Selling Coins

What Prices?
Because we will buy any coin, and there are millions of different coins which have been issued, it is not possible for us to publish or maintain a list of prices we pay for all coins. For some coins that we urgently need, we do have brief lists of coins wanted with prices on our Coins Wanted page.
To give an idea of the difficulty maintaining priced buying lists, consider that the Krause World Coins catalogue covering the 20th century contains about 2,000 pages, and covers about 200,000 coin price grade combinations. There are four volumes covering one century each, plus a separate catalogue for gold coins. That makes over 10,000 pages, over 1 million coin listings. This might sound impressive, but the Krause catalogues are quite condensed, and for most countries there are specialised catalogues covering their particular subject in much greater detail. Then we would need to cover the 17 centuries of coins from earlier than Krause covers.

Price Unseen?
Every single day we get telephone calls from people wanting to know the value of their coins. We explain elsewhere on this site that we usually need to see coins before we can identify them and price them. There are some coins which we can price over the telephone, in which case we will give a price. For almost all other coins, we really do need to see them. Some callers simply can't seem to understand this and insist on trying to spend 30 minutes trying to describe their coin, even after they have read the Value Of My Coin page, which we recommend you look at as it gives some indications of how we calculate prices on some coins.

Are There Any Coins We Will Not Buy?
No, but there are some coins which have such a low value that it would not be worth our while buying them singly. As a simple example, let's say someone expects us to buy a single Canadian one cent coin in ordinary condition. It has a face value of less than half a penny, there is no British coin with a low enough value for us to pay you, we would only buy it at a discount, so we would decline to make a bid. If somebody had a ton of the same coins it may be worth our while making an offer, although we probably could not sell enough of them to collectors, and the only way we could profitably handle them may be to ship them back to Canada. The shipping costs may actually be greater than their value.

What About Quantity?
In the case of some rarer and more expensive coins, one piece in stock may be enough for us, although we would still buy a second or third example, at fair prices, but slightly less than if we had none in stock. In other cases, we would prefer to buy in quantity. This is more usual in the case of lower value coins. A good example of this would be farthings. For small quantities we would pay 2 pence each, whereas in quantity we would pay more, say £25 per thousand. The main reason for this is that there is a cost for our time involved in negotiating and recording the transaction. This is almost the same whether we are buying 1 coin or 1,000 coins, so it is obviously more efficient for us to buy in quantity.

Other Price Guidelines
You could look at the prices at which we sell similar coins, if we have them listed on our websites. If not you could look at a catalogue in a library.

Travel or Post?
We do not, as a rule, travel to buy coins, although we do make exceptions for larger collections. You are welcome to visit our premises, it is advisable but not necessary to telephone us, or you can post the coins to us. We transact most of our business by mail order, and it is quite safe to post coins, providing you package them properly.

No Limit
We place no upper or lower limits on the quantity of coins we will buy. We spoke to one of our "competitors" some time ago, and he surprised us by telling us they would not carry more than 20 krugerrands in stock at the same time. We asked what they would do if someone wished to sell 100 krugerrands, and they said they would buy up to 20 pieces, but tell the seller to come back later. We were astounded, because we would be keen to buy one hundred, one thousand, or whatever.

Posting Coins to Us
Since 1964 we have transacted much of our business by mail.
You are welcome to call at our showroom with coins for sale. There is no need to make an appointment, but if you have a large amount of coins, it is advisable to let us know in advance.
Sending coins by post is quite simple and reliable. Within the UK, we recommend the Royal Mail's Special Delivery service, which used to be called "registered".

Special Delivery Costs
These rates include the first 100 grams.

Compensation	£500	£1,000	£2,500
Weight 100 Grams	£3.50	£3.95	£4.85
Weight 500 Grams	£3.80	£4.25	£5.15
Weight 1 Kilogram	£4.95	£5.40	£6.60
Weight 2 Kilograms	£6.20	£6.65	£7.75
Weight 10 Kilograms	£17.20	£18.25	£19.15

Notes on Table
It can be worthwhile to spend a few minutes working out the best way to split a delivery.
For example, when we send 100 krugerrands (approximately 3.5 kgs), we split them into 2 packets, each of which cost £7.55 each = £15.10, instead of 1 packet which would cost £19.15. We also get double the compensation amount into the bargain, our own goods transit insurance covers the balance.
If you do not have any separate insurance, it may pay to split 100 krugerrands into 7 or 8 packets, each of which would cost £5.15 for a total of £36.05 or £41.20.
Note that Royal Mail's maximum compensation on "Recorded Delivery" is £26, but this excludes "valuables", which makes it almost useless!

Packing
Most people pack their coins securely, but occasionally we are surprised by how badly some people will pack their coins.
Try to wrap each coin separately if valuable, or to roll a quantity of coins in paper or plastic to form a cylinder. Plastic bank coin bags are ideal. Tape them up tightly after wrapping so that the coins cannot move around and scratch each other. Surround the roll with bubble wrap or tape it to cardboard so that it cannot move around inside the package. Try to use the smallest possible outer box or envelope to reduce the amount of slack inside.