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Large coin collection purchase question

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  • jclovescoinsjclovescoins Posts: 1,940 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow! That is a TON of coins to go through!

  • jonrunsjonruns Posts: 1,197 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Make sure you get paid!!

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,262 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Bigbuck1975 said:
    Here’s the story - collector dies has over 100,000 Coins, kid wants to sell, wants $25k and has no clue what’s there.

    Wants to sell that pile for $25k? ONE double-row box can easily hold $2,000-$4,000 of $10-$25 coins. Good luck, man- you're going to need it. ;)

  • REALGATORREALGATOR Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭✭✭

    _Most is foreign junk _

    90% chance this heap is a loser.

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 9,250 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting situation, hope you come out on top. At least you can do a cursory inspection to hopefully find the good stuff. Let us know. Peace Roy

    BST: endeavor1967, synchr, kliao, Outhaul, Donttellthewife, U1Chicago, ajaan, mCarney1173, SurfinHi, MWallace, Sandman70gt, mustanggt, Pittstate03, Lazybones, Walkerguy21D, coinandcurrency242 , thebigeng, Collectorcoins, JimTyler, USMarine6, Elkevvo, Coll3ctor, Yorkshireman, CUKevin, ranshdow, CoinHunter4, bennybravo, Centsearcher, braddick, Windycity, ZoidMeister, mirabela, JJM, RichURich, Bullsitter, jmski52, LukeMarshall, coinsarefun, MichaelDixon, NickPatton, ProfLiz, Twobitcollector,Jesbroken oih82w8, DCW

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,929 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I too had a "collection" like this. It turned out most of mine was foreign junk as well. The wife said she and hubby both worked for TWA (airlines), she as a stewardess and he as a pilot. They collected pocket change from all over the world. Very little silver but did have some.
    Then after going through that stuff she pulled out a bag of Roman/Grecian/ etc coins. That's where her money was!! Those little babies added up quick and she did end up with a smile on her face.

    bob :)

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @REALGATOR said:
    _Most is foreign junk _

    90% chance this heap is a loser.

    Agreed - foreign will be bought by the pound and silver/gold separated paid at 90%, etc etc. I am guessing for the time investment it will be a low hourly rate lol. It will be fun they said!!

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I scratch my head on this stuff? Who buys 1000 - 1 oz copper rounds and hoards presidential Dollars? One box had like $500 in bank rolled dollars. Crazy what people will by and what they pay for it

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,262 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Bigbuck1975 said:
    I scratch my head on this stuff? Who buys 1000 - 1 oz copper rounds...

    Same people who hoard pre-82 Lincolns?

  • yosclimberyosclimber Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 4, 2019 7:50PM

    Yikes, that is a huge number of binders!
    Since a lot of the binders look identical,
    for the junk foreign you should be able to pull the 90% silver,
    then count the remaining coins, pages and binders to get a weight to subtract from the overall weight to yield net weight of coins.

    Or you could offer the son the option to remove all the coins from the pages/holders to get the net weight of the coins.
    It might help him realize there is a lot of work for little value, if he hasn't realized that already.
    Or task him with removing the 90% silver, if you think he's capable.
    One problem is that much foreign can be 50% silver - could require lookup in Krause.

    Maybe best would be to separate out the binders that you are sure have no silver into boxes,
    and also show him the process of pulling coins from a binder that has some silver.
    Could backfire if he can't distinguish silver from copper-nickel - could just yield arguments.
    Leave a copy of the Krause catalog with him, so he can get the general idea?

    Still you will need to take that full+ day to look at every page to categorize the binders and locate any other good stuff.

  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Offer $20K and have it in cash holding it in hand. What are the owners going to do? Take it to another dealer?

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @HalfStrike said:
    I already aged 5 years just looking at the photo of it all.

    I told the owner they won the biggest hoard of random stuff I have ever seen. Looking for a couple hours and realizing you have only looked at 1% of the collection was a bit eye opening to me to say the least.

  • HemisphericalHemispherical Posts: 9,370 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow! Good luck!

