My grandfather left us a huge coin collection when he passed. They've been sitting up in the attic for nearly a decade now. I'm not at home so I can't provide pictures, or get more in depth than my memory. I just took a quick peak to see what was in the bags (completely forgetting they were coins). I saw $10 half dollar rolls, I'm pretty sure they were from 1963 to 1969. He was an avid coin collector and had everything logged. He had these listed as uncirculated. They're in light brown coin rolls, and very shiny. I'm sure he's got 1960-1962 and probably 1970 some where as well, but that's for another day of digging. Before I go blindly to a coin shop, or jeweler, are these worth anything? Should I be selling them as a coin, or silver? I'm totally new at this but I know from Google that in 1964 they stopped using silver.
Here's a site with the silver values of US coins, updated several times a day. As of right now, rolls of 1965-1970 halves (20 coins each, $10 face value) are worth just over $100 as silver, and rolls of pre-1965 halves are worth just over $250. Uncirculated halves are worth somewhat more, although that "premium" (the difference between these desirable coins and random, well-circulated silver coins) is getting smaller. Uncirculated Franklin halves (1963 and before) can be worth considerably more. We'd welcome more details about what you find!
There are alot of great posts on this site to sift through that will answer just about any question you could have and then some. If they truly are uncirculated then they will sell for a premium over silver melt value. Have fun with this site http://www.coinflation.com/coins/silver_coin_calculator.html Unless you are hard up for cash don't start selling stuff. Take time to learn what you have. You might appreciate it and decide to keep some of it.
It's about 5 duffel bags worth of rolled coins stored in old cigar boxes, each has notes to what's inside each box. The only other thing I can remember off the top of my head are the little white cloth bags that are stamped US Mint. Inside they had pieces of paper saying these are uncirculated pennies. I might have to go grab a flashlight later on. :smile
The rolls you describe sound like Original Bank Wrapped (OBW) rolls. The silver content of the rolls 1964 and earlier is (at current prices) $250/roll. OBW rolls sell at a premium over that if they are tightly wrapped, truly unsearched rolls. eBay can give you a good idea of what folks are currently paying for similar items. My observations lead me to believe that most coins enjoy a numismatic pop in value around the 70 year mark. Your coins are about 50 year old and you sound like you're young enough to wait 20 years for a nice payday. If I were you, I would buy "The Complete Guide to Franklin Half Dollars" by Rick Tomaska...a very enjoyable read! You may find that the uniqueness of the mint variations you find will be a very fun treasure hunt. Just dumping (potentially) great rarities off to a dealer for scrap is sacreligeous! Coins are a piece of history you can hold in your hand. Your Grandfather obviously enjoyed the "Hobby of Kings" quite a bit. I'm sure he would be pleased if you enjoyed his legacy as much as he enjoyed leaving it to you. Btw...:welcome: to CT!!
Sorry to hear about your grandpa even though it seems to be long ago at this point. Sounds like he left you a nice little treasure hunt there! Hopefully you will follow in his footsteps and take up the hobby, never know what you may find in there and since it sounds like you have a lot, I would advise you to get everything out of the attic and into a safe of some kind, at least the silver and gold if there is any. The pennies are probably safe in the duffle bags for now Do some research, post some pictures and a list of items if you have one, ask lots of questions and don't give out any personal information on here - this is a public forum. Good luck and have fun! J Edit: oh yeah what Yak said!!! Btw...:welcome: to CT!!
Ok I grabbed some more out of the bag. Here's the find: 1939-1967 nickel rolls uncirculated, 1 of each year. 1951 penny rolls uncirculated, 20 of them. These are dimes... I only grabbed a handful. They fell out of another box, but I figured a handful would suffice here. 1925 F 1923 F 1916 F 1876 F 1939D F 1946 XF, has it labeled as gold flash coat (lab) ?? Had a bunch of AU labeled coins but left them behind. I also have about 300 foreign coins from the early 1900's to the late 60's. He has the box labeled silver and other metals. Some examples are: 1926 One Florin GB Silver - Good 1931 Six Pence GB Silver - V Fine 1957 5 Centavos Guatemala Silver - V Fine 1943 25 Centavos Guatemala Silver - Fine 1955 10 Lire Italy Aluminum - V Fine
Don't get in a hurry to sell these. This especially applies to moderns because dealers will almost invariably off very little and then just spend the valuable coins or have a buyer for them. Uncirculated rolls of 40% silver halfs rarely have much if any value beyond silver but gems can be quite valuable. The pennies you describe were issued '72 to '74 if memory serves and mostly they're a waste of time. They aren't common in the bags so you might want to save the bags and paper. No matter what you have if they are origiginal rolls of post-'64 coinage they are probably scarce and will be valuable if gem. A few of these dates bring good money already. Don't get your hopes up too much since rare coins are valuable because they are rare so yours are probably not rare and not valuable. Just don't take a dealer's word because most dealers know almost nothing about later coinage.
