Advice for a newbie on selling Australian coins

I

Ian Christie

New Member
I am an executor for my father's estate. He was a coin collector of sorts, not particularly well organised or discriminating. His collection includes about 5 kilos of Aust 1c and 2c coins (circulated), a kilo or so of pennies (circulated), sets of decimal and predecimal coins (uncirculated), proof sets of decimal coins, Perth Mint special releases (kookaburras and the like), rolls of 1c coins 1973 - 1982, and so on. There also some banknotes both circulated and uncirculated. Not to mention a set of "training" decimal notes (unused). He was a member of the 2nd AIF and a member of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan and collected a handful of Japanese occupation notes from the Netherlands East Indies and other parts of the "Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere". There are about 200 items (coins or sets) in all.
Can anyone suggest a simple way of selling these please? I am not keen to list them all individually on eBay! Is it fair to assume that a dealer might buy them but at about 1/2 the price I might get selling them privately? Do numismatic clubs have avenues for selling this sort of quantity?
I am not in a great hurry to sell but given that I suspect many of his coins are of low value I also don't want to invest a great deal of time in the process.
Any suggestions will most gratefully considered.
Cheers
Ian
 
Welcome
I would take pics & put them up here for sale.
What state are you in
If your in Melbourne ,I'll offer you $10 a kg for your 1c & 2c pieces
 
Hi, I always buy numismatics
by the way it's better selling in here rather than ebay as those dealing webiste all charge fees,in here we normally do bank transfer directly but all upto you. ta! Nic
 
Hi Ian,

Be aware that any silver predecimal coins are literally that - silver - and may have a higher value than you anticipate. Check out the calculator at the top of the page to estimate the spot value of these items - a kilogram of post 1946 silver coins would be $528, and a kilogram of pre 1946 silver would be $978. That's the spot price - a dealer may offer less, but you could sell them here for more than most dealers would pay.

The Perth Mint issues are likely all silver as well - if they're bullion, they're worth at least $38ea to sell privately (most dealers would pay spot), and could be worth more if gilded or proof etc. Worth at least posting some pictures on here for feedback on approximate value.

Be wary (unfortunately) of people contacting you via the forum and offering "lowball" offers to try and take advantage of your lack of experience - unfortunately there's more than a few individuals who would jump at the chance to offer you an unreasonably low amount of money. Your father was pretty astute to be collecting silver coins like Perth Mint Kookaburras - don't let someone rip off that legacy.

Fortunately there's far far more honest and legitimate members on here, but I've seen people try and take advantage before.

Spannermonkey's offer for the 1c and 2c is fair though - it will be the silver you will need to watch out for unsolicited low offers.
 
I'd contact some of the coin auction houses and see if they'd take the proof sets, rolls and banknotes on consignment. It saves you the hassle of photographing and listing all those lots yourself and usually no fees for sellers.

try IAG, Noble Numismatics or Downies Auctions. off the top of my head :)
 
I believe he had a pretty good experience auctioning off a similar lot on here in the past. Maybe try a small listing to get your toe in the pool and see how it feels then divide the items up into logical lots and auction them off one after another.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to sell obscure numismatics but things like kooks and australian currency should fetch fair prices.
 
I would suggest putting them on here in the buy sell thread. Auction with about about a weeks time to end.
I would think you will get a fair price on most and some very good prices on others.
Trade with those with good feedback if you can.
Certainly should get a lot more than offloading to a dealer.
Good luck
 
Thanks one and all.
I obviously hadn't dug deep enough here to realise how much buying and selling went on through this site. I think I will try a few listings here and see how I go.
Thanks very much.
Ian
 
Ian Christie said:
I am not in a great hurry to sell but given that I suspect many of his coins are of low value I also don't want to invest a great deal of time in the process.
Click to expand...

Put in at least enough time and effort to go get a copy of the latest Greg Mcdonald coins book and look up the coins you have and get to know their values.
The values in the book are not necessarily what you might get for them but you may just uncover a few high value items - especially if he had pre-decimal penny, florin collections etc.
At least go through any penny set and see if he had a 1930 penny!!

If you do not want to put any time/effort in, just take the lot around to the local coin shops and get quotes - but don't expect the highest prices this way.

Depends how much you value your time I guess.
 
You can always try a coin club if there is one near you, there are two that meet in Brisbane and one that meets in Redcliffe. Plenty of others around in other cities and states. We get quite a few people wanting to know the value of old coins.

You could also take them along to an ANDA coin show, $10 to get in but you can get plenty of free valutaions and offers, just pick the best one.

Otherwise you can post some pics here but numismatics do not go for as much as silver. Free to try though.
 
mistered said:
I'd contact some of the coin auction houses and see if they'd take the proof sets, rolls and banknotes on consignment. It saves you the hassle of photographing and listing all those lots yourself and usually no fees for sellers.

try IAG, Noble Numismatics or Downies Auctions. off the top of my head :)
Click to expand...

IAG probably won't take them (they specialize in the top end of the market), Downies and Nobles will but they'll charge buyer's and seller's commision (35-40% net). They'll sell to the highest bidder (usually a dealer) so you can expect a fair wholesale price minus 35-40%. If you know what they're worth, selling direct to a dealer would be a better option (you'll get full wholesale price). There's also eBay and NumisBid to consider. The former take a bit of work (describing/photographing) but is probably more appropriate for your coins, the latter tends to specialize in Australian pre-decimal coins.

If you're prepared to put in the work, I think you'd get the best prices off eBay.
 
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