Grading coins

My father recently passed away and I've been sorting through a number of old coins he had in his safe. (Thread here about the foriegn ones.)

I suspect most of these are essentially worthless, but there are a couple that I'm curious about. I've done some browsing on the web and found a number of sites that give values, but they seem to vary greatly with grade and I don't have the first clue how to accurately grade coins. How does one go about getting a coin graded?

The one I am most curious about is a 1921 Peace Silver Dollar as that one seems to be pretty rare. I've attached pictures below.

In addition, there are several other silver dollars in varying conditions from basically a smooth slug to fairly shiny new. Also, there are a number of old silver half-dollars, a couple of half-dollars with Ben Franklin on them and a bunch with Kennedy on them. There is an assortment of worn quarters, nickles, dimes and pennies from various years. I assume the best thing would be to just make a list and then show it to someone to see if any of them are potentially worth having appraised?

Thank you.

 

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Having appraised? No.
I would suggest learning a little more on the coins There is a very good guide, the redbook, or The Guide To United States Coins, the 2010 edition is out already, and I highly recommend it.
It will give you a ballpark range of value, and give tiny tips on how to grade the coins.
It will also help you determine which coins are rarer than others, via mintage figures, and values in different conditions.
And the 1921 peace dollar shown, doesn't look real to me, it could just be the pics though.

 

How would one go about determining if it was a fake or not?

Thanks for the replies.

 

There is a certain sentimental value to the coins. At the same time, if they have real value beyond a certain point they would need to be insured rather than covered by a blanket policy. That's one reason why I'm trying to value them. If one did turn out to be worth thousands, I might sell that one coin, but I have no intention of selling the whole lot.

 

I see nothing in the images of the 1921 Peace Dollar to make me question its authenticity. But if you want to have it checked out, a local dealer should be able to confirm it in a matter of seconds.

 

I have nothing to say that hasn't been said before....except that's one attractive and original looking Peace Dollar...Mike

 

I would suggest that in addition to the Redbook, buy a copy of Photograde. It will enable you to determine the approximate grade for many of the coins.

Relax and take your time. Determining the value of a large group of coins isn't something that can be done quickly.

 

Indeed, just take all of the coins to a local dealer and let him tell you if there's anything of real value. A good dealer will be able to look at them and tell you in just a few minutes.

 

This has red flags all over it. It's like asking the barber if you need a haircut.

I would just ask a dealer if the 1921 is authentic. I wouldn't bring him a large batch of coins and say "anything good in here?"

 

I agree, the coin looks real, but between the heavy wear (note the lack of feathers on the eagle) and the rim dings, I would grade it no better than fine. Thus, it would be worth about $60-$80 based on recent ebay sales.

 

That's pretty much what I've been afraid of in this whole process. I was very worried that I would end up finding a dishonest dealer who would try to buy everything for 10% or its real value.

 

I purchased a 1921 Peace Dollar on ebay last year for $86. It was in F-12 condition and pretty similar to your coin. Despite the book value by some, I wouldn't put the price past $100 on the open market. It looks real to me though.

 

I agree. Getting an opinion on whether its authentic couldn't hurt. Just don't rush to sell it.

Take your time with this process. I helped my dad get a general idea of what his coins are worth a few years ago. But now that I have a little more experience grading I'd like to go through them again because I probably was way off on some of my values.

 

I don't know what the cause of those areas is, but I could swear that I've seen that effect before. And to me, the rest of the coin looks genuine. I don't recall ever seeing a counterfeit 1921 Peace Dollar with that amount of (apparent) wear in the correct pattern like that, either. If it's counterfeit, I will eat my hat. Please note, however, that I don't have one:whistle:

 

Mark, I get plenty of hats at my house, I'll send ya' one...

 

LOL, what a pal!

 

You have good eyesight!

 

I noticed that too. The only problem with finding another one is the possibility that it was counterfeited in the same batch. To me, it looks fairly legit besides the areas you noted.