place to sell them. The years are 1893,1894,1901,1901,and 1907. Also would it help if I posted pictures? Thanks
Wow. That's a pretty nice little inheritance. I'm surprised nobody responded to you yet. First off, is there a letter listed next to the date on the label that would indicate the mintmark? Where they were made will affect their prices signficantly. You can also look at the mintmark yourself to verify. It would be located on the reverse, directly under the branches in the eagle's claws. If there's no letter there, than the coin was made in Philadelphia and NGC won't have a letter listed on the label either. (Philly was the first and has always been the main central mint so it was always assumed that a coin was produced there unless it was identified by mintmark from one of the branch mints) As far as posting pics, yes, it would help because eye appeal plays a big roll in what a coin is worth. There are ugly MS coins and premium quality MS coins and people will pay accordingly, one way or the other from list prices. For selling, you're in luck because gold hit a new all time record high today at $1,086 an ounce. So you couldn't have picked a better time to sell, regardless of whatever happens down the road. You will likely receive a significant premium over what the former owner paid. Each one contains 0.48 (basically half an ounce) of pure gold. Meaning all of them are at bare minimum worth $543 today. But MS-63 is a higher than average grade for this series so they will have 'significant' numismatic premiums above that. Give us pics and mintmarks and we can give you a better idea. I'm interested to see them now.
Thanks for you response Vess, There are no letters next to the date on the label or coin, and I have attatched some pictures but the most it will let me upload is 5. I tried to get the best quality possible but they were kind of hard to photograph. I looked on ebay and saw they have sold for $1,600.00 and I also called a coin shop today and they told me I could sell thm for $750.00 so I am not sure as to what I should expect to sell theese for.
Great to hear back from you so soon. The obverses are a little tough to see but the reverses look fantastic. Great luster. If there's no distracting stains or marks, they should be worth at least the average market value. Numismedia (NGC's price guide) which is a general guide for getting you in the ball park for the average example grade....lists all 5 of them at $1,710.00. If you saw one sell on ebay for $1,600, that's a good indication as well. Dealers make a living (sometimes killing) buying coins off of lazy people who just want quick cash. If you sold any one of them on ebay for $1400, somebody would probably think they got a steal. An offer of $750 for one of those is just plain stupid. You should be able to sell them all for 14 to $1500 each. You can put them up on the Open Forum here at the bottom of the site, for free. But people can't reply to your thread there. Potential buyers will PM you. It's a start and worth a try. Then I'd try ebay, to find the most potential buyers. Let them pay $1500 to you instead of the dealer you would sell them to. Just keep in mind, higher dollar items can be a little tougher to sell. Have good pics and be patient. Not everybody has that kind of expendable cash laying around these days. That doesn't mean they're worth $750.
Thank you so much for the information, This is all new to me so I appreciate you taking the time to get back to me. I guess I have to just decide now if I really want to sell them or not. I was also left 2 dimes that are dated 1916 and have a w above and to the right of the date, but are not graded at all. I doubt they are much but I will post some pictures when I get a chance.
Aye stay away from the dealers if you can. they have to make a profit on the resell so they are going to give you usually -30% off the price. so if you it retails for 1600 they will give you like 1000 for it. More so dealers don't like dealing in already slabbed coins like you have. they want to deal in raw coins without any certification so they can charge and buy them way lower than they should. I myself have a 1907 Liberty MS 61. even at 61 it is still a very nice coin. I had a guy try to con me out of that and a 1910 Indian ms 62. i laughed at him. Why? i know their value and what i want to get out of them. Set your price point and stick with it, or hold onto them. they carry a premium above their gold value because they are collectable coins. it is that value that adds a nice premium to them and they will continue to go up even if gold goes down. I need to go through another coin collection to see what is in there.
That W is just the coin designer's initial. Adolph Weinman designed the Mercury dime. Most coins have the designer's initials on them somewhere. What you need to look for is the mintmark again, which on these will be located on the reverse at the end of 'ONE' near the bottom, to the left of the branch stem. Denver only minted 264,000 of these making the 1916-D dime the scarcest, the key of the entire series and by far the most valuable. In well worn condition a 1916-D will still be worth $900 to $1000. If it's even slightly nicer, the values go up very quickly and can be worth $2500 on up. If there's no D mint mark there, it's a Philly again which may be worth 3 to $12. If there's an S, it likely will be worth between $4 to $20.
