Today I presented a 1916 d and s Mercury Dime to a collector and was offered $400. for it.....i was wondering if this was a good price as it's the first time i have contacted anyone regarding a collection i've inherited from a man who passed away at the age of 86 in 1975.......the collection is unending......and i'm not quite sure what to do with it......(I've got many wooden boxes that are impossible to carry and wondering where to start.....) Any help would be greatly appreciated... Thank you I'm so confused candjpa
Welcome to the forum. The value of any coin is greatly affected by its condition, as well as its year and mintmark. For a genuine 1916D (mintage 264,000), regardless of condition, my outdated two-year old Red Book puts the value at $500 to $5,500. On the other hand, for a genuine 1916S (mintage 10,450,000) the same book says $3 to $60. Current prices are undoubtedly higher. From your description you have a cataloging job ahead of you that really needs a skilful numismatist to undertake. You would undoubtedly be better off to pay a qualified person a fee for appraising the coins than to buy and study all the books necessary for you to consider doing it yourself. The first step would be to do a basic inventory, which would allow you to focus on the "top end" material. If it was accumulated over many years, ending in 1975, most of the dimes and up will either be 90% silver, or 21.6k gold, so you're looking at several times face value in just bullion value. Is it all U.S. coinage? If there are any foreign coins in the mix, at least the denominations equivalent to dimes and up will also be gold and silver.
Possibly but unlikely. While there is no way to determine the quality of your coins without seeing them, some coins have good value regardless of wear.(date and mintmark must be readable) Now damaged coins will lower the value. For a large collection, you should first seperate the coins by denomination, then sort by year and mintmark. Once you have a rough idea, then you can contact a dealer in your area. Do not accept the first offer that they make for your holdings. Be sure to ask if there is an apprasial fee. Most dealers charge something if the coins will not be sold. It is worth paying a little something to receive a true value for your coins. Try two seperate dealers for values. After this, you can use tools such as completed auctions on Ebay to see how much a current coin in the same grade is selling for. (You must know the grade).
DON'T try to clean or wipe anything, that will only hurt it. Determine what your goal is, here. Do you want to become a coin collector? Possibly add to the collection? Or would you prefer to liquidate it and use the money for something else? Whichever you prefer please tread slowly and if you're selling anything try to always get multiple offers. Post any questions here, we're always happy to help! Nick
