Hello coin collectors, My name is Bobby and I have a bunch of questions about a coin collection that was left to me by my grandfather. He had casually been saving some coins over the years, not collecting uncirculated coins, but tossing cool old coins he got in change into a bucket. In 1964, he actively started acquiring silver quarters, knowing they were moving away from silver the following year. With the price of silver where it is, and the interest level in these coins where it is today, I have decided to sell these coins. I'm a collector, but not a coin collector. I understand some basics, like don't dump them all in a vat of Tarn-X to make them shiny But when it comes to knowledge about what collectors want in coins, my experience is rudimentary at best. I have a lot of experience selling on eBay (8600+ positive and 99.9%) but haven't sold coins there. For those of you who buy on eBay, a range of expectations would be very helpful. Scans of the coins, front and back of course I know. I have seen closed auctions for single coins for less than a dollar with free shipping, which seems like a losing proposition. I really would like to keep anything on eBay to over $50 or so at the least. Living in Dallas, I know Heritage Auction Gallery sells a lot of coins, and I contacted them for some guidelines, before I had sorted the collection. They told me that other than 1932 quarters, any (circulated) silver Washington quarters are worth melt value alone. I don't have any '32 quarters, but lots of 30's, 40's, and 50's, so maybe collectors have some interest in those? I didn't count coins, but I did sort them as follows: 30's - 50's 25¢ 1960 - 1964 25¢ walking liberty 50¢ 1964 Kennedy 50¢ 1965 - 1967 Kennedy 50¢ Franklin 50¢ Roosevelt 10¢ And there are a handful of liberty 25¢, mercury 10¢, buffalo 5¢ Total weight on all of it is about 45lbs, so there are a lot of coins. Over half are the 1960's 25¢ The 60's coins are in nice shape, but almost everything else is worn. There weren't any early coins that stood out as being in particularly stellar condition, but a few 40's and 50's quarters that are nice, and so forth. Are there any key dates I should look for? Anything of particular interest to collectors that is beyond "melt value"? Anything that I should consider sending for grading? In advance of it, I assure that your advice and assistance is greatly appreciated.
US pounds. I think it was actually 45lbs 8oz or something but I didn't tare the small box it was in, or ziplock bags.
Well if you could get a head count of the silver coins that would help. They sound like melt value, pull out the nicer coins and the Mercury dimes, Walking Libs, and Standing Libs. You might also want to buy a Red Book it will help you determine key dates and the sort. 45 lbs is a nice haul of silver.
Coinfaltion gives you an idea of the silver melt value of the coins http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html
728 ounces of mostly 90% silver x .9114 = 663.5 troy ounces x .90 percent silver = 597.1 ounces of silver x $43 per ounce of silver = $25,675 - 1000 or so (40% silver, nickels, etc) = About 24000 to 25000 melt value (I don't know how much non-90% silver you have, so this is a rough estimate)
