World Coin selling question

[bwilson1]

I have a collection of probably 500-700 world coins from 30 different countries..None of them are graded and they range from poor to very nice in my amateur opinion. I am thinking of selling them and I have no idea where to begin.They were my fathers who collected mainly in the 50's and 60's..Not much newer than 1970 and many from the 1800's. Any suggestions? They are in 2 x 2's but unfortunately they used staples that are rusting now and I don't think I will ever get the time to transfer them all into new holders. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[HiHoAudio]

Sort them into groups of 10-20 coins and list them on eBay. If you price them right they will sell.

 

Don't worry about the rusty staples, as most people will reholder them anyway. And the rust implies that they are from an old collection.

 

Good luck!

[bwilson1]

Thanks!!

[Alan Glasser]

Interesting.

 

I am in a similar situation. I have nearly 1000 coins that I have collected since I was a kid in the dark ages. I say collected...but really I mean "accumulated". I started specializing in 2 or 3 areas while in college (still at it some 40+ years later). Many of these coins were approvals from Littleton Coin Company.

 

Anyway, I have started the gargantuan task of cataloging, reholdering and evaluating the worth of these coins. DO NOT rely on the coin catalogs or even NGC's otherwise excellent Foreign Coin Values site. A coin is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. So, the likelyhood of there being any "noteworthy" coins in your grouping is minimal...but not impossible.

 

I have pulled out the silver and again, with the help of the NGC guide online, determined the silver content of each piece and notated it on the holder. I have found that silver coins tend to sell...but at a discount from the value of the silver content (assuming that there is little "numismatic" interest in the coins). Scarcer coins of silver may possibly generate some interest if listed separately but do NOT expect catalog value. It just won't happen unless a rarity appears.

 

Going through the lesser metal coins, I have found a few "scarce pieces" and they had noteworthy values in the NGC online guide. Going to E-Bay however...even the $30, $40 coins from NGC are selling for maybe 10-20% of stated value. Kind of a disappointment. I have tried grouping lesser world coins by country and offering them on E-Bay and so far have had little interest unless you are willing to sell for very little money. (Actually there is some satisfaction in this as it gives young collectors a chance to add some interesting coins to their collections at prices they can afford ...hopefully the "older" collectors will tie their hands, and I have even requested this in some past listings. As a high school teacher, I started a lot of great kids on coin collecting and that was very rewarding...not for $, but for the fun of sharing. In the past, I sent coins to young collectors in several countries and often, they actually arrive (when sent maybe 2 or 3 coins in an envelope). Of course you're out postage...and several groups of coins "disappeared" but it's great hearing from people who actually received the coins. I did not ask for trades or anything in return. I don't do this any more...postage and limited time made it impractical.

 

Bottom line, you're going to spend a lot of time for very little financial reward. Give the coins to kids, donate them to Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts...save them for your children or grandchildren. There is much more reward in that then the little money you'll make for a LOT of time spent.

 

MusicAl

 

 

[World Colonial]

If I had a hoard as described here and any coins are actually in superior condition, I would keep those and get rid of the rest.

 

Many world coins (even recent ones) are not that common in better grades. I say this with the caveat though that foreign collectors do not hardly ever care about what are actually trivial distinctions in quality which are so important to US collectors as reflected in the TPG grade. So to some extent, what I am describing is a speculative play on the remote chance that these markets will come to prefer US practices later.

 

However, given the low value, I do not see much opportunity cost. It will still take some work though at some point to separate the coins which are scarce from those which are not. I occasionally scan the generic world coin listings for both NGC and PCGS on eBay and the coins that seem to be common sometimes surprise me. An example would be MS RD copper (or bronze) from certain mid-20th century Peru issues. These must be hoard coins.

[TheCoinGeezer]

Many world coins (even recent ones) are not that common in better grades. I say this with the caveat though that foreign collectors do not hardly ever care about what are actually trivial distinctions in quality which are so important to US collectors as reflected in the TPG grade. So to some extent, what I am describing is a speculative play on the remote chance that these markets will come to prefer US practices later.

Well, I won't speculate as to whether foreign coin collectors are fussy about grades or not but I do know that collectors of Canadian coinage sure are!