How to sell a coin without getting fleeced
Find out what it is first, get more than one offer, and understand that a dealer's buy price is not the price you saw online. Four routes, with what each one costs you.
In the Buck index
Morgan DollarUnited States · 1878–1921 · Silver (.900) (.100 copper)$69 to $101
Walking Liberty HalfUnited States · 1916–1947 · Silver (.900)$29.25 to $43.53
The single biggest cost of selling a coin is not knowing what it is. Everything below assumes you have identified it and have a realistic value band, because a seller who cannot name the coin gets offered scrap.
The spread is real and it is not a scam
Every dealer buys below retail and sells above it. That gap pays their rent, their capital and the risk that a coin sits in the case for two years. On common silver it is a few percent; on collectable material it can be thirty or forty.
The published price you saw is a retail price. Nobody will pay you that. Expect somewhere between 60% and 90% of it depending on what the coin is and how quickly it sells.
The four routes
A local coin shop. Fastest, safest, lowest price. Good for bullion-grade silver, where the spread is thin and the transaction takes five minutes. Bad for anything rare, because a shop has to price for the risk that they are wrong.
A coin show. Twenty dealers in a room means twenty offers in an afternoon. This is the best return-per-hour route for a mid-value collection, and it costs you a day.
An online marketplace. Highest price for common material, because you reach collectors directly. Costs: fees of ten to thirteen percent, shipping, insurance, photography time, and exposure to buyers who claim the item arrived not as described.
Auction. The right answer for genuinely rare coins. A major house will get more for a key date than any dealer, because bidders compete. Seller commission runs from zero to twenty percent depending on value, and settlement takes months.
Get it graded, but only sometimes
Third-party grading costs money per coin plus shipping and insurance, and takes weeks. It pays for itself when:
- the coin is plausibly worth several hundred or more
- authenticity is a real question, as with a 1916-D dime or a 1909-S VDB cent
- you are selling remotely to someone who has never met you
It does not pay on a twenty dollar coin. The fee eats the coin.
Three things that cost sellers money
- Cleaning it first. A cleaned coin can lose a third to four fifths of its value, and people do it to make the coin "presentable" for sale. It is the most expensive mistake in this whole article.
- Selling a collection as a lot when it has one good coin in it. Pull the good coin out and sell it separately.
- Taking the first offer. Two offers cost you one extra phone call and often differ by a quarter.
Bullion is a different transaction
For common-date silver with no collector premium, you are selling metal. The price is spot minus a small percentage, it is quoted publicly by the minute, and there is nothing to negotiate but the percentage. Do not pay for grading, do not photograph anything, and do not let anyone tell you your 1964 quarters are numismatic.
Know which of the two conversations you are in before you start it.