    “Center for Modern Meat Management”

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,262 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @yosclimber said:
    Still you will need to take that full+ day to look at every page to categorize the binders and locate any other good stuff.

    WAG based on the picture (assuming 600 binders/8 pages per binder), if you allow 10 seconds per binder page, it would take around 15 hours. Since it would be necessary to remove some items to research or reorganize, probably more like 100+ hours. If you're lucky.

  • yosclimberyosclimber Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like many of the binders have 3-4 pages, but there are some that have more than 8, too.
    I'd estimate 100 binders in the front row, 100 in the middle, and 200 in the back row.
    And if that is only half the collection, could be 800 binders over all. So pretty close to your estimate of 600 binders.

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,262 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've had to break down collections in binders (nothing of this size, thankfully) and I'm here to tell you- unless there was a fair amount of silver and higher valued coins included, I'd pass on the deal. Even paying for it as poundage. If the coins have been in the binders for a long time, it's wouldn't be unusual to find the holders stuck in the pages, sometimes so badly you have to tear the pages apart to get the 2x2s out. You'd have to pay me to do it. And buy me a box of bandaids for my fingers.

    I'm not trying to talk anybody out of anything, but I don't envy the OP at all. Maybe it won't be as bad as it seems.

  • savitalesavitale Posts: 1,409 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like a lifetime of coin collecting. The accumulation looks quite neatly stored, relatively speaking, so I suspect the owner took some pride in it.

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 36,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 4:13AM

    @ARCO said:
    Offer $20K and have it in cash holding it in hand. What are the owners going to do? Take it to another dealer?

    And what if there's 5k woerh ofc stuff there?

    I've seen smaller versions of that where the read zero silver in the binders and no coin work more than 2 bucks retail. Volume isn't always value.

    Right now I've got 80 pounds of world mix sitting here that I'd sell you for $400. If I pt it in 2x2s and binders, it would probably fill about 30 or more binders like those.

    Wheat cent 3 cents each. A binder full of wheat cents are 5 or 6 bucks. And a binder full of memorial cents is 2 bucks... after you spend hours feeding the coins.

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 36,466 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 4:17AM

    @MasonG said:

    @Bigbuck1975 said:
    Here’s the story - collector dies has over 100,000 Coins, kid wants to sell, wants $25k and has no clue what’s there.

    Wants to sell that pile for $25k? ONE double-row box can easily hold $2,000-$4,000 of $10-$25 coins. Good luck, man- you're going to need it. ;)

    It can more easily hold $3 worth of memorial cents or $10 worth of Jefferson nickels. You might be surprised what people save

  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 8,765 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 7:10AM

    Wow - You could open a shop with all that. Are you looking for lifetime inventory of binders for junk stuff at shows?

    Just inventory / value as best you can and see if deal is there.

    If asking price or bulk makes you jittery make counter offer at more attractive price making it worth your effort. It does not look like something they can easily take to a shop (works in your favor). I would ignore their ask get it at my price factoring in what it will take sell it (if it’s even worth messing with) or no deal.

    I usually find these sellers have grossly inflated idea of value....

    “Considering current market conditions, outlook (aka drop since 1989) and what it’s going take sell this.....my best offer is $xxx.” I question if they could even get $7500.

    Investor
  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 8,765 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am facing something similar - I will take in batches or just best stuff if any at all.

    If they don’t like offer they can take to a shop. US coins here has regular radio ads they take it all.

    Investor
  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 7:38AM

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @ARCO said:
    Offer $20K and have it in cash holding it in hand. What are the owners going to do? Take it to another dealer?

    And what if there's 5k woerh ofc stuff there?

    I've seen smaller versions of that where the read zero silver in the binders and no coin work more than 2 bucks retail. Volume isn't always value.

    Right now I've got 80 pounds of world mix sitting here that I'd sell you for $400. If I pt it in 2x2s and binders, it would probably fill about 30 or more binders like those.

    Wheat cent 3 cents each. A binder full of wheat cents are 5 or 6 bucks. And a binder full of memorial cents is 2 bucks... after you spend hours feeding the coins.

