How to Tell Whether Your Coin Collection Received a Fair Price

Over the years, Atlanta Gold & Coin has covered many parts of selling a coin collection, but has only briefly discussed how someone can determine whether an offer for a coin collection was fair. As in any specialized field, people depend on experts. That dependence rests on the expert’s experience and honesty, since coins are the expert’s area of knowledge.

Unless someone is already a collector, becoming an expert in coin collecting and numismatics is not realistically possible just for one transaction. Still, several useful guidelines can help. By applying those tips and guidelines, a seller can feel reasonably comfortable that an offer received for a coin collection is both fair and competitive.

This article explains how Atlanta Gold & Coin evaluated and appraise coin collections. It also provided estimated prices by coin type, so that when an estate collection needed to be sold, readers could use the information to feel reasonably confident that their collection had received a fair price.

Face Value and Novelty Items

A coin dealer’s first likely step is to separate items worth face value and novelty pieces. The dealer then establishes a trade value above face value where appropriate. Common face-value and novelty items Atlanta Gold & Coin encountered when this article was originally published included 50 state-quarter collections, Eisenhower dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars, Sacagawea or Native American dollars, and Presidential dollars.

Lincoln cents other than rare dates, Jefferson nickels, most Buffalo nickels, gold-, silver-, and platinum-plated coins, ordinary foreign coins brought back from international travel, and privately issued tokens and medals were also generally face-value items, or close to it. After that initial separation, the more meaningful evaluation work could begin.

Bullion and Rare Coins

Once face-value items were removed, the next task was separating bullion coins from rare or collectible coins. Most collections contained some of each, though a casual observer might not readily distinguish them. Bullion examples included American Silver Eagles, Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins, and Austrian Silver Philharmonics. Coins traded for their silver content also included Roosevelt silver dimes, 1964 Kennedy half dollars, Franklin half dollars, and Washington quarters.

Coins that could trade at higher values, depending on their year, mint mark, and condition, included Morgan and Peace silver dollars, Mercury dimes, Walking Liberty half dollars, Standing Liberty quarters, and Barber dimes, quarters, and half dollars.

Other coins, generally issued before 1892 and now obsolete or no longer used, could trade above the value of their metal content. This group included Capped Bust and Seated Liberty half dimes, quarters, half dollars and silver dollars, Trade silver dollars, large cents, two-cent pieces, three-cent pieces, older five-cent pieces, and twenty-cent pieces.

Finally, most coins certified by a third-party grading service, including NGC- or PCGS-graded coins, could sell for more than their underlying metal content. The extra premium could sometimes be modest, depending on the coin’s type, year, and grade. This article identified coins most likely to benefit from grading.

Inspecting the Coins

As noted earlier, bullion coins traded according to their precious-metal content. Beyond deciding whether coins were retail-quality or off-quality, the coin appraiser’s remaining task was to price them. Coin pricing is discussed in more detail later in this archived article.

Several coins noted above could trade at higher values because of their type, year, and condition, so they warranted closer inspection. When coins were loose in canvas bags, the assumption was that another dealer had already examined and sorted them; consequently, finding a key-date coin was unlikely. In those situations, a coin dealer might weigh the coins or process them through a coin counter.

By contrast, coins that were separated, individually packaged, or arranged as complete album sets were worth checking for lower-mintage pieces. For instance, most Mercury silver dimes were common-date coins traded for silver content. Four coins in that series, however, traded at a premium: the 1916-D, 1921, 1921-D, and 1942 over 41 dimes.

Naturally, every coin that traded above its metal content—including obsolete coins and certain 19th-century examples already mentioned—needed individual evaluation and pricing based on the coin expert’s findings.

Pricing Bullion Coins

At the time of publication, more obscure items and less-popular sets generally brought lower pricing. These included Franklin Mint sterling-silver rounds, bars, and nuggets; foreign silver coins formerly used in circulation; commemoratives; and most silver coins below .999 fine. The group included U.S. silver war nickels and 40% silver half dollars, among the least popular U.S. silver coins.

After a seller was comfortable with the bullion pricing received for a collection, the next step was pricing potentially more valuable pieces. When this article was originally published, coin price guides such as the Red Book generally listed high-end retail figures and were not reliable for determining what a collection was likely to realize. Put another way, listed values needed to be viewed cautiously.

Pricing Coins – Semi-Numismatic

Semi-numismatic coins traded slightly or moderately above their underlying metal value. At the time this article was written, Morgan and Peace silver dollars were described as semi-numismatic because they traded above their silver content, which was .774 troy ounces.

