There will come a time when I want to replace a lower grade coin with a higher grade coin. So far so good. But I would want to trade in the lower grade coin, and of course pay the difference. But I doubt a dealer would do that, since it would be harder to sell the lower grade coin. Am I right in thinking that? Maybe I should sell my lower grade coin somewhere other than where I buy the upgrade. What is the best way to sell a lower grade coin so you can buy a better grade coin to replace it?
In general, the desirabilty of a coin in a specific grade is already baked into established market pricing, however you might sometimes be surprised . . . If you have a very nice VF 1880-S Morgan Dollar or a very nice VF 1938-D buffalo nickel, you might get a knowledgeable buyer to give you much more in trade toward a BU than you suspect.
In other words, sell the lower grade coin one place and buy the higher grade coin someplace else. That way I don't feel like I'm dumping my undesirable coin and taking the better coin, leaving the dealer to try and sell my worse one. Right?
Think about it as two separate transactions. You're buying a coin from a dealer. You're selling another coin to a dealer. They either want to buy that other coin or they don't. If they don't, sell it elsewhere. It's also not necessarily harder to sell a lower grade coin, depending on the situation. If you have a $500 coin and you're upgrading to a $1000 example, the dealer may have an easier time (more buyers) for a lower grade example at the $500 price. In that case, the dealer may be very happy to take the lower grade example and $500+ for the coin. Of course it depends. Many times there will be a sweet spot on what grade most people want to buy at, where lower grade examples aren't sufficiently cheaper than the sweet spot, but higher grade examples go up in price exponentially.
Not necessarily . . . more than likely, the dealer who fully appreciates the scarcity of the specific VF coins I mentioned above also fully appreciates how common BU coins are for the same dates, and will likely compromise in your favor on prices on both ends of the deal. However, when you're talking about dates where the situation is completely reversed - upgrading a Fine 1924-S Buffalo nickel to an XF, for example - you'll almost never find a dealer eager to compromise on price.
Okay, so I guess I won't worry about the dealer being able to sell the lower grade coin, since it might sell better than the higher grade, higher priced coin I'm buying from him.
