What do I do with my coin collection?

I have a box with some coins in it, a good handful of silver dollars, half dollars, old pennies, etc. Nothing that particularly jumped out but most things are 1930s and prior. I’m not a collector and I have no use for these, I’d like to sell them fairly but not stupidly. Would it be more beneficial for me to sell them one by one? Or get low balled for essentially metal value and just move on? I picked up one of those red books if I go with the former but I figured I’d ask for input.

If you could provide clear photos of obverse and reverse of the coins, many here would be willing to offer their opinions on grade and value. Its a free and friendly way to learn more about what you have. Please don't take them to a pawn shop, they will give you virtually nothing for them.

Quote: "Mandoleeland"​I have a box with some coins in it, a good handful of silver dollars, half dollars, old pennies, etc. Nothing that particularly jumped out but most things are 1930s and prior. I’m not a collector and I have no use for these, I’d like to sell them fairly but not stupidly. Would it be more beneficial for me to sell them one by one? Or get low balled for essentially metal value and just move on? I picked up one of those red books if I go with the former but I figured I’d ask for input.

​I'd suggest Ebay, but it is a lot of work, if you've never done it before, you have to make good photographs and upload them, and tick in all the info for each piece, and figure out the postage and all that. you can search for each piece before listing it, to establish competitive starting bids, and move the stuff quickly.

If you take the lot to a brick-and-mortar dealer, you can't really expect more than 50% of red book value, because of the above mentioned work they will have to undertake to move the stuff.

building an ebay presence is worthwhile, in my opinion. you may find that selling stuff on ebay is actually an enjoyable way to make a little extra money.

Ive sold many instruments and and such on ebay so I’m no stranger to listing, shipping, etc. Like you said the worry is just all the fine details in the descriptions and making sure I show the coins to the best of my abilities because the last thing I’d like to do is send a dissatisfactory item to someone. I have a small “light box” sort of thing meant for photographing small products, do you think that would be an appropriate tool for showing them?

Quote: "harryg"​If you could provide clear photos of obverse and reverse of the coins, many here would be willing to offer their opinions on grade and value. Its a free and friendly way to learn more about what you have. Please don't take them to a pawn shop, they will give you virtually nothing for them.

​Basically this. I recommend posting what you have on the Identifications forum, and if what you have is good it might be worth the hassle to go through creating individual listings for each coin on Ebay or another online marketplace, but if it's mostly plain, then making a lot would suffice.

Welcome to Numista!

sure. give it a go, let's see what you have...

It depends what value you put on your time.

You will get a lot more money selling them one by one, but you'll take up a lot more time to list, package and send them.

You will get less by listing them as a bulk lot, but it will be a lot easier to sell them all at once and only have to deal with packaging and sending once.

If you're willing to put in the work, sell individually, if not, sell them in bulk. You won't need a red book, just use the NGC site to look them up. The US coin prices seem to be a lot more comprehensive than the world coins

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/united-states/