Inherited: 50 lbs worth of silver coinage / Suggestions on where to start?

Hello forum

Like the title says. I've got ~50 lbs worth of US silver coinage dating from the mid/late 1800's through 1965.....hundreds (thousands?) of coins. 90% have been in unsorted & uncracked rolls for the past 40 years as preserved by my grandfather (who passed many years ago) as well as my elderly father and uncle whilst they were teens. All were circulated but in opening some rolls, I've seen seemingly perfect coins...ie a 1942 silver dollar looking just minted.

I've searched the archives and briefly read the stickies; I understand how to handle them with gloves and/or latex. Haven't found too much info on a good sort technique though.

Looking for some suggestions on

1) Methodology to sort: (i.e. put them all into a computer spreadsheet ala MS Excel? Where to start? Lay them all out on marked butcher paper?)

2) How to preserve such mass quantities affordably (i.e. should I keep most simply rolled in non-acidic paper? Or??)

3) What to do with less valuable coins....ie poor condition 1965 quarters.

4) Secure storage once I'm done. (i have a small safe deposit box but obviously only the most valuable will make it in).

Here's the background story for anyone interested:

My grandfather ran a retail meat market in the heart of Los Angeles from the late 20's thru the early 70's. He apparently loved coins and according to my father tended to hang onto interesting coins that came into the shop. (Post 1965 this tendency accelerated for obvious reasons!) You can imagine in 50 years of daily retail sales, even with paper money circulating, people from all walks of life would bring in "old coins they found here and there" to turn it into something they could use today....like a few pounds of hamburger. Anyway, I suppose I have people's appetities to thank for my collection.

I know I have a daunting task ahead of me but I'm excited non-the-less.
Any help / suggesitons would be much appreciated on this long road of discovery.

TIA!

 

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Thank you for your reply.

Yes...that was a typo. I more meant to say there are nice condition coins present in general.

 

congrats man, thats a collectors fortune u got, another suggestion:seperate or try not to move the container as much. they will ding off eachother and mark themselves up with scratches and such. Sort it by demonination and send me any u dont want
well dont cash any at all to the bank!!!! if u want to get rid of any, dont cash but sell them to a dealer. If u are formilar with Morgan and Peace dollars and such or any bigger dollar coins, be most careful with those, they could make u a pretty penny

 

I'd like to be in your shoes right now, I recently went thru several thousand coins and now that I'm done I really miss going thru them. A magnifier is a big help, one of those that fits on a desk and has a light on it, I got mine for about 25.00. I did my coins by type mercs,buffs,ect. Then got a big sheet of paper and wrote dates year by year then I placed all, say merc dimes on there yr. Then I took all dimes in a given yr. and gave them a grade then I entered them into a coin software program that I bought. The software was a big time saver and really cool, I used to do all this by hand in a notebook which was a pain. The software also has coin values added when you enter a coin. I hope this helps. I might have to by some bags of coins as I really enjoy going thru them. Later.

 

I would get a Red Book like GDJMSP said...if the coin are circulated I would also get PhotoGrade---
Hope you find something good.

Speedy

 

Thanks for all your replies.

Yes, in fact I just ordered one. Based off the reviews in Amazon, I choose to go with the 2003 instead of ad-cluttered 2004 edition. Cheap! 95cents!

Something I can share with the forum:

www.addall.com - this is my personal favorite new/used book search engine. It's superior all other engines I've found b/k it hunts 1) thru used sellers like half.com and 2) worldwide. Interestingly, I've found new UK editions of books I've needed @ 60% USA cost (due to their new book pricing laws) even with shipping to the US included. Hopefully someone can use that.

EDIT: Is there any more info on this Photograde?

 

PhotoGrade is a book that will help with the grading of the coins...that will help you know what it is worth....you take the grade to the price guide and see what it is...the price guide is just that....a guide...you might get more...you might get less.

Speedy

 

Photograde is a book where you flip to your coin's denomination and compare your coin's condition with pictures of the coin in the book, and then you can get a rough grade of your coin. It's really a great beginning grading guide.

 

1) I'm drooling. What fun! I hope you find some great stuff.

2) I'd say be prepared to set aside lots of tablespace, with good lighting and a comfortable chair, for a long time. And don't let anyone else use that space. You don't want to come home and find out that someone is using your stack of Morgans as a coaster!

 

Like GDJMSP said "Howdy Exocet5 - Welcome to the Forum !!"

He gave you some very sound advice, and worth following. He forgot to mention that you had better be prepared to use your eyes. So have good lighting and set time linits. But, have fun no matter what else happens.

 

The ODESSEY

Hi forum....thanks for all your informative replies.

I recently received my 2003 Red Book and had a chance to crack into part of the collection last nite. This is great fun....like treasure hunting

Anyway...though i've found a good number of 1942/43 quarters...no "double die obverse's" quite yet. Dang-it!

What I've learned so far is that I hate Buffalo nickels. I'm 3/3 for the date being completely worn off ----- argh!!!

Back to work....

 

ya all mine r too, really bad

 

You will eventually find one that is nice and bright, with all its date showing, and from that moment on the Buffalo will be the coin of your dreams. You will think of nothing else. Mark my word, it will happen!

 

Funny... but this is the most true statement I've seen. I got about 50 buffalo's in an auction along with about 1,000 other coins... and now I am insane for buffalo's. All buffalos, but especially nice toned high end MS buffalo's...
They call to you at night...

 

Hi Forum

The sorting is coming along....I've got morgans, peace dollars, washington's & mercury's spilling happily off my dining room table. My oldest so far is a 1879 Morgan. Still haven't sorted the halves yet!

Here's my dilemma. I'm thinking of selling off some of my 1964 quarters which comprise ~1/3 of my quarters. While all my coins have been circulated, many of the 1964 washington's are in really nice shape. Not MS but definately coins removed from circulation in their first year or two of use.

I've spoken to a local coin dealer and he rattled off "4.6 x face value" for circulated coins but how should I approach selling these obviously non-trash coins?

Many of them are of this quality (for example - not my auction):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39462&item=3976019027&rd=1

Thanks for any advice

 

I don't think your going to get more than $1.00 each for 1964 quarters...that is all I can get for them and most dealers sell them for $1.25 so for them to make a few cents I think $1 is about the only way to buy them.

Speedy

 

Welcome and congrats

Exocet5-

I also inherited a large multi-generational collection a few years back and the task of going through it all has been great fun and a good learning experience. I also have countless rolls of coins, mostly wheaties, that have been sorted and documented on each wrapper. My father-in-law was organized if nothing else.

Don't be too quick to try to ascertain coin values right off. Initially, it's much more important to familiarize yourself with what you have and not think too much about the allure of what you might receive by selling the coins on ebay or to a dealer. You may regret a hasty sale later. No one knows your financial situation but you and you have to decide what to do with your good fortune. I was buying a house at the time of my inheritance and could have used the extra cash and chose not to part with the collection in the end. I have never regretted that decision and you probably wouldn't either.

Best of luck and I still miss LA if you can believe that.

 

EDIT--please no offers to buy/sell/trade---if both members would like they can carry this on in PM's...

Speedy