5 Mercs Part 2 From My Father's Collection

Here are another group of Mercs. In general, are these worth holding onto? Better than melt values?
Please give your opinions on grades, I am starting to judge the grades better now. Thanks.

 

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I think the 21 and the 26-S are considered key dates with low mintages. they are in decent shape for being almost a 100 years old, i really don't know a lot about Mercs so wait for others to chime in.

since they were your Dads i would keep them and pass them down if you have someone to pass them down to

 

I have absolutely no one, no family. I am trying to get a value on his collection so I can make out a will and give it to charity.

 

I'd say all that you've posted are worth more than melt, although a lot of coin dealers would try to get away with paying you melt for them.

The 1921 and 1926-S in particular are valuable in this condition -- tens of dollars, possibly close to a hundred each if they haven't been cleaned. But all of the ones you've posted so far are nicer coins.

You've been here long enough to earn posting privileges in the For Sale section. You could consider posting the whole set there and soliciting offers (although I don't know how many people respond to posts without an asking price). If nothing else, there are a number of dealers here who could make a fair offer, although of course they have to allow themselves a profit margin.

Thank you for thinking about this. I don't know what charity you have in mind, but I'd rather see almost any charity getting a windfall instead of a corner pawnshop or an unethical coin dealer.

 

Thank you JeffB, I know that a charity (local animal rescue) would need to know that value of the collection because they would want to liquidate it. Not knowing, they might do something really unwise with it, as in take it to a pawn shop. I am not going to be selling anything as of now. I have tons of Constitutional silver, but I am thinking of holding on to that as well. I would like to trade it for some better silver coins, but I still don't have the expertise to choose the better coin options. Watching the price of silver as we go through this year as well.

 

Not that it will help you in our current circumstances, but: I've sold lots of common silver coinage ("Constitutional silver"/"junk silver") over the last ten years, and I've found I get strong offers when I go to a local coin show where there are multiple dealers. When there's competition in the same room, people will pay more. Once we get back to a point where in-person shows make sense, that's something to consider.

For the very highest payout, though, it's probably best to sell to an online dealer. They tend to have high minimum buyback amounts, maybe $1000 (current dollars, NOT silver face value), but they have the smallest margins between buy price and sell price. If you've got, say, $100 FV worth of silver that you'd like to swap for a better coin, you'd probably do best by selling to, say, JM Bullion or APMEX, and then shopping with the dollars they pay you.

Of course, please don't do that with nicer coins like the ones you've been posting here!

 

Agreed with @-jeffB that the bulk of the value here is tied up in the 1921 and 1926-S.

 

What, in your opinion, is the grade for the cut-off point between Constitutional/junk and "nicer coins." I've got a lot of "no readable date," "environmental/damaged" and normal G4 to XF40 (common date). I could fill a gallon bucket or more with this stuff.

 

Depends on the kind of coin. For Barber coins, almost anything in better than AG/G is worth handling separately, because the vast majority has been worn down to that level or lower. On the other hand, it's rare to see a 1964 Kennedy half that's lower than AU.

Dealers large and small will balk at the most heavily worn coins, because they do lose weight with wear. (I always tried to buy the heavily worn stuff by weight where possible, and then sell it by face value where possible.)

For the coins you've posted, they're nicer because of the combination of date and condition. 1941-1945 Mercury dimes in this same condition don't get much of a premium, if any.

Damaged coins always trade at a discount, even if the damage hasn't diminished their silver content. If you're only trying to maximize the amount of silver you own, that's a way to get it cheaper -- but if you ever try to sell, you won't get full value.

More photos are always welcome!

 

I like this Coin Guy Shop. Pawn shop owner but pretty nice and good info and seems to put it straight out.
Also love his side gun!
This guy Spectacular who runs the youtube vids posts some good ones..

 

I have almost zero experience with coin shops but this guy seems straight up and honest. Love that he is carrying protection and in todays world, I do too.

 

So, do you do business with Coin Guy personally? Is he honest and reputable? Does he have great inventory of sought after, higher end pieces?
His shop is only 1-1.5hrs drive from me. I would go in and take him photos of My Father's Collection first, and see where his interests lie.

 

I had a very unnerving situation happen to me the only time I ever had My Father's Collection in a coin shop. It was in Ohio and I was trying to get an appraisal. There was much too much coinage on the countertop at once, I was with 3 other people (who used to be family) and there were all the shop employees hovering as well. Well, one man put his hand over a very valuable coin at the table's edge. He kept it there cupping over the flip. He must have sensed I noticed that move, because after a while he withdrew his hand. Was he trying to slip it away? I would have to think: yes, because you don't just cover up a flip like your hand is just resting on the counter. Deceptive for sure. I wonder to this day if they did get away with any of my stuff.

 

If you get any coin shows in your area you could take a few coins and talk to the dealers about them. If any are close by then you can take other coins later.

 

Hey! I did EXACTLY that at the FUN show in January. I got three cards from dealers that I was going to go visit, then I thought: I REALLY need to know what I have here and make an inventory. I haven't approached any dealer yet, and during this pandemic, I've been trying to catalogue the collection. The Summer FUN show was canceled. I was going to take in a bunch of gold and coins for grading- I guess it will have to wait until January.

 

Take your time with whatever you decide to do. I wouldn't do a bunch at a time.

 

I agree 100% take your time let them go and stash the money with reciepts.
Not sure about the 26S but the 21 - 70 to 110$ I wont jump out and say un original surfaces. But you are in that position yourself, what grade is it ?

 

I know this isn't the correct place to ask im just completely lost. How do I post a new forum. I have a question about a penny I was hoping to get some help with but idk how to do it. Can someone please help and I apologize for asking here

 

Sure.... Top of the page is a tab that says “forums”. Click that tab and you will see a number of sub-forums. If you are questioning a potential error, click the “Errors” sub-forum. A typical coin question could go either in Coin Chat or US Coins...... So find the sub-forum that suits your question and go there. Top of that page you will see a tab for Post A New Thread. Click that, ask your question and finally click Post Thread at the bottom of the page..... I am the least computer minded person here. It’s simple once you do it. Good luck!

 

Thank you so much