    Well, you haven't been offered to buy the lot, Bigbuck has. He has been offered to buy at 25K and is obviously interested. If he is interested at 25K and the coins show promise but there are still doubts, then he could offer at 20K given that the collection is a mess and massively voluminous.

    When you get offered a huge lot like this, you can promptly refuse because your time is too valuable.

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Cougar1978 said:
    Wow - You could open a shop with all that. Are you looking for lifetime inventory of binders for junk stuff at shows?

    Just inventory / value as best you can and see if deal is there.

    If asking price or bulk makes you jittery make counter offer at more attractive price making it worth your effort. It does not look like something they can easily take to a shop (works in your favor). I would ignore their ask get it at my price factoring in what it will take sell it (if it’s even worth messing with) or no deal.

    I usually find these sellers have grossly inflated idea of value....

    “Considering current market conditions, outlook (aka drop since 1989) and what it’s going take sell this.....my best offer is $xxx.” I question if they could even get $7500.

    The Collector got hosed based on some of invoices I saw. I don’t think this is a 25k collection. I think it’s closer to $7500 maybe lower. The time aspect on this is going to net the seller 25-50% of market value. Silver/gold is one thing but the amount of low value stuff here is absurd.

  • skier07skier07 Posts: 4,350 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My back is hurting me looking at all those binders. Don’t forget to factor in chiropractic care for the next five years.

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Also he has no clue on value. So anything is on the table. His dad apparently told him 20k of value is there.

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 36,466 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ARCO said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @ARCO said:
    Offer $20K and have it in cash holding it in hand. What are the owners going to do? Take it to another dealer?

    And what if there's 5k woerh ofc stuff there?

    I've seen smaller versions of that where the read zero silver in the binders and no coin work more than 2 bucks retail. Volume isn't always value.

    Right now I've got 80 pounds of world mix sitting here that I'd sell you for $400. If I pt it in 2x2s and binders, it would probably fill about 30 or more binders like those.

    Wheat cent 3 cents each. A binder full of wheat cents are 5 or 6 bucks. And a binder full of memorial cents is 2 bucks... after you spend hours feeding the coins.

    Well, you haven't been offered to buy the lot, Bigbuck has. He has been offered to buy at 25K and is obviously interested. If he is interested at 25K and the coins show promise but there are still doubts, then he could offer at 20K given that the collection is a mess and massively voluminous.

    When you get offered a huge lot like this, you can promptly refuse because your time is too valuable.

    Keep reading. He's not interested at 25k. He's thinking 7500.

    For all I know, it's worth $1 or $1 million. He'll figure it out. You're the one that suggested an offer of $20k for no reason.

  • rawmorganrawmorgan Posts: 618 ✭✭✭

    Since you have stated: "......am guessing there will be a huge time investment going through everything (depending what’s there) and don’t really want to spend weeks going through everything. "

    If coins are slabbed use market price.
    Then I'd buy using bulk pricing for unsearched collections that size.
    Seperate out the early American coins first; large cents, early to morgan silver dollars, bust halfs, etc. Put that to the side.

    Look at the rest; Whats the general quality? Unless you can spot a key date or better type raw coin that doesn't take a lot or any research to come up with a price; buy by the pound. I would pay melt for the silver, and small copper, foreign is difficult if it's not silver or if modern (most B&Ms I know buy this by the pound or not at all.) This should take care of 90% or more of the lot.

    Take that final 10% of raw coins and throw out a number you feel good about.

