Collection Appraisal Questions

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

I have an overly complete set of raw silver Roosevelt dimes, which consists of about 80 coins and would like to get them appraised. (It's beyond the 48-coin run from 1946 through 1964 because the collection contains several different errors and varieties). I'm not so much interested in getting the value of the collection appraised as much as I'm interested in confirming the grades that I've assigned each coin. Each coin is in Premier holder and labeled like this:

 

 

Questions:

 

1.) I asked my local coin shop about an appraisal for this collection. They want to charge me $75 per hour. Is this price high, low, or about right?

 

2.) I didn't mention to them that the coins are housed in the Premier holders. Is that going to be much of a problem for confirming my grades? They won't be able to see the rim in the holders.

 

As mentioned, I'm really only interested in knowing if they generally agree with my grades, although I do want a written value appraisal because I do plan on selling the collection eventually. If they believe that a particular coin is a grade point high or low, that's fine. But if they believe that I've grossly over- or under-graded a particular coin, I'd like to change the label or replace the coin with a better one.

[MarkFeld]

If they are knowledgeable and can assess the coins quickly (as they should be able to do), that sounds like a very reasonable hourly rate.

 

I would suggest checking ahead of time to find out how long it will take/what the charge would be. They should be able to tell you that.

[BillJones]

The price of $75 an hour does not sound excessive. You said though that you had some errors and varieties. Does your local shop have anyone there who has expertise with errors and varieites? If not you might want to pare down the appraisal to just the "normal" coins in the set.

 

Another question is, is this exercise worth it? Years ago I bought a Roosevlt dime set (1946 to 1964) in Mint State, raw, for less than $200. Today the Gray Sheet bid/ask is $170/$185. All of the coins in my set are strictly Mint State, and some of them are quite nice with attractive toning.

 

I just bring this up BEFORE you spend more on an appraisal than the set is worth.

[Nutmeg Coin]

Other options would be finding the specialist in the varieties and FT standards. Grading services offer pre-screen specials through dealers, so no coins get graded unless they meet the minimums. Post images on a site that are good enough to have that analysis done, sharp eyes will come up with their best assessments. Eventually forum members get tired of free advice, but it is one of the benefits of sites if you have the capability of good enough photos.

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

The price of $75 an hour does not sound excessive. You said though that you had some errors and varieties. Does your local shop have anyone there who has expertise with errors and varieites? If not you might want to pare down the appraisal to just the "normal" coins in the set.

Yeah, the owner is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to errors and varieties...or at least with the ones that I've brought to him. Although, I'm not looking for confirmation of the varieties, as most of them were purchased directly from variety experts, i.e. James Wiles of CONECA. I just want to make sure my grading of the coins is acceptable.

 

Another question is, is this exercise worth it? Years ago I bought a Roosevlt dime set (1946 to 1964) in Mint State, raw, for less than $200. Today the Gray Sheet bid/ask is $170/$185. All of the coins in my set are strictly Mint State, and some of them are quite nice with attractive toning. I just bring this up BEFORE you spend more on an appraisal than the set is worth.

This is something that I've considered as well. And something the owner mentioned to me...is the appraisal fee really worth it. My guess is...probably not especially, since, as you say, the fee would likely be a large percentage of the value of the set.

 

But, as mentioned, I guess my main goal is just to make sure that I'm close with my grading. I suppose that an "appraisal" is not exactly what I'm looking for. Rather, I guess I'm looking more for an evaluation of my grading. So in that sense, it is kind of worth it for mine own collecting purposes.

 

I took NGC's Introduction to Grading class at the last Whitman show in Baltimore with John Schuch. That was $150 for the whole day. And for me, a guy who has only been seriously collecting for about five years, it was well worth the money. But, of course, we didn't look at Roosevelt dimes the whole time. In fact, I only remember seeing one or two.

 

Thanks Bill

 

 

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

Other options would be finding the specialist in the varieties and FT standards. Grading services offer pre-screen specials through dealers, so no coins get graded unless they meet the minimums. Post images on a site that are good enough to have that analysis done, sharp eyes will come up with their best assessments. Eventually forum members get tired of free advice, but it is one of the benefits of sites if you have the capability of good enough photos.

 

I didn't think of the pre-screen. But that might be more expensive that the appraisal. Anyone know what NGC would charge to pre-screen 100 moderns?

[coinman_23885]

Other options would be finding the specialist in the varieties and FT standards. Grading services offer pre-screen specials through dealers, so no coins get graded unless they meet the minimums. Post images on a site that are good enough to have that analysis done, sharp eyes will come up with their best assessments. Eventually forum members get tired of free advice, but it is one of the benefits of sites if you have the capability of good enough photos.

 

I didn't think of the pre-screen. But that might be more expensive that the appraisal. Anyone know what NGC would charge to pre-screen 100 moderns?

 

I don't know how NGC does their bulk submission, but with PCGS you can have them search through lots of minimum of a 100 coins. Coins that slab cost $12 each. Coins that do not slab are not billed against you if a certain % hit your minimum grade. If not, then $5 for each of those that don't make it. Also, with PCGS, you are limited to a few dates and I am not sure about the variety policy.

 

My suggestion is to buy several cheap examples of other coins off of eBay and create your own grading set.

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

My suggestion is to buy several cheap examples of other coins off of eBay and create your own grading set.

Yeah, that's basically what I've done to come up with my grades. I've got two complete 1946-1964 Roosevelts sets plus several others, all NGC or PCGS graded, and have based my grades by comparing the raw coins to the certified ones. But all of the dimes in my certified sets are higher in grade for the Roosevelt series. And all of the dimes in the raw set that I mention, IMO, are somewhere between MS 62 and MS 65. If I thought they were in the MS 66 FT or 67 area, I would submit them. And honestly, I don't think I'm terrible with grading Roosevelts. But I still like some confirmation that I'm close with it. Here was my last NGC submission from Nov. 2014:

 

 

Some things like that "improperly cleaned" coin I can easily mess up, obviously. I didn't see any evidence of cleaning on it. Here is the coin:

 

[BillJones]

The obverse surfaces on the 1964-D dime appear to be mildly pitted perhaps from having been dipped and left in the solution for too long. You can also get this if the dipping solution is strong. I have never used the stuff, but dealers have told me that TARN-X can do stuff like this.

 

If the white area on your dime is dull and lifeless when you swirl it under a light, that's why it didn't grade.

[coinman_23885]

Cleaning will sometimes but not always put hairlines on the coin. Also, luster is typically impaired in cleaning.