Collect facts before you try to cash in on old coins
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081207/news_mz1b7encore.html
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Collect facts before you try to cash in on old coins
By Kelly Greene
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 7, 2008
What is the best way to sell a coin collection? It
is probably worth in the neighborhood of $10,000.
I haven't looked at it for 30 years, which
precedes modern coin grading. It is mostly U.S.
proof sets (1950-1980) and U.S. pennies, some
quite rare. Is an auction house the best way?
Marc Gordon, San Jose
Many older adults have coin collections
squirreled away. We asked around in numismatic
circles about the best way to cash these out
and got a variety of opinions. The short
answer: It depends.
If you're trying to unload a coin collection
quickly and you're willing to leave some
(potential) profit on the table, a coin dealer
is your best bet. But if you think your coins
are worth at least several thousand dollars
and you're willing to work with an auction
house to try to beat the wholesale price, you
might get a larger return on your sale
through an auction.
First, you need to pinpoint what you have.
What makes you think your collection is worth
$10,000? Many people guess at the value of a
collection "based on what they see in a
coin-value magazine. Keep in mind that these
are retail values/prices, not what a dealer
would pay," said Keith Scott, who runs a
part-time business called Mountain View Coins
in Morrison, Colo. "A lot of the value will
be based on the condition of the collection,"
he said; some older coin holders contain
polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which can
damage coins.
Coin collectors often refer to coin books such
as the "Official Red Book: A Guide Book of
United States Coins," or the "Standard Catalog
of World Coins." They can give you an
approximate range of value. With those numbers
in hand, you may want to visit at least two
coin dealers, who can appraise your coins and
may be willing to do so at no charge. There
are directories of dealers at pngdealers.com ,
the Web site for the Professional Numismatists
Guild, based in Fallbrook, and at money.org ,
the Web site for the American Numismatic
Association in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Our reader is in luck, because "there are an
awful lot of dealers" in the San Francisco Bay
Area, said Jay Beeton, marketing director for
the American Numismatic Association. But keep
in mind that dealers are going to offer you a
wholesale price for your collection, not the
retail value you may see in books, he said.
If your collection meets the criteria of an
auction house with a deep base of coin-collector
customers, you may be able to get a higher price.
Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, which
claims to be the largest rare-coin company in
the world and the third-largest auction house,
starts by providing a "conservative estimate" of
a collection's value. Then, it finds an
auction - either live or online or both - in
which to sell it, said Greg Rohan, Heritage's
president. The company will auction any
collection it estimates to be worth at
least $5,000.
There are fees: Heritage charges the seller as
much as 10 percent of the selling price, he
said, including marketing and promotions.
"You shouldn't pay any additional fees for
insurance or photography," Rohan said. So,
"if the auctioneer hammers it down for
$10,000, you'll get $9,000."
How do you find auctioneers to interview? They,
too, are listed in the directory at
pngdealers.com .
..
Bob
Thanks, Bob-tx
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