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Posted 06/22/2012 10:51 pm
く＿く I kinda want those Franklin halves . . . .
I agree with everyone else here--to get your money back, sell them as coins. Learn up on what you've got so you can give buyers interesting selling points. A couple of things you should know first:
1) NEVER CLEAN A COIN!! There are extremely rare cases where that advice doesn't apply--none of your coins are one of those cases. If you do this you will destroy all value above spot.
2) Learn your mintmarks. Good example: I own a 1914 Lincoln Penny. It's worth about two bucks. If it was a 1914-D, however, I could quit my job. I don't know that your mintmarks are worth anything in particular (except, as others have mentioned, that Walking Liberty) because I can't afford any silver I don't find in my cash register drawer, but as that example should show you--sometimes a mintmark makes all the difference.
3) Take pictures and let folks here have a gander. You don't need expensive equipment. I have a "coin photography lab" I made for $5:
--one empty, CLEAN (I used the dishwasher, then rubbing alcohol, then distilled water, then let it air dry) drinking-glass-style candle container
--one sheet of copy paper
--scotch tape
--GIMP photo-editing software
--the point-and-shoot camera I already own (you'll need one with macro capability for this to work)
Fold the paper so it fits in a single ply around the inside rim of the cup, leaving the clear bottom of the cup clear/blank/empty. Cut a small square from your surplus paper and lay it off-center in the cup. When you are ready to photograph, place the coin in the cup (if your hand will not fit, get a pair of soft tongs--I use my mom's sterilized plastic cocktail tongs from the kitchen for stuff that's Peace dollar-sized) and the cup on an evenly-lighted surface. The coin does not need to be on the paper--in fact, I prefer it off. Turn your camera on to its macro settings. Lay the camera down, pointing into the cup, and snap your photos. Put them into GIMP and use the colour-correction tool "Levels." This gives you the option to choose "black," "gray," or "white" areas of the picture to use as a true colour-correction. Choose "white" and use that little square of paper in the cup as your white area (see how this works?
). This should give you a true, neutral-light portrait of the coin. Then just crop your pictures down to show only the coin, save, and post.
The folks here can totally tell you if what you have is worth something, nothing, or everything. Good luck!
I agree with everyone else here--to get your money back, sell them as coins. Learn up on what you've got so you can give buyers interesting selling points. A couple of things you should know first:
1) NEVER CLEAN A COIN!! There are extremely rare cases where that advice doesn't apply--none of your coins are one of those cases. If you do this you will destroy all value above spot.
2) Learn your mintmarks. Good example: I own a 1914 Lincoln Penny. It's worth about two bucks. If it was a 1914-D, however, I could quit my job. I don't know that your mintmarks are worth anything in particular (except, as others have mentioned, that Walking Liberty) because I can't afford any silver I don't find in my cash register drawer, but as that example should show you--sometimes a mintmark makes all the difference.
3) Take pictures and let folks here have a gander. You don't need expensive equipment. I have a "coin photography lab" I made for $5:
--one empty, CLEAN (I used the dishwasher, then rubbing alcohol, then distilled water, then let it air dry) drinking-glass-style candle container
--one sheet of copy paper
--scotch tape
--GIMP photo-editing software
--the point-and-shoot camera I already own (you'll need one with macro capability for this to work)
Fold the paper so it fits in a single ply around the inside rim of the cup, leaving the clear bottom of the cup clear/blank/empty. Cut a small square from your surplus paper and lay it off-center in the cup. When you are ready to photograph, place the coin in the cup (if your hand will not fit, get a pair of soft tongs--I use my mom's sterilized plastic cocktail tongs from the kitchen for stuff that's Peace dollar-sized) and the cup on an evenly-lighted surface. The coin does not need to be on the paper--in fact, I prefer it off. Turn your camera on to its macro settings. Lay the camera down, pointing into the cup, and snap your photos. Put them into GIMP and use the colour-correction tool "Levels." This gives you the option to choose "black," "gray," or "white" areas of the picture to use as a true colour-correction. Choose "white" and use that little square of paper in the cup as your white area (see how this works?
). This should give you a true, neutral-light portrait of the coin. Then just crop your pictures down to show only the coin, save, and post.The folks here can totally tell you if what you have is worth something, nothing, or everything. Good luck!
