Where to start, inherited collection

Hi,

I am new to coins and collecting. I have been lurking in the forums and reading here for the past couple months. I have been following links and trying to educate myself, I have purchased the latest Red Book and been going through coin facts. So I think I have some of that covered, however I am sure I am going to be learning a lot and getting extreme crash courses in coins very shortly.

So my mother passed away back in May this year. As with any death you focus on the big things first, cars, house, furniture, as well as other accounts. You have to file taxes and everything. One thing that was specifically willed to me along with the containers was her coin collection. To call it a collection I guess is well not really a collection as one would think.

My mom was sentimental in various ways and one thing she always told us growing up is to save various pennies you just find laying about. They are pennies from heaven, that someone was thinking of you. She learned this from her mother. Which she also inherited her pennies she found. As us kids grew up we also added pennies to moms collection, and we would add them to her stash. We also did this with Wheat Pennies we got as change as they were "special".

Ok, that's the story behind it. Now let me get to the sheer volume. My grandmother born in the late 1800's lived to be 96, now add all her pennies from heaven to my mothers who lived to be 87. However they were stored, in antique German beer steins. 10 large ceramic beer steins completely full of pennies. From the 1800's to modern day. Huge collection of wheat pennies. Several Indian head ones as well. I used to play with them as a kid and wonder at the sheer amount of money. Wonder at the Indian heads. Hey when your 5 -6 years old and you dump out a stein full of pennies. It seems like a lot, all the money in the world. She had other coins she kept, silver dollars and half dollars from 40's 50's and 60's though only about 50 of each of those. Those were all just loose in her nightstand drawers. There are even some steel pennies. Which I am kind of confused about, from what I have been reading those aren't supposed to be in circulation, or if they are they are rare. I remember asking about them as a kid, one of the many questions you asked as a kid and she told me because copper was needed during the world war that we used steel pennies. From what I have read though that isn't true. I can't tell you dates or anything. I just know they exist as I have seen them when moving them, and I know they existed when I was a kid back in the 70's.

Had I been younger, I very well might have taken them all to the bank for face value. However now I am older, I appreciate things like old scotches, fine wines. Well, I guess to kind of honor her I want to actually put those in an actual collection format. Explore a little of coin collecting world. I do have other coin collection items she bought me, but I never thought to really appreciate them until after she passed. I have like 5 complete collections of the state quarters uncirculated she built for me. She bought me proof sets at various times in my life. Like my birth year, 1976, 80, graduation. Which have all for some reason taken on new meaning in recent months.

So as I begin to slowly sort through all these coins. What would you do, or how would you go about it? I have seen thinks like collection folders? should I look at getting some of those? Eventually if I do not have complete collections I would like to complete them. I really think I would be missing very few if any wheat pennies. I kind of thought just sorting them by year, then going through each year and sorting them by the mint. But then what? I know not to clean them. However do I properly store them and organize them. This is where I get overwhelmed just thinking about it? Any thoughts or advice on this. I am not really worried about the value of these coins right now as much as I am at sorting and organizing them. I can worry about value later.

Thanks for any advice.

 

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Sorry for your loss. Your mother sounds like an interesting woman.

Keep the coins out of any damp, humid environment. Perhaps place what they are currently stored in, inside of large plastic bins with a lid, esp. the kind that has a rubber or silicone ring to seal it tight. Then go through them and maybe organize them by date and place the same-dated coins in coin tubes or simply ziplock bags? Since you are describing circulated coins, I don't think that any harm would come from doing this. If you know the key date/semi-key date coins, you could segregate them out while you do this and place them in some mylar flips. You could involve some of the younger people in the family, and do it together as a family thing... Sounds like you've got some organizizing to do!

 

Wow, sorry for your loss. Welcome to CoinTalk. My first thought (let's stick with the cents for now) would be to separate these into decades using Tupperware or some such containers...09 and teens, 20's, etc. After this, you could separate each decade by years and mints and find the best one/ones to put in holders. As to holders, there are so many choices, you will have to choose for yourself. Just to get started though is important.

 

Sorry for your loss. Great story too. Follow Kentucky's advice. I would. Welcome to CT. Enjoy.

 

Sorry for your loss. I lost my mom a couple of years back.
I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to go through the cents, but I think @Kentucky has got the system.

Welcome to our grand old coin lodge!

 

I would read up on coins so that as you go through them you will recognize those that are more valuable than others and treat them accordingly. Your mother was correct about the steel cents, copper was needed for the war effort. Although they are a very interesting coin, circulated steel cents have little value. Sounds like you have a lot of fun ahead of you!

 

Sorry for your loss. In terms of storage and organization, I have used these for Lincoln cents. Depending on how many you actually have, you can use one per date, or one per decade, or however you like:

http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/products/coin-tubes/

Have fun with the project, no need to rush, and enjoy picking up a hobby that connects you with your mother/grandmother. Such a wonder way to honor those who have passed.

