Top 5 Worst Methods for Determining the Value of Coins in Your Collection

A coin collection can feel like a personal trove. You remember the first piece you bought and where it came from. Many pieces may also carry emotional meaning, particularly when a collection was inherited from someone you loved.

Your collection has monetary value, and most collectors want to understand what their holdings may be worth. Yet, as with many things, there are sound and unsound approaches to estimating the value of a collection assembled through your own effort.

When this article was originally published, it outlined several of the least reliable places to research coin values and discussed where readers might look instead.

Top 5 Methods to Avoid When Valuing Coins

Determining the value of your coins can be harder than expected. Plenty of places list coin prices, certainly. But deciding which numbers deserve confidence can become guesswork, because the internet lets anyone publish an article or offer an item at whatever price they select.

The original article identified the following top 5 least dependable sources for determining a coin’s value:

YouTube

Everyone knows YouTube can teach almost anything, from fixing a plumbing problem to addressing trouble with a vehicle. It is therefore unsurprising that YouTube contained a large number of videos discussing coin values.

Some videos are purely educational, while others describe factors used to determine coin values. Those discussions can be useful, but videos assigning values to coins are often questionable because they usually do not explain the sources or factors considered. Recognizing that difference is important when trying to understand the value of your own coins.

The key point is that most YouTubers’ primary objective is building a large subscriber audience.

More subscribers can mean more advertising revenue. As a result, creators often had a strong reason to make audiences excited about their subjects. Even generally honest people may be drawn to exaggerate one coin’s value or portray another as a poor use of time and money because that produces a stronger reaction. Dramatic or debatable material can be tempting when the aim is to grow an audience.

The original article noted that the desire for more subscribers is often fueled by sensationalism, which can be a major source of inaccurate information presented through YouTube.

TikTok

Who would have expected TikTok to become an information source, particularly for coins and their estimated values?

At the time of publication, Atlanta Gold & Coin reported receiving at least two calls each week after someone watched a TikTok video claiming they had found an $80,000 coin.

Like YouTube, TikTok centers on engagement. TikTok creators were paid according to views per video. In addition, people drawing substantial TikTok views often traded on personality and theatrics rather than the information they shared. Their focus could be on flashiness, striking images, and catchy music instead of accurate information or dependable sources. For many, it was entertainment, with very little connection to actual coin values.

As of 2022, a TikTok video could run no longer than 10 minutes, though most were far shorter, often lasting only seconds. That plainly left little, if any, room for a detailed discussion of coin values. With so little information provided, how reliable could it be?

You could have almost no way to know whether the coin being discussed even matched the coin you owned. For that reason, the article considered it a mistake for most collectors to value coins through TikTok or accept many claims about which coins carry greater value.

Etsy

When this article was published, Etsy sold coins as well. Surprised? There was no need to be.

Although it was not a social-media site, the article found it was not much better for fair coin values. Coin prices on that online marketplace were described as consistently high and, in some cases, extreme. Sellers naturally want a coin to bring what it is worth. However, Etsy sellers often listed coins well above actual value and frequently above prices found at a reputable local coin shop.

Why Etsy’s coin prices were high was open to debate. The article described two leading theories. First, some people suggested that Etsy sellers could put any price on a coin they chose, assuming people buying coins there were inexperienced or naive.

A second theory was that individuals or organizations might use Etsy in an effort to avoid paying taxes. The mechanics of such a transaction were unclear, but the article said the coin was ultimately returned and reimbursed with “dirty money.” This was only a theory, not an accusation against Etsy or its users.

Atlanta Gold & Coin had personally used Etsy previously for transactions unrelated to coins and had not experienced a problem.

The precise reasons were not known, but the article’s conclusion was that Etsy prices were almost always above what coins were worth. Readers at publication were asked to keep that in mind when reviewing its marketplace for coin-value information.

One final observation about Etsy, and also every resource addressed earlier or later in the original article, was that anyone may ask any amount they choose for an item. That does not establish that it is worth that amount or that a buyer will pay the listed price for the coin. In other words, a willing buyer at the posted price is needed before a market price is genuinely established.

Online Coin Price Guides

Several well-known and lesser-known companies connected with numismatics, the study of coins, tokens & paper currency, offered online coin-pricing guides. When originally published, the article noted that CoinWeek.com listed these pricing guides, which may have been worth reviewing. They could at least provide a general retail-value estimate for many coins in a stated condition.

