Ever have to help a friend or relative sell a low value collection?

Petescorner

My Aunt, who is in her late 50's, recently found out that I dabble in coins and also sell on eBay. Since no one in her family has any interest in coins, she has asked me to help her sell her coins and offered me half of the take! I told her I'd be happy to help her, but aside from recovering PayPal, eBay, and postal fees, I really don't want any money from it. So yesterday a 40 lb package arrives, and in it: a bunch of Kennedys, Mercs, Indian Head cents, wheat pennies, 2 Dollar Bills, A few Peace Dollars, some Franklins, tokens from the county fair, a couple of two cent pieces, dateless buffalo nickels, etc. Everything was collected in very low grades, and probably not worth too much more than face value.

These are the kind of coins that probably have to be sold in lots just to be worth it to the buyer in terms of postal fees. And I'm not one of those "Unsearched" kind of sellers. So, what's the best way to handle this? I hate to tell someone, especially a family member, that the coins they've been saving their whole life aren't going to bring enough for a dinner in a fancy restaurant. I guess the only thing for me to do, is to thouroughly go through them and maybe I'll find a "special" coin or two that will make the whole lot worth while.

So, any of you ever go through something like this? If so, how did you handle it? Thanks!

kranky

I'm interested in the answer also, because what I always do is buy the stuff as a favor, then sock it away until I can come up with a good idea on what to do with it.

How come dealers never sell grab-bags at shows? You'd think they could put $10 Redbook value into little envelopes and sell them for $5. They'd probably make more than they would on ebay.

jbsteven

I have sold a few collections of my common coins like what you have and as long as you list what everything is with approximate grades I bet you it will sell. Make sure to put it as a featured item and put a reserve at roughly what the value is.

you might be suprised.

clevegreg

I have to agree with JB, take plenty of pictures and make a complete list of everything that is in the collection. The category "Collections, Lots" can work pretty good at times. Just make sure to specify that the buyer is to pay for shipping as those heavy groups can cost quite a bit to ship.

Greg

Casey

Dan I'm in the exact same boat. My wife's aunt has asked me to sell everything and has offered half of the proceeds! Of course I have refused the compensation, but what a job this has been. I have sorted over 1,200 Barber dimes, 450 Mercs, 300 Washington quarters and a smaller assortment of Morgans, Franklins and Walking Liberties.

I'm selling the better pieces (a few key date items and some that grade XF) on Ebay and also are offering different groups of different date lower grade Barbers. When I get through the "better" stuff, I'm going to try to liquidate the balance through dealers listed in CoinWorld offering a certain price per face. Shipping might be a problem though. I have no urgency to dispose of this, but it certainly is time consuming.

Good luck and let me know if you or anyone else has any better ideas.

Casey

hookedoncoins

I have never had to sell a collection, but I have had many people ask me to tell them how much their collection is worth. My uncle had a morgan that he got when he was working in a gas station in the 70s, and he thought it had to be worth at least a couple hundred. It was hard to tell him that his coin was worth $10.

-Jarrett Roberts

ldhair

I did just what jbsteven did. Worked well. I listed it as "Giant collection 350 coins" or something like that.
I listed every item by date and type. I also listed a grade range. G to Fine. Showed a few pictures of a big pile of 2x2s. It brought a great price and I was 100% truthful. Everyone was happy.

Petescorner

Some great ideas! Thanks All!

Lakesammman

Did the same for a friend - they were offered $50 by a dealer and I raised $2000 on ebay but it was alot of work. Now I know why dealers offer so little for "junk". It was a good education as there were a fair number of foreign coins. Dealing with overseas shipping was a real hassle. I finally returned the stuff that wouldn't sell (about 10% of the total)and told them to share it with their grandchildren.

As was mentioned earlier, it's real important to document the items, prices realized, etc. to avoid conflict with the consignor over their "prized, lifetime accumulation".

Bulldog

Pete,

Make sure that she doesn't have any more coins. Then be a sport, throw in a nice small percentage over what blue book says they are worth. Then dump the coins on ebay, give them to some kids that are starting out or just keep them as a momento of your courtesy and good will!

Bulldog

nwcs

Hey, I'll buy some of those mercs and indians. I've been working on circulated sets of lincolns, jeffersons, mercs, silver roosies, and silver washingtons. Wouldn't mind starting one for indians, too.

FrattLaw

What about donating it to a charity and having the heirs write-off the value per the redbook. Seems like a better idea then going through all of those coins and work for very little profit. And then being stuck with the coins no one wants.

Wasn't another Board member having a charity sale for cancer research? Could the coins be donated and a write off be taken against the value of the estate. I'm not a tax guy so this is a honest question.

