Selling My Half Cents and other items, but where and how?

marmac

For those that know me, they will remember that last year I began to sell off much of my collection due to getting a divorce. I am still in that process and have come to the difficult decision to look at selling most everything off- even my half cents. So now the question is how do I go about it to maximize my return and at the same time conduct this process in a reasonable amount of time (say 6 months or less).

My collection is a humble one, but in my opinion is a nice collector grade set that does have many lovely examples and the group does represent a significant sum of money to me. I have contemplated going to an auction venue, ebay consignments, dealer, ... I just don't know. Any advice from the copper bugs or anyone really would be most appreciated.

In addition to my half cent set on the registry-


I probably have another 50 raw examples, some nice three figure type, and an assortment of morgans.

Not a headline act collection by any means, but it represents a number of years of collecting to me, and a fairly significant sum of money.

So what direction do I go?

My half cent set

fivecents

Maybe take them to FUN or Longbeach and "walk the floor".

marmac

Maybe take them to FUN or Longbeach and "walk the floor".....


Unfortunately I live in the dead zone of National show attention- Seattle. We get no respect up here..... I could certainly take them to a big show and shop them around to dealers, but does that ensure that I maximize my return?

doh

Why not the BST?

fc

i am making an assumption here that you do not even know how much
money for the whole kit and kaboodle would make you satisfied.

until you know that you will have a hard time deciding where to sell
it.

so pull out the old receipts, estimate the coins' value, and get yourself
mentally prepared to reach a certain figure.

if you use the bst, people here will cherry pick the best and leave you
with the leftovers. not exactly a good position to be in unless you get
extremely good money for the choice pieces. AND i think you know that
many buyers here are sharp. They will only overpay for great stuff...

ebay/paypal... now you have to factor in 6-8% in fees and shipping costs. always attempt to sell the cheap stuff first to build up feedback.

if you plan to sell at a show the buyers will be interested in the good
stuff and will simply take the less desirable stuff to get it. you have to
know what you want for it or they will just throw out a figure that
will be sure to allow them to profit nicely.

ask me? ebay is the way to go if you can take good pics. bst for the
great stuff with stiff asking prices. if it does not sell, big deal, it cost
nothing to advertise it. slap it on ebay.

etc.. etc..

RYK

I agree with fc and laud his excellent use of "kit and kaboodle", perhaps the first time I have seen it used here.

One other suggestion is to try the early copper specialists (Tom Reynolds, Doug Bird, Shawn Yancey, etc.). Send a link to your registry and inventory list of the raw stuff and ask if they would be interested in buying the entire collection. If they are interested, you could ship your collection to them for an offer.

roadrunner

Marmac already indicated to me that the collection value is in the $50K range for an estimate. That's large enough to get a reasonable auction fee a few percent above hammer at a major auction house. The choicer and more orig the half cents are the more important it is to find those collectors that would pay for such specimens. If the auction route was taken it's critical to find a key location and venue to support. I personally like NYCity and/or Baltimore when it comes to early copper. I've read where up to 40% of the US collecting base is within 6-8 hours of Baltimore. Since very few quality auctions seem to be occuring in NYCity these days, one at a Baltimore show makes sense to me. Burying these coins in a monster 5000 lot sale may not do them justice. Are there any better varieties in the group that could bolster their desireability?

I personally don't relish the idea of ebay but will concede that at the right time a good price can be achieved. Maybe a trial on a couple of pieces can give you an indication on how the rest would do. Ebay bidders knowing that a slew of half cents would be appearing over a few week period could generate some interest. Money tends to run out around tax season so take that into account. Shipping the coins to copper luminaries would probably get you less than their best offer as there is zero competition once in hand. And who wants to keep on shipping them from dealer to dealer. The more you show them the less fresh they get...word gets around. A lot depends on what those dealers are already carrying in inventory. Consigning them to a top notch wholesaler/retailer makes more sense to me. And why wouldn't a JJTeaparty love to purchase such a collection at a strong price? Littleton would be another choice but they tend to prefer raw coins from what I've seen and they need to be absolutely problem free to get their strong offers. They do have plenty of customers doing sets. Teletrade could garner some strong bids for nice material but I think their fee structure works heavily against you. That 15% buyer's fee comes right out of your pocket. The BST could be an outlet for some of the coins though I feel most BST buyers are looking to pay around the same price a dealer would or a tad higher. There may be some BSTers who would buy the half cent collection intact though I think a better net price could be achieved by ebay/major auction. I don't see any real dogs in the PCGS slabs and they cover a wide group of interests (early dates in lower grade, mid dates in mid grades (VF-AU), and late dates in mint state. That's really 3 different collecting levels (ie split them up into 3-4 groups).