Still, a figure in an online pricing guide should not be expected to match a specific coin exactly. What many guides did not explain, and what readers might not have known to ask, was that many listed values were based on coins professionally graded and sonically sealed in acrylic holders, such as those from NGC or PCGS. They could also reflect coins given a certified appraisal based on condition, or coins otherwise authenticated and evaluated professionally.

Indeed, some of the more reputable guides included a disclaimer explaining that their figures were average values for graded, encapsulated coins.

Also, online coin guides were not all alike. Readers needed to examine the sources behind the prices and how recently the values had been updated. At the time of publication, many sites updated information quarterly, or even less often. Given how much can shift in a short period, especially amid gold and silver market volatility, that was an important consideration.

eBay

When originally published, the article observed that selling coins on eBay could seem like a collector’s ideal. Coins were being sold there, and list prices were easy to view. Even so, valuing coins on eBay was not as simple as it first appeared.

At times, inexperienced collectors looked only at eBay list prices rather than the prices coins actually brought. That was a problem because, as noted above, anyone could assign a coin any price they wished. It might never sell, or a seller might happen to sell it to someone who believed it was worth more than it truly was. Bidding wars sometimes pushed a coin far above its real value, but such an outcome was unlikely.

At the time of original publication, the article described the following: To investigate further, readers at publication could view prices paid after transactions were completed by choosing the “Sold” filter. For real-time perspective, they could watch people bid in an active eBay auction. Unfortunately, that work could only show what others would pay for that individual coin, not what was needed to evaluate a unique piece, particularly a loose, ungraded coin.

Another consideration was that eBay fees could leave a seller with only 75% – 80% of the sale price, depending on listing, auction, payment-processing, shipping, and insurance fees.

Why Coin Valuation Is Complex

The central issue with this list of poor coin-valuation methods is that a coin’s value is simply not easy to determine. Valuation is a complex process. Only experts in numismatics have sufficient knowledge to understand how these determining factors combine to produce a coin’s true estimated value.

At the time of original publication, the article described the following: For an accurate determination, an appraiser must weigh the year, type, mint mark, condition, and whether certification exists and who issued it. The appraiser must also understand overall demand for the coin, how many examples remain in the world, and whether the piece is a standard strike or a variety coin.

Without numismatic training or extensive experience, no one can realistically combine all of those factors alone to arrive at an accurate assessment of a coin’s value.

The Most Reliable Way to Value Coins

If those approaches represent the poorest ways to price coins, what methods work best for find out what your coin collection is worth? One of the strongest choices is to bring a collection to a rare-coin professional, often

called a numismatist. That professional can assess each individual coin according to its own qualities. Keep in mind that no two coins are precisely identical. This approach also gives you details tailored to the coins in your collection and an explanation of their possible value.

For a coin that seems rare or potentially valuable, a reputable grading service such as PCGS or NGC can authenticate it, assign a grade, and certify it. The process requires sending the coin directly to that independent grading company. When this article was originally published, coin turnaround times were much longer than they had been previously. For readers interested in that option, Atlanta Gold & Coin had previously published an article explaining when it could make sense to have your coins certified by NGC and PCGS.

A further choice is bringing a coin collection to a reputable appraiser, who can evaluate the coins in person. For people seeking to start the process of selling a collection when this article was originally published, Atlanta Gold & Coin strongly recommended reading this article, a step-by-step resource intended to help readers work through the process.

When this article was originally published, Atlanta Gold & Coin Buyers stated that its trained, experienced numismatic specialists could provide an accurate estimate of a coin’s value. The original article also said that transparency and protecting its standing among collectors guided the company’s honest, accurate coin evaluations.

The original article further reported that Atlanta Gold & Coin had encountered, purchased, sold, and traded a wide range of coins over many years. It said the company had observed what buyers would pay and kept informed about then-current supply and demand. In many cases at the time of publication, it reported offering to buy coins after an appraisal at a competitive price and waiving the appraisal charge. Contact us today was the original invitation to arrange a coin appraisal for a clear, thorough understanding of a collection’s value.

When this article was originally published, readers were invited to call 678-922-4909!