
A typical accumulation of coins is first evaluated before we make an offer.
– Holden Pollock, Manager/Professional Numismatist
While many people, myself included, consider themselves “coin collectors”, we must first understand what it means to be a collector. A collector is someone who collects specific items primarily as a hobby. Many coin collectors are passionate about the coins they collect; often putting together sets based on dates, denominations, or on their favorite type of coin. People collect the type of coin they like. For me, it is the Seated and Bust coinage of the United States. Therefore, I collect Seated Liberty and Bust Half Dollars, quarters, and dimes.
Coin collectors usually prefer to have “nice; problem-free coins”. You might ask, “What is a problem-free coin?” Well, this would be a coin that is not: cleaned, polished, damaged, scratched, holed, bent, filed, whizzed, or having unpleasant toning or PVC on the surfaces from improper storage. These factors diminish the value of coins, which makes most collectors stay away from them. Finding specific coins for your collection can be challenging, especially when looking for nice and original coins.
Carefully curated coin collections are few and far between. These consist of numismatic coins that collectors assembled in a particular manner. The renowned D.L. Hansen collection would fall into this category. This collection consisted of some of the finest graded United States coins.

The condition of the coins in this collection will play a major role in determining the value. At Pegasus, we make free verbal offers every day, with no appointment required.
On the other hand, “accumulations” of coins are quite different from collections and far more common. Most people have coins stashed away to some degree, but understanding what type of material it consists of is important. Whether it’s proof sets, wheat cents, pre 1965 silver coins, old silver dollars, or just random pocket change, nearly everyone has accumulated some type of coinage.
Typically, coin accumulations do not add up to much “value” because they were randomly assembled with whatever was available at the time. Customers come in every day to inquire about the coins they have accumulated over time, however the majority of the coins are only worth face value when their composition isn’t silver, gold, or platinum. We encourage everyone to bring in what they have to obtain our 100% free verbal opinion, simply because you never know… until you actually know.
Happy Collecting!