Selling coins

[Texas Proud]

It has come time where my mom is now in a memory care facility... so I am starting to purge her condo... one of the things that she has is various coins...


Some are basically only worth their face value and I do not know why she kept them... some state quarters, some special nickles etc...


But, she has some older coins that although not very valuable, they are worth something.... some indian pennies, some old silver dollars, some proof and mint sets...


There are a few that are worth over $30 and maybe over $100... I am getting them organized to take to a couple of dealers to get appraised, but I am sure I will get a 20% or so discount on retail....


Has anybody sold coins themselves? Is it worth it? Do you have to get them graded or not?


I will probably sell all the cheaper ones to the dealer as the time and effort to get a couple of bucks per coin is not worth it to me.... I will be getting silver prices for the new half dollars and dollars so that is pretty easy to get from anybody....

 

[97guns]

Here’s coin values with silver at around $16 right now, they’ll probably low ball you

I sell to these guys regularly, they are paying .10 under value on quarters $2.75 each but check for scarce dates before you sell, all dealers will buy for the silver content only not for rarity

https://www.providentmetals.com/90-silver-coins.html

 

[Lakewood90712]

If she has silver coins like non investment grade Morgan dollars, e-bay might be the best way to sell.

Coin dealers offer low in my experience, but if it is not a large collection, might not be worth the time to sell on e bay.

 

[davebarnes]

Find a reputable gold/silver dealer and take what you get.
I sold $3k of my wife’s father’s coins. The dealer looked at every coin and offered what I thought was a fair price based upon my limited research.

 

[kitesurfer2]

my mom has a bag of wheat pennies, inherited from my grandparents. maybe a couple thousand,,,,after a few searches, i've found some are worth a nickel and some over $20.

 

[brucethebroker]

I have seii on ebay 2008, and my "net" is around 82% (ebay and Paypal fees). (If you aren't a powerseller, your fees will be higher.) You risk having coins returned, if your description is not accurate (then you are out the shipping). If you put them on auction, you could get much less, if your timing is bad on the auction, etc. In other words, quite a hassle and a small amount of risk.

I know an honest coin dealer who pays about 80% of melt value on "junk" (most circulated silver coins) silver. Much less work than putting them on ebay.

I would take them to 3 dealers for estimates-you will get better prices than "we buy gold" places-the trick is to find a good dealer. Most likely, someone you know "collects/dabbles" in coins since it is a very popular hobby. Ask for good dealers.

The dealer route is most likely the best use of your time...

The last time I priced having coins graded, it was around $25 each for a single coin, with a multi coin discount down to around $20 each. Pretty expensive unless you have a $100 or more valued coin.

BTW, with rising interest rates, silver will most likely increase in value during the next few years-it has been stuck at $16 troy ounce for quite some time. Since much of the value of your coins seems to be the "melt value" of silver, you might hold on to those coins for a couple of years...

 

[DrRoy]

I have sold on ebay 2008, and my "net" is around 82% (ebay and Paypal fees). (If you aren't a powerseller, your fees will be higher.) You risk having coins returned, if your description is not accurate (then you are out the shipping). If you put them on auction, you could get much less, if your timing is bad on the auction, etc. In other words, quite a hassle and a small amount of risk.

I know an honest coin dealer who pays about 80% of melt value on "junk" (most circulated silver coins) silver. Much less work than putting them on ebay.

I would take them to 3 dealers for estimates-you will get better prices than "we buy gold" places-the trick is to find a good dealer. Most likely, someone you know "collects/dabbles" in coins since it is a very popular hobby. Ask for good dealers.

The dealer route is most likely the best use of your time...

The last time I priced having coins graded, it was around $25 each for a single coin, with a multi coin discount down to around $20 each. Pretty expensive unless you have a $100 or more valued coin.

