My grandfather left me his coin collection after he died in 1993. My wife also has some rare(ish) coins that she inherited from her father. We don't have any kids (cats don't count here) or relatives that we want to leave them to.
We're staring at retirement in the next 10-15 years and don't see any point to holding on to them much longer. Not being experts, our #1 concern is not getting ripped off. Do you guys know of a good way to sell them to collectors as opposed to dealers? I expect that collectors would give us closer to their true market value.
I started coin collecting in 1962. I went into the Air Force in 1974, and my dad took on the collecting for the next ten years or so, when he passed. I have had the collection since, mostly at the bank. My insurance won't cover the replacement value of the coins, even if they're in my safe at home.
So...first things first. If you take the collection to your local coin store, you're going to get 20 cents on the dollar. This is especially true for the "junk" silver.
Your best bet is to get a magazine listing American coin values, from your local Barnes and Noble. Look at the value of each coin in the entire collection, paying close and careful attention to the wear marks on the coins. There can be a profound difference in value from a coin in "Good" condition vs. "AU", or Almost Uncirculated. By a facter of ten, for some key coins.
Cataloging your collection is just not optional. You have to be careful, and thorough. Then, if you still wish to sell, take a list of what you have to the shop, and get a preliminary offer. I would hold back all the coins worth a moderate value or more. For example, I have a 1916D Mercury Dime, in Very Fine condition, that Dad paid $1500 for...back in 1980. It is worth vastly more than that...and these "Key" coins are what the collector really is after. They don't give a crap about the silver half dollar from 1950.
Use the valuable coins as hostage for the non-critical coins. Accept no less than half to 75% of the "book" value.
Prepare to be shocked at how little a coin dealer values your collection...the whole time, he's thinking about a different customer, who REALLY wants what you have.
Selling on EBAY can be done...selling is better than buying, but there are dangers there too.
Here's a link to a short article...a very good read, from a very reputable website:
http://cointrackers.com/sell-your-coins/
Thanks! It looks like you've definitely pointed me in the right direction.
About a month ago I did a search for local coin shops and cautiously visited the largest one in the area to get an idea of what they might pay for parts of the collection. I already had the latest red book so I was keeping the listed prices in mind. The owner wasn't there when I stopped by but I talked to him later over the phone. He was understandably reluctant to name any figures without seeing coins so I asked him a question that would have been very difficult NOT to answer. I have 40 silver quarters, of middling quality, and asked what are the least and most amounts he could see paying for them. He said that I was probably looking at about $100. That's 10 times face value but far less than red book prices.
I didn't mention any other parts of the collection. The most valuable are 19 Morgan silver dollars, the oldest dating to 1878. Their worth varies widely but most are in pretty good shape. My biggest difficulty is trying to grade the coins myself. I'm just not an expert. Fortunately some of them are still in the coin holders that he purchased them in and some grades are already marked on the packaging.
I also have a ton of pennies and nickels which I'd consider the "junk" of the collection. Some are in binders, some in bags, and others in paper bank rolls. If I can't get much more than face value for them I'd rather not spend money and time putting them in binders and individually offering them. Maybe I could either sell them in bulk for a slight markup or if that fails, take them to the coin counter at the bank! I'll go through them first to see if any seem more valuable than they look. Unless they're hiding in a roll or bag, I don't have any 1943 non-steel pennies sadly. :'(
Thanks again!
My grandfather did a little coin collecting. He passed on a 1909 SVDB coin once and always regretted it afterwards.