To sell, not to sell, or trade is one of the toughest decisions a collector can make.

For me, decisions about buying coins are relatively easy, since there are few coins I see that I do not want. However, financial constraints more often than not take those decisions out of my hands. The real decision comes when I have the resources, and I have to decide on whether a coin fits into my collection, and whether it is worth what the seller is asking. Furthermore, it is always exciting to add new coins to my collection. This is not true when it comes to selling or trading coins from my collection. This is because I am deciding on the fate of a coin that at one time I wanted. Maybe it is the finality of the sale, sentimentalism, or a packrat mentality that makes these decisions tough for me, the truth is the decision on whether or when to sell is always difficult.

At various times, we all have had portions of our collection in which we lose interest. At one time I wanted to assemble an uncirculated Silver American Eagle set and I enthusiastically added coins into the registry. Now after more than a year without adding new coins to the set, I realized I was no longer interested in collecting SAE?s. My choices when this occurs is to hold on, hoping my interest would be rekindled or to sell. In light of my collecting goals, I decided to sell the coins and use the proceeds to purchase coins more in line with my interests. At other times, I will decide to sell, but hold the coins for a while hoping for a better sale price. Since selling my SAE?s, I have not looked back. This is a good sign that I have made the right choice. After selling any coins, the most important thing is to move forward and never look back.

One of the easier selling decisions to make is when you upgrade coins from within your collection. The real difficulty in this comes when the upgrade is worth significantly more than the coin currently in your collection. At this point, you have to decide whether the upgrade merits the money that you will pay. For instance, NGC lists a silver Delaware quarter in PFUC-69 for $60.00, the same quarter in PFUC-70 lists for $3750.00. Even if I had the money to purchase that bad boy, it makes no sense for me to shell out that kind of money for an upgrade. However, if I can upgrade a coin by one or two grades at 20 to 30 percent of the original coin?s value AND the upgrade meets my collecting goals, then I will often make that decision to upgrade the coin. The good part about all upgrades is that the lower graded coin subsidizes the higher one. Of course, if your goal is to collect silver state quarters in PFUC-70, then you buy the Delaware quarter in PFUC-70. The key here is to stick to your goals by whatever criteria you used to establish them.

Trades can be a lot of fun because no money changes hands except for the money you are trading. When I was a youth, I bought a series of Canadian coins commemorating the 1976 Montreal Olympics. At that time, my collection had no goals, I just bought whatever caught my eye. With the 1976 Montreal Olympic coins, I liked the designs, the allure that these would rise in value, and having coins weighing more than two pounds of pure silver ASW when the series was complete. About twenty years ago, with the coins never realizing a rise in value and with no interest to hold them any longer, I traded them for an 1842 Seated Liberty Dollar. I have since had this coin graded PCGS VF-35 and the coin currently resides in my type collections. One thing to consider when you trade coins is you have to know what the coins you are trading for are actually worth. I have always considered this a good trade because I traded coins I no longer had an interest in for a coin that meets my collecting goals.

At one time, I loved to collect Olympic coins and when the United States issued gold commemoratives in 1984, I snapped them all up. For a while the P, D, S commemorative eagles soared in value, rising to almost $900.00 each at their peak. I thought I was in numismatic heaven because I bought them thinking they would go up in value. Looking back, I should have sold them then because the bottom has since fallen out on these coins, and now they sell for close to melt value. In an effort to cut my losses to acquire a coin I really wanted, I traded them all for a 1904 Liberty Double Eagle. One thing I will never forget about this trade was the counsel my wife gave me. She said, ??Be careful, because the coins you trade, you cannot get back again?. Now years after, I still think of this counsel ANYTIME I want to sell coins from my collection. The regretful part of this trade was that I later found this coin was cleaned, nevertheless, the dealer traded it as an AU coin and ANACS gave it a MS-60 details grade, so it was not all too bad. Today this coin still resides in my collection, and when I cross it over to a purple label, I will post it in my registry. If you do trades, try to trade for certified coins so that you know what you are getting. As far as Olympic coins go, I no longer collect them, unless they fit into one of my collecting themes, because I find them very expensive, over-hyped, and under achieving.

The most difficult of decisions comes when you have to sell coins because of financial hardship. When you are selling coins under duress, you almost never get the price you want because you often have to sell short to meet your immediate financial needs. Since we may all face hardship at one time or another, I am in the process of prioritizing my collection as to what to sell first should I fall upon hard times. This type of planning ALWAYS should be done when things are going well so that when things go sour you have a plan in place to deal with the situation. Preparing in advance also assures that you are thinking with a clear head. I hope no one ever has to face selling his or her coins against their will, but I know this is not realistic, so be prepared.

Finally, there are items of sentimental value I will most likely never sell. One of those items is a Wall Street Mint ten-ounce silver bar. Even though I do not collect these, a friend gave me the one pictured in my post during a time of personal bereavement at the death of my father. This bar will always remind of my friend and my father, in that, though they did not know each other; they are linked together in this bar. I hope all your selling decisions are good ones.

Gary