How much should I offer?

I have an opportunity to buy these coins (picture to follow); how much are they worth and what is a fair offer. I want to get a good deal but also pay a fair price?

I also don't know the Arab coins in the bottom right and top right corners

give me details on anything canadian (or in the unlikely case estonian) and I'll tell you what they are usually bought for

What is the asking price? Lets start with that. The seller should know what he wants. Then you can judge if it's what you're comfortable with. Even if you provided us a list, that's a lot of homework. Without a list it's even more work. How does one determine the condition of the coins in the ziplocks?

At a glance, I'd offer spot for the silver and no more than $10 for the rest.

I see some good silver (halfcrowns),

As well as those really nice silver Iraqian coins on the bottom right. This lot is probably worth no less than $40.

Nice little lot, I'd spend £20. I'm interested in the Swiss coin, if you'll part with it!

I would pay $50.

And SmartOne, there are more Iraqi silver in BU.

The value is in the silver coins and none are in an outstanding grade or have antique cachet. Apart from a couple of British colonial coins the rest is pretty much dreck, FRG pfennigs, French low value stuff and UK decimals.

I like Islamic silver issues so I would probably pay a slight premium for those and at least one of the UK half crowns has a nice patina. If he was to take them to a coin dealer he would get 75% of the silver value rounded up to the nearest whole dollar for the world coins. I would feel comfortable offering about 85% / 90%, any key dates or coins with great eye appeal should be valued seperately.

It also depends on how you are going to approach the seller. If you are making a take it or leave it offer make sure he understands this. You may waste a lot of time calculating a fair price just to have it regarded as an opening offer. I don't like low ball offers, don't like making them, don't like getting them and really don't care much for those who offer them. I don't haggle when making bulk purchases, I have 40 years experience - I will offer a fair price, if someone who just inherited his grandaddy's collection a week ago thinks he knows better, then I walk away. He can go to the coin store and get about 25% less or sell them on eBay and pay 12% plus mailing costs and deal with fraudulent buyers.

Take a magnet and digital scales with you