Grandma's old foreign money

Hi, I'm totally new to this, obviously. My grandmother passed away a few years ago and I've just gotten around to looking through her stuff. Found a bunch of foreign currency, paper and coins, and was wondering if anyone knew if any of it is worth more than face value. Some of the paper money is unfortunately moth-eaten on the sides, but just included it anyway.

To me, it looks mostly like French, Italian, Indian, Chinese (including Hong Kong, before it went back to China) currency from the latter part of the last century... don't know if anyone can see anything else interesting about it? Thanks, I REALLY appreciate your time.

EDIT: Almost forgot, 2 commemorative coins from China, the back of one says "In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China".

 

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Nice collection! The 3 coins in one of your pictures are not foreign. They are old Winged Liberty Head Dimes aka Mercury Dimes from the US made of silver. Looking at your original picture carefully you actually have 4 of them!

 

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!

I'm not really looking to collect anything--is there an easier way to sell any of these that doesn't involve eBay? Seems like there's tons of unsold coins on eBay, and I just want to get these off my hands...

 

See if anybody here wants to buy any off you. You have the knack of taking good pictures. See if anybody here wants to see any individually, then accommodate. You're looking to get ripped off on your grandmother's hard-earned collection if you're looking to dump the lot like a hot potato, in my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll think about it, I just am not looking to become a numismaticist (or whatever you call it , got too much going on already. I don't think grandma was really a formal collector either, she just traveled a lot. I have so many of her trinkets and collectables as it is, it's a little overwhelming. Should I clean any of the coins? And the paper money that's bug-chewed, is it worthless?

 

Don't clean them, don't even rub them, and handle by the edges, only.

 

Thanks again... and the coins with the guy in the fez and the Arabic on it, any idea what country it's from? Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions.

 

Egypt? Looks like one of those guys.

 

Here's a countries guide: http://worldcoingallery.com/index2.htm.

 

Just wondering how badly folded the Hong Kong notes are. The silver looking coins include some with silver content including the dimes referred toearlier,but also the British India Rupee and Half Rupee coins. The wartime notes are too far gone to be anything but waste paper and I don't know about the modernish Taiwan ones or what might lie beneath them.

If you just want rid of them you'd not be giving away any treasure if you donated them to a charity shop.

 

The HK notes are in pretty good condition, though yeah, some fold marks. Are they worth anything, now that HK has gone back to China?

And eddie, thank you, looked them up and they do appear Egyptian. Still looking to ID the one that looks like a lion in front of the sun holding a scimitar (has Arabic on it also).

 

That's Persian/Iranian. Look in that country.

PS: We're going to make you a numismatist, yet, lol.

 

Thanks eddie, you guys are the best. I guess I will hang on to them for a little while, but I'll take offers if anyone is interested. I'd just rather them go to someone who cares about the coins rather than just sit in a dusty drawer for another decade.... though it doesn't sound like I have anything super-rare in this set.

 

Cece, we have a forum we buy and sell in. You already have the knack of taking good pictures, i.e., sufficient for buying and selling. I'll just suggest to you one quick way. Post some of these bulk pictures there then see if anybody wants to see any of the coins in bigger, individual pictures. When you do those, get individuals of both sides, straight on, and request a bid. You can even try to sell them in bulk there or even post individuals here and request our opinions on their value. I'm not trying to bog you down, and I'm sure you understand that. But these are some options...

 

Thanks, eddie, gonna take your advice. I just saw the sticky saying to ask permission if you are a new member (before posting sales), so I did that first.

Everyone's been so nice here and it does seem like a fun hobby, it's almost tempting to become a numisma-whatchamacallit .... the problem is, I have other obsessive-compulsive hobbies I must feed first, LOL. This seems like the kind of hobby that would require a lot of research to keep up with. Also, I gotta spend time IDing and cataloging the hundreds of trinkets, collectables & antiques she left behind... not that I'm not keeping some to remember her by, but I can't have the whole house turned into a museum archive.