From Americana design to French classical sculpture, Rare Coins or Chinese Antiquities, Art Glass & Pottery and Sterling Silver we represent at auction the finest items for collectors and investors alike. We bring curated catalogs of exquisite Antiques and Rare Decorative Arts from the finest Estates for sale to buyers in an advanced online and live auction system. With a global online presence, GoodLife Auctions sells worldwide on GoodLifeAuctions.com, Invaluable and Live Auctioneers.

GoodLife Auctions provides appraisals and sales of Estate Fine Jewelry, Valuable Art & Antiques and Rare Coin Collections for estate trustees, fiduciaries and private collectors. Whatever your antique, art, coin or jewelry appraisal needs may be, contact GoodLife Appraisals at +1 866 294 0150 to speak with an appraiser for an accurate and affordable valuation. We are located in Newport Beach, serving Los Angeles, Palm Springs and all of Southern California.

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Coin Collections: Values and When You Should Sell

Sunday February 9th, 2020
By GoodLife Appraisals Staff Writer


Newport Beach, Calif. — If you are an estate fiduciary or have inherited a family member's coin collection, you may not have any idea what the collection is worth. Since most coin collectors are hobbyists, they seldom document their collection nor have many of their coins professionally graded. When faced with hundreds or thousands of coins, some filling old coffee cans, it seems daunting how you would ever sell a collection and get a fair price. Most collections are quite large, and the cost of an extensive appraisal just does not make financial sense.

There are however, several options for liquidating a coin collection and getting a fair price. The first involves a buyout of the collection. The second is a consignment with a coin dealer and the last is to sell your coins at auction.


Selling your coin collection at auction can be an intimidating concept for first time sellers. Some people don’t like the idea of their coins being out of their possession. Other owners are worried that their coins will sell too cheaply. The main reason coin auctions generated over $436,834,000 (That's almost a half-billion dollars) in sales last year is because there are a lot of coins being sold and millions of buyers. The main benefits of an auction is you will sell most if not all of the coins and there will be many buyers vying for each coin to drive up its price. This ensures that each coin will sell at around it's true market value or more. As an estate fiduciary or trustee, an auction sale also satisfies any documentation requirements for showing fair market value.

Selling coins through dealers as a consignment is slower than an auction. Also, the dealer will most often ask for a higher fee to sell so many coins over a long period. They may also low-grade many coins and sell them out wholesale to get them off their books and generate cashflow. While most dealers are reputable, few want to sit on a large collection of coins for very long. They may also charge additional fees for storage, insurance and display holders.

Last, taking a buyout offer for any coin collection is certain disaster and should only be done if you must have cash in a very short term such as 30 days or less. Be prepared to lose 70% or more of the collection's value. In this case, buyers assume a great deal of risk since they will assume the majority of any collection to be "pocket change pickups" that are damaged and therefore low-grade specimens. For these coins, they will estimate face value or sometimes less.

If you have a large collection of coins and need to discuss it's value, please give GoodLife Auctions a call at +1 866 294 0150 and ask to speak to a coin appraisal specialist.

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