Any coin collectors?

[SilentStalkr]

So, I have some stuff my grandfather left me, as far as coins go. I’d like to price some of them out. Some have receipts of how much was paid for them. Some are PCGS WTC coins, various silver and gold and so on. Where does one price this stuff at? I’ve seen sole wild numbers of stuff on eBay and other places etc. but would like a legit place to find out what I should charge for some of this stuff if I decided to sell them. Yes, there are coin shops but how does one know that what they are telling them is legit?

 

[91Eunozs]

Numismatic value of coins is tricky, even for gold and silver coins. You can get a good idea from the buy price from APMEX, JM Bullion, Money Metals or others, but most of the value is in the precious metal weight and purity.

Other coins are even trickier. EBAY is probably the best place to get a basic idea, but a collector looking for a specific piece can really skew the numbers.

Sorry to give you what’s almost a non-answer, but I’d start with EBAY and check those prices against offers from local coin buyers/pawn shops.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Numismatic value of coins is tricky, even for gold and silver coins. You can get a good idea from the buy price from APMEX, JM Bullion, Money Metals or others, but most of the value is in the precious metal weight and purity.

Other coins are even trickier. EBAY is probably the best place to get a basic idea, but a collector looking for a specific piece can really skew the numbers.

Sorry to give you what’s almost a non-answer, but I’d start with EBAY and check those prices against offers from local coin buyers/pawn shops.

Yeah, I’ve seen anywhere from $128-$85,000 for the set. eBay seems to be a no go for a real value. I’m some ways I’m thinking my grandfather got ripped off. One of these sets he spend thousands on back in the early 2000’s. A $5 gold coin and a $1 silver set or something like that by PCGS and he paid like $2000 for it, for real.

 

[NoDopes]

You could post here and see what they say

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pmsforsale/

 

[UNRL Ghandi]

Yeah, I’ve seen anywhere from $128-$85,000 for the set. eBay seems to be a no go for a real value. I’m some ways I’m thinking my grandfather got ripped off. One of these sets he spend thousands on back in the early 2000’s. A $5 gold coin and a $1 silver set or something like that by PCGS and he paid like $2000 for it, for real.

You have to look for the EXACT same coin that is in the PCGS slab. The value of the same type of $5 gold coin can be tens on thousands of dollars apart due to mintage numbers between the years. Or a MS-61 graded coin is 1 of 10,000 of that grade but a MS-62 might be 1 of 10 in that grade and it's the highest grade for that year or coin type. Or it might be a mint error coin. Scarcity and quality determine value in the coin world. And value can go up or down. Let's say in the year 2000 your grandfather paid $2k for a certain Morgan Silver Dollar that was rare at the time and then someone found a horde of that same coin in better condition. That $2k coin might be $500. Or 25 years later it's still as rare but with inflation it's now worth $3k. Hard to tell.

Post some pics of a couple you're interested in learning about.

 

[papershredder]

Ebay is not be the best resource if you're not familiar with the coin collecting world. Coin collecting is a very deep rabbit hole to dive down, and if you don't live near a major city, numismatists are hard to find. With anything collectable, the real value is only determined by what someone is willing to pay for it.

Yeah, I’ve seen anywhere from $128-$85,000 for the set. eBay seems to be a no go for a real value. I’m some ways I’m thinking my grandfather got ripped off. One of these sets he spend thousands on back in the early 2000’s. A $5 gold coin and a $1 silver set or something like that by PCGS and he paid like $2000 for it, for real.

That $5 gold coin may just be a 1/10 -1/4oz of gold (weight depends on type of coin with that denomination), but I would look hard into that $1 silver set before dismissing it. Mintage year, condition, mintage numbers, coin errors within that set all play a factor in determining value. It's similar with complete sets of coins, but condition plays the biggest role in set values.

Here's some links to some grading services reference pages to help you get started with getting an idea of the collection value:

pcgs coin grading services price guide
ngc coin explorer
cac population report and price guide

Two other grading services that is not linked due to no price guides are ICG and ANAC. I'm just throwing those out there just incase you find something worth getting certified and slabbed and want to shop around. PCGS, NGC, and ANAC are the big three grading services that typically bring higher prices at auctions.

Another info resource would be online forums for coin collectors: I'm not going to link them here, but Coin talk, coin community, and collectors universe can easily be found with a google search.

 

[doubloon]

Yes, there are coin shops but how does one know that what they are telling them is legit?

As mentioned earlier, you can get a ballpark from sites like AMPEX, you should at least be able to tell if you have anything worth MiiIIiILLllLLllllllions.

Trying to compare what you have to what's being asked on places like ebay is pointless because details, details, details and sooo many crooks on ebay.

My experience with coin shops has always been good under the following conditions.

First #1, one that will examine the coins right there at the counter without needing to "drop them off" or "take them to the back" mostly because I'm paranoid. Anybody who actually knows their shit can look at it and know what it is.

First #2, one that doesn't charge an appraisal fee.

Most places will identify the coins they want to buy from you and give you a price, tell you which ones are worth more melted down and which ones you can try to sell yourself because the margin on them buying it from you isn't worth their time.

 

[hollowoutadime]

In the last month or so I dumped 1/10 , 1/2 and 1 oz American gold eagles at a local coin shop that a lot in bullion sales.
They are paying spot on 1/10, and 99% of spot on the rest. Had a few Maples in there, 96% on those. Generic silver Morgan dollars, which I still have, are going for basically melt value. Platinum Maples spot - $40. Generic platinum bars, Spot - $50. They are paying $1 over spot for ASE monster boxes, I passed on that. Random 1oz silver rounds and bars were at spot - 1.50,

Apmex was offering 1.50 under spot to buy ASE's. LCS was better.

I'm not sure how strong the collectables market is. While I used to collect coins, I moved into bullion which is a different animal.

Good luck!

 

[tightInThePants]

You should be able to find the PCGS page for the specific coins you're looking at. This would have historic auction prices. I would also look at numista. They'll have historic auction prices for NGC / PCGS / raw / etc. An example: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces20423.html. Look for prices on coins that have sold in your grade, aim for around those prices.

 

[Maggot]

Condition is very important.

The difference between PGS63 and PGS68 on the same coin, can be a fortune. This may sound silly but to get a feel for it, check out Pawn Stars/ valuable coins. He gets some really interesting stuff through his shop.

 

[papershredder]

Condition is very important.

The difference between PGS63 and PGS68 on the same coin, can be a fortune.

That can't be understated. Coin collectors can be the most anal group out there.

For the OP: Wikipedia does a good explanation on the grading scale used by the grading services and pcgs provides some good picture examples of different grades (click on pics to enlarge).

Wiki - Sheldon Grading Scale
PCGS examples

And while I'm thinking about it. Keep those coin sets together, do not separate any coins until you can confirm an individual coin in a set is more valuable than the set is as a whole.