Selling Deceased Estate Coin/Stamps/Notes Collection?

Discussion in 'Numismatics' started by lowtech, Apr 29, 2018.

  1. lowtech

    lowtech Active Member

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    Hi, everyone.

    I've been given the task of selling my Grandfathers collection of coins, stamps and bank notes but I have no idea what I am looking at.

    Does anyone have any tips on how I'd go about getting rid of it all?

    Are you supposed to just say, 'bunch of stuff for sale' or is the expectation to photograph every item on every page of every album?

    This stuff is from all over the world as well, so even just trying to identify each thing is going to take forever.

    I've looked up 'selling inherited coins/stamps, etc' which all said to sort it as best as I can, which it basically is, for the most part but I still have no idea what I'm looking at.

    Are collections like these normally just sold as albums or lots, or in 'sorted lots' of the same item?

    Should I price by kilo and if so, what sort of pricing is fair?

    How would you guys expect to see a coin/stamp/notes collection sold?

    Thanks for any help.
     
  2. Ag-man

    Ag-man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Post some pics, that should generate some interest and info for you.
     
  3. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Dealers need to make money so you will get a lot less than the market value. You can ask for an insurance value, and they will probably charge you for this service. Any other value they give you will be an offer to buy and will include all their overheads and profit margins.

    Private sale will probably get you a higher value but it will take longer and you will probably end up with lots of items that no one wants.

    Bets way to find true value would be to auction them. But then everyone will want a cut of the action.

    Whatever way you do it will eat into the value.

    Your Grandfather could have an awesome collection or just an average one. The value will be determined by their condition, rarity and popularity. Unless you want to learn all that stuff you will have to trust someone who is an expert in the area to tell you the value, and most experts are busy and want compensation.

    I inherited a stamp collection. It is sitting in a cupboard because I haven't got the time to go through it and I have no interest in stamps but don't want to get ripped off.

    Banknotes are easier and coins even easier.

    You could take some pictures, run a few auctions here, then check on ebay to see how much similar items sold for. EBay fees at 12% or so, or slightly less money here but no fees.

    There is no single correct way of doing it, you will have to balance how much money you want versus how much time you want to spend on it!
     
    Bullion Baron likes this.
  4. lowtech

    lowtech Active Member

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    Thanks for the helpful replies an pms, guys. Here's a few pics of some of the 'easier' stuff to deal with just to get the ball rolling and I'll sort some pictures of other stuff in the 'lots' that Grandad kept them in.
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Nice consecutive $1 notes!

    Beware of catalogue values, they are usually much higher than they eventually realise at auction, wishful thinking mostly.
     
  6. kiona

    kiona Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    I unfortunately had to do the same with my dad's estate when he passed away ten years ago. He collected everything... stamps, coins, gemstones, figurines, carvings, ephemera, glass... we even found a box with a mini collection of those little oval stickers that you get on individual pieces of fresh fruit! o_O :rolleyes: :D

    I gave priority to the stamp collection, mainly because stamps need to be cared for properly or they can easily become damaged in the humid climate here in Qld. I contacted a man in Tassie who had been my dad's favorite stamp dealer and asked if he'd be interested. Then I took about 80-100 photos of random individual stamps and pages of albums and emailed them to the dealer. He agreed to take it on so I packed it all up.

    Turns out stamp collections are very heavy due to all the albums, books, sheets, cardboard, stamp packs etc. I ended up mailing 5 boxes weighing almost 100kg down to Tas! The dealer sorted through it all and very kindly returned a large box of mint booklets, stamp packs and full sheets that had no collectable value (and would have fetched less than face value) so that I could use them for postage as I had an online business at the time.

    The collection went to auction and a few weeks later we received a cheque. I have no idea of the actual real value of the collection. We probably only got a fraction. But that was okay. No-one else in the family was interested in collecting stamps and over the years my dad had got hours of fun and pleasure from them. I like to hope that whoever bought parts of it enjoyed hunting through it for a "treasure" and maybe even found one.

    The rest of his collections we have gone through more slowly. We sold some pieces individually and obtained their full value, and some have been sold cheap in bulk lots just to move them on. We've given lots away to friends and relatives. A few things have been sold at auction, others at markets and garage sales. And 10 years on and we're still scratching our head and wondering what to do with some items (such as the Japanese sword thingamabobs I posted in a thread last week!)

    Jislizard gave you some excellent info and I think he summed it up perfectly with his final statement....
    Best of luck.
     
  7. lowtech

    lowtech Active Member

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    Thanks, kiona. I was thinking that it was just me, having trouble with it all. I guess it is sort of like a metals stacker leaving their stack to a stamp collector and them also going, (like us), "What am I supposed to do with all this? Some coins, some bars, some in plastic things but have this years date on them, ..are 'they' the expensive bits?"

    I was reading on this forum even before I joined about someone suggesting leaving a note with instructions of how to liquidate their stuff when they're gone. It mentioned trusted members of their hobby for each applicable forum that they were a member of with usernames and passwords etc to help with the basic pricing of anything that wouldn't be kept.

    Sounds like a great idea to me. I was recently an executor of a will and while living, it seems an 'honour' but while actually performing the task, you have to keep reminding yourself, "Surely they didn't know this would be such a headache for me, right?" Was it an 'honour' or did I wrong them in the past and they vowed to make me executor when they die? That would surely teach me who not to mess with, haha.

    Luckily for my family, my stack is mostly based on spot but I don't believe it will be sold anyway as the beneficiary is a stacker and on paper I will die as poor as I look in real life.

    But that is a while away, as I've learned that dying is expensive and to be honest, I don't have the means for such luxuries, nor the commitment for such a long-term arrangement. I'll have to save up a bit though, just to keep my options open. :)
     
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