Can anyone help me??

My soon to be Ex Husband has an extensive coin and paper currency collection. He took the whole collection with him when he left, but not before I took pictures and documented every last coin. I need to find out the worth of the collection for my divorce, only problem is, I have them printed out on paper. (no pictures for the computer) Is there anyone out there who can help me find a value on these or know someone I can trust in the New Jersey, Pa area??

Any suggestions would be great.

signed,
Desperate EX-housewife

 

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Were these coins yours ever?

 

If he collected the coins BEFORE you became his wife I think the law is that the coins are his and you can't get anything out of them...I'm not up on law but that is what I've heard from other people.

Speedy

 

That is why the law has prenups!!! For people like her!!

 

Without getting involved in the messy moral or legal part of it, I can only offer a couple thoughts.

1) There is every chance that they are not worth THAT much money. Many collections that look extensive (like mine?) are just routine stuff for the most part, and may not have significant value.

2) I am not sure anyone would appraise a collection from notes or casual photos. Exact condition plays such a huge part. Also, you are not looking to sell, so a dealer has no interest in getting involved, and a professional appraiser who would charge for his services would only be able to give broad ranges for the reasons stated.

If you are going to make an issue of this in the divorce, you would have to make your case to the judge, and if he/she agrees, then your pics&notes could be used as an inventory list and your ex could be ordered to get the actual coins to someone for an appraisal. Or, if these coins have strong sentimental or other value to him, you might want to drop the issue in a tradeoff where you get something else you want without a fight.

P.S. - I am all for getting what is yours, but you also will have to let the anger go at some point in order to move on. After all, all that stress and hatred will only make you a miserable person and shorten your lifespan. If giving up a few coins (assuming they are not worth a fortune) gets you to that place sooner I say let them go.

 

Speedy - In the United States here are more than 51 versions of the law relating to that issue. Each state has its own, and federal enclaves (Washington, DC, etc.) have theirs. Any attorney who made the broad statement you did without finding out a great deal more information about where the couple lived during their marriage, whether or not there is a pre-nup, the source of the money used to purchase the property, and the amount of activity concerning maintenance and protection of the property during the marriage, would be out of his/her bloody mind!

That said, the answer to the original question has two parts:

• Discuss the matter thoroughly with a qualified domestic relations attorney in New Jersey or Pennsylvania (depending on which side of the state line she resides), and if that attorney says there is a potential claim to an interest in the collection
• get the attorney's recommendation of a qualified appraiser whose opinions of value will be respected by the Court in which the dissolution proceedings will be (or are being) prosecuted.

 

First off tdec1000, let me say that "people like her" doesnt relate to me. My ex bought these coins DURING our marriage and I have every right to 1/2 of the worth. thank you . They were bought with my childrens future and our retirement in mind. He cheated, he left, he took the coins with him. not that any of you need to know that, but i feel I'm being judged before you even know anything. I asked for help in finding their worth not your opinions on whether or not I deserved them. And by the way tdec1000, when you marry out of high school and you trust the person, you shouldnt need a prenup. 20 years with someone. Yes, the coins were always 1/2 mine, I have a lawyer and I am being told I need to get a value. He had an estimated value 2 years ago of $40,000.00 I'm sorry I ask.

 

Like Satootoko said, you need to take your pics and whatever other paperwork you have to your lawyer. I would imagine he or someone who works for him knows how to find an appraiser for such things. He'll know what to do and how to handle things more than likely.

JBK also had some good advice as well. It sucks right now but it won't always. Been there, done that myself.

Good luck

 

myalias87,

I am sorry that you were judged by someone on the forum when all you asked for was help! You are 100% justified in your condemnation of tdec1000's comments! Your situation is your business and no one else's business or concern. This is a great forum where anyone can come with questions about coins or for help on other topics and will receive a wealth of information and in most cases, not have to worry about being judged before the entire forum. Please come back to the forum anytime and especially if you ever have a question or need help with a coin or coins. Please don't condemn the forum for what happened in this situation.


Sincerely...Frank

 

Don't be sorry---we all try to help but we can't read every post the way the person meant so sometimes it sounds like we don't care---but we really do.
What the others guys have said is true---we really can't help---you need to take everything to a lawyer.

Speedy

 

You have pictures and need an estimate.....look in the phone book for a licensed appraiser. That is the only thing I can think of to help you.

Sorry for everything you are going through..

 

You should have stated that in the beginning, so it didn't sound like you are like the people we hear about on tv. Greedy! I have purchased many coins in my time and all of them will be left to my children in my will. I have been married for 5 years and if my wife was to try and take my collection she has another thing coming. Maybe you do have rights to the collection , check with a lawyer in your local area!

 

Quote by Huntsman"Your situation is your business and no one else's business or concern."

Then she shouldn't have put the information on this site if she didn't want people to respond. This is just my opinion. Everyone on this site is entitled to their personal opinion. MYALIAS87, if I offended you I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you by my comments. Tom

 

Not to judge you, or to speak for other people on the forum here, but....

I personally wouldn't want to get involved in anyone's messy divorce business. Not to judge you or call you a liar, but we are only getting one side. Second, you're coming to a group of coin collectors and essentially asking them to turn on one of their own. Again, I'm not trying to call you a liar or anything, but the fact is, that a lot of people here build their collection digging through piles of loose change, or work their butt off with minimal cash expenditure (ie someone who goes to the bank and gets $25 in pennies and looks through all of them and find a $500 coin then returns the rest--net cost $.01). Without knowing all the details of your divorce (that means both sides), my heart tends to go towards the guy who built the collection. I also question how you got such extensive details (ie photos) of his collection if he left you (yeah, I know you could have seen the warning signs etc, moved to protect yourself). I'm making statements here that are no doubt going to offend you at least a little, but I am trying to point back to my original statement: I personally wouldn't want to get involved in anyone's messy divorce business.

Now, I'm also not real sure what point it serves to ask the value of the coins here, besides to find out if it's really worthwhile to pursue this. If you really want half the value, you're gonna need to give this to your lawyer. Or perhaps just take your pictures to a coin dealer near you. If we say the collection is worth $3 billion, it's essentially worthless. Are you going to go into court and say the cointalk.org forum looked at scans of the pictures and said the collection is worth XXX? The judge will laugh at you. Additionally, anyone your lawyer hires is going to give the maximum value of the collection. Then your husband is going to have his lawyer have someone appraise it and give the minimum value. Ideally, the judge is going to make your husband make the coins actually available because appraising with pictures is silly. But I doubt you're husband is going to want to actually give these up because once he does, they'll no doubt held by someone else till the division of assets is finalized. Hopefully this final value of the coins is a fair one (ie somewhere in between what you say it's worth and what your husband says it's worth). But if things get nasty here, your husband may just say he decide to get nasty and vindictive here and say, I decided to spend the coins for face value rather than let you have half, etc.

Again, I'm not trying to judge you or call you a liar or anything like that, but the fact is, this is one person coming to an internet forum and asking for help with a divorce.

 

I'm more intrigued over the "40,000USD over 2 years" bit. If that is true, you are talking about a huge sum of money, which we unfortunately SHOULD NOT get involved with this.

A proper lawyer is required which almost none of us are qualified to do so. All we can do is give a rough idea of what the coin values can be and this is extremely subjectable to the market.

 

Okay, her basic question has been answered, so let's drop the subject of her marital woes. If she has further numismatic questions she can start a new thread.