Finding a reputable/honest dealer in the Chicagoland area . . . help?

[Forrester-migration]

Hello -- my apologies if this is the incorrect place to post this question.

 

My grandfather recently passed away at the age of 85, and left my mother a huge coin collection. It is rather unorganized, and has a great deal of coins whose value is likely face-value. However, it seems likely that there are a few valuable coins in there. She doesn't have the expertise to go through all of the coins, but I'm afraid to recommend that she go to any old coin dealer as it seems possible she could end up selling the collection for far less than it turns out to be worth, if there are a few gems in there.

 

Can anyone give me advice on how to suggest she proceed? I think either I need to recommend a reputable dealer, or another resource in the Chicagoland area that can help her sift through the coins and determine what's valuable and what's not.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. If you need more details, let me know and I'll find out what I can.

[okbustchaser]

Harlan J Berk

 

Ask for Tom DeLorey.

[Forrester-migration]

Thanks for the reference. Off the top of your head, do you know what the typical price is for an appraisal? Obviously, it depends on the number of coins -- I think it's probably on the order of 10,000 or so, but most of these are going to be pretty lousy quality. From mom:

 

"we have 1909 pennies but they are really in bad shape. there are 75 dollars worth of wheat pennies and around 25 dollars of them are 1939 and under. We did not unwrap some of the other rolls but we think that they are after 1939 and grandpa put the ones before that together. that is as much as we can tell so far. we worked on these damn pennies for over 5 hours yesterday just sorting out the 1939 and lower. I really think the other rolls are 1940 and above."

 

Among the rest of the stuff there are mercury dines, Kennedy half dollars, Barr silver dollar bills, half dollars. and a box or three of buffalo-head nickels, but the latter are mostly worn down to the nub. My grandfather seems to have specialized in collecting extremely worn-out coins . I believe my father spoke to a coin dealer a little while ago and he said that the dimes were pretty much just worth a dime each, and the silver dollar bills were worth whatever silver is worth these days, but that seems . . . well, depressing.

[ant]

i would sugest having the key dates and very nice looking coins looked at .

[Forrester-migration]

i would sugest having the key dates and very nice looking coins looked at .

 

Can you suggest what the key dates would be for each type of coin?

[James_OldeTowne]

I would be willing to appraise the collection for free - but I'm on the south side - WAY on the south side - in St. Louis.

[ant]

well there are lots of key dates and my mind isnt running to good ha to good. but i would recomend going to james and he can also share with us what he sees a red book would help, just find the most expensive listed coins your best bet would be go through james.

[jtryka]

It sounds like there are a lot of common coins there, though you never know. As for the advice you got, I'd probably give the opposite, in that the mercury dimes are worth the silver price and the "Barr" notes (which are actually Federal Reserve Notes, not silver certificates) are pretty much worth a dollar. I would advise getting a Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins) available at most book stores, as a quick reference for US coins that will help you identify the key dates. There may be some board members that would be willing to help in the area, I am about 100 miles away, but my folks still live in the south suburbs. Best of luck whatever you do.

[World Colonial]

If you are going to get your collection appraised and it is large, you are most likely going to need to organize it and catalogue it to some extent. Otherwise, it is going to probably cost you a lot of money and/or the appraisal will be lower because no dealer or collector is likely to evaluate each item in your collection individually with so many items of low value.

 

I had my collection appraised once. Ira Goldberg from Goldberg Coins was kind enough to perform an insurance apprisal for free. But I had all the coins graded by NGC, PCGS and ANACS, there were only about 100 of them, and I also had them inventoried so that each coin could easily be associated with my inventory list. What he gave me was a letter stating the value of the collection in total. It was not a detailed appraisal by coin nor was it an offer to buy any of my coins or what I could expect to receive if I sold them to someone else.

 

If you actually like coins and are thinking of becoming a collector, you might consider joining a club or even if not, maybe attend a meeting to see if you could meet someone to help you get started. If not, you are probably still going to need to find a reference book such as the US "Red Book" (as I assume these are US coins) to identify the more valuable pieces and their approximate condition.

 

One reason to do this is because if you are going to consider paying for an appraisal, you need ot make sure that it is worth appraising. The collection MAY have a lot of value (at least relatively) but just because it is large and the coins are "old" (no longer circulate) means little in and of itself. You seem to indicate that most of the material is low grade and unless it includes the scarcer dates, you are likely to get a low price for it regardless of what the catalogue value is for it. The reason for this is that if you sell it to a dealer, it will take them a lot of time to sort through it (and time is money) and since they will probably not evaluate it in detail before they make an offer to you (if you want to sell it), they are ALWAYS going to give themselves the benefit of the doubt to make sure they can make money off of it. In my opinion, this approach is entirely reasonable and the way to minimize the risk of being ripped off or just getting a bad price is to educate yourself. But just as with everything else, nothing in life is free and it will require some effort on your part.

