New to the forum
Wendellnla
Posts: 14 ✭
Greetings from Nevada!
New to forum, not new to coins.
Been a casual collector of coins for a long time, although I have more of a “stacker” mentality.
I do have some questions involving 2 coin collections a friend has.
Where might be the best place to post those questions?
She is interested in selling them and I told her I would help her as she is not very tech savvy.
Any help with this is appreciated!
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Comments
As long as your questions are about US coins you are in the right spot in this forum, welcome.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Cool.
She has 2 collections, both in flat plexiglass displays/holders.
First collection is 1921-1935 Peace dollars. Looks complete including all the mints.
Some are really nice, some have significant wear.
Second collection includes Morgan dollars from 1878-1893. All Carson City mint marks. Again, various conditions. The worst one is probably VF20-35, some much better, almost uncirculated, but I am no expert on coin grading.
Anyhow, looking for the best way to proceed.
Local coin shop? Local to us is 3-4 hours away!
Send them in to PCGS for grading?
Melt them down for bullion? (Just kidding!)
Sell them individually or as complete set?
I did take a picture of each collection, but the quality isn’t great.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
The value of silver it at an all time high. Each coin is worth about $40 just for the silver value alone. If the collection is complete and in the condition you describe, the collector value would be significantly higher. But nobody here is going to say anything concrete without more information. Even poor-quality pictures will get you a better response than no pictures at all.
Pictures…
Lots of collector value there.
If you are interested in selling I'd recommend taking offers her on the Buy Sell Trade forum VS going to a local coin shop.
Some of those are quite collectible dates. From the picture the Peace dollars look nice circulated grades. It's hard to tell on the key dates (1928, 1934-S) if they're unmessed with - you might want to try to take some larger front and back pictures of those to get opinions. You can get a sense for which are the better dates by looking at a price guide like https://www.pcgs.com/prices/detail/peace-dollar/26/grades-25-60
Also, what I said doubly so for the Morgans - I don't collect that series but there are plenty here who do. If they're all CC that could be a very valuable set
After talking to her a bit more, she is more interested in selling them as sets. But nothing in stone. I will be assisting her with this.
Even if you sell as a set, most people are going to narrow in on the keys. For the Peace dollars for example, a buyer is going to look at 20 of them as melt, and narrow in on maybe 4 or so dates to see what premium they might pay. CC Morgans might be a different story.
Thanks for sharing, some nice numismatic coins there. This is probably the most rigorous coin site on the web and hats off to PCGS with all their hard work to educate the collecting public with their dedicated Coinfacts site.
Looks cleaned IMHO. For the Peace dollars.
Proud follower of Christ!
A fair number of the better dates appear cleaned and/or polished. However, there is still significant value there. Of course, attempting to sell these as sets instead of allowing them to be sold off as individual items will not only reduce the pool of potential buyers, but will likely reduce the final net return, as well.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I agree with the “set vs individual” argument, but she lost her husband in the last year and she does not want a long drawn out process. Also, she is not tech savvy and is a bit risk adverse.
I can not vouch as to whether they have been cleaned or not. The person who collected them was not real savvy as far as I know. I will remove some from the holder to get a better look and get some better pics. Time to get out the gloves!
This is the best US coin site on the web.
Good luck with any possible sale.
I can tell you immediately that the 1881-CC looks cleaned, the 1890-CC and 1891-CC have both been polished and the 1892-CC and 1893-CC both look like they have funky surfaces. I hope the latter two coins are not examples of an added mintmark because they are where the money is.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
It's unlikely that removing them from the holder (with or without gloves) will help at this point.
You have a collection that is worth significantly more than bullion value. However, the only way to get the most value is if someone gets the most valuable pieces slabbed to guarantee grades and authenticity. Getting them slabbed yourself will take months, so that's out of the question if you want to avoid a drawn-out process.
You will get offers if you sell the collection as a whole. The offers will take into consideration that the pieces might end up with serious problems that aren't visible online.
Selling to a reputable buyer in person is by far your best option. They can examine the coins in hand before committing, and an in-person sale is a done deal. They won't return what they've bought. It sounds like that isn't an option for you.
Selling on eBay will get you the "most" money, and you have a chance of a bidding war driving up the prices. Unfortunately, you also have a chance that the the buyer will decide to return what they've bought, possibly months later. Or worse, the buyer can swap the coins and return something that they didn't buy, and then you're stuck.
Selling on the Buy Sell and Trade board here will likely get you a fair price with minimal effort and minimal risk -- but a fair price isn't the same as the highest price possible.
You could ship these off to Great Collections and let them deal with the slabbing as appropriate. This seems like something that they would accept as a consignment, although i certainly can't speak for them. You'll need to pay their fees, which might mean losing money on the common pieces, and you won't get paid by them for a bunch of months until the auctions close. But there's very little risk and very little effort.
