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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,901 |
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
Hello Folks,
I am not a sophisticated collector. I have perhaps a few hundred foreign coins loosely kept in a simple large container. Most of these probably don't have great value. I was wondering if I should bother trying to clean the coins. One coin expert on a Web site I found suggested inexperienced people should avoid trying to clean them because the cleaning may damage the coins or reduce some intrinsic value they may have. That seems to make sense.
Also, I was wondering how I might get some idea of my coins' approximate values. I tried checking the Web but it looks like there might not be any online site for valuing coins / currency.
Can anyone offer suggestions / feedback on these 2 concepts? Your ideas would be very much appreciated.
Many Thanks.
Joe
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
 to CCF Joe. Do not clean any of your coins is a general rule and a good one to go by.As to value,post some photos and you will get input from our members as to value and "if" you should clean them. John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9412 Posts |
Hi Perthozzie from another Perth Aussie. Welcome to the CCF. I use this site for a rough value on my coins. http://(131231) Not Allowed - Auto-Removed /index.php Have fun. Steve  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Joe: (perthozzie):
Welcome to the CCF! Actually, I have been to BOTH Perths. (The one in Scotland, too!)
I have some folks who live in Kalamunda! Nice place in them thar hills!
With such a small collection, try to get a second hand copy of Krause. Won't cost you nearly as much as a new one. I have heard jokingly that Krause coin prices are created by a random number generator! Hey! At least that is much better than no reference at all!
I got mine originally by talking the owner of a coin shop out of his old shop reference copy! He then made the excuse that he needed a new one.
Don't clean your coins. Almost all experienced coin collectors will strongly give you this advice.
So far as organisation of your collection is concerned, that reminds me of an old boss I once had. He was one of Australia's pioneering environmental engineers, back in the late 1960's, and a real professor type.
His office looked like a complete shambles, with files stacked anywhere. There was a sign over his office door, which read:
'An organised office is a sure sign of a deranged mind'
Go through your collection when you discover which coins are the most valuable, and put them in cardboard 2x2's and put these into an album page. That's the cheapet first step I can think of. Leave the lower valued coins for the time being as they are, unless you wish to do the same as with the more valuable ones. But that'l cost more.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9412 Posts |
Quote:
I have been to BOTH Perths. (The one in Scotland, too!)
Everyone forgets about poor old Perth in Tasmania. Steve Edited by triggersmob
10/11/2011 11:14 am
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Valued Member
United States
362 Posts |
NGC has a world coin reference tool for world coins. I used it for all of my collection as I knew nothing about old coins. However I do not think it covers old coin like Romans, ect.
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Pillar of the Community
France
1591 Posts |
Welcome to CCF :)
Glad to see another collector onboard, starting a collection.
One of the first step you should do, once you have checked your coins, is to decide what to collect : for a country, for a particular period, one coin per country, etc ... or just everything, but it's more fun to have a goal :)
The recommendation to not clean coins is indeed must-follow rule, unless you know precisely what you are doing. A nice patina, is better than a clean shiny coin (well, for old coins, not for proofs :p) - and by cleaning the wrong way you could damage the coin's surface.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
This deranged boyo keeps his world coin collection in 2x2's, arranged in (home-made) boxes that just fit inside the drawers I keep them in, by region (continent), then by country, then by date, then by denomination, and all totally UNcleaned. And that's the way it SHOULD be! (Yup - I'm feeding my old-guy OCD, and enjoying every minute of it.)
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Valued Member
Philippines
386 Posts |
Quote:
his deranged boyo keeps his world coin collection in 2x2's, arranged in (home-made) boxes that just fit inside the drawers I keep them in, by region (continent), then by country, then by date, then by denomination, and all totally UNcleaned. And that's the way it SHOULD be! I agree... and to the community |
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Valued Member
United States
140 Posts |
I just put my coins in bags based on grade. I separate my AGs, my Gs, and my VGs etc., and I keep my Ms65 and above in another separate container completely. I also have my older dates and my newer ones in individual bags. So one bag for example would be AG pre 1965 and another would be Modern UNC. It's really up to the collector on how they wish to display their collections.
