1 Selling a Major Collection Dick Osburn

Collection Overview How many coins? What’s the average value per coin? How many “big” coins? How many raw coins? How many problem coins? How many “specialty” coins? 2

Several Major Questions Sell or don’t sell The most important question If the answer is SELL When How 3

The Decision to Sell Ours was fairly easy The quest was over The set was complete – the 1 st complete mint state set It would never be #1 Our sons weren’t collectors The money would allow me to continue major collecting activities 4

“When” Seems Simple IT’S NOT When do you need the money? We weren’t in a hurry How’s the market? I wish I had a crystal ball It seemed like the big coins had recovered 5

Lots of Options to Sell Private sale Intact – to a dealer or collector Piece by piece Consignment to a major dealer Consignment to a major auction house 6

Sale Options OptionProsCons Intact to a DealerFast and easyLowest return Intact to a Collector Fast and easyHighly unlikely that you’ll find the right collector Piece by PieceSlow and difficult. Best results require experience Dealer Consignment Easy. High return (with the right dealer) Slow Auction Consignment Relatively easy. Moderate to high return 4-8 month payoff. Small lot issues 7

We Chose Auction Quick payoff wasn’t an issue Considered it the best option to sell the big coins It was easy It gave recognition to the collection It created a record of the collection 8

Auction Houses Choose the auction house carefully Consider : Lot size Varieties Sale venue Dealer representation is a major plus 9

Auction Considerations Minimum lot size Lesser coins may go in on-line sessions All coins will probably be slabbed Problem coins can be an issue Some houses are better than others at doing varieties/research Try not to worry about individual lot prices – consider the bottom line 10

Where to Next? I still collect seated halves, but my only goal now is expanding the knowledge base on the series An old goal, long buried in my mind, bubbled to the surface after the ANA sale 11

Seated Dollars Need Help! There is no good reference book Detailed research is limited Gobrecht Journal articles Scattered through other references In the minds of a few experts Little research has even attempted to reach the die marriage level 12

My Thoughts The series has been ignored for many years, but seems to be waking up It’s not nearly as complicated as other seated series Many years have only one die marriage The most identified – 8 (70-CC) I love the coins! 13

A new Goal Brian Cushing and I have committed to writing a new reference book The goal – Something like the Gerry Fortin/ Bill Bugert references Electronic (first) and paper A 3-4 year project (at least) 14

A New Quest As a result of our new goal I’ve started a seated dollar collection It won’t be like the half dollars In retirement my budget is more limited More a reference set Particularly years with multiple die marriages Target grade is AU 15

We’ll Need Your Help Before publication we’d like to examine existing collections Look for new/rare die marriages Make the book as complete as possible Time-frame – Late 2012, 2013, 2014 Dick Osburn Brian 16