Morgan and Peace Dollars

Low-mintage or key-date Morgan silver dollars, including those made at the Carson City Mint, could trade substantially above their precious-metal value. Yet even common-date silver dollars in average condition generally traded a little above their silver value. At the time of publication, common-date, average-condition Morgan and Peace dollars began in the $20 range. The market could change, and prices realized for these coins and others could change as well. For readers with considerable silver-dollar experience, the original article noted that Atlanta Gold & Coin had recently published an article about four key areas to look at when selling silver dollars.

Barber

Although most Barber half dollars traded near bulk-silver prices, they had circulated widely and were usually heavily worn. Put simply, attractive examples were uncommon. Because most pieces showed substantial wear, nicer common-date examples could sell at a reasonable premium in higher-end conditions. At the time of publication, starting prices for higher-condition coins were more than twice their silver value, while uncirculated coins valued at $100 or more.

Seated Liberty

Seated Liberty half dimes, dimes, quarters, and half dollars offer another semi-numismatic example. They were produced from the mid-19th century through the late 19th century. Other coins in this category included $20 Liberty Head gold coins, or Double Eagles, although this discussion primarily focused on U.S. coins made from silver and base metals.

Although many of these coins were minted in substantial numbers, even common-date pieces sold above silver value. Again, the price depended on the coin’s condition. Like Morgan and Peace dollars, these coins could trade at much higher prices when they were key dates, low-mintage pieces, or examples in high-end condition.

Pricing Rare or Numismatic Coins

Rare, collectible, and numismatic coins generally traded at the highest prices. Their underlying metal content often had little relationship to their value. That made rare-coin pricing the most difficult category discussed so far. The original article then briefly reviewed several rare or collectible U.S. Mint coins to illustrate possible values before a coin collection was sold.

Obsolete Coins

As noted above, some United States coins were obsolete, meaning they were no longer used in circulation. These included half cents, large cents, two-cent pieces, three-cent nickels, three-cent silver pieces, half dimes, Shield nickels, and twenty-cent pieces.

Among these, large cents, two-cent pieces, three-cent nickels, and Shield nickels were the most common and therefore carried the lowest values. At the time of publication, many circulated examples traded for less than $10 each. Half cents, three-cent silver pieces, and twenty-cent pieces were typically the most valuable, with values tending toward the $20 – $50 range.

Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars

Earlier U.S. dimes, quarters, and half dollars were considered numismatic coins simply because of their age. Some could also sell at substantial premiums when they had low mintages or high-end condition. This category included Flowing Hair, Draped Bust, and Capped Bust coins. Though not true in every case, larger denominations were typically more valuable and more popular.

Capped Bust half dollars were the most collectible coins in this group, partly because they were affordable and because of the quantity produced. Draped Bust and Flowing Hair coins, however, traded at higher values. At the time of publication, Capped Bust half dollars could trade for as little as $50, while almost any Draped Bust or Flowing Hair coin, regardless of denomination, traded above $100. High-end, certified Draped Bust and Flowing Hair coins could trade for hundreds of dollars or more.

Silver Dollars

Silver dollars, first minted in 1794, were described as among the most collectible U.S. coins. The original article identified Flowing Hair, Draped Bust, Seated Liberty, and Trade dollars as numismatic American silver-dollar issues.

The original article classified Seated Liberty dimes, quarters, and half dollars as semi-numismatic, while treating Seated Liberty silver dollars as numismatic. At the time of publication, it reported values of $150 or more for these coins. It also explained that Trade silver dollars were more plentiful than Seated Liberty dollars and therefore began at the somewhat lower $100 level.

The original article described Flowing Hair and Draped Bust dollars as the highest-value U.S. silver dollars, with substantial trading values. At the time of publication, it placed Draped Bust dollar values beginning in the $500 range and Flowing Hair dollars at $1,000 or above. It also cautioned that these issues were among the coins most often counterfeited. For that reason, a coin appraiser might identify one as a replica and return it to its owner, which should not be unexpected.

Summary

In closing, the original article identified several common coins found in collections. It outlined ways a collection could be separated, evaluated, and valued, then provided general historical price guidance. That guidance was offered with the important qualification that a coin’s value can vary dramatically according to its specific characteristics.

The original article explained that, if your selected coin appraiser uses a similar method to value coins, including an itemized list of prices, you were more likely to receive a fair price for the collection. It added that when those considerations were not addressed, readers were encouraged to compare options until they found someone they felt comfortable working with.

At the time this article was published, Atlanta Gold & Coin Buyers stated that it carefully evaluated every coin within a collection to help owners pursue the full value of their items. The article said the same process was used when appraising or purchasing a coin collection and that assistance was available.

When this article was originally published, Atlanta Gold & Coin stated that it belonged to respected independent organizations in the industry. It listed memberships with the American Numismatic Association, RoundTable Trading, PCGS, and NGC, among others. The original article invited readers to contact the business for customer service and expert guidance.

At the time of original publication, the article described the following: When originally published, the article invited readers to call that day at 404-236-9744!