Whether the collection is yours, your father’s, or just arrived as part of an estate, here’s exactly how a serious sale works, who to call, and how to avoid the pitfalls most sellers walk into.
Almost every overpaid commission in this industry stems from the same situation: a seller in a hurry takes the first offer they get. A neighbor mentions they sometimes buy coins. A jewelry store advertises "we buy gold." A coin shop offers to "take a look." Within an hour the collection is gone and the seller has 30 cents on the dollar.
The fix is simple: get one credentialed opinion before any transaction. A 30-minute conversation with an ANA & PNG-member numismatist will tell you what you actually have, what a fair offer looks like, and whether the collection should be sold privately, consigned to auction, or split into pieces. None of that costs anything, and it routinely changes the outcome by 2x or more.
When you sell a coin collection to Hicks Coins, the process is structured to be transparent and fast:
No cherry-picking. Junk silver, bullion, slabbed coins, raw coins, paper money, foreign, one buyer, one offer, one transaction.
Whole-collection deals carry better aggregate prices than category-by-category sales because the dealer doesn’t have to discount for taking the less-desirable pieces.
One appointment. One offer. One payment. Done in a single visit, not stretched out over weeks of consignment.
Unmarked vehicle. NDA on request. Names and addresses are never shared with other dealers or the public.
Not every coin should be sold to a dealer. If your collection includes a single coin worth $50,000+ in a hot series, or a high-pop registry-quality piece, the right answer is often consigning it to Heritage, Stack’s Bowers, or GreatCollections rather than selling directly to me.
I’ll tell you that, walk you through realistic auction-net expectations (hammer minus seller’s commission), and even help you prepare the consignment. The collection you DON’T sell to me builds the trust that makes you call me first for the rest of the collection.
Selling Rare Coins SpecificallyOne phone call. One Appointment. One fair offer. That’s the whole process.