HOW TO SELL COINS NEAR ME – ARLINGTON HEIGHTS

Oakton Coins and Collectibles is one of the highest rated coin shops near Arlington Heights.

If you are considering selling your coins, you have come to the right place. Oakton Coins and Collectibles understands that selling a single coin or a whole coin collection can be an extremely daunting task. Whether you are a lifetime coin collector or have recently inherited a coin collection, when it comes time to sell your coins, you have many options. Oakton Coins and Collectibles can simplify the process. 

Understanding how to sell coins around Arlington Heights.

When it comes to selling coins, you need to take a lot of factors into account. For instance, your coins could simply be worth face value, or they could be worth a significant amount of money. People do not always collect only valuable coins; often, they collect low-value or face-value coins for other reasons. But no matter the size or value of your collection, we are here to help. 

Sometimes people sell their whole collection. Other times, they sell the valuable parts and split up the rest between siblings. Maybe you have a small collection without a lot of monetary value and someone young in your family would appreciate it. 

Often, people bring us their coins carefully arranged by date and decade, usually placed in separate Ziploc bags or paper envelopes/coin tubes. You might be tempted to do this, but it’s not worth the effort.

When we appraise a collection, the first thing we do is separate coins by their composition (e.g. copper, nickel, silver, or gold). If you must organize your collection, put it into these groups:

  • Gold coins 
  • 9o% silver dollars (1878 through 1935) 
  • 9o% silver dimes, quarters, and half dollars (1892 through 1964) 
  • 40% silver JFK half dollars (1965 through 1970) 
  • Lincoln Wheat Cents (1909 through 1958) 
  • Buffalo Nickels (1913 through 1938) 
  • Jefferson Nickels (1938 and later) 
  • All other obsolete U.S. type coins
  • U.S. Mint proof and uncirculated sets 
  • U.S. Mint commemorative sets 
  • Currency and paper money 
  • Foreign coins/tokens

Interesting coins are available for purchase in  every budget range, so ask yourself the following questions to help determine the value of the collection you want to sell:

Can you determine how much money the collector spent or how regularly the owner bought? Can you find any bills of sale, invoices, or canceled checks from dealers or auction firms? Do you have an insurance policy or a will with instructions?

This information may be helpful, but you can’t completely depend on any of it. The value of coins (and collectible paper money), like the value of anything else, is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. This amount is never a fixed figure, as the market fluctuates in varying degrees and at unpredictable rates.

Pricing your collection to sell around Arlington Heights.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, you will not receive the value listed in any of the pricing guides that you may reference when you sell coins. The guides are just that: a guide to help you establish the price range you can reasonably expect for a coin. Most consumer guides show extremely inflated values.

Some coin selling terms to keep in mind; Clickbait Pricing, Real-World Pricing, Melt Value Pricing, Numismatics Pricing.

Clickbait Pricing: Wikipedia defines “clickbait” as web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy. This pricing relies on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs. Click-throughs refer to when the reader clicks a link to go through to the next stage of the bait. Clickbait makers love to post about how common coins could be worth big money, but in reality their claims are almost never valid. 

Real-World Pricing: This refers to actual money changing hands. This pricing reflects amounts that have actually been paid, not just advertised, so it’s true market value. Everything else is just a bunch of words and ideas about the worth. Any coin is only worth what someone will pay for it, and collectors usually focus on rarity and condition to determine monetary value.

Melt Value Pricing: Prior to 1965, the majority of United States coins contained either gold or silver (with a few exceptions). Any selling premium on top of the melt value comes from the Numismatic Value.

Numismatics: Numismatics is the study of coins, paper currency, and metals. Coin rarity and condition drive the prices that collectors will pay. Regardless of the metal composition of the coin, some coins have a very high numismatic value.

Places NOT to sell coins around Arlington Heights.

  • Jewelry Stores and Pawn Shops – They usually only understand the precious metal part of the gold/silver coins, and they pay only a small percentage of that price.
  • Ebay – Many coins are sold on EBay every day, But it can be very risky, time consuming, and costly. Click here for more information.

Sell coins near me – sell coins locally – Arlington Heights.

