Box of old coins...

My father recently passed away and one of the things I inherited was a box of old coins that had been passed down to him from my grandfather. My grandfather was a World War I veteran and he evidently brought home a cigar box full of coins he'd collected in France that was promptly stuck in a closet and forgotten for a few decades. When my dad got them, he stuck them in a safe and left them there for a few more decades.

I've looked through the coins before and many of them are from France and the UK, but I did notice a number of coins from other nations (Germany, etc). I think I even saw some from the Far East, including the Phillipines (presumably traded from a soldier who served there). I suspect he probably did some swapping to get many of them. None of the coins would be more recent than about 1919 or so.

I also have a few more cigar boxes, jars and bottles of US coins from the first half of the 20th century that various relatives mostly kept because "they might be worth something someday". I think some of them might even be just the contents of the change jar on their dresser when they died.

Anyway, I'd like to get some idea of what I have here and what these coins are worth (for insurance purposes, if nothing else). I suspect they're all common coins worth nothing more than face value (if that), but you never know. For all I know, one of them might turn out to be some ultra rare coin worth thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, I don't have the first clue where to start. I suspect there are probably dealers who can appraise them for me but I really don't have any idea how to find a reputable one or what the procedure is -- especially with the number of coins I have (certainly over a thousand). Is there typically a fee for an appraisal? If so, what is typical?

I suspect I can look up many of the US coins myself, but I'm at a loss with the non-US coins (hence posting in this forum).

What does someone who isn't a coin collector do in this situation? Can someone guide me? I live in San Antonio, TX if that helps.

I apologize if this is the wrong forum.

Thank you.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I know where I would start, if you are in no hurry to get this accomplished and you think you may enjoy looking at these coins with a little more detail.
I would start a Micro-soft Excel work book and have various tabs for each country.
I would then compile a spread sheet within the appropriate tab, and record the date demonination and any other comments you may seem fit.
While you are at it, separate them accordingly so you can find them with ease later.
Once the whole spreadsheet is complete, format it nice, and print her off.
Without bringing the coins in, take the spreadsheet (or email it) to a coin dealer that specializes in world coins and ask him if he sees any key dates or coins that warrant a better look-see.

Put it this way, if you want to fully understand what you got, ya got to start somewhere.
I wish i had the opportunity to dig through boxes of unknown like that. Sounds like fun.

 

Welcome to CoinTalk! You could just post some pics of the coins and we can help you in determining what you have. How To Post (upload) Photos

 

Go to www.worldcoingallery.com for your foreign coins to identify them and look at a price guide. The price guide is pretty rough but you can get an idea from the relative values whether you have anything rare. Go to the library and look at a "Red Book" to get an idea of U.S. coin values. The librarian ought to know what one of those are. As the values are also correlated with the conditions (grades) of the coins, we'd be happy to help you out with those, provided you could post some pictures.

 

The first thing that I would recommend is to sort them by country. Consider using several zip-lock baggies and label one England, one France, Germany, etc. Organize the baggies alphabetically by country & then just put the coins in them. If you cannot identify a coin, you can post it here for help with the identification.

Once they are sorted by country, you may further sort them by denomination & type. You will quickly see where you have duplicates. At that point, you can look-up some of them on the Website listed by eddiespin.

During this sorting & looking-up process, you might find that you actually have the coin collector gene and would enjoy being a coin collector.

Please don't clean your coins with anything (especially using any type of polish and don't rub them with any type of cloth). Try to handle them by the edges & use common sense to avoid tarnishing any that might be nicely toned or possibly brilliant uncirculated. Once you have them sorted, you might want to use coin holders for the nice ones.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

Oh yes, how could I have forgot to say that--don't clean them! Don't even think of cleaning them. Collectors are very fussy about that, and not without good reason. It will irreparably damage the surface of the coin. There are exceptional circumstances, but until you're familiar with those, your default position should be, let them alone.

 

Thank you for the advice. I suppose I'll need to get them from the safe sometime and sort through them. I'll avoid cleaning them, though I suppose that means none of the foriegn coins will have any collector value given that they're all very "dirty".

 

Hey Ben...Dirt is good, and you never know about those Euro coins. Pics would help a lot.

