jperry

I have been lurking on this and a few other coin sites. Based on what I observed I wanted to post on this site to acquire some additional knowledge. The members all seem nice and interested in the topic of coin collecting instead of sniping at each other.

So thanks for a great site.

I recently inherited my father's coin collection and have been spending a significant amount of time trying to understand exactly what I have here.

By way of background my father was a streetcar and later a bus driver in the late 1930's. When he counted his fare box at the end of his shift he would sort through and select coins he wanted, replacing them with his pocket change. He enjoyed looking at his collection and examining the coins.

He left me a number of coin books of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars. Some are complete and some partially complete. His collection also included a number of cigar boxes (yes, actual cigar boxes) full of neatly labeled and sorted 2 X 2 envelopes of various coins. The were also 4 jars of coins sorted only by denomination.

So far I have sorted and placed in 2 X 2 cardboard holders all of the coins in the jars. I also put together a spreadsheet to index the coins. This took some time because there were over 3,000 coins in the collection.

I don't really want to sell any of the collection, and if I do I would use the proceeds to purchase additional coins and fill holes in the collection. At this time I really just want to understand the collection better. I was thinking that taking a trip to the ANA Museum in Colorado Springs might be helpful and enjoyable.

I would appreciate comments and suggestions from those of you with more experience. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Jim

Speedy

Welcome to the Forum!!

Speedy

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Coin collecting is the only hobby in the world that you can spend all the money in the world and still have some left over

WINS - ANA - CONECA -

Cait

hi! sounds like an awesome collection you have

jody526

Welcome, Jim.

I'd be glad to help you in any way I could.

Good luck.

rggoodie

Nice to have you aboard
If you have been "lurking" then you may have seen references to the "Redbook"
This is a good place to start. This will help you identify your coins and show the listed values for them at different grades.

Then comes the task of either learning to grade, or having someone help you with this task.

From the description of your collection, it does not sound like a good idea to be sending out each coin for grading.

Many others will add to this post to help you get the most enjoyment you can out of your collection.

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Richard

SilverDollarMan

Hi and welcome.

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Thx Alot
Just Learning!
Gary Lawson

jperry

Thanks for all of the responses. I already did a few of the things I saw recommended while lurking. I bought a few books. Red Book, PGCS Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, Photograde Coin Grading Guide, and Scott Travers One Minute Coin Expert.

This has been very fun. I did not realize the complexities and subtle nature of this hobbby. Obvious to all of you, but new for me, is finding out how difficult it is to grade coins.

I have a few coins that are scarce. I can look at Photograde and get a general idea about the grade. Should I take some of those to a local dealer to better understand the grading system. Do dealers usually charge for looking at a few (say 10 -12) coins and giving their opinion? If so what is a reasonable charge?

I plan to follow the recommendation of becoming more educated on this subject and lok forward to participating in these forums.

jody526

Hello again, Jim.
So, can we take it from your posts that you intend to continue in your father's footsteps and go about this as a hobby?
If so, relax, take your time and enjoy each new facet as it comes.
Grading is important to those who wish to buy and sell, and also for insurance purposes, but for the pure enjoyment of your collection, it's just not a big deal.

GDJMSP

Howdy Jim - Welcome to the Forum !!

If you can post good pics of your coins we can help you with a pretty good idea of how they'll grade. If not - then a dealer can help out. But keep in mind, not all dealers are good graders.

Given your situation and that you have an interest in the collection I might suggest that you try to find a local coin club. That might be of more help to you than anything in acquiring knowledge. Or - you could try to find a coin show that is near you. That would allow you to talk to quite a few folks. And if the show is of any size - there may well be some professionall graders there on site. They will usually give opinions about grade for free.

Meanwhile - welcome to the hobby as well

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jperry

Thanks for all of the great responses.

Speedy, thanks for the quick welcome and answer to my question

Silverdollarman, thanks for the quick welcome.

Rggoodie, Thanks for the good advice.

Jody526 thanks for the response on grading. Looking at the coins and sorting them makes me feel closer to my father. I want to understand grading to some degree. Although I don't know enough my initial plan is to fill in blanks and upgrade coins in my father's collection.

Cait, thanks for the response. I saw that you signed up here just before me. What caught your interest in collecting?

GDJMSP, Thanks for the welcome. I will try to take some pictures if my camera will do a decent job of it. I may have to get something different. I saw other posts with grading comments. That is a great thing about this site.

One thing I have heard when buying coin storage supplies from a dealer and metioning some coins in this collection is "There are a lot of counterfeits of that coin out there." Is that a comment that is usually made?

Sorry for the long post, but I look at other boards (boreds?) and am overwhelmed with the great response here.

Thanks to all!!

Cait

honestly? the new buffalo nickels! i had an old one when i was very young and i loved it. it's been gone for years unfortunatly, so i dont remember a date or condition, i just remember finding it on the beach. my parents have always had a large jar of change they would get and i'd go through it, putting all the coins together by date. its something i've always been interested in it, i've just recently started to follow through with it

GDJMSP

For some coins - yes it is. There are literally countless examples of a given coin being in a collection for literally decades - all the while being thought genuine. But when the coin was eventually examined by someone who can tell the difference - it was discovered to be a counterfeit or altered coin.

Now many folks don't like to hear this and they often get angry when told. For they believe that because the coin has been in the family for 2 or even 3 generations that it must be genuine. But all to often it is not.

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knowledge ..... share it

Speedy

Some will...some won't....I would ask them if they would charge...and remember...try to wait till they aren't busy with guys they go there alot or they might not like it


Speedy

__________________
Coin collecting is the only hobby in the world that you can spend all the money in the world and still have some left over

WINS - ANA - CONECA -

Speedy

You can post photos here....in the Whats It Worth Forum...

Some dealers can tell you if the coin is real and others might not know...if there is one that no one is sure of send it to ANACS...I have heard that they are good at authenticating coins...and they are also cheaper.

Speedy

__________________
Coin collecting is the only hobby in the world that you can spend all the money in the world and still have some left over

WINS - ANA - CONECA -

jperry

Speedy, thanks for the quick response. I may go to the ANA museum later this year or early next year.