Is it easier to sell a complete set or an incomplete one?

robertcline

I'm thinking about selling my Lincoln Short Set (1934-1958).
All the coins are MS66RD.
But, it's only 50% complete (and what's missing is mostly the expensive dates).

I'm afraid that I won't get many people interested if I try to sell it as is.
So, I could easily buy the missing dates, then try to sell the complete set.

Does this make sense?

Steve

Simple answer: NO. Never BUY common coins for the express purpose of then immediately SELLING. My suggestion is to just sell the coins individually. Good luck. Steve

fcloud

I agree with Steve. Sell them individually.

And welcome to the message boards.

coinguy1

In far more cases than not, the more coins you are trying to sell as a group and the higher the combined value, the more difficult it is to obtain top dollar. Many potential buyers will not want all of the coins and/or not want to spend the extra dollars to buy all of them.

WaterSport

While it is a lot more time and effort..sell them seperately.
WS

TONEDDOLLARS

<< <i>In far more cases than not, the more coins you are trying to sell as a group and the higher the combined value, the more difficult it is to obtain top dollar. Many potential buyers will not want all of the coins and/or not want to spend the extra dollars to buy all of them. >>




Don't tell this to Sunnywood, or that matter a few other collectors I know

renomedphys

I actually tried to sell a complete short set in all MS66RD back in October '08. All of 'em. There were no takers, even at 20% below price guide. I ended up selling the whole thing to Ira Stein along with several of my other early date leftovers for a smidgen less than that.

The '46 to '54 p-mint dates still command a premium in MS66. IMHO the ONLY way to get a good deal on these is to make one from another TPG holdered coin. Three of mine were NGC crossovers, and they were still expensive. That said, there is practically no profit margin on those dates when going to sell.

If I were building a new collection, I would gladly buy a complete date run, but only if I needed all (or most) of them. It seemed to take the better part of a year to get them all in 66RD, with the '49-d being the last one I found.

I guess all in all, these are very very common coins that are very tough to sell. I would argue that it's also very easy to buy them, but not all of them are readily available. You would spend far more time than it is worth to complete the set, and then still be stuck with it in the end. If I were you, I would take decent pictures of the slabs and put them all on eBay one at a time at BIN = Price Guide and just play the waiting game. No descriptions or anything. They will all eventually be snapped up by collectors doing exactly what I did four years ago.

-Matt