TetonJoe

Yes, that's a great suggestion! 

Ok thank you JKK. 

Hope you are all doing well. We have had so many great suggestions - thank you again.

We are going to move forward with a loose plan to focus on the higher value coins by getting approximately the top 100 coins professionally graded. Our thoughts are to send a small sample batch to NGC & talk to Great Collections as well. We would then continue on in batches moreso to have a comfort level than to turn over all 100 at once. 

After that, we would then do some economy version of slabbing for the coins remaining over $100. We have to educate ourselves on exactly what economy slabbing means. 

The rest would be divided by country and we'd come up with a plan to dispose of in lots, auction or some other method TBD. 

Does this sound like a good strategy? Apologies for being repetitive, but the collection is truly overwhelming. But historically so interesting at the same time!

Ok - great!! Starting a log on some batching with all the suggestions so far. 

Ok thank you - will get that together. 

Agree with RWB - so helpful.

Here is the link to Google Drive with my list: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JaSlfV4NfETRGAxwlVx1jDNGkKU1U2tE

Please please understand that a) I'm obviously not a collector b) did the best I could at pricing non-graded or difficult coins c) there is still work to be done d) some are marked $0 because I couldn't find the coin or any info on it and e) Refer to A & C

A quick sort shows top 100 are worth about $53,000. Top 250 about $82,000. Really interested in that 80/10 rule. 

Iceland included!

Once we have a good plan, I like the idea of using the BST area. Still need to decide how to break up. 

Please let me know if I should post any pictures so you can see the quality. 

I remember you too! Thank you again!! And no - they weren't your guys. Looking back on our year (or 2 now), it definitely seems like the collection just too big for their return on investment and ability to move. The 20% low ball offer had some underlying ulterior reasons but it's not anything to divulge. Just wasn't going to work for either of us. So we have to dismiss that one. 

Really not a fan of eBay but may have to come back to that - maybe on the back end, but we don't have any reason to sell quickly. 

What is a BST? 

Should I post the entire list (pdf) to this thread (and my other thread) due to some interest by specific countries and my other thread, or is that frowned upon? Should it be posted elsewhere? And if I do that, do I risk moving any part of the remaining collection either in batches or whole thing?

Ok thanks again. 

Great information to start working on. 

Ok I see -  regarding lots and selling. 

One more question to throw out there....I have low and high values for the ungraded coins (again, all in original flips with original grading by seller or my uncle revised up or down for accuracy). I put the high value in the list to have a range. 

How would we catch any generally high value or rare coins if we batch them and use our lowest values for pricing? In other words, we don't know what we're missing that might be of high value. 

So much good information - thank you all so very much!

To clarify - yes, all have been cataloged and prices itemized. That is part of the list we have (full excel spreadsheet extracted from Coin Elite inventory software). 

No professional grading - too costly for not knowing what we're doing haha. But all the dealers (at least 8) who have seen them agree with original grading on flips. One said maybe all but 10 (coins, not percent) were accurate - he examined entire 10K coins. So  we're really firm on that feedback. Thinking we will take the valuable ones to a local dealer, have him/her confirm and then send those for grading?

Happy to hear same sentiments about HA - that was our perception also. Don't think we've talked with Great Collections - will do so - thank you. 

Not in any hurry to sell - so the advice to batch and research lots is really helpful, as well as the understandable economic conditions. Would making lots in $2500 values make sense? Just thinking it might go better - affordable for average person?

So many people here offer help and interest so would love to just keep the coins with collectors. 

And yes - lots of German and French. Should I start to break up collection if people interested here? 

Best to you all - wonderful people. 

Ok thank you! Spoke to a woman at HA but don't have her name now. We spent last year (2019) talking to a few auction places including Stacks Bowers and 2 in California, plus some dealers from last spring's Baltimore show. 

What I didn't follow up on though was a previous thread I had going last January (also 2019) on this same topic. My apologies. Will review those replies also. 

Great help from all - thank you so much!! Great insights.  

Couple questions if you don't mind:

1. If break into 5 - 10 lots, would it be by country or mixed? 

2. To get them graded seems to cost so much money and we are just not experts, so wouldn't know which to choose? 

3. None of these are US coins but we have them as well. Trying to sell the World Coins first. Should we bundle in the US? About 375 of them, in orig flips; 119 more loose. Don't believe many are higher value, but one is possibly $1200, then drops to $140-$170 range. Rest are well below $100. Have a fear, however, that we might be missing some possible high values because the ones in bank deposit boxes ended up MIXED in with everything else.  

4. We must have talked to the wrong auction houses - none would allow reserve price, and all wanted us to send to them for evaluation after seeing our list. HA was very helpful, but passed on the collection as well (based on list only) - said not enough high value coins. No gold. Lots of silver. Will check into the others suggested. 

5. Hoping there is a market for these middle range coins? Agree that ebay would be a nightmare - trying not to go that route. 

6. If I post the list here on marketplace, how many photos?

7. Lastly, with the current economic conditions, are people buying right now? 

Thank you again. 

Thank you Just Bob and Star City! Sorry I did not reply sooner! 

I started a new thread for help with World collection. 

Hello all, 

I'd appreciate any help in going in a new direction for a large collection.

We have a big collection inherited a few years ago from a beloved expert numismatic family member. Sold about 75 ancients as a small part of it last year at a large show, with help from great people on that thread here. What's left are about 10,000 World coins from 1100's to mid 1980's. Of that, about 450 are over $100 in value each which totals about 45% of the collection. We spent a good year putting together the World Coin inventory - all is done. Coins in original flips (and left alone - did not take out or clean). Most are graded between Fine and MS60 or so. Used Krause, NGC, eBay, Numista and other sites to get prices. Some are ungraded so we don't know their value, but we used lowest NGC price. Coin dealers said that the grading on the flips were all very accurate and that the sample coins were a great collection. Had two separate guys look at the whole collection, confirmed the above and then offered about 20%. We're not looking for 100% or even 80. Would entertain anything fair. 

With that said, what I don't get is why all the people we've talked to seem to contradict themselves. That is, they say the condition and grading looks good, and that using the above methods (for guidelines of course, not for selling), are also sound. They consistently say NGC prices are inflated, so that's understood. But then they dismiss buying the collection with all kind of excuses. 

Any insights? We've tried big dealers, local dealers, and auction firms. Auction houses only look at a list, not the actual coins and want to batch with a $1 minimum, which is honestly just laughable. Very frustrating. 

Should we break it up? If so, how? Thank you in advance!

Hello all if still there. Took a break from all the coins but did manage to sell the ancients all together for a nice price. We had 4 people go thru them in person and got an offer on the spot for about 65% of their value. Maybe a little low but we were fine with it.  Thank you to all here. Moving on to the World Coins - all inventoried. Finding that much more difficult. Will go hang out in those posts for help.

That is funny JKK!!

Thank you again so very much. We will have to search for a reputable appraiser - perhaps will take them 10 at a time or so. 

Reverse pictures for previous post. 

Sorry- reverse pics won’t upload. 

Painfully inexperienced... 

Ok thank you both so much- it will be a bit of a challenge I guess, to identify these coins. If we go to a dealer with all of them, do they value them on the spot? We don’t want to leave them with anyone. 

Here are a few pictures front and back. I just pulled some at random. Most of the coins seem to be from Rome, Greece, Egypt (Alexandria) and many just not identified at all. 

Any additional insight for a starting point is most appreciated. 

Could anyone provide some direction in getting a small collection of ancient coins valued?

We have about 70 in original cards that were passed down from a long-time collector/family member.

Thank you.