Where Do I Begin?

What is the reason that you want to sell the coins?

I regret not having some coins now that were given to me by people who are no longer around.

I would not be in a rush to sell any gold coins.

Was any information provided with the coins?

Are the coins in holders or just loose?

If in holders, are there any information on the holders?

If loose, then you need to handle them very carefully, holding them by the edges only.

The first thing to do is to inventory the coins.

Sort the coins by country, then by the face value of the coin, and then by the year.

US coins can have mintmarks. Most common being P, D, and S. Other ones were used as well such as W, CC, and O.

Some silver coins can be worth more than 9x the face value of the coin based on the condition, number made, etc.

From the list, we could tell you which ones might be worth something.

We could advise and ask if pictures can be supplied.

From the pictures, we could give a better idea of the possible value but sometimes pictures do not show stuff that might made the value lower. Having a coin in hand and looked at by a person who is fluent in grading that type of coin is the only sure way.

Others will also offer advice.

Stick around, ask questions, tell us what you have, and remember, we live pictures.

Need to be careful, as to who knows you have coins, hate to see you being robbed.

Ken

PS Welcome to the forums.

You will get more money if you take the time to do some homework. If you are in need of cash it's best to identify the low value coins & sell them first. That will give you some breathing room to properly evaluate the more valuable coins. A good place to start is with melt value coins.

Right now actual melt value of pre-64 silver is somewhere around 10.5 to 11.5 times face. Some people will insist you should get exactly melt which I don't think is realistic. The dealer has to make a profit or it's not worth their time to fool with.

The real money loss comes when you sell a rare coin for melt value. If you don't do anything else you need to check for rare date coins before you sell for melt. There are 2 ways to go about that, either buy a RedBook & look up the dates, or post a list here & someone will point out the key dates.

Once you have identified coins that have numismatic value you need to know that condition plays a huge part in value. The better the condition the more the value. Posting decent photos here will get responses on condition.

It is possible to seriously devalue a coin by mishandling. Always hold the coin by the edges. Never do anything to clean a coin. I'm sure other people will chime in with suggestions.

jbuck: What did the guy with all the cent rolls actually have? http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/...PIC_ID=29926 The photo link in the thread is no longer valid.

Time is your friend...and I can say that with some first hand experience.

My father passed away this summer. I found out that I'd be given first opportunity of the 7 children to purchase his collection from the estate. For the first month or so (in addition to grieving) I was VERY anxious to see his collection again, I haven't seen it over 20 years when I was in Junior High. All I wanted to do was "get my hands on it" and I lost sleep dreaming about it. Although I am still very anxious to get the collection into my hands, my mother is a little slow in wanting to deal with the appraisal and to "let go" of the collection.

I have since then become re-addicted to this coin collecting drug, and have learned an unbelievable amount by hanging out on this and other forums dedicated to coin collecting. I know now that I would not have truly appreciated the collection if I had received it soon after his death. Now that my knowledge has grown so much, I know my pleasure will be multiplied when I do have the opportunity to view it for what will certainly feel like the very first time. Not to mention I may not have properly handled or dealt with the coins had they been in my possession right away.

Yeah, time is your friend. Read, learn, and read some more. Enjoy.

I wish I could remember!