Options
I just inherited a large and seemingly RARE coin collection - want to give back to family - HELP!
Dnice8
Posts: 48 ✭✭✭
.
9
Dnice8
Posts: 48 ✭✭✭
Dnice8
Posts: 48 ✭✭✭
Dnice8
Posts: 48 ✭✭✭
Dnice8
Posts: 48 ✭✭✭
.
Comments
A lot of these are bullion value - the silver dollars are common dates.
What you decide to do is up to you - the decision I would make would be dependent on so many more factors that you could capture here in a small post - but I always try to error on doing the right thing...
Steel cents would have to be in supreme condition to be worth as much as some of that gold
In getting it appraised I’d mention the gold and leave out steel cents lest you send a “I’m new” vibe.
Yes, this collection has a good number of expensive gold coins. If you decided to return them to your friend, you might offer to help her maximize the value of this collection. This forum and a couple of honest coin dealers can help%
That’s an incredible amount of money value just in those pictures
You’re doing the right thing.
Being honest is always the right thing to do. The gold alone is a worth a lot of money. You said 35 Krugerrands on top of the gold in the photos. Wow, he liked gold and was buying when Double Eagles were $585. You mention 500 other coins. This collection is worth a sizable amount of money. Help her out. She will be grateful for the honesty.
Successful BST with BustDMs , Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino (CBH's - 35 Die Marriage's)
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
.
Her kids need to put down the electronic distractions and start paying attention to the real world.
You need to get one of the kids to visit
Good for you, for doing the extremely honorable thing - especially when many others in your position would, at the very least, be tempted to do things differently.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
.
Perhaps an email with lots of pics to greatcollections might work if it is to be sold.
Though, that may be years away.
Right now maybe you do need a good appraisal.
Are you near any of the big auction houses offices? Great collections, stacks bowers. Heritage?
Those $20 gold alone contain 0.9675 Troy ounces of gold.
The 1922 and 1923 silver dollars aren’t worth much. It’s quite diverse dollars wise.
That Cal. gold will need professional expert verification
The Cal. Gold… if real is worth more than gold value, the $3 carries a nice collector premium.
As for the $20 gold. Let’s say you have this 1 gold coin that they made tons of. The value would be based off gold price but as you go down in size $10-to-$5-to-$2.50 there is an increasing premium over the gold price for even common stuff
First, separate the bullion from the collector coins. Many of the collector coins will need to be certified. Get help from a reputable professional. Those “silly” coins are worth a great deal of money.
The 1970s and newer proof sets generally but not always worth only a few bucks each
You can see this on eBay completed sales
I have no knowledge on this:
“US Mint Presidential Uncirculated Proof Dollars dating back to 1964.“
A picture of one would be of interest
The most efficient way to go about getting an accurate appraisal would be to contact on of the larger auction companies. With the size of the collection you have I think Heritage would come to you and give you their opinion as to what the would get for the collection and what the fees would be. If you are in Southern CA you could make an appointment with @ianrussell of Great Collections and he could tell you what the thinks he could get you at auction. Be advised that Great Collections only sells certified, they will have them certified before the auction if you choose to consign with them.
If most of the value of the collection is in bullion, auctioning them will not get you the best price. However, Heritage can certainly buy them outright rather than putting them in an auction. For common Saints I would think you could get pretty close to spot. Spreads are tight for those type of coins.
I would recommend that you contact Nachbar Rare Coins at 716-635-9700. Richard Nachbar passed away earlier this year but the company's reputation is impeccable. Also, they will travel to you if the value of the collection warrants it. Failing that, I would probably go with Great Collections. Take your time, do your research and don't make hasty decisions. Good luck.
Airfare isn’t free
.
I would email Mr. feld offline with a complete listing of what you have. Depending on that convo, there are several companies including his that will fly someone out to evaluate the collection for auction if that is the route you wish to go. Ian and GReat collections is good people as well.
100% positive transactions with SurfinxHI, bigole, 1madman, collectorcoins, proofmorgan, Luke Marshall, silver pop, golden egg, point five zero,coin22lover, alohagary, blaircountycoin,joebb21
The American Arts Medallion coins were supposed to be an answer to the Krugerrand, but were not popular
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1980-medal-marian-anderson-gold/20500
Unless it is in high condition, it trades at gold value.
The Eisenhower dollars in plastic needs commentary from an Ike collector
Not sure what to make of the rest other than that’s $100,000 of krugerrands
@Dnice8 I'm going to second the PM / email / phone correspondence to @MFeld as well. Mark will help steer you right, I am sure of that.
I'm grateful you are doing right as well. Karma should return good things to you in spades.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
That's one heck of an accumulation!
WOW, just WOW! I would seek out 2 or 3 reputable dealers and seek offers them. From what I see not too much is worth the cost of certifying or forking over 10-20% in auction fees. 1 suggestion I would make is find an online price guide, even here and determine if you have any better dates. If you post your general area better suggestions could be made as to who to seek advise from. If you live where there may be a large coin show...FUN in Orlando, Fl. in January as an example...that is where I would go to sell the bullion as there is enough competition to get you a strong price if you shop them around.
Wow! What a gift! What would you think if the little old lady knew exactly what the collection was worth and gave it to you because she wanted you to have it. Might have given it to you to prevent fighting among the other heirs. Not trying to play devil's advocate here though.
One last thing....be very conscious of how you sell it.
If you are inclined to give the money back to the family, maybe each member can sell a few Krugerrands themselves to avoid a huge windfall in your name. The last thing you need is to attract the attention of the IRS as a reward for your good deeds.
Oh no.
It’s not his place to make a sell decision for them.
