I recently had lunch with John, a former coworker and good friend. Somehow our conversation shifted to coins and I learned John has a collection. John is in his late 70s and this was originally his father’s collection and John has added to it most of his life. Now when I say collection, it is mainly circulated coins dumped together. Nothing is slabbed although there are some proof sets. John knows nothing about coins. I barely know more but he asked me to look through them and see if anything has any true value. I was shocked when he brought out 2 big heavy duty canvass bags. Both weigh about 50 pounds each. I haven’t dumped them out but just started grabbing the bags of coins inside starting with the ones on top. Initially the coins were clad with everything from pennies to clad dollars. I quickly ran through them. Nothing. Then I started hitting the good stuff. I’ve been through bags of silver dimes and quarters. I Googled what were the most valuable Mercury, Roosevelt dimes and Washington quarters. I have been pulling out any coins with the identified dates and mintmarks but I realize I am using somebody else’s list and may be ignoring coins that should be put to the side. So I’m asking, what silver coins would you suggest keeping? These re circulated coins! Some are well worn but there’s a lot of decent presentable coinage, so what dates and mint marks would you hold on to?
There really aren't that many, and I'm sure you will get a good answer I want to see too. The 1916-D Merc is the only one I'm sure of.
I'd look at Ebay - it's where most common coins change hands these days and a great place to look at "Sold" auctions for prices to get a sense of what current values are. I'd also pick up a Blue Book and a Red Book - the combo is about $25 from Wizard Coin Supply and / or on Ebay (for 2023, I just got my new Red Book last week) so you can sort things more quickly. I'd suggest separating each coin type - pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, and dollars (and anything else) and tackling them in order. Personally, I'd start with the silver coinage, because that may be where most of the potential value is. Good luck and congratulations, that sounds like fun. It also sounds like a lot of work, I'm still inventorying my own collection of a few decades and I started a few years ago. It takes time and attention.
Mercury dimes besides what has been said, check for the 1919 DDO and the '42 over one, there are several quarters too, besides the key dates '32D and '32S, the '34 DDO, '37 DDO, '42D and '43 DDO's and the '52 S over D.
ALL OF THEM!!! There are plenty of key dates and semi key dates though. Even if they have higher mintages but they are in good condition, they still have a premium above silver value.
@Chip Kirkpatrick …I agree with @Matthew Kruse to a point. IMO…I would save all silver coins that grade better than F12. The exceptions would be those found less than VF20 that are considered scarce or rare due to mintage, key date or attribute…I would save those no matter their grade as these would retain value (numismatic) beyond melt. Anything else in P01, FR02 or AG03 (culls) will likely never appreciate beyond their silver weight. I would use a Red Book for mintage data and my experience with all US denominations to find the key dates sought for commonly by seasoned collectors…Bon Chance!…Spark
I believe you'll find those "culls", to which you're refering, are being sold "beyond their silver weight"! JMHO
Hopefully, you will separate all the silver coins and then go through each one, using the Red Book for the obvious valuable coins, and then use more specialized sites for the harder to find coins. In the Mercury dimes, aside from the low mintage and obvious over dates, the micro S mint mark and a few others. Do you have the Cherry Pickers Guide? If not, do a search online.
I want to add to my post some. When searching through a pile or lot of coins for varieties, it can become a quite confusing and daunting task. Especially if you are going at it with a ramdom coin just pulled from the sack ( yeah sack, I'm southern). It is much easier to separate the coins by date and mint mark and once that is done, research and learn the varieties for that date and mintmark before you go through that stack. For one you will retain more of what you learned with your research and for 2, it is not nearly as daunting a task. It doesn't matter which stack of dates you start with as long as you research varieties before going through that date. If you find something interesting set it aside for further research at a later date. This will relieve some of the pareidolia that becomes inevitable with constant stairing at similar details.
Indeed agree...any/all of the silver coins, at least for now. Then take time to research them better...fun and a learning experience.
I would separate by denomination, date, and MM. Then, starting with the silver, post a blurry picture of each one on the "what's it worth" forum and ask if you should get it graded. But there's probably better ways. Seriously, that sounds like fun, even if there's no monetary value there.
I agree with other posts, first separate into denominations, then concentrate on the silver coins. Red Book is a must. Hope you enjoy your hunt!
