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timun · 07-26-2023, 06:19 PM

I used to collect coins, and I don't want to rain on your parade but generally most stuff is worth close to face value and little more. My grandfather had a huge collection, and sadly by the time he died it was just worth around face.

Don't get your hopes up when you read stuff like "1986 two-dollar bills are worth up to $20,000!!1!". Yeah, sure: if they're a particular series of serial numbers and are absolutely positively mint-mint, and most importantly you find a buyer who'll pay that much. Most '86-series two-dollar bills are worth... about two bucks. Even if they seem in excellent shape to you.

Is there a trustworthy place in Calgary to offload this stuff? You can go to collector shops, Albern Coins being probably the most well-known, but they're like coin-collecting-specific pawn shops: they're businesses who need to make a profit to keep the doors open. They're not in the business of collecting coins/banknotes: they're in the business of buying coins/banknotes off of people like you and selling coins/banknotes to some other collector, and making a margin between. This means they will buy it for cheap off of you, and sell it at a premium to someone else. They're not necessarily going to #### you over, but you're not going to get anywhere near top-dollar. What's great about them though is that they have the means to buy in bulk, and they DO know what the hell they're looking at.

What you do NOT want to do, in my experience, is deal with bullion traders. They don't give a flying #### about numismatic value, they just want to buy coins off you for bullion value less a (profit) margin, and re-sell 'em for scrap. That market is full of ignorant dumbasses who haven't a clue what they're looking at, and they're usually insultingly bad low-ballers.

If you want top dollar you're going to have to do the legwork to sell stuff piecemeal by yourself. I won't sugarcoat: it's often not worth the time spent doing it. But it can be done. Look at Charlton guides (https://www.charltonpress.com/), look at completed and sold listings on eBay to see what people are actually paying for 'em.

07-26-2023, 06:19 PM	#6
timun First Line Centre Join Date: May 2012 Exp:	I used to collect coins, and I don't want to rain on your parade but generally most stuff is worth close to face value and little more. My grandfather had a huge collection, and sadly by the time he died it was just worth around face. Don't get your hopes up when you read stuff like "1986 two-dollar bills are worth up to $20,000!!1!". Yeah, sure: if they're a particular series of serial numbers and are absolutely positively mint-mint, and most importantly you find a buyer who'll pay that much. Most '86-series two-dollar bills are worth... about two bucks. Even if they seem in excellent shape to you. Is there a trustworthy place in Calgary to offload this stuff? You can go to collector shops, Albern Coins being probably the most well-known, but they're like coin-collecting-specific pawn shops: they're businesses who need to make a profit to keep the doors open. They're not in the business of collecting coins/banknotes: they're in the business of buying coins/banknotes off of people like you and selling coins/banknotes to some other collector, and making a margin between. This means they will buy it for cheap off of you, and sell it at a premium to someone else. They're not necessarily going to #### you over, but you're not going to get anywhere near top-dollar. What's great about them though is that they have the means to buy in bulk, and they DO know what the hell they're looking at. What you do NOT want to do, in my experience, is deal with bullion traders. They don't give a flying #### about numismatic value, they just want to buy coins off you for bullion value less a (profit) margin, and re-sell 'em for scrap. That market is full of ignorant dumbasses who haven't a clue what they're looking at, and they're usually insultingly bad low-ballers. If you want top dollar you're going to have to do the legwork to sell stuff piecemeal by yourself. I won't sugarcoat: it's often not worth the time spent doing it. But it can be done. Look at Charlton guides (https://www.charltonpress.com/), look at completed and sold listings on eBay to see what people are actually paying for 'em. Last edited by timun; 07-26-2023 at 06:21 PM.