    Good Luck

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,929 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Many times a seller is selling because of health. I once was buying in 'batches' and got maybe a tenth of the way through the deal when the seller went into the hospital for a month. Came out but not enough energy to proceed. He was trying to recover but after three months of in and out of hospital, it was hospice time. I never got to buy thee rest, went to his son who moved it all back home to California (I'm in NV). I remember that he had planned what was going to be the "next batch" and it was going to be Indian Cents. He had rolls upon rolls upon rolls and even rolls upon rolls of flying eagles. Never got there.....still dream about those cents. This was probably 20 years ago now. seller was in his very late 80's on oxygen but still sharp when I met him....Went way to quickly. He was collecting since the late 20's all the way through the 60's. Stopped when silver left coinage.
    If you batch it, hope seller is young enough to get through them all!!

    bob :)

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • numbersmannumbersman Posts: 1,039 ✭✭✭✭

    @topstuf said:
    Listen! And listen good!
    IF you want to buy this "heap" do it in ....batches!
    Little bit at a time. You decide what "little bit" is.
    Pay as you go.
    Finish each part and settle as you go through it.
    Nothing will piss you off as much as doing that much work and being told they'll 'think about it."
    Same on appraisal. Get paid as you go.
    Good luck.

    From my experience this is the smart way to go!

    Collector of numeral seals.That's the 1928 and 1928A series of FRNs with a number rather than a letter in the district seal. Owner/operator of Bottom Line Currency
  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,262 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jmlanzaf said:
    It can more easily hold $3 worth of memorial cents or $10 worth of Jefferson nickels.

    Exactly- you got my point. You can carry $25k worth of coins out to your car in one trip if they're valued at $25-50 and up each. If I had to make a guess, I would expect most of the coins in the binders won't come anywhere near that value. As has previously been mentioned, the best way to proceed would be to select a couple of binders and see if you can make a deal. No point investing a lot of time if nothing is going to come of it.

  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 8,765 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 11:32AM

    I would look at what I thought worth buying, not waste too much time, make an offer on what I wanted (buy piecemeal) if they did not take it then goodbye. There is no reason I have to take it all. You can buy what u can afford, flip it, come back for more, rinse and repeat.

    I will not waste my time on those who won’t deal or simply aren’t for real. So find out early on.

    Many times these sellers have grossly inflated value - the collector who put it together probably sold the nice stuff (Booz, girls, travel) not letting on lol. He had no intention of kicking off leaving a windfall. Neither would I.

    I don’t think that’s worth $25k try $5k. What about 25 binders 5 pages each? Probably not worth more than $100 binder. That’s only about $2500.

    Investor
  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jmlanzaf said:

    a huge lot like this, you can promptly refuse because your time is too valuable.

    Keep reading. He's not interested at 25k. He's thinking 7500.

    For all I know, it's worth $1 or $1 million. He'll figure it out. You're the one that suggested an offer of $20k for no reason.

    The amount was only relevant to the original offer. He could offer .80 cents for all I care. 20K had a reason because 25K was offered. It was meant to suggest a strategy based on ultimately what Bigbuck concluded the set was worth. Last I read 25k was that amount. Last I read 25K was the only amount suggested. The $7500 amount came AFTER the 20K amount.

    Yes, he will figure it out. If only you were there all this guessing would be over and the true value known.

  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,680 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am in the process of selling a large number of foreign coins for my best friend of 50 years. When he and his wife moved, they discovered that her late father had accumulated a large number of coins (mostly foreign), and I couldn't say 'no.'

    You need to know bullion values of these coins. Info easily available re silver content on coins from British Commonwealth countries and Mexico. From these sites, you can also spot better dates and values. From my experience, grading these coins is similar to grading US coins, except they don't have an 'AU' designation. Don't expect to get fair market per website on coins with numismatic value, but you will get a premium over spot. I'd get about 70-80%, but I had my numbers handy when I went to sell them.

    Coins without silver content are a tough sell, and I think aren't worth much of anything, unless there are niche collectors for the material, like for better date old English One Penny coins. I did get $10 for an 1857 Canadian Bank One Cent Token.

    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,726 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Show a picture of what's in some of those binders (each color). One man's junk is another man's treasure. BU moderns go for good money except in the US. If the stuff is circ base metal then it's hardly worth the cost of hauling it and removing it from the binders since that's only about $7 per pound.

