As you continue along your path to Selling Your Estate’s Numismatic Coin Collection, you became organized in part 1, figured out which method of sale is best for you in part 2, and have now decided to sell the whole thing to a rare coin dealer. Great! This is by far the most popular method, and is usually the safest and most profitable (especially for the beginning numismatist). In this installment we’ll give you some tips on…
Finding a Reputable Coin Dealer.
Reputations are easy to find these days. Just google a business. Their star rating and reviews are right there to see. That’s a good start, but I suggest going deeper than that. Look at their website. Is the dealer a member of the Better Business Bureau? Are they member dealers of NGC or PCGS? Call them. Will they give you straight talk over the phone about pricing, or do they give you the run around (vague answers)? Will they meet you where the collection is, or do they require you to bring it to them? A good dealer will belong to the BBB, and be a member dealer of NGC or PCGS. They will give you general pricing over the phone. They will be willing to come to you. Coin collections can be large and heavy, not to mention valuable! A worthy dealer will be easily willing to meet you at your home, bank, or neutral location such as a library meeting room. They will be transparent about how they are grading and pricing each item when you ask, and prove their price with pricing guides and auction results if necessary. The best
way, however, to get the best price from a dealer, is to get at least two offers. Let the dealers know that you will have more than one dealer make an offer on your collection, and the highest bidder gets the deal. It is not wise to reveal the offer from the first dealer to the second. If the first dealer happens to give a low offer, and you reveal it to the second, they can beat it by a small amount, and you are still getting a low offer. After they each give their best price, compare them. Are they close? If so, then they are probably giving good pricing, and you can feel confident selling to the highest bidder. If they are not, then get another offer and see how that compares to the highest offer. If something doesn’t feel right, start over. That’s it! I hope these tips give you the confidence to sell your collection for the highest price possible, and the peace of mind in knowing that you received the best price that you could for your collection.
Thank you for reading this series on Selling Your Estate’s Numismatic Coin Collection. We invite you to take a look at our next series on the basics of coin collecting for collectors and investors.
