Go see a reputable coin dealer.
Have it appraised.
Then decide what you want to do.
Oh, and make sure you get some adult advice from someone you trust.
Then go ahead and make your own decision.
Go see a reputable coin dealer.
Have it appraised.
Then decide what you want to do.
Oh, and make sure you get some adult advice from someone you trust.
Then go ahead and make your own decision.
................... wrote:
The elusive correct Flagpole post!
Commodities are a horrendous long-term investment. You are young, get out of metal, get into equities and wait.
Inflation fears in the US are overblown. Everyone and their grandmother knows we are printing money, and inflation ain't here. Borrowing costs are non-existent.
The dollar is a long, long, long way away from losing reserve currency status. Get underpriced, dividend paying equities, and chill.
Commodities are in a historic bull market that will last for years to come. Even if there were no threat of inflation, which is not the case, the supply/demand imbalances are enormous due to 20-30 years of underinvestment in capacity. Commodities are going to the moon, especially oil, agriculture and precious metals.
Seeing a coin dealer is a good idea, but you really need to have each of those coins graded 1st. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. You need to educate yourself about the coins - date, mint, grade - and their value beyond the gold or silver. You could be sitting on a big chunk of money here. I'm guessing you have a good number of St Gaudens double eagles, Liberty Head $10 and $20 coins, and so on - these are crazy collectible, and worth much more than the Gold they contain.
Just to illustrate, check out the values here:
http://www.pcgs.com/Prices/PriceGuideDetail.aspx?MS=1&PR=1&SP=1&c=66&title=Liberty+Head+%2420
(this is for gold double eagles ($20) from the mid to late
1800s - especially look to the right. These are the higher grade values. YEAH, that's why you're going to do this.)
So here's what you do:
First of all, find a local dealer to get them graded. Go with PCGS or NGC for grading (Google them). There are other grading services, but these are by far the best. PCGS, in my opinion, is tops:
I'd have anything officially graded and slabbed (encased in plastic, protecting it) that's worth over $100, including the silver. You can get a rough estimate using Redbook and a rudimentary knowledge of grading. Lots of websites can help you with this, as can your local dealer, but don't sell to him. Again, you're not trying to figure out precise value yourself (or asking one other person to do it); you're just determining what to have officially graded.
The coin dealer can help you set up the paperwork and have it sent off. This will cost you some money, and PCGS will charge you, too. MAKE SURE you insure your coins before do this - any good coin dealer will offer you that option when you fill out your paperwork.
When it comes to the Gold, have anything graded that has significant Numismatic (coin collecter value) value beyond melt (the current cost of Gold). It'll cost you a couple dollars a coin to have this done, and I wouldn't be surprised if having the entire set doesn't cost you around $500-$1000.
The thing is, once you have an officially graded set, you are set to sell - to the highest bidder. Also, you can now get a much more accurate estimate of the true worth of the collection. This link will help you, once you itemize all the coins you have, along with their official grades:
There are many national coin auction services who handle estate sales/collections like yours. Find one of these services and put your coins up for auction. This way, you're not selling to one guy looking to buy in bulk and get a deal (as in, "hey how 'bout 50K for the set"). Avoid deals like this. No one sells estate stuff - a collection like yours - to the local coin guy. Trust me.
Rather, you should sell them coin by coin to a national bidding audience of coin collectors and dealers. You'll make way more money - much closer to the true value than you would otherwise.
The following link will set you up with some resources to help you do all this:
http://www.pcgs.com/ResourceLinks/#c20
Good luck man. I envy you, huge.
I only ask that you set aside one of those Liberty Head $20 Eagles for me... k?
Flagpole wrote:
Risky. Bird in the hand brother, bird in the hand.
Risky? That's a Ventolin-caliber statement of pure idiocy. If you've been paying attention you know with absolute certainty that the price of gold, in U.S. dollars, is going to go up, up, up in the coming years. The only risk involved is loss of the physical gold or short-term fluctuations in price. Hold your gold in a secure location.
lol lol lol lol wrote:
If you've been paying attention you know with absolute certainty that the price of gold, in U.S. dollars, is going to go up, up, up in the coming years.
how can so many people be convinced of this? just like residential housing, right?
kaitainen wrote:
how can so many people be convinced of this? just like residential housing, right?
Essentially the exact opposite of housing.
lol lol lol lol wrote:
kaitainen wrote:how can so many people be convinced of this? just like residential housing, right?
Essentially the exact opposite of housing.
Ha. Learn to read a chart. Gold had a decades long decline in nominal dollars, and is just now even approaching where it was in real dollars in the 80's.
I have no idea why gold bugs deny this, and think price appreciation is fait accompli.
And I'll tell you this: the ride from $1800 to $800 is a hell of a lot less fun than $800 to $1800. The going up ain't worth the coming down.
For Heaven’s sake, hang on to your gold - and don’t tell anyone you have it.
