Thinking of selling my collection; thoughts and advice please

Hi all,

I'm thinking of selling a large portion of my coin collection, leaving me with just my favourite/most complete collection; UK decimalisation onwards. There are a few drivers for this decision; 1) I am a completist by nature and would like complete sets by type for all the countries I own coins for - even if I set a limit of 20th century coins only that's still a monster task. 2) I could do with the money right now to invest in other things (e.g. a new car or deposit on a house). I do enjoy my hobby of collecting coins and I'm proud of my collection, but life gets in the way the older you get.

A key factor on not selling the coins would be whether I can get a good price for them or not. If I can't achieve reasonable sale prices them I may as well keep them as many hold sentimental value.

I'm curious whether anyone else has gone through this process and what selling/valuation methods they employed? I'm reluctant to base value on Krause/NG Coins valuations as I recognise the sale price will ultimately be determined by the price people are willing to pay, not necessarily a value described in a catalogue. Looking at completed listings on eBay could be a better option.

Has anyone got any experience of bulk selling on eBay, or through non-online auctions (UK experiences only please)? Would it be best to break up the collection or sell as a job-lot? I wonder if the fact that my collection literally covers the globe that may attract a premium as a job-lot sale?

Thoughts/opinions/experiences welcome.

Thanks
Jon

Collection circa. 2600 coins covering 222 countries. Mostly circulated 20th century.

When trying to sell coins separately, you give yourself lots of work. Collectors are mostly thrilled by getting a collection like yours. (I know I am!! I just haven't got money for it).
If I were you, I would get an export of your collection on Numista, and sell the collection as one piece.
222 countries... man, I can only dream of that!!!
Good luck with it!

From what I have seen in eBay, it's better to sell coins individually than in bulk, especially when it's some coins of interest (like the Afghanistan coins you have).
However the common coins might only be sold via a lot.
You have a nice collection and I think you need to spend some time finding out their selling prices for the coins of interest.
Best of luck!

I agree with both of them.

You might want to trade your good coins on Numista for even better coins that you would want in your collection, like decimal pounds. But, selling individually is also important for expensive coins that are "unswappable", like those exceeding $100. You might want to sell your cheap coins as bulk though.

Good luck with your collection.

You're probably best to cherrypick your collection. Sell off anything of value individually and then sell off the remainder split into groups of country or area. I found that splitting up into country groups gives a better price than trying to sell them all as a bulk lot.

Цитата: neilithicI fond that splitting up into country groups gives a better price than trying to sell them all as a bulk lot.

Yeah, selling bulk lots of same country coins will get you the biggest bank.

Thanks for the opinions guys. I think I will check out eBay to see what prices coins are fetching, and if I think I could achieve the kind of prices I would like I may start the 'big sale process'.

Regards
Jon

Цитата: neilithicYou're probably best to cherrypick your collection. Sell off anything of value individually and then sell off the remainder split into groups of country or area. I found that splitting up into country groups gives a better price than trying to sell them all as a bulk lot.

That makes sense. I would do that too, I think