Oakton Coins is conveniently located right near 94 West (Kennedy) near downtown Skokie (very close to Chicago), and less than two blocks from the Oakton stop on the Yellow Line CTA (Skokie Swift). It is within minutes of downtown Chicago, Rogers Park, Evanston, Lincolnwood, Niles, Park Ridge, Deerfield, Morton Grove, Des Plaines, Glencoe, Highland Park, Glenview, NorthbrookElk Grove Village, Naperville, Northfield, Northbrook, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Barrington, Brookfield, Elmhurst, Franklin Park, Glencoe, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, La Grange, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Lombard, Oak Brook, Oak Park, Prospect Heights, Wheaton, Wheeling, Winnetka, Portage Park, Forest Glen and Schaumburg.


Glossary of numismatic terms, R;

Reeded Edge – The edge of a coin with grooved lines that run vertically around its perimeter.

Reeding Mark(s) – A mark or series of marks on the surface of a coin caused when the reeded edge of another coin strikes the surface. Also known as a milling mark.

Regular Issue – Refers to a coin that was struck for commerce. These can be regular strikes, as well as die trials of a regular issue. Also known as circulation strike or commercial strike.

Regular Strike – Another term for circulation strike, which is a coin struck using conventional methods.

Reholder – To take a certified coin in a scratched or unsightly slab, or one with a typographical error on the label, and put it in a new holder at the same grade.

Relapped Die – A die that has had its surface reground at the Mint, to remove traces of wear, clash marks, etc. This process often imparts a prooflike character to the dies.

Relief – Any part of a coin’s design that is raised above the coin’s surface.

Remainder – A piece of currency or sheet of currency printed for a bank, but never distributed. The remainder can have full or partial information filled in, such as serial number, date, and bank officer names, but usually is blank in those spaces. Most remainder notes are in high grades.

Replica – A reproduction or copy of a numismatic item.

Repunched Date – A date that is punched into a die and then punched again in slightly different alignment.

Repunched Mintmark – A mint letter on a coin that shows slightly doubling of the features, or represents a correctly aligned letter punched over one entered at an angle.

Reserve – The lowest auction price at which a seller is willing to sell an item.

Restrike – A coin struck from genuine dies at a date later than the original issue. Examples include the 1915 Austrian 4 Ducats, 1947 Mexican 50 Pesos, and 1908 Hungarian 100 Korona.

Retoned – A term for a coin that has been cleaned or dipped, and has over time regained color, either by natural or artificial means.

Reverse – The side of a coin carrying the design of lesser importance. Opposite of the obverse side. Although there are many exceptions, for many types of coins the obverse bears the date and a portrait, and the reverse has an eagle, building, or wreath.

Riddler – A screening machine used by mints to sort out planchets of the wrong shape or size prior to striking.

Rim – The raised portion of a coin encircling the obverse and reverse which protects the designs of the coin from wear.

Rim Ding – Another term for rim nick.

Rim Nick – An indentation or mark on the rim of a numismatic item.

Ring Test – A test used to determine if a coin was struck or is an electrotype or cast copy. The process entails balancing the coin on a finger and gently tapping it with a metal object and listening to the resulting sound. Struck coins have a high-pitched ring or tone, while electrotypes and cast copies have little or none. This test is not always accurate.

Rip – A slang term for a numismatic item that was purchased well below the price at which it can be resold.

Roll – A specific number of coins, all of the same denomination, stored in a coin wrapper. Originally rolls were stored in paper wrappers; today the wrappers are likely to be made of plastic.

Roll Friction – The minor displacement of metal, most often seen on the high points of coins that were stored in rolls.

Rolled Edge – The raised edge around the circumference of a coin.

Rolled Edge Ten – A common name for the regular issue 1907 Indian Head eagle.

Roller Marks – Parallel incuse lines visible on a coin after it is struck, believed to be caused when the strips of metal are pulled through draw bars insuring the strips are the proper thickness.

Roman Finish – An experimental Proof surface used in 1909 and 1910 mainly on U.S. gold coins. The surface appears scaly, similar to Satin Proof finishes, and is more reflective than matte surfaces but less so than brilliant Proofs.

Rotated Die – When one of the dies became loose in the coining press, it rotated from its normal orientation. Coins struck from such dies show alignment different from the norm, the norm usually being alignment 180 degrees apart (coin-wise alignment) or in the same direction (medal-wise alignment).

Round – A shortened term for the Pan-Pac round commemorative $50 coin. This may also refer to a one-ounce silver medal or bullion piece.

Rub – When the high points of a coin have the smallest trace of wear.