BTW, with rising interest rates, silver will most likely increase in value during the next few years-it has been stuck at $16 troy ounce for quite some time. Since much of the value of your coins seems to be the "melt value" of silver, you might hold on to those coins for a couple of years...

I have also sold on EBay and to dealers. There is no way to get retail unless you open a shop. I pretty much agree with the above comments, and had about the same experience. Try as many dealers as you have time for and take the best offer. 70-80% of retail is likely the best that you can do, and could be less. Dealers have costs and also want to make something or it is not worth the trouble to them.

 

[97guns]

eBay is good for the rare stuff, not too good for junk (common)silver

 

[gauss]

97guns,
Thank you for this information! My late father had what seems to be a mid-sized stash of coins.

To save others some time, I tracked down the following links referenced in the above post.

1) Melt value of various coins - ie the embedded picture of the coins titled US Silver Circulated Coins
Silver Coin Melt Values with Live Silver Prices - Coinflation

2)Page that discusses buying of coins - the main link discussed sales of coins instead.
https://www.providentmetals.com/sell-to-us.html


-gauss

Here’s coin values with silver at around $16 right now, they’ll probably low ball you

I sell to these guys regularly, they are paying .10 under value on quarters $2.75 each but check for scarce dates before you sell, all dealers will buy for the silver content only not for rarity

https://www.providentmetals.com/90-silver-coins.html

 

[97guns]

97guns,
Thank you for this information! My late father had what seems to be a mid-sized stash of coins.

To save others some time, I tracked down the following links referenced in the above post.

1) Melt value of various coins - ie the embedded picture of the coins titled US Silver Circulated Coins
Silver Coin Melt Values with Live Silver Prices - Coinflation

2)Page that discusses buying of coins - the main link discussed sales of coins instead.
https://www.providentmetals.com/sell-to-us.html


-gauss

I buy and sell a lot of coins, gold and silver and Provident has the Best Buy back pricing. When eBay has 8 or 10% eBay bucks rebates I buy gold at $100 under melt and dump it off to them, I usually clear $500 a month, the maximum for eBay bucks.

 

[Car-Guy]

If you know what's consider rare, then just pull those out and sell the rest in bulk. I've listed a number of key 20th century coins/dates/mint marks to look for in other threads so do a search if you are interest.

If you do find a rare coin then condition becomes extremely important. If you think you have a rare coin, then post a picture of the coin (or PM me the picture) and I can give you a "probable" grade and price range.

For retail pricing, here's a link to a current price guide for rare coins. Subtract 20 to 30% for wholesale pricing.

https://www.pcgs.com/prices/?msclkid=4d229c4dbb3b1061df29c7005904e87c

I wouldn't consider getting anything professionally graded/certified for values under $100. Waste of time and money. Even a few hundred dollar "retail" value is questionable for grading IMO. Over ~$500 retail and it starts to make some sense. If you do decide to get something certified then only use PCGS or NGC. The other certification services are a joke in the industry.

Easiest place to sell coins is a local coin show. Even just bulk silver coins. Lot's of dealers in one place and most are happy to look at your coins (for free) and make you a cash offer on the spot. Nothing like a little open competition. Some dealers don't deal in "common" stuff but will usually point you to other dealers that do. Just ask. Here's a link to public coin shows in Texas. Some are free and some might cost 3 to 5 dollars to get in. Ebay seems to work for some folks but it's a PIA IMO.

Texas Coin Shows

 

[harllee]