 

This is a coincidence! Today, A friend of mine gave me a box of Japanese currency and at least a couple hundred coins from France and Germany(and many more I am not sure of) Ranging from 1811 to the 1940's.
There are a couple old Austrian, Kruger peices from 1815 and 1860.These apparently came from an elderly man who served in world war 2 also.I spent a couple of hours trying to reserch these coins,but I was not very successfull.

 

1st off welcome to CoinTalk to you both :high5: now benkarl and Pete please do heed the advice given above specialy about cleaning them LOL also do not think because a coin is dirty or not American that it is not worth anything
Any you are unsure of just post pics of both sides of the coin and we will be more than happy to try to help with iding them :thumb:

 

Ok, I've gone through and compiled a list of 38 non-US coins (I thought there were more but a lot of US coins were mixed in). The oldest one has me beat. I think its Spanish based on the writing around the edge. Its dated 1842 but I can't seem to find a denomination. I checked that site for coin identification and I found several that seemed similar from that era, but the back was very different.

I've attached a photo. It's not the best in the world but I'm hoping it will be good enough.

 

Its a Spanish 80 Reales. .875 gold, should weigh 6.77 grams. Obverse has the head of Queen Isabel II. Reverse is the crowned shield. If real it is worth about 150$-200$.

 

Thank you very much. The site I was looking at didn't even have the 80 Reales coin on it.

http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/Spain.php

 

Here is the list of the non-US coins (and US overseas) I've sorted through so far. Does anything leap out as being noteworthy? Some of them are very dirty and dull, but I've been very careful not to clean anything at all.

Thanks again.

Edit: Ok, I'm obviously not going to get this to format. Nevermind. Sorry for the mess.

Nationality Denomination Year
Spain 80 Reales 1842
France Dix Cen? 1854
France ? Centimes 1861
Helvetia 1 Fr. 1877
France 10 Centimes 1888
Italy 20 Centesini 1894
Italy 10 Centesini 1894
Mexico Un Centavo 1896
Indo-Chine Francaise 1 Cent 1901
Straits Settlements 10 Cents 1902
Phillipines One Centavo 1903
Phillipines One Centavo 1904
Belgium 1 Franc 1904
Phillipines One Centavo 1905
Mexico 20 Centavos 1905
France 25 Centimes 1905
Mexico 5 Centavos 1906
Mexico 5 Centavos 1910
Belgium 1 Frank 1913
France 5c 1915
France 5 Cmes 1918
France 50 Centimes 1918
France 2 Francs 1918
France 1 Franc 1918
France 10 Cmes 1918
Britain 1 Penny 1919
France 2 Francs 1919
Mexico 5c 1934
Britain Half Penny 1939
Britain Three Pence 1941
Mexico 20 Centavos 1945
Mexico Un Peso 1957
Mexico 10 Pesos 1978
Guatemala 5 Centavos 1979
Mexico $20 1980
Belize 1 Dollar 1990
Equador 500 1995
Canada 25 Cents 1914?

 

welcome...

Hello benkarl and welcome to coin talk!

Spain 80 Reales 1842 .. does it look like gold?
if so it could be worth $175+ in Very Good condition, could you post close shots of front + back?

France Dix Cen? 1854 is a France 10 Centimes, worth (again depending on condition) Fine = $2.00+

France ? Centimes 1861 is tough without seeing it, but is probably worth .50+

Helvetia 1 Fr. 1877 = Switzerland 1 Franc , @ $5 in Fine condition.