I guess getting the whole group looked at by a strong numismatist/dealer to determine a tight value range would be the first step. If you shop them yourself more than likely all the coins you underpriced/underrated will move right out. The ones you overpriced will sit. You'll be left with a group of less desireable pieces.

roadrunner

Billet7

I know there are a few people on the forum that would be interested in the possibility of aquiring some of marmacs "little sisters."

joecopper

marmac

I disposed of a Morgan Dollar (sans 95), SLQ (complete), a complete nickel set Shield thru Buff (no 16DD), Type Set (decent but not complete), and Washington Quarter.
If interested in details send me a private e-mail. I used consignment.

crypto79

<< <i>Why not the BST? >>



The BST is not always going to be the best place to lquidate a whole collection. People on this board will cherry pick him to death and leave him with the scraps and want it at wholesale while doing it. Very few people will want the entire collection other then a dealer or auction house and they should be exspected to take the good and the bad. Roadrunner's advice is very good, if you have 6months send them to Bmore in March at 103% of hammer.

Longacre

I would contact one of the specialist copper dealers and see if they are interested in the collection as a whole. That is the quickest and easiest thing to do.

I would not deal with Ebay for something like this.

doh

<< <i>The BST is not always going to be the best place to liquidate a whole collection. >>


I understand the "cherrypicking" issue, but that's going to happen no matter he takes his collection, not just the BST. With the BST he could list everything, as a collection or piecemeal, set the prices he wants and hope for the best. If nothing sells, he's only out a little time and effort and he can move on to Heritage or eBay or a copper specialist. To me, it's always wise to at least start at the BST and go from there. My two cents.

TwoSides2aCoin

If you want to sell the whole lot, you won't make out as much as if you do selling it the way you bought it. Piece by piece. These are the drawbacks for the collector.

A more unorthodox approach would be to involve the spouse. Here is how that works:
You tell her that the great love you had for coins isn't even close to the love you had for her and that if she were to take a few of your coins and join the boards, we would welcome her with open arms. By the time she sold a few on the BST, she would learn how sweet us people are and we might "convert" her. Then you could keep the rest of your collection and it's possible she might re-discover what made her love you in the first place.


Please nobody quote me on this

WinPitcher

If you sell it as a whole do not allow anyone to cherry pick they take it all or they take nothing.

Or, you can sell it piecemeal yourself on ebay and start them at the least you would want.


One other avenue might be to have someone you trust sell the best of the best for you

and you sell the the others.


You have to know what you want for them.


Good Luck

You have a sweet collection.


Steve

Longacre

Has anyone had any experience with David Lawrence for a situation like this?

dsessom

The Set Registry seems to be FUBAR today.

RYK

I think that there are a lot of options, and which one you choose will depend upon your time frame, your risk tolerance for auctions, and how much of the legwork you would like to do yourself.

I have personally outsourced most of my sales, usually to dealers (50% consignment, 50% outright sale), but occasionally to auctions (Heritage primarily), as I do not care to do the legwork myself in most cases, nor do I care to deal directly with strangers. When selling a coin to a coin friend, I do not mind handling the transaction.

jmski52

Good advice here so far. I might add Chris McCauley to the list of copper specialists to contact. I'd definitely check with Tom Reynolds. I have Tom's contact info if you need it, pm me.

Either way, you should gear up to either make a trip, or take some photos that can be emailed. It's a major undertaking, but if you do it in one fell swoop, it will go quicker and easier.

Good Luck!

marmac

Thank you all for the input.

First off, I have received a pm or two suggesting that my post is a roundabout approach to marketing my collection outside of the appropriate channels on this board. That is not the case and please leave the policing of these boards to the police!

My post is a genuine request for advice on how to sell off a collection with a fair value, not a huge value, but a tidy sum none the less. This is a first for me. I’ve not sold coins at auction, I‘ve not sold any significant volumes of coins before. I am new to it and thus I post the thread!

All the posts thus far have been very helpful and I thank you all. Part of me does like the idea of putting a portion up at auction, say back east. Attending the auction of my own collection or portion of it, I think would be a very good learning experience and also have some redeeming value not to mention entertainment value. I am not out of collecting; I am just at a chapter in my collecting pursuits that unfortunately has me selling it. I will be back!

