What do I do with coins that look like this?

I just got back into coin collecting and took most of my coins out of storage. I found a bag of coins a had with many that look like these in the picture. Some are over a century old, but I was wondering with some that are more recent, what do I do with them? I prefer to hold onto cleaner examples for my personal collection. Do I try to clean these? Or should I just sell them in yard sale or something? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

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honestly I dont think there is anything you could do without harming the coins. Id leave em like that.

 

First thing to do is NOT TO CLEAN THEM,,,,It's the worst thing to do. The coins that look really bad like the one pictured on the far right,,,I would sell them for around melt value of the silver which is about $6.50 for the quarters and $2.60 for the dimes. Ebay would be a good place to sell the silver coins that are not worth more then the silver in them.As far as the other coins you have,,,,,depending on the condition the year and mint marks you may try to sell for more. You can try to sell them here on cointalk forum when you have reached the required number of posts. Can you post other pictures of coins from your collection?????
Oh welcome to Cointalk :welcome::welcome::welcome:

Here is a link to a web site that will give you the silver value per coin,,,,http://www.coinflation.com/

 

You can use pure acetone & soak them a bit but dont scrub with a cloth or anything like that.

 

love them! I really dont think they look awful it shows age which is beautiful

 

Do a search on this sight. If you do not care about values. Then try anything you want to, then if not pleased , then you can sell for silver value. I person on this, or another sight, said to place the coins in some Worcestershire sauce for a time and check.Then wash it off with plane water and pat dry, do this untill you are satisfied with results. Do not rub the coin. Let us know how it came out. If the coin is a coin of great value, do not had clean it, just enough to get the dirt off, and never rub the coin dry. Good luck -O)

 

Thanks for the link! Very helpful site for selling my coins.

I'm still organizing my collection. I honestly would rather not clean my coins. I'm more of purest when it comes to collecting. I don't like to alter the natural process. So I will definitely leave them the way they are. But now that I know that they still have a decent amount of value, I may unload some of them in the future so that I can reinvest in some other coins. Thanks for your advice!

 

The first two look fine to me (almost looks like golden toning, though somewhat blotchy), and should sell for slightly over melt. The last one is too far gone, but like the others have stated, still worth melt.

 

First, resist the urge to do anything. After you spend a little time back at this hobby you will learn what is safe and what is not, what is a desirable appearance and what is ugly. While you were gone toned coins became all the rage. A large portion of the collector community now prefers them to the old white standard.

And, along the way professional graders began to body bag those improperly cleaned. So don't touch those you have.

The trick to deciding what to leave alone, and what to keep and maybe conserve, versus what to give up on and sell for melt-value, is learning what is attractive and more scarce and therefore valuable. Stay away from home remedies.

If you can, show us more of your stuff. We love looking at original, unspoiled coins and advice around here is plentiful and generally wise.
Lance.

 

Your very Welcome,,,,,I don't know how long you have been away from the hobby,, But what I would do is decide what you want to collect and then do alot of reading about that series and look at as many coins you can find ,,like at a coin show,just don't jump right in on a whim,,,,theres plenty of coins to go around when it comes to U.S.coins and beware of raw coins because many of them have been cleaned or messed with and there are some shady dealers out there. coins that have been certified by NGC or PCGS is the safest way to go.
You may want to take your coins to a few coin dealers just to get a idea what you have,,,,just don't tell them you want to sell them ,,,,he will down grade what you have In hopes that you will sell them to him/her.

 

If you're not happy with them, you can always put them up on ebay. Lot of people pay a premium for toned silver. You can go to ebay and type in quarter toned and over 500 items will pop up. Might give you an idea as to what people are willing to pay for such items. Just a suggestion.

 

Aren't there professional coin restoration experts who can clean a coin without lowering the value?

 

I think it looks more like purple then gold,,,if its a purple color then I would guess it might be from someone over dipping the coins and if you use acetone on those coins ,,it might turn some crazy looking color,,,,I did that once to a coin ,,a copper coin and it turned a wierd shade of red, and every one knows that acetone don't change the color of the copper unless they use something else first.

 

Yes, but the coin has to worth it to do it, these aren't much better than junk silver to begin with....

 

There are some organizations like NCS (Numismatic Conservation Services http://www.ncscoin.com/ ) that can professionally clean coins. But in the case of the 1954 quarter, it wouldn't be worth it to have a professional clean it.

 

Yes ,,,,NCS can conserve a coin ,,but it depends on its condition. sometimes its worth it and sometimes it can't be done because the coin was damaged by either a bad cleaning job or just irreversible enviomental damage

 

It's interesting how an antique doesn't always lose value just because somebody restores it. Coins must be more easily damaged.

 

Thats true,,Sometimes antiques don't lose there value if its a valuable piece to start out with and if its better off if its fixed,,,,,but with coins its a different game all together if you alter the surface of the coin by using chemicals on them that will affect them,,,acetone is safe ,,it don't react to the metal of coins.

Welcome to Cointalk,,,, Cal :welcome::welcome::welcome:

 

Think of it this way-- say you have an antique mirror, but part of it has turned black. So you decide to spray paint it with a silver color to "fix" it. But it's obvious that the mirror has been spray painted, and the mirror loses much of its value as an antique.

 

Can I ask, how they were stored ??