My father collected some coins and I have inherited a coin collection. A partial list of what I think to be some of the more valuable ones is: 1988 UK gold proof collector 1OZ? 1984 UK gold proof collector 1 Oz? UK gold proof Sovereign Uk gold proof one Pound 1885 uncirc. Liberty dollar 1886 " " " 1883 " " " 1878 " " " 1988 uncirc? liberty silver Dollars 1986 Liberty Silver Dollar and halve Uncirc? 1991-1995 WWII commerative proofs. 1995 Civil War Battlefield Commemorative proof two 1987 US Constitution Silver dollar and gold five dollar proof sets. 1988 US mint Olympic proof coins 1984 Olympic Gold 1989 Olympic Yugo set 1888 silver Dollar and 5 dollar gold pieces 1983 UK Gold Sovereign 1983 UK gold Sovereign 1oz Liberty 50 dollar gold piece (proof) Gold commemoratives gold: Mark Twain 1981 1 Oz Willa Carter 1/2 oz 1982 Louis Armstrong 1oz Frank Loyd Wright 1/2 oz 1988 Robert Frost 1 oz Calder 1/2 Oz 1984 Helen Hayes 1 oz John Steinbeck 1/2 Oz 1983 and 1986 Canadian 100 Dollar Gold Proofs. He also has lots of other stuff. I am not sure if I want to sell it or keep it as a keep sake. But how does one get an accurate honest appraisal of the values of such a collection? Anybody know what some of this is worth? I am not sure about some of the uncirculated status I just looked at them in the safety deposit box and wrote down descriptions. Any help would be appreciated. I am planning on cataloging the remainder of the collection which is a lot of proof sets and such but probably not as valuable. Thank you for looking. Phil
Welcome to the forum Phil. First of all, those pieces that give their weight instead of a denomination are not coins. They are privately minted bullion collectibles, and with few exceptions are worth their weight in gold (or silver as the case may be). That's a little over $400 for gold and about $7 for silver at today's prices. A dealer will give you a little less than the bullion value - or sell you some more for a little more than bullion value. Take a look at some of the many threads already posted in this forum about the very questions you ask. If there are a significant number of world coins, check your local public library for the Standard Catalog of World Coins by Krause & Mishler, which gives a great deal of information on most coins minted since 1601, including valuation figures which are sometimes fairly accurate. (It takes four large city telephone book-sized volumes to do so.) For US coins a good starting place is the Red Book, available at any coin store or most book stores. Use the prices in the Red Book to sorth your coins in more or less order of value, but don't rely on them for any more than that. There are on-line and weekly price publications that are much more accurate, although still far from perfect.
Thanks Roy; He seems to have a mix of coins and minted bullion. Some morgans and peace dollars some proof sets. All interesting stuff. Actually, bullion value is kind of nice. It means I can keep much of the stuff as father collectables and just pay the estate bullion value. He was doing a little coin investing and some artistic bullion buying about 15 years ago it seems. I will check the references you list for some more information on the coins. Thanks for the starting point information.
Sounds to me like some of that bullion gold is what the US Mint issued before they made the gold bullion coins they make now. They were issued in weight (no denominations) as bullion and have famous Amercians pictured. Not sure if any have a premium, but they are an interesting bit of history of the struggle we went through to get the Mint to issue proper bullion coins.
Yes a lot of them are U.S. mint produced. I wasn't sure if those were from the government U.S. mint or if they were from one of the various mint companies that advertised in for instance "Parade" magazine. They are nice works of art even if they have no more than intrinsic precious metal value. Left are my brother and myself so if I want to keep them (I think this was my father's only hobby). I will have to pay 50% for them. I think some of this was his way of keeping precious metals in his retirement portfolio. They do have some keepsake value to me. How would one check to see if there is any numismatic value to some of these issues? Is that also in the Red book? Thank you for your assistance. Phil
If they are what I think they are - they are gold medals and yes the US Mint produced them. Depending on which one - some of them are downright pricey on today's market.
