Selling my collection

Hi All, I am a new member who has been collecting for about 30 years and I have decided to look into selling. Has any one else already gone through this? and what words of advise could you offer? All is appreciated. The collection is U.S. of all denominations, mostly uncirculated. Thanks again

 

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I have been selling my collection over the last year and have found it to be an eye opening experience. I have pretty good photographic skills so I decided to sell most of my coins individually on E-Bay. If you don't have a lot of free time or decent photography skills, this might not be a good venue for you to liquidate your collection.

In order to give more specific advice, we would need to know how many coins you have, what series, what grades, if any are graded by TPG's, etc.

btw, welcome to the forum!

Paul

 

Thanks for the welcome Paul, my collection is made up of U.S. coins and is everything from copper to gold, about 500 coins total. The coins are mostly un-circulated and again everything from raw to PCGS. The raw coins are all encapsulated in coinworld slabs for protection. Nothing extremely rare, but a pretty comprehensive collection, I hope that helps. Thanks again

 

Sold off about half of what I had since 2009. Problem is plowed almost all the money back into upgrades. Now collection is about the same value as when I started just about half the size.
Good camera, decent computer skills, and a lot of eyes on eBay, and a lot of time since I retired was my formula.

 

Yes, that sounds like fun, but I still work full time and don't think I could devote the time necessary to sell the coins one at a time. Has anyone ever sold a entire collection all at once?

 

Sure depends on what you hope to sell them for! If you live close to a coin shop, I would take all of them to a dealer and get an estimate from him as well as some advice/guidelines. I would do this first. In fact take them to at least two different dealers, not pawn shops of course. Or, ideally, take them to a coin show where many dealers are present. You just might be able to sell the whole lot or most of it to a dealer who specializes in your coins or ones like them.

Otherwise, get their advice on selling them one at a time versus the whole lot or in small lots/sets. With coins, it is how the buyer views them that is important.

To just start selling them on eBay, even if they are graded, can be a difficult task, unless you have a good camera, unique descriptions, lots of patience and have coins that are in demand where there is a good bidding experience.

 

Thanks for the reply, sounds like good advise and of course a coin shop should be the place to start. I have contacted a few coin dealers from Coin World magazine, but this involves shipping the coins which makes me nervous.

 

I think the first step is to inventory everything, ensure everything is accurately graded, and then determine the current retail value. Selling the entire collection to a dealer will only yield a percentage of that value. It might be worthwhile for you to consign all or part of your collection to an auction venue like Heritage, Teletrade, or even an E-Bay seller. The make up of your collection will determine the best way for you to liquidate. And it is not out of the realm of possibility that certain portions of your collection should be liquidated in different ways to ensure maximum value.

 

I wouldn't suggest you take your collection to coin shops for estimates or appraisals unless you plan on selling it to them. Thats unprofessional and a waste of their time. There are quite a few coin dealers here that will back that up. I find it very difficult to understand how one could have collected for thirty years and not know how and where to sell, especially if the collection is as varied and nice as claimed. Most of us sell the same way we buy...same dealers and auction houses, and so on. Not to sound harsh, just at a loss for advise to someone who's been collecting as long as I have. Best of luck.
Guy

 

Again, good advise, I guess I didn't think selling would be as difficult as collecting, but if I want the maximum value, and who doesn't? I am going to have to spend some time. Has any one ever dealt with Scott Travers out of New York?

 

I really hate to see that a collector is moving on, they always seem to come back around in a few years and wish that they hadn't sold off their collection. But if you have to sell, you will do much better not selling the collection as a whole. It may take a little patience, but you will likely earn 20% more by selling the coins individually. Good luck.

 

I have been collecting for so long that I have bought from just about every one at one time or another, just never really thought about the reality of selling. I would never ask a coin dealer to waste his/her time appraising without the intent of selling as long as the price seemed fair. I was only asking if any one on CT had ever had a similar experience, don't want you to get the wrong impression.

 

Another option is to consign your items with a quality, well known, and heavily followed consignor on ebay.

The consigning fees are very reasonable. If the consignor has a large following, I feel the fees are a wash in a lot of cases as the coins will sell for more from a highly rated seller.
You have to do nothing but send the coins to the consignor.

Something to think about.

-greg

 

I own and have read his book: THE COIN COLLECTOR'S SURVIVAL MANUAL.

You might want to read it, there is a chapter in there about selling your collection.

 

If you've been collecting for 30 years you must have an idea of what your collection is going to be worth. That will go a long way to ruling out certain avenues of disposing of your collection. Personally, I would probably go the ebay route. Coins and bullion are hot right now on ebay and that is where you would probably maximize your income potential.

You'll probably take a 20%-30% hit going to a LCS on the numismatic stuff and get close to spot on bullion and junk silver.

Going the auction house route will probably bring your lowest potential unless there is some high end numismatic coins that are really going to drive bidding. Between the 20-30% back to the auction house and the bidders trying to get a deal by not going to full retail.

Maybe if you tell us what area of the country you're in, someone here can recommend a LCS to you.

 

I don't understand. I would think appraisals would be a key part of any dealer's business. I had an antiques dealer come over to my house and appraise some Oriental rugs and paintings. He charged me $175. I was happy to have the expertise and he got paid. Coin dealers need to grow up.

 

I've also been selling portions of my collection over the last six months or so. I went to a couple of different dealers, got lowballed by one. Got a fair offer from another. I've since sold large portions of my gold. Got about 95 percent of spot on that. Since I got in at around $400 on most of it, I figured it was a good time to sell and take some profits.

For most of my other coins, I will probably use ebay. Especially for the slabbed keys. I may sell some to a dealer in bulk, but it's a trade off. You'll probably make more selling them individually on Ebay, but it's a lot more work to photograph, list, and ship the coins. Plus you have to deal with the buying public. One dealer made me a reasonable offer on my Morgan Set, but again, I think I'll just do the drudge work, break out the coins individually and list on eBay. One thing to note about selling on ebay, is the fact that you've got to factor in 9 percent sellers fees plus three percent paypal, that will take a 12 percent chunk out of any profits right off the bat. What you get in return is unparalleled access to a huge virtual market for your coins.

I still think you can do better than selling the entire collection to a dealer, they're in it for a profit so must build in a margin accordingly. But you've got to be willing to do the work.

One other thing I've learned since I started selling, it's a lot harder to make money in coins than it looks. But I got 10 years of enjoyment out of collecting, and an education in the market to boot. I can always start collecting coins again if the fancy strikes me. Good luck to you!

 

I was at a shop and someone walked in asking to get the appraisal on their coins. The dealer said he'd do it for $30 an hour and they person was insulted that he had to pay anything for it.
Maybe it's not the dealers that need to grow up sometimes.

 

ff-topic: :yes:A few photo would **** you sell you collection.:yes:

 

Maybe I'm lazy, but I would use Heritage or Stacks.