Our main business contact with
charities is through buying stamps in bulk, but over recent
years many organisations have found that collecting coins can be
very lucrative. (Many of the charities from whom we buy stamps and
coins find that the coins now more than match their stamp
income.)
In broad terms, coins and banknotes
break down into categories as follows.
COINS
Coins current in other countries, or
recently current. This includes some of the "legacy
currencies" in use in the Eurozone countries (Austria, Germany,
Ireland, and Spain are still ok - others are now
demonotised, and we only buy them as scrap). Many members of the public have little
bags of leftovers from holidays and business trips, and are now
quite happy to give them to charity.
Coins of collectable value. This
for a charity can be difficult to sort out from other
scrap/"smush" but we do the separation for sellers. Sometimes a
charity might be donated an organised collection, in which case
this would be worth keeping intact in case it includes any
better items.
Coins of low value. After the
two previous groups have been extracted, this is what is left.
BANKNOTES
Banknotes current in other
countries, or recently current. The notes above for coins
apply here also (but many of the notes from Eurozone countries
who's coins have been invalidated are still acceptable).
Remember that there are many notes that a bank or bureau-de-change
might tell you cannot be exchanged, but that can; we'll identify
everything that can still be exchanged,
Other banknotes. All banknotes
have some collectable value, although the cheapest (either very
common, or in poor condition) are often worth only a few pence
each. It is very important that any notes you are given which
are in mint condition are kept that way.
PRICES
On the current coins and notes, and the
€uro legacy currency coins and notes, we pay on average about
half of the current exchange rate. Prices tend to be higher for
batches which have higher quantities of larger denomination
coins, or with larger numbers of notes. Lower prices are earned
by lots with concentrations of very low denominations. We do not
have fixed rates; we tend to build up a longer term trust with
our suppliers.
We sort through the other material and
make an offer depending on what is there. (Sorry - that's a bit
vague ! Unfortunately there is no way of fully explaining
this aspect of pricing without possibly misleading.) However, we
can always break prices down, and explain how our figures are
arrived at, and everybody has the option of turning down our
offer. More
information.
SORTING
If you intend to bring such material to
us for sale, it is sometimes useful to sort it first. Cutting
down on our work often means we can pay a better price.
Certainly keep the banknotes separate from the coins. With the
coins, it is worth sorting into countries (don't bother with
smaller batches of less than, say, 100 coins of mixed
countries). It is ok to have mixed denominations in bags sorted
simply by country; we only welcome sorting by face value when
large quantities are concerned. Remember - we would rather be
faced by a mound of loose unsorted coins than by a box of coins
all neatly wrapped and labelled, which just takes lots of time
to look at.
PAYMENT
We normally pay on the spot for batches
brought into us (but you need to make an appointment). Large
lots might need to be left with us for checking and counting,
then you can either come to collect payment or have a cheque or
bank transfer sent to you. We like to have forewarning of very
large lots (i.e. of about £500+ sale value - by a rule of thumb,
this is about as much as a strong and healthy person can lift in
one go !).
STAMPS AND POSTCARDS; see our separate information page about these.
If you have any queries, or need
advice, please feel free to get in touch with us.
© Robert Murray
2003-2017. Last updated Friday 7 July 2017.
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Robert Murray Stamp Shop
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