France 10 Centimes 1888 = @$2.00 in Fine condition
Italy 20 Centesini 1894 = @.50-.75 in Fine depending on mintmark
Italy 10 Centesini 1894 = @1.50-10.00 in Fine depending on mintmark
Mexico Un Centavo 1896 = @$2.00 in Fine condition
Indo-Chine Francaise 1 Cent 1901 = @$2.00 in Fine condition
Straits Settlements 10 Cents 1902 = @$7.00 in Fine condition
Phillipines One Centavo 1903 = @$.50 in Fine condition
Phillipines One Centavo 1904 = @$.50 in Fine condition
Belgium 1 Franc 1904 = @$3.00 in Fine conditio
Phillipines One Centavo 1905 = @$.50 in Fine condition
Mexico 20 Centavos 1905 = @$6.50-10.00 in Fine depending on mintmark
France 25 Centimes 1905 = @$.50 in Fine condition
Mexico 5 Centavos 1906 = @$.75 in Fine condition (unless it is a 6 printed over a 5 - then in Fine worth about $13.00)
Mexico 5 Centavos 1910 = @$1.30 in Fine condition
Belgium 1 Frank 1913 = @$1.50 in Very Fine condition
France 5c 1915 = @$.25 in Fine condition
France 5 Cmes 1918 = @$.25 in Fine condition
France 50 Centimes 1918 = @$1.00 in Very Fine condition
France 2 Francs 1918 = @$4.00 in Extra Fine condition
France 1 Franc 1918 = @$2.00 in Extra Fine condition
France 10 Cmes 1918 = @$.25 in Fine condition
Britain 1 Penny 1919 = @$.50 in Fine condition
France 2 Francs 1919 = @$4.00 in Extra Fine condition
Mexico 5c 1934 = @$1.25 in Fine condition
Britain Half Penny 1939 = @$.25 in Fine condition
Britain Three Pence 1941 = @$.60 in Very Fine condition
Mexico 20 Centavos 1945 = @$1.25 in Very Fine condition
Mexico Un Peso 1957 = @$.75 in Very Fine condition
Mexico 10 Pesos 1978 = @$.50 in Very Fine condition
Guatemala 5 Centavos 1979 = @$.15 in Extra Fine condition
Mexico $20 1980 = (20 Pesos) @$.50 in Very Fine condition
Belize 1 Dollar 1990 = @2.25 in Uncirculated condition
Equador 500 1995 = @3.00 in Uncirculated condition
Canada 25 Cents 1914? = @$5.00 in Very Good condition

I hope this helps and look forward to seeing the picture of the Spain 80 Reales.

RAD

 

Thank you for noting values on my list.

I posted a picture of the Spanish 80 Reales coin in post 11 of this thread. Someone else identified what it was for me which is how I was able to know what it was. I saw the 80 on it, but the website I was looking at didn't even list an 80 Reales coin.

It is a very shiny coin. That's what first drew me to the coin out of the whole lot. It has been sitting in a box with most of those other coins for decades. They were never cleaned or polished and all the other ones (except some of the very new ones) are either dirty and grimy or at least have a dull finish. This one was nice and shiny and doesn't really show much wear at all.

The picture doesn't do it justice at all. It looks much brighter in person. I tried taking a picture with my digital camera, but I couldn't get it to focus close enough to make out the details so I stuck it in my scanner instead. I can take a couple more with the digital to show the color better, though they won't be so close that you can see all those details.

I presume that I'd need to weigh it to tell if it is gold. How would I find out the proper weight for a gold coin of this type?

Thank you again.

 

Hi,
Sorry I must have missed the post of the images of the 80 Reales. Teaches me not to read and post at 2am!
I use a postage scale that I had hanging around to weigh coins.

Not sure what folks use to weigh coins who don't have a scale.

 

First of all I am new to this site,But I have been collecting since I was a boy.
I am 37 Presently. Here are a few of the coins that I thought were pretty cool. I need to figure out how to photograph these .It took many attempts to get a clear shot! P7130887.jpg

tell me what you think.
The Arabic one in the middle looks like it is laminated behind his eye .
I am curious as to what country this is from.
I put a lincoln in to gauge the size.

 

My first suggestion is to locate a local dealer in your area. Where do you reside? Perhaps I can refer you to a reputable dealer, who will work with you in appraising your collection. Since these are probably all silver coins for the most part ( U.S. ), you may have some "errors". Don't let anyone offer a "spot" buyout. You will also need someone with expertise in foreign coins. Please let me know what area you are from, so I may further assist you. Regards, Tom.

 

Ok sorry, I didn't see you posted your location. I will contact a an old friend and notable "Collector" , Dealer by the name of Ed Hipps out of Dallas, Texas. If you would like to send me a PM with your name and contact information, I will ask Ed to contact you directly with his referral.