    I have a hunch you have more than $25k there.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • hchcoinhchcoin Posts: 4,837 ✭✭✭✭✭

    As a collector at heart, I still think it looks like a ton of fun. I have had the pleasure to work with a few collections a fraction of that size that took months to complete but it was still fun to me. Call me crazy :p

  • ARCOARCO Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 5, 2019 7:19PM

    Here is the thing: Your mind tells you it will probably be a bust, but your heart tells you this could be like the Saddle Ridge hoard. :)

    Some folks go to an office cubicle and fill out expense reports. You, you are sifting through potential numismatic treasures (or not), looking for buried or undiscovered coins. In the scheme of things, this is fantistically enjoyeable...not just an album or two, but a whole closet filled from bottom to top!

  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 8,765 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would give it a look u never know.

    Investor
  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 36,466 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @hchcoin said:
    As a collector at heart, I still think it looks like a ton of fun. I have had the pleasure to work with a few collections a fraction of that size that took months to complete but it was still fun to me. Call me crazy :p

    There's fun and there's $25,000 fun

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Well the deed is done. Pulled the trigger tonight and a few back muscles.

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,726 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Let us know how you do.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • HemisphericalHemispherical Posts: 9,370 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Now the “real” fun begins!

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 9,250 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Can you buy acetone in a 55 gallon drum? I am waiting for the diamond in the rough. Peace Roy

    BST: endeavor1967, synchr, kliao, Outhaul, Donttellthewife, U1Chicago, ajaan, mCarney1173, SurfinHi, MWallace, Sandman70gt, mustanggt, Pittstate03, Lazybones, Walkerguy21D, coinandcurrency242 , thebigeng, Collectorcoins, JimTyler, USMarine6, Elkevvo, Coll3ctor, Yorkshireman, CUKevin, ranshdow, CoinHunter4, bennybravo, Centsearcher, braddick, Windycity, ZoidMeister, mirabela, JJM, RichURich, Bullsitter, jmski52, LukeMarshall, coinsarefun, MichaelDixon, NickPatton, ProfLiz, Twobitcollector,Jesbroken oih82w8, DCW

  • drei3reedrei3ree Posts: 3,430 ✭✭✭✭

    @Namvet69 said:
    Can you buy acetone in a 55 gallon drum? I am waiting for the diamond in the rough. Peace Roy

    YES

  • TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,855 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Bigbuck1975 - don't forget to post updates as you work through it. Some of us are looking forward to experience the thrill of discovery vicariously through you ;)

  • Bigbuck1975Bigbuck1975 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TwoKopeiki said:
    @Bigbuck1975 - don't forget to post updates as you work through it. Some of us are looking forward to experience the thrill of discovery vicariously through you ;)

    Will do, hopefully it’s not the agony of defeat!!

  • BochimanBochiman Posts: 25,556 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I thank you for posting as this went along. It's an interesting read. I hope, for your sake, for his sake, and just for the coolness factor of reading about it, that there are some really good things in there to be found :)

    A couple of points:

    • Yep... 100,000 isn't a "collection" but a hoard...as such, I expect a lot of foreign, a lot of modern "crap" (worn, non key date, lincolns/jeffersons/roosevelts ... as well as kennedy halves, some Ikes, SBAs, and, the presidential dollars you found).
    • For "why would anyone get rolls and rolls of presidential dollars?"...well, some of us, myself included, got a LOT of them from the bank. Paid face value and, particularly after the missing edge lettering ones showed up, there was interest in them for a time. I think I still have a couple hundred bucks of them, but, for awhile, I had a couple thousand. Only face value in them, but, still, I had them. Same with rolls of SHQs
    • Glad you worked out a fair system. I was going to suggest similar. A dealer I knew for awhile, locally, who taught me a lot on grading morgans, was offered a HUGE deal on morgans from an heir in Montana. The heir's father/grandfather had a ranch, lot of money, and also kept a lot of the morgans.....a bit like other hoards people have had before. Heir wanted to sell. Dealer didn't have THAT much capital and was a small dealer. Came to an agreement of a certain amount every few months. Inbetween, there was at least 1 or 2 local shows, so the dealer had fresh material and was able to move a good amount.

    I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment

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