I've got a coworker that said his mother has some old Mexican coins and I said I would buy them. He said they are no longer valid, so I wondered how to figure out what they are worth. I'm assuming they will be pesos and centavos. Should I offer current exchange rates and a small bonus?
Yea, I haven't actually seen them yet. Lol was trying to get an idea so when he brings them in in not wasting time.
Most modern mexican coins are not worth much. Many are junk bin stuff. But some may have silver and those are the ones to get, mainly at melt. Many from the 1950s and forward are worthless but there may be a key date or worth a few $ if it's high grade. But which, I do not know. Need pics more than anything else.
You don't really buy world coins at exchange rates; you buy them as a collectible. As has been said, it depends what they are. If they are just coins the person has from a vacation or something, most likely they aren't going to be worth much and probably won't have key dates. If it's someone's old collection it could be a different story. Obviously silver coins all have an intrinsic value. There are key dates for different series, but like I said if they're just coins someone saved from circulation you're unlikely to have them in the lot.
It really depends on what he has. If nothing is silver and everything is 1950-2000 I'd say offer him a buck or two because you can get all of those coins for 5-10 cents apiece. If it has silver or older coins, that's another story. Remember that you don't have to impulse buy the moment he shows them to you. Ask to take some photos to think on and then share with us for better opinions.
Thanks for the input. I'm gonna buy them regardless cause I'm adding to my.......dare I say it.....i dare...world coin collection.
Have this site pulled up on your phone ready to go: http://www.coinflation.com/mexico/ In case there's silver or gold, that's all you need to know about what has intrinsic value.
Understandable, just don't pigeonhole yourself into buying 50x 10 centavo coins from 1995 for $10... I have a pretty extensive Mexico contemporary type set and they're relatively cheap to collect. Please post photos and follow up here if you pick them up!
We went down to Tijuana a couple of years ago for spring break from where I teach. On the way back to the border, I ran into multiple people hawking sets of obsolete Mexican coins on the street. They had 10-12 coins flanking a couple of bank notes. One guy said $1, so I figured how could I go wrong. When I said sure, he started counting out the separate coins...$1, $2, $3...I said whoa...you said $1 for the set...we settled at $3. I'll see if I can find it.
Papasolar, it's already been pointed out that the exchange rate value of the coins isn't relevant here, but it may still be worth mentioning that Mexican currency dated prior to 1992 is denominated in an old peso that was worth 1/1000 of the current peso. That's why it's no longer valid. If you didn't know that, you might think a 1000 peso coin from 1988 was quite a chunk of change; in fact it was equal to about 40 cents US.