 

Sorry for your loss, my suggestion if you don't want do the cents first just because of volume, start on the other coins first. For the cents I would definitely recommend the coin tubes and organize by year and Mm. Thank you for being the inhertee that actually cares about the coins instead of just trying to sell them.

Sent from my A463BG using Tapatalk

 

Sorry @JeffsRealm !

Just have fun with it and don't let it overwhelm you. If it's stressful then it's not a hobby. So sure, separate by decade, year, type, whatever. You should try and make this more of a discovery than a chore. Now if you have to unload all of these coins because of heirs or something like that...my answer may not be the best.

Has anyone noticed that these types of threads come up a lot?

 

For coins in bulk, organize them by date and mint mark. Use coin tubes to store them safely. If you have as many as you say, you'd spend a ton of time/money trying to store them all in another manner. I'd pull the better looking coins and put them in 2x2s and store them in red boxes (info below). That way, you can move them and store them easily without making them worse. I'd also pull of each type of coin you have and put them into 2x2s and store them in a binder in sheets.

I recommend purchasing from this seller: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Holders/39476/m.html?ssPageName=&_ssn=jpscorner
Specifically, I made this purchase and was incredibly happy with it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/700-Cardboa...744503?hash=item565933a5f7:g:BLsAAOSwDN1UMv3c
I also use these types of pages:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500-Cardboa...744233?hash=item565933a4e9:g:xIcAAOSwr81UMvcT
I personally think it's a pretty good deal, but you can shop around.

Here's how I store my world type coins that aren't in bulk; I put them in alphabetical country order:

This way, you can showcase the different and more important coins so that anyone can come up and sort through them.

I would recommend a few other things: never touch a coin on the face, hold it by the rim. Feel free to buy cotton gloves to use while holding your coins. We all own a pair or two. Buy yourself a flat clinch stapler so the staples don't ruin the coins or sheets. Google it if you don't know what I mean. Don't clean anything, no matter how tempting. And share lots of photos!

If you have any questions, feel free to private message me or respond to this message.

 

I like the coin tube idea. Check your Redbook so you know the better dates, some are worth something in about any condition ( in general the earlier Denver and San Francisco mints, plus several others through the series ). Some have significant value only if they are in better condition. Have a good magnifier handy to avoid eyestrain. Welcome to CT!

 

The first thing you'll probably want to know is value. To know value, you need a price guide and the condition. I would spend the $12 or so on the Guide Book of United States Coins. It has an overview of all US coin series as well as retail (i.e., what you'd expect to pay a dealer at a shop for a coin you want) price guide. Most of your coins being wheat cents in the '40s and '50s, probably aren't worth much, and the retail guide is very optimistic valuing those. You will see which dates and mints are particularly valuable, and if you have a large number of coins, chances are you have a couple of those. In order to get the correct value, you're also going to need to know how to grade them. For this, I'd use PCGS Photograde, which has great pictures. If you prefer books to online resources here, get the ANA Grading Standards. You might also want a 3-5x magnifier.

How to sort these out? Sort them by type, date, and mint mark. The cents will probably take you the longest, but also have the biggest range of dates. You'll end up with lots of some dates and mints, not many of others. If you want to put a set together from these, buy a Dansco Lincoln Cent album (either 1909-1958 for just wheat cents or a 1909-2009 for a more complete run), perhaps also an Indian Cent album if you have a good assortment of those. Put the nicest coins in the albums. Extras you can put in tubes by date and mint as appropriate.

If you like doing albums like that, then you can get them for other types as well. Keep in mind that this isn't an "instant gratification" hobby. You'll have to ease into it to learn the most. Hang out here and ask questions about stuff you don't understand. Most people here will be glad to help. Smartphones can take fairly decent pictures of coins if you want to show something you have or are wondering about. Don't try to clean any of the coins you have.

(Edit: D'Oh! I see you already have a Redbook. No need to get another one. )

 

I'm glad you have those experiences to share with your mother. I guess you could start by getting them out of the steins. I'm not sure if you mean pewter steins or ceramic steins, but either way, they don't seem the best environment for saving coins.

Try your best not to touch the coins flat surfaces, so handle the coins by edges. I guess you could wash your hands before handle them too much, and for safety reasons, after, as well.

For care, I'd ask BadThad for help on what to do with the cents, as there are potentially issues with a copper related salt called verdigris. This is really bad for the coins.

As for the larger coins, you can post the coins in the US coin forum and ask for condition help. I don't know of dollar coins produced from the 40s-60s, but it's possible the 40s ones are actually half dollar coins, which share a similar design to the modern silver dollar bullion coins.

