Newbie - Giant Bag Of Mercury Dimes Causing Anxiety

Wow, we shaved $6K off her inheritance already. Good thing Nevada doesn't have an inheritance tax.

Don't get overwhelmed. Take things one big step at a time. I say forget about things like full split bands, conditions and varieties for now. If it were me, I'd throw a Dime Party. Well, maybe make that a Mercury dime Party so nobody shows up with a baggie. Get some trustworthy friends over. Good food, good drink, a movie and dime sorting could be fun. Create piles by date or date and mint mark as your first step and keep them separate (OK, maybe baggies would come in handy). When you're up for it again, you can check bag by bag for the more valuable ones.

If I could be so bold as to offer 2 more pieces of advice:

1. Don't broadcast that you have these beyond people you absolutely trust and who have tight lips. Unless you're going to move them to some sort of safekeeping, that's a lot of $$$ at the back of the closet.
2. If you do plan to sell, come back here and ask some more questions. Please don't go to a cash-for-gold type place. People here will offer good advice depending on your goals, such as maximizing your take v easier sale without getting ripped off.

This is almost exactly what we did when my wife inherited her grandfather's collection. He had a lot of assorted coins, but the bulk of it was Lincoln Pennies. Me, my wife, and her aunt sat around the coffee table one evening with dixie cups labeled with dates - first by decade, then again by year - and sorted pennies while we chatted and watched TV. It was a really fun evening and my wife and her aunt got to share memories of her grandfather!

We had about 80lbs+ of pennies, so I completely understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by this project, but it really went fairly quickly. After all of the initial sorting, we ended up putting together Penny Albums for each of the 6 grandchildren so everyone would get a little part of her grandfather's collection.

I wouldn't do the party thing outside of one or two trusted relatives. When you give people access to a $20,000 pile of silver, it doesn't take long for it to find its way into pockets.

Even absolutely honest people have an annoying habit of talking. Eventually, the story hits the wrong ears, either directly or by them overhearing, and your in heritance goes >>poof<<.

If well circulated (coins are well worn, do not look "shiny and new"), nearly all of the value in those coins is going to be in the silver content.

There is little need for you to sort through all 42 pounds worth and catalog the dates and mint marks. At best, you'll add a few thousand dollars of value to a hoard that is already worth nearly 20 grand in bullion value. Key dates sell for very high dollar amounts because they are exceptionally rare and rarely found even in true random samplings. Since coin collectors have been around forever, very few lots are truly random. Most have been searched hundreds of times.

In this case, the only thing I would recommend is pull out maybe a handful or two of coins, check for condition and rarity, and if there's "nothing special" in there assume the whole lot is just bullion silver value.

EDIT: And I should add, be glad they hoarded dimes instead of pennies! Instead of 2-3 cents each, dealers will actually offer $2.70 or more for each dime due to the silver content!

by the way DbD - common dates are 1941, '43, '44, and '45 without a mint mark. =)