Although that latter advice seems too late as one gets the impression you’ve already told too many people about it.
I often see the USA compared to the Titanic these days - that is grossly unfair to the Titanic, a state-of-the-art ship whose problem was that it only had lifeboat space for about half its passengers.
By contrast, the SS Spendaholic USA is a rusting hulk encrusted with barnacles, there are no lifeboats, and the ship's officers are locked in a debate about whether to use a thimble or an eggcup.
You are approaching a state in which every time your government spends yet another $2 trillion it can only raise $1 trillion to cover it.
Try to imagine every aspect of government having to make do with half of what it currently has.
That's the scale of reform necessary to save America from a future as a bankrupt, violent, Third World ruin.
Hang on to your gold and silver like a limpet - US paper currency will become as worthless as Zimbabwe dollars.
Walt George. wrote:
For Heaven’s sake, hang on to your gold - and don’t tell anyone you have it.
Although that latter advice seems too late as one gets the impression you’ve already told too many people about it.
I often see the USA compared to the Titanic these days - that is grossly unfair to the Titanic, a state-of-the-art ship whose problem was that it only had lifeboat space for about half its passengers.
By contrast, the SS Spendaholic USA is a rusting hulk encrusted with barnacles, there are no lifeboats, and the ship's officers are locked in a debate about whether to use a thimble or an eggcup.
You are approaching a state in which every time your government spends yet another $2 trillion it can only raise $1 trillion to cover it.
Try to imagine every aspect of government having to make do with half of what it currently has.
That's the scale of reform necessary to save America from a future as a bankrupt, violent, Third World ruin.
Hang on to your gold and silver like a limpet - US paper currency will become as worthless as Zimbabwe dollars.
Disagree 100%. This essentially eliminates all numismatic value to the coins. If you want to take this approach, sell everything at auction, then re-buy current issue gold coins at cost - coins that are only worth their weight in gold, so to speak.
So if he's sold on the idea of purchasing and holding onto gold, then he needs to reinvest after cashing in. Heck, this way he could probably double (at least) the net amount of gold he has.
And if he has a few gems in there? Maybe quadruple.
Don't hold onto your coins, kid, if you're worried about the economy and these doomsday guys. If you're really that concerned, do what I suggest and then go reinvest your money in gold - but don't, don't, don't miss out on the numismatic value just because you think the US is on the verge of collapse.
My $0.02 (ha ha): get the coins appraised by a reputable appraiser. I personally would sell the ones that are not particularly rare and hold onto the ones that are. Just make sure you sell to a true coin collector - as others have stated cash for gold places are NOT the way to go.
You may not be into coins now, but you never know if in the future you'll become more interested in their historical significance. Don't go cashing them all in because of a youthful exuberance for spending that you may later regret.
First things first OP is talking about a coin collection not bullion bars.
Their is an unquantified value in the collection at the family heirloom also.
http://www.coinvalues.info/coinvalue.shtml
seems to have a free appraisal link- no idea how hard the pitch will be to get you to sell to them or how annoying.
It will give you some idea if you have value as a coin collection or if you just have bullion chips to be sold like granddads's gold wedding ring, by the ounce.
I'll bet you'll find somesort of valuation in you GDs household insurance papers ask the executrix.
c7p
The value of gold coins is determined primarily by four criteria: rarity, grade, quality, and popularity. For investors, of course, a fifth criterion of value comes into play: price. Ideally, price is a function of the other four criteria of a coin�s worth, but not always. Unfortunately, many coin dealers charge prices that far exceed the values of the coins they sell, and they pay much less than what your coins are worth when they buy.
advert
1. Rarity
Truly rare coins typically have the highest values, and have produced by far the greatest overall returns for investors. A coin�s rarity is a function both of the limited quantity of the original minting and the survival numbers of examples in any given grade rating.
Coins with high numbers of survivors, like common date $20 Saint-Gaudens �Double Eagles,� Morgan silver dollars, and Peace silver dollars, usually have lower market values than rarer coins, and do not perform as well as investments. Gold and silver coins with lower survivor rates often perform wonderfully as investments, trade at substantially higher values than common ones.
In almost every case, scarce and rare gold coins perform better as hard asset investments than do ordinary gold bullion coins, and represent a better value for your money. One ounce American Gold Eagles, gold Krugerrands, Canadian Maple Leafs, British Gold Sovereigns, and 1 oz. Platinum Eagles are excellent for investing in precious metals, but often do not appreciate in value as much as or as quickly as rare coins do.
------c7p
See if you can find a local coin collectors club- contact it. Collectors love talking about collecting. Even a local HS coin club could give you help.
Even if every gold coin is in less the very good condition condition and lower denomination we are talking a couple thousand minimum and while the other coins could be common a collecter might pay a bit mote because it is a precollected "collection".
