Advice Requested: My Dad's Coin Collection

1) do not under any circumstances attempt to make the coins look better by cleaning or polishing them. That kills any numismatic value. 2) get a basic coin price guide (Whitman's RedBook) and learn as much as you can about grading and values. 3) Check with a couple of local dealers at a local coin shop or coin show and get a rough value of a couple of the albums (do not sell any of the coins yet). Compare the dealer offers to what you have learned on your own and decide if you were satisfied with their offers. Ask for a business card. Remember they are in business to make money but you don't want to be the sole source of their income for this month. After thinking it over over the weekend decide if you really want to sell or not. If so, call the dealer you were most comfortable with and set up an appointment. You also may decide you want to become a collector and just keep everything and start adding to it. At least you'll know what your stuff is worth. Good luck.

Western sky is correct....Yu hav to do the research yourself...Do not sell too fast..
It is not that time consuming to look each coin up in the "Book" stated above or from the library........they are called coin catalogues......even if yu hav lots.....Sort by say denomination and country, tokens to a different pile for later maybe- they proably need a different catalogue,,,The "Books" are out there before yu become separated from the coin ..........Hav funlearning

Sorry to learn of your situation. It must be very difficult for all of you.

You've gotten a lot of good advice -- but I'll add some of my own.

You can look on Numismedia.com (no need to buy the books just yet) and see which coins are the valuable ones -- for each type. Then post photos of those coins and you will get an honest evaluation here regarding the condition/grade.

You can also hire someone to appraise the collection -- this will cost money.

You do not need to sell the coins in sets. You might be a lot better off pulling the very best to sell at auction or at a coin show. The dealers there buy as well as sell and you can meet a lot of them in one day.

If you have a lot of junk silver (not real fond of that term) and if you can wait, sit on them until the spot price on silver is something you can live with.

I hope you have the time to post more photos here. It is the best place I know to get an honest evaluation online.

are you looking to sell your collection?

Without reading through 3 pages of posts it looks like he did ok filling albums and folders and I only see 3 or 4 "gimmick" sets like the America in Space.

If you do not want to pursue and finish the collection I would advise you get a RedBook, see if there are any key dates, determine the grade, and sell them on EABY.

If not keep the collection together to preserve the history and memory.