Low grade Indian Heads

Discussion in 'What's it Worth' started by Thrifty99, Jul 31, 2020.

  1. Thrifty99

    Thrifty99 New Member

    39E156D1-48DD-4DEA-89C6-0885A3BFE797.jpeg 448A3664-FA7D-4D3F-A1F3-7CEE6A3774BA.jpeg Hello - I just joined this week and am interested in paring down my collection and focusing on fewer, but better quality coins. I inherited about 1500 Indian Head cents years ago that my grandfather had collected in a tin can. I’d keep one nice coin from each date for a collection and sell the rest.

    There are about 1000 of them being low grade quality in the 1900 - 1908 dates.

    I attached a photo of a typical coin. PCGS shows them worth about $2-$3 each. I don’t know if that really means anything in reality. I believe that would be the retail price. I’m curious what they are really worth if I sold them in bulk to a dealer. Is $0.50 a coin or $1 a coin a realistic expectation or are these pretty much worthless due to the low quality?

    Thank you for your help.
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. thomas mozzillo

    thomas mozzillo Well-Known Member

    capthank, Spark1951 and Inspector43 like this.
  4. toned_morgan

    toned_morgan Toning Lover

    Yeah $1 a coin or around 80 cents a coin as a batch is what most are going for. The nicer examples or harder dates will need research to determine prices after that. You can also always ask us because other websites or just using ebay might not be the best way to get an accurate opinion.
     
    capthank and Inspector43 like this.
  5. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Nice gift your grandpa left you. Congratulations. As far as value, you have gotten some good information. As far as family heritage though, these are priceless. You may want to consider putting something of a date set together for siblings to enjoy. Just a thought. I have an extensive coin collection. One of my more prized additions is a small leather coin purse that came from my grandmother’s estate when she passed. It holds a number of common 1930’a-1940’s era average coins. My intent is to keep them in her little coin purse and pass that purse on to one of my offspring at some point.
     
  6. Thrifty99

    Thrifty99 New Member

    Thank you for all the responses - it was about as I expected. I have been giving some out to kids as little tokens and to spur some interest in coin collecting.

    I do have some set aside for my kids / grandkids for historical & genealogy purposes.

    Since they are not worth much maybe I’ll give A bunch of them to my daughter for her students. She teaches 5th grade. At 25 students per year she could give each student one for 30 years and that would be about 1/2 the coins.
     
  7. Thrifty99

    Thrifty99 New Member

    I reviewed the recent eBay sales - thanks for the link. It was a little tough as many recent sales are Indian Heads on the ends of a roll full of wheat pennies. It looks like the full rolls of only Indian Heads similar to my low end ones seem to sell for about $50. So I could probably get about $1,000 if I sold around 1,000 - 1,200 of them and apply that towards some nicer coins or towards buying the 3 missing Indian Heads I need (1864-L, 1877, and 1909-S).

    Now the big question... is it safe to sell things like that on eBay or would that be a big headache?
     
    capthank likes this.
  8. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    I stopped selling on ebay for a number of reasons, among them was buyer dishonesty. As a seller you can expect to have a few buyers to cheat you by claiming that the coin they received was not as advertised.

    If you determine that you want to sell these IHCs in rolls, you might be well-advised to list them at a reasonable buy-it-now price, then specify that the buyer pays return shipping if he doesn't like them.
     
    SmokinJoe and capthank like this.
  9. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    You'd be fortunate to get $.50 a coin.
     
    Kentucky, capthank and LA_Geezer like this.
  10. Mike Davis

    Mike Davis Well-Known Member

    That would be interesting! Have each other of the students write or even tell in their own words where the coins could have traveled.
     
  11. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Fortunate at that, IMO.
     
    Kentucky, capthank and Collecting Nut like this.
  12. Rick B

    Rick B Well-Known Member

    But then they have to return it, no? Where is the cheat? I guess you might be out shipping cost.
     
  13. frech001

    frech001 New but Old

    rosethe, capthank and bikergeek like this.
  14. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    Welcome to CT @Thrifty99. There is little I can add to the above posts, so good luck with all of it. I really like @Mike Davis suggestion for your daughters students. That might turn a lot of children to coin collecting.
     
    Mike Davis and Randy Abercrombie like this.
  15. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Well if you are selling mint collector phono albums that have been out of print for decades and the buyer returns a piece of trash that should have gone to the dumpster years ago you are out more than the shipping cost, Rick. I brokered for three collectors here in the state, all of whom had LPs that often sold for more than $500 apiece; I had a Mercury classical collection that went for more than $2K.

    It wouldn't surprise me to discover that there are such dishonest people doing the same with coins...even slabbed ones.
     
    capthank likes this.
  16. Mr.Q

    Mr.Q Well-Known Member

    We definitely need new young blood in the fold grateful to anyone that can capture their interest and continue to encourage them along the way it's a great hobby and can be very rewarding! Be safe, stay healthy, wear a mask...
     
    LA_Geezer and Randy Abercrombie like this.
  17. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    ...so, you think you can find rare ones...good luck.
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  18. N5GWU

    N5GWU Member

    Check the 1908 and 1909 for S mint marks. They are worth a whole lot more than the ones without.
     
    rosethe likes this.
  19. coolhandred24

    coolhandred24 Member

    I have been selling on ebay for over 20 years. Most folks are honest, but there are a few bad apples out their. Go through the your lot and group them by date. If you have early copper-nickel dates set those aside. Also if you find any better dates, 1860's-early 70's set those aside. The earlier and better dates can be sold individually if you want.

    For the commons if you want to sell them on ebay lay them out on a dark tee shirt in groups of 50. Five rows of 10. Take a photo of the group, front and back, and then photos of groups of 10, front and back. Make sure the photos are clear. Then price them to sell as a "Buy It Now" and make sure to add a sufficient amount for shipping. They are selling for .80 to $1.00 each in groups of 50.

    Far easier to take them to a local coin dealer and sell them for $20-$25 per roll of 50. All depends how much you value your time. Good luck.
     
  20. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    And don't forget the 1877. I have a few of the '08 & 09 S IHCs, but still can't afford a decent 1877. :banghead:
     
    rosethe likes this.
  21. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    When I was a dealer, I retailed them for $1 a piece. That was for the nice ones in Good that had not corrosion or any other issues, just wear.

    The 1906 you posted has red copper corrosion. I used to wholesale the problem coins in bulk to flea market dealers for 50 cents or maybe a little less.

    You should go though all 1,500 pieces to make sure there are no better dates. A copy of A Guide Book of United States Coins a.k.a The Red Book will tip you off to the better dates. Generally anything dated between 1866 and 1878 is quite good. There are also 1908 and 1909 coins with an S mint mark on the reverse under the wreath that are better dates.
     
    rosethe likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page