Similar to the OP my mom had a bunch of silver dollars she asked me to sell. I checked around and found I get the best price for them on Ebay even after fees, shipping, etc. Coins are easy to ship (but get insurance). I took good pictures and gave a detailed description and never had a return. For "junk" silver I found that selling several silver dollars together netted the largest profit. I think I would sell a group of junk silver dollars together to equal around $200. If the price for much over $200 they did not sell as well. I did the best selling them at auction with a minimum rather than fixed price. For some reason the at auction price always netted me more than what I would have asked at fixed price. Be sure to research your coins especially mint marks, etc. My mom had a few silver dollars that turned out to be collectible, one I got around $500 on ebay. For collectible coins I sold them individually on eBay at auction with a fairly high minimum and the bidding took off.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I sold my late DF's coin collection last year. I got the same good advice from our knowledgable forum members as above, and decided to sell the lot to a local dealer. I had only two in town to choose from and one gave me nearly 20% more than the other, so it was worth shopping around. It was mostly proof sets and I learned those aren't worth nearly as much as DF would have liked to believe. There were a handful of key date coins, a couple of which were some of the most-faked coins out there. One dealer bought the 1916D dime, neither would touch the 1909S VDB penny.

So my question is, how can a non-coin collector get a penny graded and authenticated? My limited research showed that one had to be a member of one of the grading societies to submit coins, and the membership fee plus the grading fee would add up to more than I think it would be worth. The local dealer wasn't interested in submitting it for me.

 

[CaliKid]

Pretty easy to sell that stuff on Ebay.

 

[Car-Guy]

I sold my late DF's coin collection last year. I got the same good advice from our knowledgable forum members as above, and decided to sell the lot to a local dealer. I had only two in town to choose from and one gave me nearly 20% more than the other, so it was worth shopping around. It was mostly proof sets and I learned those aren't worth nearly as much as DF would have liked to believe. There were a handful of key date coins, a couple of which were some of the most-faked coins out there. One dealer bought the 1916D dime, neither would touch the 1909S VDB penny.

So my question is, how can a non-coin collector get a penny graded and authenticated? My limited research showed that one had to be a member of one of the grading societies to submit coins, and the membership fee plus the grading fee would add up to more than I think it would be worth. The local dealer wasn't interested in submitting it for me.

Some dealers will submit coins for you, for a small fee. However, the cost of becoming a member of either PCGS or NGC can be minimal if you have a few coins to submit for grading. Example, I think PCGS offers 4 free grading vouchers if you join their "gold" service level for $149yr. So you get your first 4 coins graded for free (or for the cost of joining). You can always cancel your membership after a year. I think NGC offers something similar. And as I've said before, don't waste your time and money on the other grading services.

 

[hesperus]

I'm just wondering where to unload my 1913 V nickel...

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm just wondering where to unload my 1913 V nickel...

Do you just have one, or the complete set of five.....

 

[aja8888]

I'm just wondering where to unload my 1913 V nickel...

eBay!

Or just spend the darn thing.

 

[COcheesehead]

I was in a similar situation and sold my Dad's collection on eBay.
I made no attempt to grade them, only took very good pictures of the front and back, listing date and mint mark. Out of the hundreds I sold, I only had one problem when I missed a mint mark, but the buyer and I worked it out.

I never trusted coin dealers after one insurance related incident years ago. I felt better taking my chances on eBay and it worked great. We were able to get over $11,000 for the collection. That helped pay some medical bills for him.

 

[Texas Proud]

I will be going to a few places here.... we have some real coin dealers and I think I will find out what is worth selling and what is just worth the metal...


I will probably sell the metal to one of the places mentioned here... or hold onto it for a bit longer as I do think silver is a bit low right now... but it has been that way for years...


The proofs and mints go from $10 to $30... I think I only have a few coins that are worth more than $100... most are less than $10... but I think the total is about $1,000 or $1,500.... I still have to get the coins out of the safe deposit box..


Thanks for the info and links...

 

[gstillson]

eBay!

Or just spend the darn thing.

Actually my older brother did exactly that as a kid with my Dad's collection. He put my Dad's 1909S VDB in a gumball machine or something as the story is told.

 

[MRG]

Actually my older brother did exactly that as a kid with my Dad's collection. He put my Dad's 1909S VDB in a gumball machine or something as the story is told.

About 20 years ago I picked up a 1909VDB in change. It was around the holidays and I'm sure it belonged in someone's collection.