I have been collecting since 1970 and have amassed a World Coin collection of approximately 50 000 specimens. A lot of rubbish I might add but also a lot of interesting ones as well. I am primarily a Central African collector because this is the land of my birth and the history that coins carry for me is about this land. I am busy trying to thin out my collection by disposing of coins not related to Southern Africa. However the hurdle I have come across is that Auction Houses only allow you to advertise locally and not internationally. This means that you are not reaching the audience that would be most interested. I have found some institutions that advertise internationally but they expect you to pay an annual membership subscription in, what is for me, foreign currency. This is unacceptable because of the foreign exchange rates. I would prefer to have my commission on sales increased marginally. Does anyone know of a website that meets my desire?
maybe sell some here. I'd be interested in knowing which coins you have for sale ? have you made a huge list ?
Depends on the value of the coins you want to trim from your collection. I believe Heritage Auctions has a global reach. You might want to negotiate a consignment with them. They do take a larger percentage, but their reach is greater and I believe you would garner higher prices for your material.
If you have anything super-nice, you might reach out to this dealer: Atlas Numismatics and this dealer: Harlan J. Berk
You might also look into Delcampe, based in Belgium, with many buyers speaking French or German. They are, in effect, a European eBay, but without many of the hassles; the CEO is an advanced stamp collector. At the moment, they have over a million stamp listings, well over a million postcard listings, and about 16,000 coin listings.
Honestly, I think you are going to be hard pressed to dispose of such a collection. The market for such coins is very, very thin, meaning very few collect them, and even fewer will be willing to pay up for them. By your words you spent 40 years putting this collection together, unless you sell it outright in bulk it will likely take just as long to find buyers for it. Now if you have some scarce or expensive items, separate those from the rest of your collection and those you can probably sell individually, yourself, or to a dealer or auction house and turn out alright. Not what you wanted to hear, I know. But that is the reality of the situation.
Even at 25 cents a piece, you have 5 figures in dollars tied up. That's the problem with collecting budget coins. You hit a point where you will never recover anywhere near your investment. How many of those are multiples of the same coin? Some one might want a sample of a certain piece but who would want more. Your going to have to pick out the best for auction and sell the others in lots of 500 to 1000 or more, to get ride of them. I would hope for 10 cents per coin if you are fortunate. Are they worth more than a few pennies each at face value? Perhaps you can take them into a foreign exchange bank and get ride of some of them that way.
If the Seller has plenty of time, there's no reason to "dump" them. It also makes a lot of difference where the OP lives. So please tell us, what state or country, might result in much different advice...
And patience of a saint. I would grow weary after a few months and want to get this behind me. Even in lots of 1000, he would need 50 sales, almost one a day, to completely sell them in a two month period. I hope he is retired and has that much free time.
I know with African banknotes - they are few and far between with a few collectors - but dedicated to the point of making African banknotes right pricey. I myself collect some early British and Portuguese colonials and paid rather dearly for them. Some colonial era coins from the British, French and Portuguese rules are highly collectable now.
Thanks Guys for the valuable advice. I am tending towards using Delcampe because a problem I had with them seems to have cleared up. To answer some thoughts "Yes it has taken me most of my years to package each individual coin, research and roughly grade them and I must admit that on occasions it was tedious work but I also had exciting times as well.
On any auction, I would list one country at a time, mentioning in each listing that you have listed xx coins from yyyyyyy today, and stating that you will list all your coins from zzzzzzz next Tuesday, or whatever. Make the most of an opportunity when someone views your listing. I would save the best countries for last so that you may profit from your experience, and so you can perhaps notify a prior buyer that you will email them a list of your upcoming coins of kkkkkkk in advance of the Delcampe listing, gives them time to research, and may lead to the purchase of 5 or 6 coins instead of just one.
doug444 thank you for that valuable advice which I will certainly implement. I am going to endeavor to build a reputation of honesty and integrity and make it common knowledge as I have with the Natal Numismatic Society in Durban South Africa.
My collection of Bank notes is considerably smaller than my coin collection and minuscule in comparison to some I have seen. As a collector for historical purposes I prize my 2 Boer/British War 10 pound notes because they have been signed officially on the front and again on the reverse by a signatory of that time to commemorate the war. In reality I feel that they should be displayed in a Museum.
Inclined to agree with the analysis here, you will never get your investment back. However, that's not to say there aren't auction houses that would take the consignment with a 15%-25% sellers premium. Lyn Knight Auctions immediately comes to mind, they are better known for currency auctions, but they do handle coins, and if the material you have is reasonably well organized, --that is, it's not just a bunch of coins dumped in a box, they can probably carve some multiple coin lots out of it. And yes, they do have an international reach. Kind of doubt Stack's or Heritage would be interested in it, the only other option at auction would be eBay with you carving-up some lots yourself out of the collection of 50, 100, even 500 coins if it's really junk. Someone is bound to bid at some point.
