My dad recently passed away. I finally got his safe open and pretty much found what I expected. When I was a kid, we would look thru coins for silver and save it. Searched in 72 for doubled dies - found a few. My dad bought proof sets and uncirculated sets. There is a small jar of buffalo nickles. A bunch of wheaties. A small jar of foreign coins. A lot of just pocket change. Now I need to know what to do with it all ! I brought home the boxes of loose coins to look thru. I know to separate out the silver, but don't know how to tell if it has value more than melt value. I made a list of error coins to check for and have the Cherrypicker's Guide and a book called Strike It Rich with Pocket Change. My sister and I want to sell most of it. I might keep some of the proof sets (they are pretty to look at LOL) and error coins if I find any, but am looking for advice on the safest and best way to sell what we don't want.
First thing, and most important. If you do nothing else, do this one thing: Take the Strike it Rich book, and place it in the nearest trash receptacle. I’m serious. You’re on a good track otherwise. A Red Book would be a good investment for you. You can also take clear pics of each side of a coin, and post it here with questions.
Strike It Rich With Pocket Change doesn’t bother telling you of the astronomical odds against finding any of those coins, so don’t get your hopes up. You’re right with separating out the silver. I’d sort the box by denomination and issue. Don’t go error crazy. You might find good dates in there that have nothing to do with errors. The Red Book of coins will be a big help. Good luck!
Sorry for the loss of your Dad..... Get (what we collectors call) a Red Book, also known as A guide book of American coins, by RS Yeoman. The public library may even have a recent copy in their reference room. This volume is going to be helpful in determining what you have but don't rely too much on the values they publish. Use that information only to give yourself a ball park value on what you have. Do you know how to grade coins? There are many sites on the 'net' that can help you, as the condition of the coin is really what determines value......
Sorry for your loss. We have had many threads here of a similar vein. Someone should make a sticky or whatever addressing the situation. With that being said, the best investment for you right now would be a Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins - Yeoman). An older used copy would be fine since you can't really trust the prices in it, but the relative values are valid - if it says it's rare, check other places. For the foreign coins, mostly they have silver value if anything. Place them on a flat surface and take a photo and post it here and maybe we can tell you if any are worth pursuing.
Most hoards from circulation like this will have very little value over silver melt value TBH. I have seen dozens over the years. My mother had one from when she passed. The only valuable coins in there besides silver melt were coins I had given her. Look them up in the Red Book, but do not get your hopes up. Common coins are common, rare coins rare, so MOST people will be exactly what I described. Any questions ask us, but be realistic.
will find Red Book. I love looking for error coins even if I have never found anything other than the 72 doubled die cent back in '72. So, I will sort and then look for good looking coins as well as errors. Are older proof sets with silver coins best kept and sold as sets - are they worth more than melt value?
I didn't look thru them - they are still in the boxes they were mailed to him in - I thought I would start with loose coins that were in the front. I would guess from the 1950s anyway. I know a few proof sets I glanced at definitely contained silver coins. The uncirculated sets seem to be more recent.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your father. The best thing you can do is buy the R. S. Yeoman Red Book. It's the best resource book for beginners, has a lot of information in it it's easy to understand and it's relatively inexpensive. Post photos of the coins you have questions about. Please take photos of both sides of the coin and crop out all the background. State what you see clearly or ask a question regarding a specific area of the coin. Will be glad to help where we can.
Hi Anniequilts, Sorry for your loss! My guess is that if your Dad was into collecting errors he would have likely put them into flips and marked them as such. For the loose coins you are more likely to find semi key dates if anything that is worth more than melt. Valuable errors are very rare to find in the wild (sitting around in loose change). Happens, just very unlikely, like hitting the lottery. Best to concentrate on key and semi-key dates (and mint marks). The red book, ebay are good sources for information if you are willing to put in the time. Just today I had a newer co-worker overhear me talking coins and approached me on the same topic. He has sold small parts of it to a local shop but doesn't know what to do with the bulk of it (Albums, Mint sets, loose coins). I offered to go through it and let him know what the rough value is of all of it and let him know what might need to be graded and or moved to a different storage method. Having a friend that is a collector is really helpful. For the person that can give you a fair estimate, years of study go into learning how to do it properly and in a timely fashion. Other options are selling outright to a trusted dealer. I have shipped collections and/or documented collections with pictures to a dealer on this site that is also a moderator (trusted with a great reputation in his local market) and received very fair offers for the collections. Go to a local coin show and ask dealers how they handle collections like yours and find you build a good repour with. Get an offer on a part of it and see if you are happy with the experience. You can reach out to local auctioneers that specialize in auctioning coins (still probably quite a bit of work on your part documenting and organizing what you want to sell) but again, their fees may outweigh any upside. You can sell coins on eBay or other sites (with a lot of possible headaches) but the fees are not that much different than what you will get from a dealer value and they will take most or all of it without much work on your end. Spending some time to familiarize yourself with approximate value is a really good idea to help you understand if the dealer is making a fair offer. This site will be good for helping you understand if the coin is valuable but dollar value is something most will not comment on. You will get differing opinions here too. Read through the responses and take away what you can. Again, ebay is a good source for value by looking at closed auctions. If you get a red book which I would suggest, do not give any consideration to their coin values except to understand what dates/mint marks are worth more. Please do not go into a coin shop saying this coin in the red book is valued at $xxx.xx amount. Many things go into the value of a coin including condition, any improper handling, market conditions. Wish you luck!
Sorry for your loss, @anniequilts. My suggestion would be to first choose a small number of coins (or coin sets) that you think best represent the overall character of your dad's collection, and post decent quality in-focus photos of them here. That shouldn't take too long to do, and it will help people here point you in the right direction.
thanks to everyone's replies. It has been really helpful. I have plenty of time to look thru the coins (retired) and enjoy doing so. I found a site that gave values to proof sets - most seemed in the $20-ish range with more value starting around '53. They will be easy. There is a local coin shop that I used to by error coins for my dad as Christmas and birthday presents (what else do you get someone over 100 who has most everything they want LOL). When I get things sorted, I will talk to them. I will definitely post pictures here on items I question. I have been reading a lot here about error coins and learned so much. I can now usually identify things like PMD and worn die coins from pictures people post.
When you look up a coin in the RedBook, your eye will naturally jump to the right side, where an MS68 coin is worth $40,000. We all do it. Deep breath. Now go out to PCGS PhotoGrade online or the app and brutally compare your coin to their grade phots. If it's close, but, then grade it one step lower. Now go back to the RedBook and notice that in VG8 it's worth $1.
Hold onto the uncirculated mint sets from 1947-1958, as they're the most valuable - the 2012 is the most valuable modern set. For the proofs, 1936-1955 are the good dates plus 1990S (w/ no S cent) sets, 1981S type 2 and 1996S prestige set (Olympic coins). Study the Red Book for relative values, don't rush into selling them & good luck
Browse a coin Show: https://www.coinzip.com/ Sometimes you'll find a Red Book for cheap or free -- especially used or year-old. And you might find a specialist interested in your error coins.
Sorry about your Dad - Do you know if he had any collecting friends? If so maybe give him/her first look. I bet they would be interested, and probably would not try to rip you off.
