Tale As Old As Time-Inheritance

Thanks. Those are obviously just the wedding bands. The wife has a much fancier engagement ring so I didn't totally cheap out by just giving her a ring with less than $30 of Silver in it :)

A couple more questions about the more modern coins.
I've got a few hundred uncirculated rolls of the first few years of the Quarter program (ie 45 Georgia, 40 some Connecticut etc) and I've seen online that some of these rolls can go for a decent amount more than their face value. Is it a reasonable expectation to be able to get near those amounts for the higher value coins or should I just take those coins, along with the unc rolls of the Washington, Adams and Jefferson dollar coins to the bank and deposit them?
Ditto question for the bag of 99 SBA I have.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.
Oh and before I forget, I DO have a RedBook as well as a book on Lincoln cents and the most recent Greysheet.

.999 fine silver is too soft for everyday wear. I would not have made that move. Do you have children? If so, will them over to them on the condition that they are 21+ years old and have at least your level of knowledge on coins.

People here are saying don't sell to dealers. Well, in your case you want a fast sale, no? That's the service that they provide. Plus you know that they will actually enter the hands of collectors because dealers don't spend them into circulation. That's their business.

But in my humble opinion, you should pass them down to your offspring and hope they do the same.

For the modern rolls, I would list them on ebay with an opening bid of 30% over face with Free Shipping. If nobody bids, offer them to a local dealer for 10% over face. If that doesn't work, deposit them in the bank.

You have obviously spent a lot of time researching this, and that's good, but you should spend your additional research time in the areas where there are good opportunities for big profits, for example, the early S mint Lincoln Wheat cents.

Don't worry about who will get them into the hands of a collector first. The good ones will all eventually make their way there at some point. If you are able to identify single coins that are valuable (like early Lincoln S mint pennies), you are likely to send the coins directly to a grateful collector and get the best return on that coin! The large accumulations are of more interest to dealers, but that's OK. They will find homes for many of those coins in collectors' albums. Use your Red Book to determine the 10% of coins that represent 90% of the value and disposition the rest in the most efficient way possible. I recommend starting with an opening bid over face value (about 10% over, at least). Some sellers start at a penny and generate a lot of interest but you don't have the following to pull that off. Trust me, I foolishly tried that with some stamps and took a bath! I would make sure that, after ebay and PayPal fees, and shipping expense, I did better than break even. Otherwise, why bother?

Welcome Space Carny, I apologize for not seeing this sooner. Sorry about your loss.

Having said that, your collection is quite large and could have quite a few gems hidden in there. While it will be relatively painful, you need to inventory everything and put it into a spreadsheet or something. Create a different tab for each coin type if you like. That would probably be easiest. From there we can ask for pictures of what could be more valuable to steer you in the proper direction.

I know we have a large coin show coming up in Philly and our forum owners will be attending that so they are quite busy, but you may want to consider consigning your coins to them. A lot of people on here have done this in the past including myself and they have a very large following on ebay to realize you the highest prices. Of course the service is not free, but the exposure you get makes up for the percentage plus some.

If you have any question at all, definitely post on here and our members are sure to help you.

There is something quite refreshing, Space Carny, about your original post:
respect for your father
doing good by your siblings
balancing the "quick" payoff in contrast to the time and effort and expense of
doing a lot of homework.
No matter which course you eventually take, you are miles/kilometers
ahead of those who want a simple and easy answer to the sad problem
of an inheritance.
I wish you well.

SpaceCarny, I want to agree with just carl. I collect for my nieces, but do so on a shoestring budget (most of what I have for them I buy at face out of my cash drawer at work). There are items on your list that look interesting to me, and while they wouldn't technically be handed down to "your" next generation, they would certainly be cherished and passed on to "my" next generation--as, I think, your dad intended (that's how the coin collectors in my family feel, at any rate).

Stick around for a bit while you sift through what you've got. I'm sure I'm not the only one trying to build up an inheritance for numismatists yet to come.