This is not a kids states quarters in a shoe box thing depending on GDs general wealth and collecting zeal you might have significant value though I doubt "real weaith" .
currencies are in decline. While there may not be inflation, all governments will address their shortfalls by printing more money. liabilities will be extinguished faster than currency increases, so while there will be no inflation, and nominal prices of assets like stocks might increase, in real terms the winner will be gold. Its the only asset that cannot be manipulated in any meaningful way.
Doofus wrote:
currencies are in decline. While there may not be inflation, all governments will address their shortfalls by printing more money. liabilities will be extinguished faster than currency increases, so while there will be no inflation, and nominal prices of assets like stocks might increase, in real terms the winner will be gold. Its the only asset that cannot be manipulated in any meaningful way.
True - the young man should look at this.
http://www.goldmoney.com/video/james-turk-presentation-on-gold-and-the-US-dollar.html?gmrefcode=dollarcDoofus wrote:
Its the only asset that cannot be manipulated in any meaningful way.
Completely false. Gold comes out of mines in the ground, its price can be (and is) manipulated by the rate of extraction from the huge mining conglomerates that control >95% of all gold extraction. Just like any other relatively finite commodity the market can also be manipulated by large players taking positions. In fact, this was actually done in 1979-1980 in the silver market by the Hunt brothers and it led to a spectacular commodities crash known as Silver Thursday.
dumb wrote:
Doofus wrote:Its the only asset that cannot be manipulated in any meaningful way.
Completely false. Gold comes out of mines in the ground, its price can be (and is) manipulated by the rate of extraction from the huge mining conglomerates that control >95% of all gold extraction. Just like any other relatively finite commodity the market can also be manipulated by large players taking positions. In fact, this was actually done in 1979-1980 in the silver market by the Hunt brothers and it led to a spectacular commodities crash known as Silver Thursday.
Nonsense - gold is a very scarce commodity - all the gold ever mined in the history of the world could be housed in a 21-metre cube.
One cannot manipulate gold extraction to any great extent.
kaitainen has it right Mr. lol. You're wrong brother. ANYTIME you thing ANYTHING is going to go UP, UP, UP, you'd better rethink that. Nothing is guaranteed.Fortunately there are others in this thread trying to stomp a little reality in you gold bugs.Depending on what happens in the world over the next few years, gold COULD continue to go up for a while yet, and if it does, I would not be surprised, but it is ONE thing. It pays NO DIVIDENDS. If you own physical gold, you need to store it safely which will cost money. You should also insure it which also costs money.Best thing is to sell the vast majority of the collection, keeping some signature pieces as a remembrance, but liquidate the value of those coins now.Also, what's with keeping them because you might need money LATER? You don't sell them and then go spend all the money. You take the proceeds and invest for the future (NOT in precious metals).
kaitainen wrote:
lol lol lol lol wrote:If you've been paying attention you know with absolute certainty that the price of gold, in U.S. dollars, is going to go up, up, up in the coming years.
how can so many people be convinced of this? just like residential housing, right?
Find someone you can trust that also lists on e-bay. Get some very good pics from a professional photographer, and then list everything, if you want cash. Coins are not too hard to describe, and you will get the most money with very good pics.
Getting them graded by PCGS or NGC might not be a bad idea, either.
Also, getting the gold graded is a good idea. PCGS will not only certify the grade, but also that the gold is genuine. There is a lot of fake gold and fake silver on e-bay.
lol lol lol lol wrote:Risky? That's a Ventolin-caliber statement of pure idiocy. If you've been paying attention you know with absolute certainty that the price of gold, in U.S. dollars, is going to go up, up, up in the coming years. The only risk involved is loss of the physical gold or short-term fluctuations in price. Hold your gold in a secure location.
moron
that is an idiotic statement, but expected from an idiot
the value of gold is a highly complex variable not dependent on any 1 fixed parameter
being priced in $ on global exchange market, the value of gold will go up if $ devalues more from quantitive easing as foreigners will have to convert their euro/yen/etc to $ then buy gold
if $ keeps falling, they will get more $ & thus more gold for their euro/yen/etc
however, idiot, that means your more $ for your gold will be worth less as exports go up due to weaker $ & it may have less effective buying power for exported goods
do some research idiot & see what
$/euro rate x gold price was 1y ago & now for absolute value of gold in euros 1y ago & now
the young kid, shoud just sit on his horde for a good long while as the rarity value is worth more than the intinsic metal price & only sell some in an emergency
I would also be afraid of keeping 100k of wealth in my house without some kind of security. Even so, there is the risk of theft, and not just from an outsider. Anyone who works in a coin shop will tell you that they get stolen merchandise all the time. Stolen goods most often come from friends, relatives, and contractors.
Insurance is very pricey for coins. Homeowners insurance does not cover coins. You must purchase a separate policy which, I believe, is 3%-4% of the value per year. I wouldn't store that kind of wealth in a safe, either. Safes can be carried away, and for 100k thieves can be very resourceful.