It's your choice what's important to you.
do you live near a coin show where you can help them out by taking them in to show around to dealers?
Since the local coin shop "is 3-4 hours away", according to the second post from the OP, I would doubt that there is a nearby show.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
ooops
Sooner or later it happens to everybody.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I would name the 3-4 hour away coin dealer here and see if they are well known. If so, for the value presented if not replicas it would be well worth the trip to the dealer. For sure, at least, contact the dealer or dealers within your maximum driving range. Realize also with a dealer there would be no S/H, Insurance and time factor to worry with. Good luck.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
well, the advice is to sell separately - no go
next advice is to get them graded - this involves paying for that obviously and as someone has mentioned a quite a bit of waiting
so, how do you feel about getting them graded. the potential increase in return is worth more than even splitting them up is worth
Do not grade. They would come back with a details grade.
Proud follower of Christ!
i guess i shoul have said to grade those worth grading
Which ones are "worth" grading?
Proud follower of Christ!
@Wendellnla . I will not speak about the coins but have been in your seat myself. I would make it a point to tell her that all most all collectors build sets for themselves; not others. She probably thinks her husband's work is being disabused by breaking up the sets. It is a simple fact that 99 out of 100 collectors only hope their loved ones can get some money back; not that their coins must stay together forever. I use the story of sand and beaches. Life brings things together and then scatters them again. It is the way of life. good luck with your sales and thank you for helping another out. James
Off the top of my head, reasonable buy prices on those coins would be on the ccs: 78: $150; 79:$200; 1880: $450; 1881: $150; 1882: $150; 83: $225; 84: $225; 85: $500-$600; 89: $400-$500; 1890-1892: $150 each; 1893: $400 or more. On the Peace dollars the 1921 looks like a $100 coin, the 1928, $200 or so and the rest $40-$50 maybe a little more, depending on whether they are cleaned/damaged and an accurate grade assessment.
Seatedlib3991: Concerning the coin sets, she is more interested in a simple transaction. Not so much in keeping the “family” together.
Logger7: Thanks for those numbers. Gives me a baseline to go from. My questions, those retail numbers to a collector? Private party to private party? Or buy prices from a dealer? I know dealers need to have a margins to cover overhead and profit.
One last thing, can anyone recommend a reputable coin dealer/buyer in the Salt Lake City area? I am traveling there tomorrow for wife’s medical needs and will be there Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday.
I will suggest she let me take them with me to see if I can get a reasonable offer on the collectibles.
The constitutional/junk/melt silver, those having little to no numismatic value, I will offer to buy them from her for fair value. Unless she wants to give/sell them to her stepsons. I wouldn’t mind adding them to my very small stash of eagles and quarters. I probably shouldn’t with spot being so high right now and a correction always possible. But I can also imagine $100 silver. I consider the dollar to be in a precarious position with the national debt where it is, and that never hurts metals.
Thanks again to all that responded.
Don't take any of those numbers from @logger7 as gospel. They are wild-assed guesses based upon seeing one side of each coin at an angle, behind plastic and in suboptimal images. The numbers are possibly better than nothing, but could also possibly be off, too.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Sooner for some, later for others.
Of course. Those are crappy pictures of one side only. I consider them WAG’s also. But they do provide a starting point.
start a new thread for this
lots of people in the know
Buy sell trade forum or this one?
Try posting on the BST forum.
Maybe a good dealer in the Salt Lake City area could check those out, you may need to make an appt. but at least you'd get in person estimates. I would not post anything until you've got accurate assessments. I've seen a lot of similar "problem" sets, if there are no problem coins in that group then they at least would be worth more.
you'd need a lot better pictures of each
expect to send the coins before payment
ask us for references Re: the buyer
Thanks you. The seller is not interested in selling individually, shipping and taking online payments. She is not tech savvy at all.
well, checks are possible but the necessary hold times are killer
She is old school and not interested in shipping and all that. I would buy the collection and sell or auction, but I don’t have the time.
Re: pictures of each. just like you can't grade from 1 side of the coins, you need good pictures of each to extract a good value from each while still being sold as a group
then you need to start that "need dealer rec for slc" thread
Given the parameters that the seller has put into place (selling as a set only, no electronic online payments, will not ship and not tech savvy) it appears to me that your best bet is to bring them with you, as you have suggested, and visit as many shops as possible or feasible during your trip to SLC.
I know of one or two shops in the area, but have never done business with them. You may want to start a new thread with a title of something like "Recommendations for Honest Coin Shops in Salt Lake City Area". If you do so, you will likely get good information. My suggestion would be to get the go-ahead to sell the sets as-is, in person, to any shop in SLC where you believe you have been treated fairly and honestly and where you believe the payout will be acceptable for your friend. The guardrails put up by the seller really have you hemmed into a potentially tight lane. If you don't take the opportunity to sell in SLC then this could be a long, drawn out transaction.
Good luck.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson