Determining the Value of Your Collection

            It has long been regarded in the collector’s world as a thing of honor and pride to obtain a valuable collection filled with the most rare and beautiful coins. While acquiring coins is always a loved part of a coin collector’s world, funny as it may seem, there is more to collecting than simply filling in dates and completing a recent goal. One of the great enjoyments in coin collecting is looking back over your time in collecting. The best way to reminisce over your past experiences is to evaluate your collection’s value. Evaluating your collection is like “taking a trip down memory lane” as some would say. However, evaluating a collection can be difficult when the coin value guides are misleading to the uneducated collector.

            Let’s step back for a moment; there are a few things you need to realize about coin dealers. Coin dealers are like any other business man. They are looking to make a profit. While it is true, that an overwhelming majority of dealers are kind, genuine people who truly enjoy coins, don’t forget; those same kind, genuine dealer would love to make a profit off of you as well as collect coins. Like any other business, they operate on a system of buying low and selling high. Dealers typically buy coins in bulk from various sources (e.g. auctions, estate sales, previous customers) and split up that lot into individual sales.

              When I first started collecting over ten years ago, I would go to coin shows like thousands upon thousands of other collectors do. At these shows, there would often be over a hundred different dealers with coins from modern times to coins dating back as far as Roman times. While the excitement of being at the shows is enjoyable, I would always remember my mission, find the coins that I was looking for at bargain prices. With this in mind, I would search through the coins intently. Upon finding a coin I was looking for, I would haggle with the dealer until I believed that I was getting a “good deal” according to my coin grading book. However, there lied my problem.

            So how does the system trick you? First off, the most obvious way is dealers make you feel good by listing higher prices on the coins than they actually intend to sell them for. This allows the customer to feel as if they got a good deal from the dealer. At every show I have ever been to, the dealers would often have bins listed as “50% off!” But if you shuffle through the assortment of coins, you will find that the coins in the bin are marked extremely high to begin with meaning that a coin 50% off isn't really 50% off. It was simply mark 50% higher to begin with. These techniques allow for people to feel as if they got a "good deal." 

            Another way in which the system of coin dealers makes money is by having coin value books (e.g. The Red Book, “Coin Values”) mark the value of the coins higher than they are actually worth. Since the coin value guides are listing prices higher than they are actually worth, you need to realize that the actual value of the coins you are buying is usually much less. While it is difficult to say exactly how much the coin guide books increase the value of the coins in their listings, I would say around 50% for less valuable coins and around 30% for more valuable coins. The Red Book  and other such coin value books are looking at the buying price which is significantly higher (Yeoman).

            What would I advise? Don’t carry around a typical coin grading book to coin shows with you. Instead, bring a different type of book that looks at prices from the selling end which is what book you will see many coin dealers with at the shows. One of those books that look at the dealer’s end of coin collecting is called “The Grey Sheet.” This guide is what the dealers typically pay for coins in reality. Having the knowledge that the coin dealers have allows you to be on equal ground when determining what coins would be a good deal.

            My suggestion to you in determining how much your collection is worth is to take into consideration that the value of your coins is not what the typical coin value books say. If you want to find the true value of your coins, you will need to take what the coin value books say and reduce it by 30-50%. But I would not let this fact hinder your enjoyment of coin collecting. While it may seem you have over paid for coins in the past, just remember what you can do to make educated purchases in the future.

If you would like me to write about something, email me at webuycoincollections@gmail.com. I would be happy to hear from you. Also, don't forget to follow my blog so you can read my latest articles. Thanks for reading.           

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Work Cited

Yeoman, R. S., and Kenneth Bressett. The Official Red Book Guide Book of United States Coins 2012 /                    Limited Edition 2012. Atlanta: Whitman, 2011. Print.

Unsearched Coin Rolls: Scam or Valid?

            Many will tell you that the best way to go when starting out in a collection is with unsearched rolls of coins or as many call them “shotgun rolls.” People sell shotgun rolls with all types of coins in them including pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars being among the most frequently sold. But can people’s claims that the rolls are truly unsearched really be credible? Let’s take a look into these claims.

            First off, let me halt the assumption that it is difficult to roll coins with professional grade quality. It is actually not difficult for someone to personally roll coins and make the job look professional. While many might believe that rolling coins is an expensive thing to do, in reality, rolling coins is not expensive and does not require much experience as long as you have the right equipment to do so. The equipment, which is simply a coin rolling machine that does 95% of the work for you, needed for rolling coins usually costs anywhere from $500 to $1000 (US dollars). While that may seem like a lot at first glance, if you consider how much scam coin rollers make, it is not that expensive.

            Secondly, let’s consider the possibility for a scam business which sells supposedly “unsearched rolls.” Hundreds of collector who have bought these rolls before will tell you that their roll was simply invaluable and not worth the purchase. We have already determined that the ability and equipment required are not that expensive. In order to determine if the rolls have truly been searched, you first need to understand how the scammers operate. Scammers often put two good coins on the outside of the roll then only put a few more of the semi-worthwhile coins on the inside. What are the chances that nearly every roll that is supposedly unsearched has about the same quality of coins inside? Many have been tricked before. The scammers often buy many invaluable coins and buy some semi-valuable coins to peak customer’s interest. Putting only few semi-valuable coins in the roll (which just so happen to always be on the outside) and putting about 90% invaluable coins in the rest of the roll, scammers are able to make considerable margins, usually around 25-50% per roll. The claim that scammers make who sell “unsearched rolls” is that the rolls came directly from a bank long ago and were never searched. But this is practically impossible that nearly every roll that they are selling has semi-valuable coins on the outside for the customer to see and invaluable coins on the inside because the banks randomly roll coins. The probability of having a semi-valuable coin on the outside of every roll is too much of a coincidence.

            There is another concern about scammers who sell the “unsearched roll” that is tricky. Many will claim that those in the past have found incredibly rare and valuable coins in their previous lots sold. There are several ways to debunk this. Many could be just plain lying. However, most show customer feedback or email proof showing the validity that there truly were valuable coins in the rolls that they had sold before. But this can be easily faked. It’s not difficult to have friends lie online for you or have numerous accounts giving credit to one’s own self. Another route that many scammers will take is to buy rare or valuable coins on purpose and place them in their rolls at random. This strategy, allows for past customers to give the seller credibility and be completely truthful about it. Because they are receiving 25-50% margins adding in an expensive coin every couple of months is affordable.

            Let’s stop for a moment and consider that some sellers online or at coin shows are actually being completely honest when they say the rolls have never been searched to their knowledge. But in lies the possibility for another point of why these rolls are often a bad idea to buy. Hypothetically, if a loved one has passed away and someone with little knowledge of those coins inherits them, they will be telling the truth when they say they have no idea what is in the rolls. However, if that loved one who passed was a collector, they would most likely have already known what was in the rolls and separated the valuable coins from the invaluable coins when they came across a valuable one. It is common knowledge to most every coin collector that when you find a valuable coin you need to put that coin in a case or other safe place in order to maintain the quality and value of the coin. The loved one would have separated that coin from the rest and put the more valuable, rare coins into an alternative storage such as a coin album or case. It is not likely that the collector would have found a valuable coin and placed it back into a roll because it is common knowledge among collectors that paper rolls do not maintain the luster and value of the coin that an album or case can maintain. Therefore, valuable coins would have already been sorted out of the rolls.

            My suggestion for you is to consider your purpose in buying the “unsearched rolls.” If your purpose is to make a profit, then I would suggest you find another route because in the long run the seller will be making the profits, not the buyer. However, if your purpose in buying these rolls is for the pure joy and excitement experienced when opening the coin rolls for the first time and searching for valuable coins, then I would say have at it. Buying shotgun rolls is similar to playing the lottery. While it is not economical to buy a lottery ticket because it is improbable that you will win the lottery, many play for the fun of the game.

If you have any requests that you would like me to research and write about regarding coin collecting, I may have some expertise in that area. Please email me your requests at webuycoincollections@gmail.com 

                

Selling an Estate Coin Collection

            Selling a coin collection can be difficult no matter who you are. Selling a coin collection is even more difficult when you know little to nothing about selling coins. This can be true especially when selling coins from a recently passed loved one's things. While you want to get the best deal for your coins, often, people have many other things in an estate to sell. This adds to the stress and hardship of losing a loved one. 

            Selling coins individually can be time consuming. Often, that is the best deal for getting the full value of the coins; however, when using sites such as Ebay, selling coins individually becomes a hassle. Many on Ebay do not get the full value of their coins because they sell them incorrectly, do not know how to make their product look appealing, do not have reliable feedback, or more often people do not have hundreds of previous sales to give themselves credibility. However for some, all these problems are not applicable, but another problem can arise even still.

            While you may know how to sell coins and have experience selling items online, often, there are hundreds if not thousands of items that need to be sold in an estate sale, and selling coins whether in bulk or individually would be similar to taking on a part time job. Not only would you have to sell the coins which takes up a considerable amount of time, selling coins online also makes for uncertainty. There is a risk you will never get your money from the product. If you sell coins through craigslist, it is not a hidden fact that Craigslist has certain risks of its own. In addition to uncertainty, people also have to consider that selling online is not just about listing them. Once the coins have been sold, there are usually many emails of communication that go along with selling items online. Also, the products have to be shipped in a timely manner. Many people don’t know how to properly ship coins. By shipping, you also are running the risk of having your customer’s product lost in the mail. The chances of losing a product are also higher when the product being shipping is money/collectible coins or items of high value.

            All of these problems that you might experience in trying to sell your loved one’s coin collection can have a stressful impact on you. Not only is the work demanding as customers expect that there products be shipped to them promptly, but the expertise needed to sell coins is not harnessed by all.
           My suggestion to someone who does not quite know what to do with an estate coin collection would be to take it to a dealer and shop around for the dealer who gives you the best deal. Do not settle for your first offer. The best things come with time. So remember, be patient in looking for a good deal. Another suggestion I have is to not sell coins in an estate auction with the rest of the loved one's other items. Often people at the auction do not know what coins are worth meaning that people at the auction might not pay top dollar for them. Another place in which coins are often traded, sold, and bought is at a coin show. At a coin show you would have the option of of having many offers for your coins or you could sell certain types of coins to dealers who mainly sell that type of coin for more money. For instance, if you have a lot of gold, go to a dealer who sells lots of gold at his table. This will most likely make your coins sell for more. Also, I would advise not selling all your coins to one dealer but optimize the sale by selling to various dealers who would more appreciate what type of coin you are selling them like the example above. Here is a great site that informs you of many different places and times of coin shows: http://www.coinshows.com/. (Often the shows are on the weekends). I wish you the best of luck in your selling. Email me if you have more questions about this topic or you would like me to write more about this topic.  

List of possible places to sell: 

• Ebay 
• Coin shows ( http://www.coinshows.com/)(I would recommend this one the most)
• Local Coin Dealers
• Coin Collecting Friends
• Online dealers
• Auctions houses that are specifically for coins 
• Online coin auctions (http://www.usacoinbook.com/)

            

        I would love to hear from you. My email is webuycoincollections@gmail.com. 

Work Cited

"COIN SHOWS." Coin Shows. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.coinshows.com/>.
"USA Coin Book." - Buy and Sell Coins Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.usacoinbook.com/>.