Selling Coins. 0

[higginson]

I have just returned from a coin dealer in San Francisco. Previously I took the coins in their blue folder to  two vendors for an estimated price that was really low. They both offered grocery store prices for the coins. . Today I went to a dealer in San Francisco and the dealer /vendor offered me $91.06. WHAT AM i DOING WRONG. a VALUATION OF THE COINS WITH NGCc IS AROUND $43,000. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT. LlET US CHAT? Stephen Stover E A " Trusts and Estates"

[The Neophyte Numismatist]

I would imagine you are frustrated by the disparity in the pricing.  I am guessing that the coins that you have are circulated and raw, and the $43K coins are graded and uncirculated.  Understand that condition is king in this hobby.  Even in uncirculated grades there is wide variance in quality and therefore price.  The difference in value "the finest" and the second finest will be significant.  All this to say, "valuation is very nuanced".

You can always post a few pictures of coins here and get some reactions.  Take a full frame (and in focus) photo to the full front and back of the coin.  Without photos of your coins, there is little we could do in determining the value. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by The Neophyte Numismatist

[Sandon]

   Welcome to the NGC chat board.

   Please note that the "Coin Marketplace" forum is for actual solicitations to buy or sell coins, not for questions about why a dealer didn't pay you what you thought your coins were worth.  You should re-post your inquiry under the "Newbie Coin Collecting Questions" forum with clear photos of both sides of any individual coins about which you may have questions. You may want to explain how you got these coins and what your role is regarding them.

  NGC doesn't value coins. It authenticates and grades them and seals them in hard plastic "certified" holders. Only uncertified coins, often low value ones, are generally housed by collectors in a "blue folder" or album with holes into which loose coins are inserted, if that's what you mean. From what you've posted so far, it appears that what you're doing wrong is trying to sell coins without knowing anything about them or the numismatic marketplace.

[higginson]

Thank you.Do you have a good place to sell coins?

[higginson]

Thank you. Reying to sell circulated coins to pay estate taxes. Do you have a "where to sell?"

[Sandon]

   If you're just looking for lists of coin dealers in your area, I can direct you to a few.  First of all, go to the NGC home page (www.ngccoin.com), hold your mouse pointer on the "Resources" tab on the top of the page, and click on "Locate Dealers" in the drop-down menu.  You can also try the websites of the American Numismatic Association (www.money.org), click "Find a Dealer" at the top of the page; the Professional Numismatists Guild (www.pngdealers.org), click "Find PNG Dealers" at the top of the page; and Coin World (www.coinworld.com), click "Dealer Directory" at the top right of the page.

   If what you what you were originally trying to tell us is that you received a distribution of coins from a deceased person's estate that the estate appraiser had appraised for $43,000 but that three different coin (not bullion or pawn shop) dealers have offered you "grocery money" such as $91 for all of them, it would seem that either all three dealers were very dishonest or that the estate appraiser was incompetent.  If it's the latter, I would take up this matter with the estate's attorney and see if the appraisal could be revised.

[higginson]

Thank You. You are right.I am working with 1000 coins, some in blue folder and some in plastic envelopes.

[Sandon]

  The odds are that most of the value is in a small percentage of the coins.  If the coins were appraised, the appraisal should identify them, so you can segregate them and point them out to potential purchasers.  You may find some of the responses to the following topic, which was recently posted by someone in a similar position, to be helpful:

 

[Fenntucky Mike]

I've given an opinion on a few "collections" from estates, inheritances, and new collectors recently. All have been common coins pulled from circulation, state quarters mostly, or cull silver, or common world coins. I'm sorry to say that all individuals were met with some disappointment. That you say "blue folders" makes me think Whitman/U.S. coins, but we really can't give any advice unless you give more specifics about the coins. Hopefully someone can reccomend a competent individual in the S.F. area for you, @Sandon gave you some good avenues.

Temper your expectations as you are most likely not sitting on a pot of gold. Good luck, and hopefully I'm wrong. 

[Vess1]

It seems that there is perpetual lack of info on coin collections as time goes on.  Only the collector knows what's what and then they die.  Then anyone left is left guessing at the value of everything unless a computer program was kept to inform the inheritors.    

Understand that there are many coin collections out there.  If I hear "sets in blue folders" my mind automatically switches to lower value because these methods of storage are not used by people assembling extremely valuable collections.    Of course there are probably exceptions here and there but mostly these are used for worn coins from circulation.  The black backing is not good on MS coins for long term storage.    Most people are not going to stick 4 or 5 figure coins in one of these albums.  They will be in a plastic slab more than likely.  

  At a minimum you need to grab a red book and do some work to study what you have.  Usually there's only a handful of key dates in any series.  They can be extremely worn, cleaned pieces to fill holes.  Sometimes even fakes used to fill holes for rarities.   Many collectors don't have $1500 for a worn cent.    Then the excellent condition ones will be anything commonly found and will not be valuable. 

   Valuable stuff today was often valuable in the past.  What did the owner have invested in it to be worth $43k today?     Did they actually spend 40-50k assembling the sets over their lifetime?     Some people do and much more.  Most do not. 

[Jmgcustom]

On 2/22/2023 at 1:40 PM, Sandon said:

   Welcome to the NGC chat board.

   Please note that the "Coin Marketplace" forum is for actual solicitations to buy or sell coins, not for questions about why a dealer didn't pay you what you thought your coins were worth.  You should re-post your inquiry under the "Newbie Coin Collecting Questions" forum with clear photos of both sides of any individual coins about which you may have questions. You may want to explain how you got these coins and what your role is regarding them.

  NGC doesn't value coins. It authenticates and grades them and seals them in hard plastic "certified" holders. Only uncertified coins, often low value ones, are generally housed by collectors in a "blue folder" or album with holes into which loose coins are inserted, if that's what you mean. From what you've posted so far, it appears that what you're doing wrong is trying to sell coins without knowing anything about them or the numismatic marketplace.

Um sandon? I know you have to be captain coincop, or whatever. But there are ways to get yours orders across with a tad more finesse. Or any at all. So you don't come across like such a ____ ____

[Greenstang]

There is nothing wrong with what Sandon stated. He is just trying to help you but you have to help us first.  
I would have stated almost the same thing if he had not beaten me to it. Posting in the proper forum is the
best way to get more eyes on a question, in fact I have asked a moderator to move it to the proper forum.
Also posting a clear photo of both sides of some of the coins is the best way for us to see what we are dealing
with. Usually any coin with great value has been certified so to find one loose raises questions.
 You say that NGC values them at $43,000 but don’t forget that those would be certified and high grade. Unless
you are able to grade them yourself, then those values would mean nothing. In the coin world, condition is #1.  
If you are going to require any additional help, then please as Sandon asks, supply a clear photo of both sides of  some of the coins you think are valuable and we can go from there.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Greenstang

[Mike Meenderink]

I would very much like to see this $43,000 worth of "NGC valued coins". Please I beg you pull a sample of a few coins you think are nice or good and photograph them closely and clearly (front/back) then post them here. This will at least give us a sample cross section of the collection. Look for the older/oldest coins as these may be worth investigating first. Look for silver coins too as these are valuable in just pure melt value no matter what condition. And of course, if you see any gold coins please send those to me for authentication and retention.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Mike Meenderink