Technical article

A Dealer's Offer or an Auction: How Big Is the Gap?

A local coin shop had offered US$8,000 for one coin from the estate.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

In March 2012 an executor posted on a collectors' forum. A local coin shop had offered US$8,000 for one coin from the estate. A fee-based appraiser who answered told him to take it to auction. It later sold for about US$29,000. The same appraiser then offered to buy the rest of the collection himself, which the forum account itself flags as a conflict.

That is one account from one forum. It is not a measurement. It does show what the question looks like from a kitchen table: the dealer offered 60% of what I think it is worth. Is that normal?

What people report

Everything below comes from forums, dealer blogs and trade writers. There is no tier A or B source for dealer buy-in prices, so these are reports and not rates.

Dealers have a side too. A coin dealer in one thread says the average collection he buys is under US$10,000 and many coins are worth only their metal. A dealer must resell and cover costs, so an offer below retail is expected. The forum accounts differ on how far below. For watches, one dealer-written guide says sellers get 70% to 80% of online prices, and another says 30% to 40% below market. Both are tier C. Different kinds of dealer, different kinds of watch.

An insurance appraisal is a third number. It reflects the cost to replace an item, which is higher than what it fetches. That is why a US$6,500 ring can draw US$400.

Why the gap can be wide

Some writers point to speed. A stamp dealer says that when an estate must be cleared fast, a collection is dispersed quickly and usually for much less than it could be worth. A coin writer says heirs with no knowledge get low offers and that the costliest losses come from heirs given coins with no instructions.

Auction has its own costs, as the article on seller fees shows, and it takes months. So a higher result at auction is not free money. It is a trade of time and fees against a quick offer.

You might say: "The dealer was polite and the number sounded fair. Why doubt it?" Nobody here is saying the dealer was wrong. A single offer is one number. Executors in these accounts got their gap by comparing, not by doubting.

You could take written receipts for anything that leaves the house, ask for a second and third offer, and keep the person who values the items apart from the person who buys them. A practitioner quoted in the sources advises against letting anyone sign a bill of sale before an appraisal. One coin dealer asked US$199 an hour to look at an inherited collection, waived if the family sold. The heir declined and kept it.

Have you faced an offer on something that belonged to a parent? What did you do, and what would you tell the next person? Share it here. Someone may be standing at the same counter.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.