Michael

JohnsCoins

I am selling a collection for a friend. He got it when his father died. Most of what I have had so far would be considered junk by dealers. So far I have sold over 300 rolls of BU Lincoln cents, about $2800.00 face value of silver coins, Canadian BU rolls, 250 Proof like sets, a couple hundred silver and nickel dollars ect.

I have found lots of real nice coins while searching these. A 1942/1 Mercury dime, a roll of Full Red BU 1910 Lincoln Cents, 1937 DDO quarter, 1943-S DDO quarter, 1950-D/S quarter, 1942-D over Horz D, 1943/2 nickel, a 1921 Walker, a 1873-H Newfoundland 5 cent coin and several Canadian dimes worth over $100.00 each to name a few.

I think these old collections or hoards may not look like much but are a real good place to find some real nice coins.

This weekend I met with him again and he gave me about 100 rolls of walker and franklin halves, 300 plus rolls of silver war nickels, about 20 pounds of Canadian nickels and $1000.00 face value of Canadian silver dimes. Also got a couple hundred rolls of BU cents, nickels, dimes, quarters and one roll of SBA dollars. I have already found 2 rolls of Gem BU rolls of 1943-D Jefferson nickels tucked in there.

I think these collections or hoards are a real good place to find some real nice coins. To date I have given him over $22,000.00 from these common coins.

John

ldhair

I think it's a great question. To add to it ....do you have to worry with the basis (the price paid for the coins)?

Draco

Ya know. . .I hate hearing about these things. Some people spend the better part of their lives collecting and I like to think that most of them want someone in the family to have AND continue the collection. I inherited my grandfathers collection after it was cherry picked by a few nafarious members of the family. He didn't spend much time on it and I really don't know why he kept them (the ones I have, anyway) to begin with. BUT I HAVE merged what he had into my own and my collection will be passed to my daughter or one of her children. I'm doing my best to keep her interrested and at the very least, she knows how I feel about my coins.

If she sells it after I'm gone, she knows I'll haunt her forever!!

danglen

Hey Petescorner,
If you knew of a coin dealer in the family (like maybe your dad), they (he) might be able to help you out with that. Just a thought.....

Crashtestfixer

agree wit da Bulldog.....tho I believe truth of of the collection should be stated so present owner does not make the same mistake.......

Petescorner

Not a bad plan, Bulldog. Thanks!

OnlyBuffalos

Give some consideration to helping the Boy Scouts in your area who are working on a coin collecting merit badge. They would welcome a cache of "unmarketable coins" to help them earn their badge. The following site describes the requirements for the badge:

http://www.meritbadge.com/bsa/mb/035.htm

meos1

Hey Pete;

I have my Dads collection. I need to fill some holes here and there. His collection was just as you described, not the high end. Could we discuss some type of arrangement. PM me if your interested. I need just four to ten dates in each seriaes to "close the book" on what he started. Let me know.

Dan

RNCHSN

I've done a little consignment work for a friend who inherited his grandfather's collection. I did it in small groups, a little at a time. It can be VERY time consuming and, while he got more than he expected, it wasn't much. But I WAS dealing in a small number of coins at a time.

AND, he had kept most of the better quality items!

Edited for the last comment.

paigowjohnny

<< <i>I hate to tell someone, especially a family member, that the coins they've been saving their whole life aren't going to bring enough for a dinner in a fancy restaurant. >>



That's tough, but it's best to be honest in a tactful way. I like the ideas of giving some to local Boy Scouts and/or coin clubs for giveaways. Anything that's half way decent and worth the effort could go on ebay/Yahoo or to a local dealer.

gmarguli

Search it for better date coins and take those out. Make some notes of a few of the higher priced coins and how many other comon coins there are. Take a ton of pictures and put it on eBay in one lot.

My grandmother collected stamps. I took her collection to a few dealers (she had BOOKS filled with stamps) and the best offer I got was, I believe, $600. That was a pretty lousy offer considering she had several hundred dollars in face in unused sheets.

Anyway, I ended up selling the better stuff and easier to sell stuff on eBay in individual lots. When I was done with those there were 20+ books left filled with foreign stuff. I put it on eBay in one lot with a ton of photos and a general idea list (30 stamps from Finland, 240 from Canada, etc) and I ended up getting around $1400 for it and the buyer was a dealer. The sniping at the end was insane. I guess people just love the idea of getting something rare.

Overall, I got something like $5000 for the collection that the best dealer offer was for $600.

relayer

I think a donation is best solution.

List the coins at their full retail value and she can deduct it from her taxes.