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1064 Posts |
I like making sets from coins, it can take a while but you soon end up with a nice little collection!
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Valued Member
United States
362 Posts |
I only have a few hundred or so but I have mine in 2x2's and organized in alphabetical order and then by year, lowest to highest.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I also recommend 2x2 holders for most foreign coins. I buy the holders in bulk for 3 cents each (sometimes less) and I use the double row 300 coin boxes for typical storage - at last count I have 155 boxes of world coins sorted by Country, Denomination, Date and mint mark if any. Of course I have been collecting since 1956 and some of the coins are still in the 2x2 holders I first bought in 1956. I have re-holdered most of the older ones with the childish printing - but I keep a few just to think about the past. The beauty of the 2x2 is that you can record the origin of each coin and all the data that you need to sell it right on the 2X2 - I put date of purchase, cost, name of seller and location of seller on each coin - all on the back of the coin holder at the bottom. At the top of the back side is the actual weight in grams - mintage figures and the physical name of the mint. On the front I put Country and date right at the top so I can see it conveniently in the boxes. I always put the Country on the top line in the left corner and under it any political divisions of note (e.g. for Germany - the second line could read Empire - Wiemar - Reich - Republic or a State name - to facilitate locating the coin in Krause). The Country name on the top line shows the location in the Krause books. (Siam is found under Thailand and you need to know that to use Krause quickly). At the bottom of the holder, I put the KM or Yoeman number on the left and the grade on the right. Above the grade I usually put the assay finenss of silver or gold. I also put the metallic content (i.e. C-N, Steel, Brass etc. Varieties are listed on the front in between the top and the bottom. The bottom center is reserved for "Counterfeit". It does require printing small but it saves a world of time later when you have to sell off one particular coin from your collection. For coins larger than 1/2 dollar I use the Crown holders to give me needed space. For my target collections - 8R counterfeits say I add one extra item on both sides of the holder - an inventory number. When you have several hundred varieties of a single date and mint mark - that ability to identify a single coin to the exclusion of all others is necessary. Why all the attention to position of notes? When you have to hunt for a specific coin it makes it much easier to find it and if you plan to sell, all the information you need is right there. Most of the larger countries that I tend to focus on will have more than one box. Mexico for example is over 60 boxes alone. I keep all silver and gold coins in the bank in separate boxes and I do file coins with a wholesale value above $20 each in the bank as well. Right now I have 9 large safe deposit boxes totally full. My collection is my emergency retirement fund but I hope to pass it on to my grandchildren. Coins of any sort should not really be stored loose unless they have Krause values under $.50 and are not MS - right now I do have a mixed canvas bag of low value foreign coins that weighs 36 pounds. I periodically sell these off for $3 a pound just to get rid of them. I have had this present bag about 2 years. That is a typical turn over for me. I also store a few thousand coins in plastic coin tubes which are awaiting 2x2 holders. That group tends to get away from me as it has for ever. Right now my backlog to put into holders weighs about 20 pounds. My wife says I am obsessed with coins. Having just re-read this post I have to agree with her. But it has been a very rewarding lifelong pursuit and without my collecting activities I don't know what I would have been doing with the thousands of hours I have had to spend because of periodic illness. I began collecting when I first got sick as a kid and I have fallen back on that periodically since then. Sitting around watching TV and drinking is an alternative but not too attractive a one. |
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Valued Member
Australia
465 Posts |
>>Sitting around watching TV and drinking is an alternative but not too attractive a one.
lol, sometimes it is nice to mix that with some noodling
I have just started attempting to catalogue all my coins and the amount of detail is crazy. I work with databases so I will be using that to do it.
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Valued Member
Australia
465 Posts |
oh, and cleaning. No. Never.
I have a seperate collection of the real dirty ones :-)
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,901 |
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Posted 10/11/2011 07:03 am
