on Tuesday to see a coin expert. He will tell me what my Dad left as far as the coins go. I do not want to go in as an "airhead" Any suggestions as to what to ask and how to represent myself? I am only going to see exactly what I have and learn how to care for them (have learned alot already from this forum! Thank you! , but do not want to be mislead either! Any input would be greatly appreciated....
well where can you start?.....well you cant iam just gonna have to spout out w/e comes to my mind...lol... first off, like you said....REPRESENTATION.....now iam not sure if you are friendly with this inspector or whatever but one thing you have to do is look like you know what your talking about...dont let him tell you what to do go with your GUT INSTINCT...because 90% of the time its right.. second do u know what kind of coins you have?...any idea at all would help...as for wether or not you plan to presue his collection and continue it? do you? if so try to start out with maybe his pennies and try to get the whole thing its easy and good for a beginer such as myself or maybe even nickels...but i would go with the pennies...was he a huge collector? are you going to sell the collection? anwsers would be good... Pete-
What you will receive on Tuesday is the beginning of your knowledge of what your father left you. It won't hurt to be seen as a true rookie, because you're not going to sell these coins to the first person to make you an offer on them, if you're interested in selling at all. Right? Let that be the only thing you need to take into this meeting - even if your plan is to sell these coins, you aren't planning on selling them on Tuesday, and be very firm about that. This is a fact finding mission, to get an objective idea of the specific contents of the collection. Coin grading is a completely subjective process. Therefore, even a completely honest coin dealer may under- or over-estimate the value/quality of your coins by comparison to another dealer's opinion. Even the paid grading services do not agree about grades. So, my suggestion is, on Tuesday go into the meeting as an admitted airhead. Learn as much as you can, and bring what you learn here. There are some real experts here (I'm not one of them), people operating from purely altruistic motives and the love of coin collecting. Coins and medicine share the trait that a second opinion is always a virtue.
Here are a couple: 1) Make it very plsin that you are not selling or getting rid of any of the coins he will be grading. To him or anyone else. 2) Don't show any emotion either way, good or bad, over any thing they tell you about your coins. Keep a straight face. 3) Tell them you will probably have them evaluated by at least one more person before any decisions will be made.
Go entirealy with old dans opinion...and i wouldnt go in as an airhead personaly because of the fact that you might want to if you want to...sell them to him and he might start to work you up... GO WITH UR GUT!!!!!!!!!! Pete-
I agree with Peter17 to go with Old Dan's opinion! However, you might want to go to PCGS' Website at www.pcgs.com and clink on the "PCGS Price Guide" Link to get some insight into the value of the coins ahead of time or search completed Auctions for the same denomination, Date, Mintmark, Series and Variety (if any) on eBay. If this Coin Expert is a Coin Dealer, be aware that most any price that he/she gives you, might be based on what he/she wants to pay for them if you decide to sell! I assume that you are paying them for the appraisal and if so, make it very clear that you want the retail value of the coins. Also, like Old Dan said, indicate to him/her that you will have the coins evaluated by at least one more person as this will prod him/her to give you a fair appraisal in fear of damaging their' reputation if they were to do otherwise. Frank
Don't go to a price guide (at PCGS or elsewhere) first. First you need an idea of the condition of the coins, without this, the priceguides are useless at best, and downright missleading at worst. If you really want to learn something before you go to see the expert, then go to Barnes and Noble or whatever bookstore you prefer and buy a copy of "A Guidebook of United States Coins" and use it as a reference. Even if you get the 2006 edition (released in the last month, but it may not be available yet) the prices are 6 months out of date, so don't take it's prices as absolute, they have changed since the numbers were finalized. But, it is a fabulous reference book and it will give information about each series of coins in your father's collection. Also it will provide you with a basic outline of the requirements for each condition for the coins. Once you've catalogged the coins and given approximate grades you will be able to compare the prices to tell which were your father's best pieces. Make sure that the expert sees all of what you decide are the best coins, not to try to impress him/her, but so that s/he gets a good idea of the best parts of the collection. This will help him/her to make a more accurate estimate of the value of the collection. Most importantly, have fun, this was likely a hobby your father loved and those coins are an outpouring of his spirit, they are a part of who he was. Finally, Old Dan gave good advice, you'd do well to follow it.
You know - I would take notes on what he says, too. It will let him know that 1. you are listening, and 2. you plan to verify what he's saying afterwards. Not that you will hear anything that is untrue - I don't mean that at all - but if he makes side comments, just write them down. Other than that, I can't agree more with what OldDan said - let him know you are not looking to sell. Let him know that you are just talking to 'people in the know', and also let him know you appreciate him taking time out of his schedule to look over your coins.
Do not sell to him unless you have done your DD. Seeing him is a first step in your DD (due diligence). Other steps may include checking the higher price items in your collection on ebay's completed items to see what the market value is. Check Heritage pricing information, Get a hold of the greysheets to see the bid price. Buy a good book on grading, and a loop. Maybe get some higher priced items certified (I like ANACS but opinions differ a lot on this). Just some ideas.
