It is a friendly teller at one of my banks. She asked me if I was a coin collector. (I said "yes"). She said that she had a large collection of "old silver coins" and was wondering what they were worth. She doesn't know me other than walking into their branch for the past few years, so I think that's why she was so vague when I asked for more details. Either that or she genuinely doesn't know. I finally got out of her that she has a lot of Mercs, Washington quarters, and "silver dollars" (I'm assuming Morgans & Peace). By a "lot", I mean that she said it was too many to write down all of the dates/mintmarks for me. I'm only a few years into this hobby, so my grading skills are those of a beginner. 1) I'm sure she wouldn't trust me to go to her house, so should I offer to look at the coins in a conference room at her bank? (Would the bank frown on such activity)? 2) I am preparing a list of mintages/key dates for every U.S. Silver coin from the 1800's and 1900's 3) Without knowing the exact number or denominations involved, is there anything else I can do to prepare? (I'm studying up on the grading standards for all U.S. coins, too, but I wish she'd narrow the list down for me...)
If you want to help her out of the goodness of your heart, this is what I would do: Offer to meet at a place of her choosing. I doubt the bank will let you use their conference room, but public libraries often have private study rooms that would work well for this. University libraries frequently do, too, but sometimes they don't allow access to the general public. Bring your Red Book, but don't show her the prices! Just use it to get an idea what's worth looking at. I would download the PCGS Photograde app if you have a smartphone, and just use that a rough guesstimate as to grade. Anything that looks like it would be remotely worthwhile, separate out and let her know she should have these evaluated by someone with more experience. Keep your expectations low. You're probably going to see a lot of "junk silver." Most people are accumulators, not collectors. And that's it.
1) Conference room at the bank is probably good, especially since she works there. I'd let her reserve it. 2) I second @Paul M. on this - bring a Red Book, or Coin Prices, or (if you're like me) a PDF version of some reference materials on a tablet or computer. I will agree partially that prices should be discussed with a grain of salt - no sense her getting some unreasonable number in her head just yet. Also explain the difference between book price and actual realized sale prices. I think the PCGS Photograde app is definitely useful, but, like Paul said, chances are there will be nothing that warrants figuring out if she has an MS68 1909S VDB or an MS67. While I think your list of US keys will be useful down the road, I personally think it's wasted effort (if you already own a reference book.) Experts have already done so, so no need to reinvent the wheel. 3) Know the current spot prices of silver/gold, know a LCS buy/sell spreads on common stuff like junk silver, junk Morgan/Peace dollars, wheat cents, IHC, dateless Buffalos, etc. One of the references I use locally is from Scotsman Coins (although I don't shop there) - but they post their buy/sell prices online for PM here. IMO, it's still very useful to know how much she could get for commonly hoarded stuff if she walked into a LCS. Coinflation is a great reference for figuring out junk silver (since she's probably stashed a bunch of silver and odds and ends from her time as a teller.) I'd also educate her on selling venues - LCS vs. Pawn Shop vs. online classifieds (Facebook, Craigslist) vs. eBay vs. Online Forums, if she mentions wanting to sell. This is where it will be useful to know what local businesses will offer her, so you (if you want to buy her coins and she's ready to sell) can make a fair and educated offer. I wouldn't lead with any offer to sell, though - you're there to be the educated source of information, the voice of reality, and only if she mentions that she's ready to sell should you make an offer. IMO, if you start with mentioning that you'll want to buy her stuff, she'll go on the defensive and won't really listen to what you're saying (or will think you're trying to lowball her so you can get a better deal.) If you have an old copy of a RedBook, maybe give it to her after you're done. Have her pay attention to how you're looking up coins as you're doing it, so she at least doesn't look at it like it's written in Cyrillic or Japanese. Now you've done some good, maybe you've made a coin buddy, maybe she'll come to you first from that point on with anything cool. I'd also make SURE to mention "do not EVER clean your coins" lol All that being said, be honest, be fair, be reasonable, and patient. Everyone starts somewhere...and no one would get very far without the help of others who are further down the path to knowledge and insight.
Oh, yeah, definitely this. Make sure to do it before you see the collection, otherwise she might be tempted to "shine them up" to make them look better.
I had a family friend tell me once about "all the coins they'd saved" and asked me to take a look at them (and eventually sell them.) I had my accountant say the same thing - how he had a bunch of coins that he had been saving, and he wanted me to take a look at them and sell them for him. Like you, I got all excited about what sort of massive hoard I was going to be pawing through, maybe some cool varieties or early proofs, something amazing... ...in both cases the total number of coins in each "hoard" was less than 20 pieces. Family friend at least had some cool old foreign silver; accountant had a few 40/90% Kennedy Halves and a couple beat up silver dollars. So, maybe that's why we're saying "Yes, be prepared...but don't spend a week on it."
I believe that Paul and the Minister of Silly Walks have given you some great advice. I don't really have much to add beyond that. Good luck!
One final thought: since she's mentioned having Mercs and Washington quarters, keep an eye out for some of those major varieties - examples like the 1919 DDO, 1942/1 for Mercs, plenty PLENTY of strong doubled dies and RPM's for Washington quarters, as well as Type B/C reverses.
