Consigning a large collection of Composer and musically related coins

Piano1

Hello, everyone.

Besides U.S. Type, my second collecting passion has been Composer Coins and coins on other music-related topics. Actually, I am a co-author of a published book on Composer Coins. Anyway, in my collection of hundreds of pieces, I got into Operas, Opera Houses, Famous Performers, National Anthems, Musical Instrument Coins and I even dabbled into (and this was a stretch) Famous Authors Whose Works Were Set to Music by Famous Composers. There are other music topics as well. There are 50+ years of collecting in these sets but I slowed down maybe 5 years ago. Getting "older" and I am very regretfully thinking of liquidating.

I have no collector family members and I was wondering if a consigning coin company would take on this challenge. There are a fair number of scarce pieces, gold pieces, a good bit of silver, and almost all are Unc or Proof. Only a few are slabbed.

If this was you, what would you do? I'm not ready to pull the trigger and not in a rush at all but just planning ahead. Individual eBay listing is out of the question. I'd need 3 more lifetimes! 😮

Many thanks. I realize this isn't a U.S coin issue (that collection is currently being posed to a couple of Auction companies) but never having auctioned anything (except eBay) your professional opinions would be very much valued.

Piano1

Manifest_Destiny

That's an interesting theme. I'd love to see your top few favorites.

As far as disposing of them, maybe send them to an auction house like Heritage.

DCW

Sounds like it could be a very thin market. As a fellow musician, I'd love to see you post your collection here. At least, as @Manifest_Destiny said, your favorites.
With tokens and medals, and a collection of that magnitude, you might consider getting in contact with Steve Hayden. He does extremely well listing on eBay. And he may take the entire collection on consignment or buy it outright.
Good luck.

ricko

@Piano1 ... That sounds like an impressive collection, and certainly not a theme I have encountered before. A dealer or auction house may be in a position to take a collection of that magnitude, but disposition will likely be piecemeal. Good luck and let us know what course you select - others certainly have some unique collections that could be helped by your course of action and experience. Cheers, RickO

Piano1

As always, guys, excellent food for thought on consigning; especially in regards to the unusual "theme" of my music coin collection. Manifest_Destiny, I don't have the collection at home except 1 piece from the Democratic Republic of Congo. You might say that it is unique. It took too much space in the bank box. I will see if I can get a photo. It took me years to track this puppy down. It's 5 1/2 " in diameter made of Acrylic and weighs 1000 g. Maximum mintage 250.

Piano 1

airplanenut

A lot of it depends on value. If you have a large collection of pieces with significant value, it’s possible an auction house may market the collection as such. If you have a lot of less expensive coins (and “a lot” means different things to different people—dozens, tens of thousands?) an auction house may want to group lots of coins. That could help if they are related enough, but it may bring down the values further if buyers will have reasons to want specific pieces but likely not the many coins in a lot.

eBay could be a good venue in part because it may attract eyes from outside the coin world if searches for memorabilia from certain places/themes on you coins pick up your listings. eBay sellers who take consignments exist (such as me, but I’m not the only one) and may make that an attractive option if your goal is to avoid the headache of all the work that goes into making a listing and shipping individual items.

The true right venue will really depend on exactly how many items you have and what they’re worth. Where did you find these pieces? If you got them largely from a certain type of seller (large auction houses, eBay) that could be a clue of where to go. If you got them from everywhere, maybe not so much.