There must be more to the story. Nobody "just finds" a seated liberty quarter. Value depends on condition and whether or not it is genuine. Can you post a photo?
I found the whole story. my aunt's mom was given one as a kid and she was given it. He decided to ask me about it since I had been researching my own coins. He said it is in great condition. Everything can be read very clearly. I have no picture though.
you should get a redbook. that will help you determine the grade so we can tell you how much its worth approximately. thats the best book i have ever bought. do you have a scanner? that would work.
This is the Red Book: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Red-...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238724789&sr=8-1 It's the first book anyone who is interested in US coins should get. It gives a little information about each coin design, basic grading and lists values...the values need to be taken with a grain of salt because the book is printed annually, but overall I think it's OK as a general price guide. Value is completely dependent on condition. With the 1841 Seated Liberty Quarter, first you need to find out if it has a mint mark. On the reverse, at the bottom there will be the words "QUAR. DOL." Above and between the R and D might be a small O, if there is one the coin was made in New Orleans. If there isn't, the coin was made in Philadelphia. This will also be a factor in the value as the Philadelphia minted coin is worth more. Without a picture it's hard to determine the value. I assume the coin has probably been well circulated, so if that's the case I'd probably say a Philadelphia example is worth $70 or so and a New Orleans maybe $40. But again, these are VERY rough estimates. If you had pictures we could be a lot more accurate. To answer your question of "at the most how much could it be worth?" According to the Red Book that I have (2007), the highest grade they list for the Seated Liberty Quarter is a MS63. According to this book (which again, are just estimates from 2006), the 1841 is listed at $2000 while the 1841-O is listed at $1500.
That's why I listed the values for a lower grade circulated example. Because it's the most likely, but your right...without pictures it's a guess at best.