Expert: Dan Moore - 10/23/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello Dan and thank you for your work here on AE.
I recently inherited my Grandfathers coin collection and I need to split 1/4 of it to another family member per his will.
He got me collecting when I was a Wee-Lad, and now I need to split this up properly.
There are Hundreds of Silver Dollars, most of them quite common and fairly easily tagged. However there are a number of gold coins as well, and 13 of them are in solid plastic cases and look to be in fabulous condition. The otherpart of the split says to turn them in for the gold value and end it now.
I offered to give him 10% over precious metal value for his 1/4 and I would take the entire collection. Now he wants to split the coins up. I do not want to, and especially for the gold coins, want to keep them together.
I really do not know about sending the coins away, I really do not trust anyone at this point, and grandpa always told me to never take the gold coins out of the case, ever. Attached pic.
Thanks In Advance
Dean

ANSWER: Dean,

Since the will stated that the coins had to be sold for the gold value and the proceeds split, that is what you have to do -- splitting the gold coins up between you is not an option.

However, here's a suggestion ....

Find a gold dealer who will agree with you to buy the coins, so you can settle with your family member, then will sell them back to you for a 10% profit.  You can write up a contract with the dealer to protect yourself.  That way the will is satified, you and your family member are both happy, and the dealer makes a fair profit for his investment.

You should be able to find a reputable dealer in your area listed on the ANA's website here :

http://www.money.org/ana_custom/dealer_search/dealer_search.cfm

Good luck!

Dan


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Dan, and thank you for the speed and helpful answer!

I believe I mis-wrote something in my original question.
When I said "The otherpart of the split says to turn them in for the gold value and end it now" That was my cousin who just wanted to turn the coins in for melt value. I told him I did not want to do that because the coins meant something more to me.

At that time I told him I would give him 10% over melt value for "his 25%" and I would keep the entire collection.

Now he is wanting me to give him 1/4 of the collection in stead of cash for melt value, which he wanted in the first place.

So I figured the Silver would be easy, but the Gold has values significantly above melt value. I consulted my local dealer here, who is a nice guy, and he said he would need to package each coin and send them in to get "graded".
He told me it would take about a month, and $22 per coin for grading.
The Gold would be worth it, but the silver would not.

This is where I was not cozy with the idea of breaking the coins out of the case and turning them over to the possibility of a scam or damage along the way (switching coins...lost in the mail...damaged in transit...etc ).  

Answer
OK Dean,

You can submit the coins yourself, directly to the certification service, if you travel to a coin show where they are attending.  Check the following websites for listings of upcoming shows where the services will be attending :

PCGS : http://www.pcgs.com/shows/do_search_shows.chtml

NGC : http://www.ngccoin.com/events/index.aspx

ANACS : http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/CoinShows.aspx

You should probably go through all the silver dollars to pull out any rare date/mintmark ones and get them certified too.  See the following web page to determine the rare date/mintmarks :

Morgan : http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/prices/mordlr/pricesgd.shtml

Peace : http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/prices/peadlr/pricesgd.shtml

I hope this helps,

Dan