I’ve clearly got some work ahead of me establishing the value of my collection by individual piece, set, and lump sum. That is the first order of business.

Fletcher

fc

fletcher and the other people who PM'd him.

he asked for advice about selling coins.
he did not list a single thing specifically that is for sale.
his post was polite and intelligent.

calling it spam is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard.

please carry on OP. you are on the up and up with the large majority
of us.

Bochiman

The OP is definitely on the up and up in wanting advice. I know for a fact that he has sold some on the BST and some at a local show but he has probably hit the point where that was too slow and drawn out and is probably questioning things to figure out the quickest/most beneficial way to him, to do this. That's why the post.

Marmac's been on the boards for over 7 years and I don't think you could find a spam post, or mean post from him. Those accusing him of spam (in PMs to him or whatnot) sound like they have some issues that they are projecting onto him.

Scott's being humble himself when he says his collection is humble. He has spent a lot of time picking out his coins. He paid good prices and got nice coins (from the ones I have seen when he has brought them to shows to show me). His pictures aren't the best (sorry Scott ) but his coins are nice. I can understand him wanting help in figuring out how best to sell them from folks here that may have gone through similar.

partagas

Teletrade, David Lawrence, and consigning to copper specialists seems like the most logical route for the common coins. But if you have rare varieties then you need to sell those individually to an end user. And Ebay is a great place to market them for cheap. As is the BST. Other wise you want get the full bang for your buck.

DoubleEagle59

I don't have any advice for you,

I do want to wish you Good Luck in selling your collection.

Connecticoin

If the OP can get 103% of hammer at a Baltimore auction, I can't think of any other options that would result in higher prices unless he sells them piece by piece in a long drawn out process.

Connecticoin

Would an EAC auction be worth looking into? I have no idea how well these work for consignors, but perhaps an EAC member can chime in.

marmac

Thanks all for the input, kind words, and best wishes...

I have some leg work to do... Preference is not to sell them out piece by piece, simply to slow a process and I lack the time to do it. I am upside down in life and want to get right side up!

I will keep the thread alive as I proceed with my success, failures, and all of it. I think many collectors could find it useful.

RYK

<< <i>Would an EAC auction be worth looking into? I have no idea how well these work for consignors, but perhaps an EAC member can chime in. >>



Excellent suggestion. Or how about getting your own table at the EAC convention?

airplanenut

I probably wouldn't go the Teletrade route. I just have this feeling that too many of their items are considered low-end, and since their photography can leave something to be desired, buyers might not know a coin is high-end. An advantage of a live auction is that buyers can view the coins in-hand first. If you sell in auction through a dealer, they may be able to do even better on the over-hammer price than you, if not recommend different sales for different pieces, should they deem it advisable.

shorecoll

You could post on BST asking for offers, then talk to a specialist dealer, then possibly auction. Specialist guys will be strong if the coins are perfect but "nitpicky" if they're not and they won't care what the slab says. You could also commission a dealer (like Julian if he does that sort of thing) to advise you or sell them for you.

roadrunner

Marmac solicited some advice concerning auctions from me via PM. I suggested to him (as others might have) that he might want to create a thread to see what others thought about how to best market one's collection at the present time....after all it's not 2007 anymore. As a collective fraternity we spend 10X as much time on assembling our collections and then usually sell them off with far less thought and care, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. It almost seems that each new seller has to experience the same bad experiences each of us has at one time gone through. Why not eliminate the odds of that and provide the best information we have at our disposal?

As a frequent seller of coins I'm always interested in what other forum members have to say on the subject. Our community as a rule is pretty poor at dispersing such information though we freely discuss our newps and rips (lol). And maybe that's because the selling experience is usually far less gratifying than the buying euphoria (ie every deal is a great deal.....until you go to sell it). For those that were emotionally affected by the potential impropriety of this thread.....get over it.

roadrunner

TwoSides2aCoin

If you PM me perhaps we can exchange telephone numbers. Dealing with friends' coins is a joy , not a job. It may require some participation on your part, but your wealth is my concern.

I happen to know Tom R. and he's extremely knowledgeable.
The auction houses can take weeks to get you your money.
Would you like it done in days ?
This is no problem. I'm here for you.


Spam Free Coin Geek Services Inc.

(or: How to win customers)

OregonCityGold

This is what the BST was really made for. You'd probably sell them all in a couple days. It would be like throwing chunks of bloody meat to a bunch of ravenous sharks. I love your early dates. In fact, you might be able to get rid of those today by a simple PM to moi.