July 2007
Avoid these three big mistakes
When selling a collection, there are three ways to throw away value, which you should avoid at all costs:
- Never rush to sell if you don't have to. "The faster you need to sell, the less money you're going to receive," says Jeffrey Daniher, a certified financial planner
in Cincinnati. "Collections are semiliquid investments." You will need from six months to a couple of years, depending on
the size of the collection, to research its value and size up your selling options.
Too often, though, events force your hand. "Divorce is one of the great collection liquidators," says T.S. O'Connell, editor of Sports Collectors Digest. Unless you have no other choice, resist the pressure to liquidate too quickly. - Don't let buyers cherry pick. If you let a dealer or another collector pick over what you've got, he or she will invariably buy only the pieces with the
greatest value. Coin and stamp cherry pickers typically look for misprints, minting errors, and other imperfections.
- Never clean a collection or try to improve its appearance. Though that might seem like a good idea, "you can erase a significant amount of value by cleaning it," Daniher says.