You have a worthwhile accumulation. May I ask if you are near a large city? Is there a bank near you that has private rooms for it's safe deposit box clients? These coins should be held in a safe deposit box. If possible I would invite three dealers to meet you at the bank and make their offers to purchase the collection. Then I would present the offers to your friend.
Wow!!
So….. slow down a bit!!!! If she is loosing her memory you could be accused of stealing them from her even if your intentions are perfectly noble. She may not even remember she gave them to you. We’re talking 6-figures here. People get kinda goofy when values get to that level.
For now, forget trying to liquidate them, getting them authenticated, appraised, etc. I would only do that if you had clear title and ownership. If she’s mentally incompetent, that’s debatable. I’d be looking for some help here. Try to locate a reasonable family member, her attorney, or someone who genuinely cares about her. 50 Krugerrands deserve to be in a bank vault, not sitting at your house.
I’d only proceed with other action if you’ve exhausted all opportunities to get them back to her family or heirs. If she passes away and her estate is carrying debt, her assets must stand for those debts before anyone gets an inheritance. Also, a gift of that size comes with significant tax implications for both of you.
I certainly wouldn’t be signing up for flights to coin shows or calling auction houses until you sort out some of those details.
.
Hey!
I’m MsMorrisine … a he!
So, I went back and read through all of this again. You're obviously a fantastic person and she's lucky to have you involved. However, as I said before, be careful! Don't spread it around too much that such a collection exists or where it is located.
Just a few things you should know. Obviously, your friend might not have any idea about the value of this collection. Gold is currently at $1845/oz. Each Krugerrand contains 1 ounce.
On the back of a napkin...... 50 Krugerrands = $92,250. There appear to be bunch of $20 gold pieces. Each of these contains almost an ounce. If there are 20 of them, that's another $36k just in bullion value. Some of them appear to be in good condition, and if so, there might be a significant collector premium for those. As has been said, MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THEM OR CLEAN THEM! Best to not even handle them. Gold is soft and a really nice collector coin can be destroyed by a seemingly trivial amount of damage.
Beyond that, there are a number of smaller denomination gold pieces, some foreign gold, and similar. Some of the pieces could be counterfeits and some of the counterfeits out there are unfortunately very deceptive.
So, I'm back where I started. I'd have the first conversation with her, and then gently inquire about who else should get involved with the discussion. Once the kids find out what it's worth, your involvement might abruptly end. There's a few ways this can have a happy ending and a whole legion of ways it can go sideways. Think each step trough before you take it.
People have mentioned Mark Feld. He's a friend, a former professional grader, former coin dealer, and is currently a consignment coordinator at Heritage auctions, which is probably the biggest auction house at this point for all sorts of collectibles. He has already commented on this thread. He will steer you right, without question, but so can many other folks.
In general terms without specifics, can you tell us what part of the country you're in? Nearest major city? There are good guys in most places who could help you make sense of all this. Putting it all in the mail or having people get on airplanes seems a bit premature at this point.
Best of luck.
Listen to @BryceM, class act with some good advice
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Where are you located?
.
There are snakes all around.
Vet people.
With today's Government are you entitled to pay any "Inheritance Taxes" even though it may have just been a "gift"??
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
WOW -- I've never seen this much gold in my life. Your in a tough position and good luck, your desire to to do the right thing for her and her family is really refreshing. Good luck.
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
Kudos to you for trying to do the right thing.
Very valuable is a relative term. If this is your average middle class family this collection is very valuable. If the family name is Gates, Buffet, Musk or similar it's peanuts (you get my drift). In any case getting a ballpark idea of the value of the collection will help the family decide how to deal with the collection.
If you want to give it back, just get out of the middle.
Go back to her. Tell her the collection is worth over $100k and you don't feel right about taking it. If she insists, then it's yours and proceed accordingly. If she reconsiders, simply return it and let the family deal with it. If she wants to split it more broadly, including her children, then do that.
You do not need any further information to have that discussion.
Mark is a good guy and has impeccable credentials.
I say, go slow whatever you do. Appraisal is in order and that will cost a bit. Not the entire collection needs to be appraised as a lot of values can be obtained easily on completed ebay sales. I'm talking Eisenhower and proof and mint sets for sure. Even silver dollars can be researched fairly adequately on ebay.
What you need to do is some research first and foremost. Perhaps have some of the gold looked at first and if that goes as you hope then move on with another batch, etc. Don't step on the gas, and use the brake a lot.
Good luck,
bob
PS: wish I was in Houston (I think Mr. Feld is in Tx but he does seem to move around a bit).
Is the lady and her family rich to the point a quarter of a million dollars does not mean much? Is the lady still of sound mind?
.
Threads like this warm my heart.
If she’s an attorney and you both work at a law firm I feel much better. You clearly know more about the legal & tax stuff than I do. For a bit there it sounded like a little old lady you play bingo with who lives in a shack on the wrong side of the tracks.
Houston…..
Mark Feld is in Dallas at Heritage’s HQ. It’s a bit of a jaunt over there but likely worth it for that collection.
Simple answer: Don't even try. Seriously. You need to get appraisals (more than one). That will give you the info you need. Anything else will just get in the way.
The three largest coin auction houses are:
www.ha.com (where MFeld works)
www.stacksbowers.com
www.greatcollections.com
Pick at least two and contact them. As others have said, you UNQUESTIONABLY have over $100K in value. Any auction house would be happy to talk to you and they will walk you through the next steps.
If you live in a large city (I didn't see an answer to that), you may have the option of a local appraisal also. You'll still want to get at least two opinions, though.
She said Houston in an earlier post - I think that qualifies as a large city!
Of course, it's Texas - They somehow think everything is bigger in Texas (or so I've heard)!
It's probably some little Podunk town.
BST references available on request
I remember when I thought $585 was too much for an oz of gold. Lol me.
Good luck.