If you're looking for sorting, start by decades, then years, then mint mark. I think that would be a nice start. Then you can sub-sort for varieties and share the hobby with your family members to carry on the tradition between your gma and mom. Good luck!

 

Thanks everyone for so much information, warm welcome and condolences. This is fantastic. It will take me some time to dig in. I will be posting more as I start digging. I am imagining this can get kind of addictive to sit down with old coins sip an old scotch, imagine the history of where the coin has been.

Oh and yes they were ceramic steins. I have learned a lot about antique steins as well. I did go out and buy some disposable Tupperware containers last night and put the coins in there. I ordered some coin tubes so I can get started. I will probably order 2x2 as suggested as well once I start seeing what all I have. I would really like a nice display of the best ones.

Thanks again everyone.

You know, your question is interesting. It comes up a lot in my process I have gone through with her passing. I also have a thought on this as one thing I have come to learn when my mom passed. If you look at her age it was 87, which is a little over the age but pretty much the average age of people passing away right now. People of this age grew up WW2 and post depression era. They tended to save everything.

I have a lot of friends who's parents recently passed or are elderly to where they are getting close. Many of them are like my mother or the situation their parents estates are like my mothers. These people are passing away with the homes they lived in the last 30,40,50 years. They know from the past to save things. They also do not spend frivolously. My mom was not a hoarder, you could walk into my childhood home and it was nice and clean, no clutter. However as we are cleaning the home out. There was stuff squirreled away everywhere. Every closet, the attic, under beds, the sheer amount of stuff was everywhere. She kept everything from all of our childhoods simply because she believe it may all be worth money some day. I had all my original GI Joe's. The 6 million dollar man action figure complete with space capsule. Old peanuts and charlie brown books from the 50's. Even found an issue of Mad Comic #1, before it was mad magazine. Not in the best of condition but there it was. I had long forgotten I used to collect old Creepy magazine as well. Almost all of them were there as well.

I look around today and most kids and young adults today we live in a disposable society, myself included. I have long thrown out my old cassette tape player, and cassettes, my CD players and most of my CD's. I have now gone completely digital in my music. Mom still had my original record player with all my records.

So my guess in what your seeing, is a lot of estates from people who were from a different era. Those that saved their coins for rain days or simply put some coins away in a drawer somewhere and where long forgotten as children turned into Grand Children and Grand Children turned into Great Grand Children. Friends of mine that have gone through this and those that are bracing themselves to go through this are all sharing similar stories of finding these houses filled with old treasures and in some cases junk, it depends on your point of view. My mom had a ton of antique quilts and doilies perfume bottle and old things like that. All of which made my sisters swoon, but didn't interest me in any way.

 

Nearly all the comments and experiences captured in this thread echo my experience with the numerous bags of cents I inherited a few years ago. Yes, they were squirelled away in the attic, crawl spaces and small corners of my dad's home (he lived there four decades).
I'm grateful to read your suggestions bc I too am seeking knowledge about how to organize the cents.
How did you know that sorting them was initially overwhelming and stressful but has now filled my weekends with discovery, intrigue and at times fun?
Brings me to my question...about cleaning the cents. Their surface is so dirty I wear latex gloves when sorting. While I see multiple comments about not cleaning the cents, Im really itching to drop a pot of boiled water over them to take the surface dust and dirt off.
After reading this thread Im now pretty sure boiling water is not a good idea for the coin, but how about soaking them in a bucket of very warm H2O with nothing else in it? Or any other suggestions to remove their dusty texture?
Again Im really appreciative of the insight Coin Talk members have offered - has changed my understanding of collecting coins.

 

If they are circulated, holding them under running water is fine. If they're really gunky, pat a little dish soap on them. Rinse them well, and dry them carefully, no rubbing or wiping.

 

Thx for your advice. No hot water?

 

I'd degrease the coins with acetone as a starter. It's safe for all metal coins. Search for acetone in the forums; you'll find lots of info. I won't repeat any of it except to mention that acetone and its vapor are very flammable. Start small and take appropriate precautions.

You find that a lot of the dirt and grime comes off with the "grease." Once they are degreased, other conservation methods can be considered.

Cal

 

Acetone rinse to degrease them is a good idea, then HOT water and some soap if you need it, some even recommend boiling them. Main thing, rinse, rinse, rinse...the soap residue is your enemy.

 

Look at it like this.... your saintly mother has left you the worlds greatest chocolate cake. You can’t wait to dig in. Buts it’s gonna take a while to finish it off..... This is a great and loving gift your mother left you. It tells a story about her that you touched my heart in your telling of it. If there were ever a time for the old saying, “anything worth doing is worth doing right”, this is that time. Each of those cents is imprinted with your mother’s love. Take your time and relish the task before you.