Ian will often get asked if he is interested in buying a coin collection. This also happens a lot when a collector in a family has passed away. When this situation arises, Ian will always go about things in the same way.
If he purchases a collection of coins, he always does his best to be fair. He also makes a point of explaining exactly how much he is able to offer and why. He also happens to be extraordinarily honest.
But before things even get as far as this, Ian will begin by offering the person some basic advice. Essentially this is to research each item in their collection and to establish how much they want for it realistically. I am using this word because Ian will tell them straight that for him to purchase coins, there must be some margin of profit for him in it all.
As far as research goes, Ian will advise people to follow this formula :
1 – To carefully identify each coin and to search for it on eBay
2 – To filter results so they are only showing ‘Buy It Now’
3 – Next, filter results by ‘Lowest Price First’ and make a note of prices
4 – Repeat the last step but filter by ‘Highest Price First’. It is important to ascertain if there is a marked difference between these two batches of results. If there is you will need to work out why. Perhaps it is uncirculated or an error version of what you are looking for? You also need to bear in mind that business sellers are going to charge more than private sellers. Again, you will need to introduce an element of realism into things here as Ian is a business seller!
5 – You should now filter again and view ‘Sold’ items. This will tell you how much people have paid for the coin. At the end of the day you could put any amount on a listing…. But if it will actually sell for that much is a totally different matter.
6 – The next step does not require eBay or even a computer. You will need to talk/think about it all and decide if you are happy finding the time to price, list, pack and post each of your coins. If you are that is great. If not then selling them as a job lot is probably your best option. However, you are not going to make as much money as a dealer will need to purchase them cheap enough to make a profit him/herself.
7 – If you have decided to sell your coins to a dealer, then you need to be aware that many of these will be like vultures. They will want to find the best items at the lowest price to maximise their profits. Therefore if you want to deal with someone who will take the whole lot rather than cherry pick, you will need to be prepared to sell cheaper. This may sound harsh but it will save you a whole lot of time and hassle in the long run. A medium to large coin collection can take a very long time to actually sell when you are listing lots of individual items.
Ian will normally use the ‘Kew Gardens’ fifty pence as an example when he is explaining prices as most people will be aware of this – even if they do not make a point of collecting coins. At this point I shall quote Ian directly –
‘A Kew Gardens can be worth as much as £200. However, I wouldn’t pay more than £100 because there are fees to pay on the sale and it may take a while to sell too. £100 would be my maximum but I’d try and get it for around £75. That is me giving an honest view.
When I do a deal I don’t pick and choose, I offer to take the lot. But that has to be reflected in the price because there will be some items I may well get stuck with which then take ages to sell.’
Buying a collection from someone who has taken the time to fully and properly itemise everything will get a higher offer than someone just showing me a big box of coins and asking ‘how much’?’
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
Perfect advice for anyone looking to sell an inherited collection, although if it’s inherited it’s cost you nothing and the best thing you can do to respect the person that left them to you is carry on collecting.