Money makes the world go around, but what do you do if the money in question is an old currency that isn’t in use anymore? Simple, you appraise old coins and bills for their value. Believe it or not, there is a lot of old money, or otherwise known as collectible money, that is worth more than you can imagine.
Let’s say that you came across an old coin collection from your great-grandpa. Commonly, you don’t even know how valuable it is. Sometimes, the internet can help you with some answers, but what the internet tells you isn’t always something that you should one hundred percent rely on. The currency could be foreign and in a language that you don’t understand.
This would make it harder for you to research the potential value of the collectible money on your own. This is why getting a proper appraisal of the collectible money in question matters so much. Here, we are going to go over all of the things that matter when you want to appraise old coins and bills for their value.
Table of Contents
Condition, Rarity, and Demand
When we combine the condition, rarity, and demand of the coin or bill in question – we get a feeling of the value of the collectible money in question. Of course, another thing that we need to keep in mind is the market conditions. For valuable collectible money, there is always a buyer. Although sometimes, you need to wait patiently for the right buyer.
Market conditions or demand aren’t something that you can predict or control; however, the condition of the coin or bill in question is something that you can. When speaking about the condition of the collectible money in question, there are a few ways to mark it. If the bill or coin was never in circulation – then it’s marked as uncirculated.
Ideally, this is the type of condition that will bring you the most bang for your buck. Other grades are mint, and it goes all the way to “poor”. You can already imagine that collectible money that is marked as “poor” won’t bring you a lot of cash. The better the condition of the coin or bill in question, the more highly it will be appraised.
Mint condition indicates that the collectible money is in perfect or nearly perfect condition. When something is declared as “rare” it indicates that the thing in question isn’t easy to acquire. For example, a series that is limited edition is often hard to acquire, therefore making the series rare. The harder it is to acquire, the more valuable it is.
Types of Value
What determines value when it comes to collectible money? The plain definition of value is the monetary worth of something. Another definition of value would be the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Since collectible money does not have use value like “regular” money does, its value is usually determined in a couple of ways.
There are a couple of types of value when it comes to the appraisal of collectible coins and bills. Firstly, we have retail value and wholesale value. But to understand the difference between these two types of value, we need to discuss catalog value and buy price first.
Catalog Value vs Buy Price
If collectible money isn’t new to you, you have likely already heard of the term catalog value. If you haven’t, catalog value is a price average that most people or dealers would pay for the collectible money in question.
If you’ve never seen what this looks like and you’re confused as to why it’s called a catalog, you will see that this is something that can be found in standard numismatic catalogs. The buying price shouldn’t be as hard to decipher. Per definition, the buy price is the price that a buyer or dealer would be willing to pay when offered the coin or bill in your possession.
Retail vs Wholesale Value
The retail value of the collectible money is higher than the buying price. Why? Because, just like you, the collectible money dealer wants to make a profit. Therefore, the buy price needs to be lower than the retail value.
When the dealers are trading amongst themselves, this is when wholesale value comes into play. Usually, the wholesale value is a discounted price offered to a buyer or dealer who is, most commonly, buying the old currency or collectible money in larger quantities.
Like previously mentioned, this isn’t the only thing that comes into play when you are looking to sell the collectible money or old currency that you own. You can come across a very generous dealer that is looking exactly for the old currency that you possess.
The amount of money that you can extract from such an exchange can also vary depending on urgency, your social or negotiating skills, or various other reasons.
The Importance of Proper Appraisal
As you could probably deduce by yourself – if your collectible money is appraised incorrectly, you won’t know the true value of the bills or coins in question. An improper appraisal can happen due to human error, like for example an insufficient amount of knowledge when it comes to collectible money.
When this happens, you will most certainly be out of a lot of monetary compensation. This is why you must contact the right person, company, or organization that specializes in the appraisal of collectible money or old currency. It is key that you can go to someone who you can trust, is professional, and has your best interest in mind.
To answer the question of how to appraise the value of collectible money, the most important takeaway is don’t do it by yourself and don’t trust the internet. Use the internet to get you in contact with the right people, company, or organization (that specializes in this field) for you and your collection of collectible money. Learn more about the taxes and other charges you can be asked anytime, on this website: www.scottsloans.co.uk