How can I sell my coin collection?

So you feel that it is time to sell your coin collection a long time, or have inherited a collection and you know nothing about coins and want to sell. As with selling anything, you want to be sure to get a fair price. It seems simple enough, right? In the field of numismatics, when it comes time to sell, offer for your collection can vary greatly. The following tips will help you get an offer fair and reasonable. I'll talk more about the term 'reasonable' a little 'later. Numismatists, like any other profession, there are thousands. From part-time one-person businesses to large companies that buy and sell millions of dollars worth of parts annually. And like other professions and industries, we have some criminals. Following the general tips in this article, you should be in a better position to realize your collections value. So here we go!

First, you need to know what you have. Why? If you do not know what you have, how do you know you are getting fair value? If you have thousands and thousands of wheat cents, I'm not saying you need to inventory all. In fact, it may be worth your time. The odds of finding a key currency are slim at best. But you should know how much money you have. How? Simply weigh. Cents of wheat which came to about 148 cents per pound. The same rule applies to other towns such as coins pre 1965 Roosevelt Dimes and Washington quarters as it may just be a gold price of these. For the rest of your collection, you can count the number of each piece. Make sure you have a complete list of your collection.

OK, time to contact a dealer? No, not yet. How do you know you are getting an honest? Before contacting a dealer, you must do some work. The dealer belong to all organizations and clubs such as ANA or BBB? How long has s / he has been in business? What is their reputation? Check a couple of dealers before you make that call. Also, just because a coin publicize important collection of publication, does not make them honest. I know a merchant who advertises in a major publication and sells cleaned coins as BU / Unc originals. Most novice collectors, would not notice the difference.

Now that you've done some research, it is time to contact your dealer. This can be done in many ways. You can give them a call or if you are the shy type, just send an e-mail. In your email, and that you have identified a collection for sale. Include in the e-mail the inventory was completed. This may come as a shock to many, but some dealers do not want your collection. Many dealers specialize in certain types or series, or simply may have too many coins in their inventory. If the library is a collection of coins mean common, you may be disappointed to know that many, if not all large retailers simply do not want to spend time with you. It 's too long to sort the common collections and the margins are too small. Do not worry, all is not lost. Many smaller dealers will welcome the opportunity to get your collection. Many of these merchants are working in mail order and can only have e-mail address or a PO Box as contact information. Although it may seem shady, these people are generally pretty reliable. As above, contact your dealer and ask if they are interested. If not, just go to your nearest dealer. If they are, ask them for their "buy price" list. Many dealers will publish a list of what they are willing to pay for certain currencies.

After a little 'hard work, you have a couple offers on the table. Offers are not anywhere near what you expected. Remember what I said above about offering "reasonable"? Here's the painful truth. Coin dealers are in business to make money. Sure, many of us have chosen this profession because we love it, but like everyone else, we still have mortgages, car payments and college for children, etc. Many people search the latest Coin Prices magazine to come up with the idea of what's collection is worth. Magazines like the prices of the coins are really a price list of what you can expect to pay a dealer for a specific coin, not what you can expect to be paid. Revisions may vary from 20-50% or more for the smallest denomination coin, as hundredths of wheat. As I mentioned earlier, some dealers just can not decide what you have. Moreover, many if not all dealers, reserves the right to revise the offer on inspection of the collection. If you think all your dollars are Morgan BU, but I'm really AU, this would make a huge difference in price. The classification is very subjective. Moreover, for the biggest, most diverse collections, a trader can spend a considerable amount of time reviewing the collection of ensuring a fair price.

So, what to do? Take the best offer and run? Maybe, maybe not. If this is a legacy, and you have no emotional attachment, you can only sell it and never look back. If this is your collection of 50 years, and this can be painful. You can continue to contact the various dealers and wait for a better offer. If you believe that your collection is really worth more, you can always send for the auction. With some of the major auction companies fees, may not be worth it. You can also try eBay but unless you have a strong profile of feedback, many buyers do not bid on your items. You can also find users that eBay will auction your collection for you for a percentage of the take. Sometimes this works well and sometimes not.

For now, suppose we have a reasonable offer and you decide to sell. By the way, this should be a written offer mailed or sent by email. Many times, the buyer may be located in another city / state. No buyer will send you a check until you have seen the collection. If the collection is large enough (many, many thousands of dollars), some buyers will come to you. Otherwise, the very viable option is to send the collection to the buyer via email. Yes, that's right, by mail. Wait you say, it sounds risky. Maybe, but if you take precautions, you'll be fine. In the first place, the collection package very well. Make sure there are no coins jingling around LOOSE. The sound of jingling coins is music to the ears of a thief. So be sure to put good and tight. When you send e-mail, the USPS is pretty safe. Usually, you want to use USPS Priority Mail. Contact your local post office as you can get free boxes. Generally, you want to use the flat rate options, as you can ship up to 70 pounds for less than $ 10.00 (excluding insurance), but ask your local postal clerk for options. For your safety, you must ensure the package and pay for delivery conformation. Include a detailed list in the package. Most retailers will appreciate this as they will control the delivery of the list. If all goes well, you can expect a check in the mail in no time.

In summary, here are tips

1. Knowing what you have, prepare a complete inventory

2. Searching for some dealers before contact.

3. Talk to the dealers before sending coins to gage interest

4. Send your coins. Pack well and insure

5. Review the offer

6. Collect the money!

As always, good collection! ......