[Forrester-migration]

colonial -- thanks for the input, that's kind of what I was thinking too. My dad is going to email them and ask what the likely price is for an appraisal. He has a standing offer from another dealer for 2 cents per wheat penny (or $150), which really seems low to me, but I know my folks aren't going to want to cough up a ton of $$ for an appraisal. Given my description -- "Here's a pile of 2500 pre-1940 pennies" -- any idea what the cost might be, just for the pennies?

 

Seems like I might have to talk them into taking a trip to St. Louis .

[James_OldeTowne]

colonial -- thanks for the input, that's kind of what I was thinking too. My dad is going to email them and ask what the likely price is for an appraisal. He has a standing offer from another dealer for 2 cents per wheat penny (or $150), which really seems low to me, but I know my folks aren't going to want to cough up a ton of $$ for an appraisal. Given my description -- "Here's a pile of 2500 pre-1940 pennies" -- any idea what the cost might be, just for the pennies?

 

Seems like I might have to talk them into taking a trip to St. Louis .

 

 

The way I do appraisals like this is not with intent to buy. Rather, I evaluate the collection and assign a wholesale (greysheet) value and an estimated retail value, and write up the appraisal formally (usually in a spreadsheet). I then urge the owner to shop the collection around for a best offer, using the appraisal document as guidance. The final amount that should be realized is usually around 85% of the wholesale value.

 

I actually very seldom get to buy collections I appraise, since most other dealers can afford to make stronger offers than I can. But once in awhile, I get a favor returned, and that's good enough for me.

 

However, one should expect and accept that a professional coin dealer deserves to be paid for his time spent on appraisal. (I am not a professional coin dealer.)

[CHABSENTIA]

I think that under the Circumstances that I would take the trip to St Louis.You don't mention the condition of the Kennedys and you also mention halves. Are you referring to the same Kennedys or perhaps there are also Franklins and Walking Libertys?

 

 

I am not a Currency person so I don't know where the "Barrs" would come into the picture.A lot of the pennies could be nothing but there could be some key dates etc.

 

 

[World Colonial]

You are welcome. And if you can take James up on his offer, you should because I cannot imagine any other dealer who will be so generous.

 

On your comment on the Lincoln wheat cents, I do not collect any US coins as indicated by my posting name. But from what you described, I do not believe that 2c/coin is that far out of line for low to middle grade coins of this type sold in bulk. You might think it is low if you have compared this offer to any prices on eBay (though I cannot imagine that any or many individual coins like this would be listed, but I do not know), the retail price these same dealers will charge or what is included in the various price guides.

 

But this is where a little effort on your part can make a difference. If you even take the minimal effort to identify the scarcer dates (such as the 1909-S and 1914-D if you are lucky enough to have them) and pull them out, you should automatically get a better offer. Because if nothing else, it will let the dealer know that you have some knowledge about your collection and I think most dealers have more respect or give better consideration from a service standpoint to a potential customer that seems knowledgeable. It will certainly reduce the chances of getting ripped off by someone unethical.

 

You can do even better by learning how to grade your coins. But that will take a lot more effort and time commitment.

[Bruceswar]

colonial -- thanks for the input, that's kind of what I was thinking too. My dad is going to email them and ask what the likely price is for an appraisal. He has a standing offer from another dealer for 2 cents per wheat penny (or $150), which really seems low to me, but I know my folks aren't going to want to cough up a ton of $$ for an appraisal. Given my description -- "Here's a pile of 2500 pre-1940 pennies" -- any idea what the cost might be, just for the pennies?

 

Seems like I might have to talk them into taking a trip to St. Louis .

 

 

The way I do appraisals like this is not with intent to buy. Rather, I evaluate the collection and assign a wholesale (greysheet) value and an estimated retail value, and write up the appraisal formally (usually in a spreadsheet). I then urge the owner to shop the collection around for a best offer, using the appraisal document as guidance. The final amount that should be realized is usually around 85% of the wholesale value.

 

I actually very seldom get to buy collections I appraise, since most other dealers can afford to make stronger offers than I can. But once in awhile, I get a favor returned, and that's good enough for me.

 

However, one should expect and accept that a professional coin dealer deserves to be paid for his time spent on appraisal. (I am not a professional coin dealer.)

 

 

James is one of the most honest guys I have ever met! Take him up on this offer. He will treat you like his own family.