How do I price my Foreign coins ?

Gerard · April 6, 2015 9:55PM

I have collections of foreign coins that I would like to sell.
I would like to know how to assign wholesale prices.
Currently I have 3 sources: 1) a borrowed 2002 Krause 2) the NGC online catalogue, 3) ebay.

Is there a percentage discount off Krause and NGC I can use ?
My guess is that the discount percent should account differently for silver coins vs. non-silver
and low value coins $1 - $10 vs higher value coins.

Ebay is time consuming and the lower value coins (under $10) have wildly huge price
swings. I do feel it has some usefulness for higher value coins but many times the higher value coins are not listed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thankyou

7Jaguars · April 6, 2015 10:53PM

Interesting. Well, Krause is a starting point but especially for high value coins 2002 is hopelessly out of date. NGC guides might be alright for looking up a couple of coins, but these are just relative - again high end coins need to be researched. For slabbed NGC or PCGS coins, you might try the Heritage archives as well. At the very least if there are higher value coins, you might get the latest Krause and also consider posting a couple of them here to give us a possible chance to help guide you...

Sullykerry52 · April 7, 2015 1:29AM

Gerard: Price discovery requires a lot of research, especially for non-U.S. coins.

You didn't identify the the countries, dates or condition (VF, EF, AU etc.). You can go to numista.com, Great Collections (Auction archive) and several others. I try to follow the auctions for those countries I collect: Canada, Newfoundland, Ireland (through the centuries), Japan, and now Peru. Most of the coins I see in the auctions are graded.

I like to attend coin shows where the dealers are an invaluable source of information and pricing help. If there is a show nearby take some of your coins and offer them to dealers either as a sale or swap.

Lastly, I find this Forum to have many helpful participants. When in doubt put a coin up and ask?

The international coin market reminds me so much of my earlier career - a junk bond dealer. You analyze the credit quality and make a reasonable assessment of the value.

Good luck, John

Gerard · April 7, 2015 8:27AM

I looking for a quick and dirty method of coming up with a wholesale price.
Kind of like I take 20% off the Bid prices. Its not perfect by any means
but it will give me something in the ballpark.

Thankyou

coinkat · April 7, 2015 8:30AM

It really depends on the country, denomination and condition. Some countries bring more than Krause and others fall well short.

1960NYGiants · April 7, 2015 8:57AM

You could list what you have on the BST and ask for offers.

dizzlecc · April 7, 2015 1:29PM

Currently, a quick and dirty method can be challenging depending on the country and denomination. The online market while more active is still relatively new for world coins. Advice, sell the cheaper stuff in bulk. Do some research for the suspected higher value coins. The forum is pretty good about giving honest answers and providing historical pricing.

lordmarcovan · April 7, 2015 3:05PM

While there are all sorts of variables, I do remember one dealer who would buy at about 1/3 Krause and sell at about 2/3 Krause. This was back in the 1990s.

Maybe you can take two or three coins and investigate their pricing vis-a-vis the old Krause and the NGC Priceguide (which is Krause-based but more recent). Come up with what you would consider rough wholesale versus retail prices and once you've done that for all three, then come up with an across-the-board "quick-n-dirty" percentage to ask for the rest of the coins.

Perhaps 1/2 of the 2002 price would move a lot of the stuff ("priced to sell") without being an absolute giveaway on your part?

No matter what sort of across-the-board, "quick-and-dirty" formula you come up with, it won't apply to some coins and will be either too high or too low. But you know that.

<< <i>Currently, a quick and dirty method can be challenging depending on the country and denomination. The online market while more active is still relatively new for world coins. Advice, sell the cheaper stuff in bulk. Do some research for the suspected higher value coins. The forum is pretty good about giving honest answers and providing historical pricing. >>

The previous post, of course, is sound advice.

techwriter · November 9, 2015 6:02AM

Gerard, I agree with others, you really need updated Krause but they are Expensive, unless

you shop around on Numismaster for deals.

Another source I have used is the advertisements in numismatic publications, check out the foreign dealer ads; they are always an indication of what "they" think the market will bear.

Be very careful with pricing via Krause, sometimes their pricing is inadequate, too low, too high, or darn right non-understandable ( just my opinion ). I know a few dealers who will BUY at 60%

Krause grade(or lower) and SELL at 80% (or higher). As has been mentioned, if you need a

quick response on a coin or two -- post them and the members will lend assistance.

Good luck.

YQQ · November 10, 2015 12:17AM

mmmm, a quick and dirty method...MA shop comes to mind:

Ma-Shops.com ( English site)

there are over 400 European dealers under one umbrella offering their stuff. anything from very, very old romans etc to the newest mint issues from around the world, all sorted by countries and dealers. easyto use search engine.

Take their average pricing, take off 50-55% to arrive at a realistic price what these dealers would pay if they were the buyer.

Most pricing their includes the VAT at either, I believe 7% or 19%. depends on how they accuired the item.

Caution: their grading is European based (even though many use our terminology) and they like to stretch it like a rubber band.

Photography usually is in such a way that small faults are only visible once you have "coin in hand).

neildrobertson · November 10, 2015 5:34AM

Originally posted by: YQQ
mmmm, a quick and dirty method...MA shop comes to mind:

Ma-Shops.com ( English site)

there are over 400 European dealers under one umbrella offering their stuff. anything from very, very old romans etc to the newest mint issues from around the world, all sorted by countries and dealers. easyto use search engine.

Take their average pricing, take off 50-55% to arrive at a realistic price what these dealers would pay if they were the buyer.
Most pricing their includes the VAT at either, I believe 7% or 19%. depends on how they accuired the item.

Caution: their grading is European based (even though many use our terminology) and they like to stretch it like a rubber band.
Photography usually is in such a way that small faults are only visible once you have "coin in hand).

MA-Shops.com is a good comparison. I would say 50% off of the average price or 20% off of the lowest price available. Something like that.

There are some top dealers with professional level grading abilities that can be trusted to grade accurately and conservatively, and there are some that grade very, very loosely. There are a few dealers that I trust enough that I would believe their text description of the grade over my own eyes (based on the posted photos). There are others that I think just cut and paste the same grade for all of their coins.

How do I price my Foreign coins ?

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