Not sure what to do with it. Is coin collecting still a thing? Do collectible coins increase in value over time? My grandfather was mostly a pocket change collector. Half of his collection obviously came out of pocket change and grade G-4 or less. The other half of my grandfather's collection are a set of 2x2 squares with F-12 coins and square tubes of Morgan dollars of grade XF-40. I am guessing that he picked these up at coin dealers or coin shows. I do not want to keep the collection intact. I either want to cash out or trade out the current coins into a smaller set of coins that are popular and have a good trade market like maybe coins like Any thoughts or suggestions?
I know a guy who does stamps for a living and he makes a good living. He knows a bunch of coin guys, so I think yes, it's a thing. Just try to find a reputable coin collector and talk over the collection with them. Maybe get two opinions.
OP, how come you don't want to keep the collection intact? Unless it's worth a ridiculous amount of money, imo, I think you should keep it for sentimental purposes.
That s my plan for this week. I do have a concern wrt coin dealers, even reputable coin dealers. They make their money on buys and sells. I am going to have to take a haircut if I sell the coin collection. Unsure what the standard haircut is. A friend of mine who collected comic books passed away. As a favor to his family, my brother and I went through my friend's collection and priced and graded them. My brother was also a collector, so he graded the books. We used the standard pricing guide. My friends collection priced out at $30K. The family called 10 comic book shops and asked for bids for the entire collection. They got only 2 bids back. Both bids would pay 10 cents on the dollar. Obviously the family could take the collection to a comic book show and got a better deal via selling the collection book by book. Two or three shoes would do the trick.
Some of my grandfather's coins in 2x2 square like Some (not all) of the squares note the coin's grade. The above coins are graded XF-40. I went to a coin grading web site to get an idea of how coins are graded. I compared the grades noted on the 2x2 squares versus the web site, and found that some of the grades were a grade higher than my novice eye expected. Grades are subjective. Besides the haircut the coin dealer gives me to buy/trade the coins, I have to be concerned that the dealer will lower the grade on the coins I sell and raise the grade on the coins I buy/trade.
The haircut is definitely part of their business (I know from stamp guy). The better educated you get, the less haircut you get. Maybe it's worth paying a modest fee to a knowledgable person, with your expressed intent to keep the collection. I dunno. Pretty fun though. I sold an old gold coin once (actually a spanish "cobb" recovered from a sunken ship). Interesting experience. Took a decent haircut, but I found a dude who was pretty upfront about it, I felt like.
The guy has to buy at discount (wholesale price) and sell at retail, if he wants to stay in business. I get that. I do not expect to sell and sell coins at retail.
Given the subjective nature of grading, I would feel much better about owning coins than have been professionally graded. The above coin was graded by PCGS (or likely a PCGS certified person/dealer). PCGS has a reputation to maintained, so the grade is very likely legit.
I fall under the "sentimental" category, which is why we have no closet space worth mentioning. Since it isn't your hobby, and seems unlikely to be, No Worries, selling them might be the best idea. I inherited a coin collection, a mixed bag. I keep intending to go to a dealer to see if they're worth anything. I've been meaning to do that for about 30 years. I wonder if it would be more profitable to sell a few at a time? Good luck, in any event.
This is what my dad did as well and why I am now dealing with his father’s collection. I own two collectible coins prior to the inheritance. The two coins were mint graded 1880 Morgan dollars, were bought as an investment and were more expensive than anything in my grandfather’s collection. I have a little interest in coins, but if I sell all of the inherited coins they are gone as well.
If you want money immediately, a coin dealer will give you a quick (but very low) price. They will only offer you about 40% (maybe less) of what they will be able to sell it for. If you have time on your side, you're probably better off selling the coins at auction. Check out www.ha.com . In addition to daily coin auctions, they have a few big auction shows each year. THAT's where you'll get a better offer for your coins. Additionally, you can look up previous auctions to see what kind of sell prices you should expect for each coin. I have an American large-size paper currency collection.... which, unfortunately, is a very lonely hobby.
it's obvious that despite the coins not meaning anything to you the act of leaving them to you meant a lot to your grandfather. with that said, leave them to your children or grandchildren. that idea in of itself makes them priceless. money or value isn't everything and at the end of the day when we move on money means nothing.
Selling to a dealer will be a huge haircut - usually half value, give or take. If you want to try to maxamize value, try to find an auction. You'll generally pay about 10-15% off of hammer price. The trade off is you have to wait for the next auction. The only coin auctioneer I know is Spink & Sons, but they are probably a bit high end based on your description.
