Another New And Confused Member...

Welcome to the CCF.
I can tell you that any Barber coinage dated 1900 are common dates.
1921 for Morgan dollars is common as well.

The Seated coins are hard to decipher.
Close ups of front and back, will help immensely.

The Seated coins are Half Dimes, 1840/1841 O/ 1858. My question is do coins with that much wear have any value outside of their silver?

90% of the coins I'm sifting through are rolls of very worn. I recently realized they are probably rolls he bought to look for a few 'dime'-onds in the rough. (Yeah, that's about to become my signature line). Others are in flat books, often in the same condition. Last, I have some mint/ proof sets (most without papers) that are easy to look up.

First off, don't clean them. Coin collectors dearly love that original patina that comes from use in commerce. Jangling in somebodies pocket day over day.



Condition is everything to do with a coin's value: you can go here - http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/ - to see a series of photos of the coins in the various grades.

Today, with silver at 14.92/14.96 (bid/ask), the silver in that Morgan dollar is worth about 11.57.

Yes they are worth a bit more than the silver price, but the spread between what a dealer will buy them for and what they will sell (which is how coin dealers pay the rent) is not in your favor.

There is a guide here: http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/price...icesgd.shtml that shows you full retail, what you would expect to pay at a downtown coin shop.

On the reverse, under the eagle's tail might be a letter "S" for San Francisco or "D" for Denver telling you which US Mint manufactured the coin. If there's no letter, that's Philadelphia.



We would need better photos and of both the front (obverse) and back (reverse) to tell you a grade (we have a photography forum, where with a little effort, a couple hundred bucks and some effort you can learn to take photos every bit as good as all but the best professional's work)... (and a grade forum where we all say we can't really grade from photos and then give it a shot).

1921 Morgans are very common (last year of mintage for that coin design) and the spread between G4 (Good 4 - heavily worn, say it was used in a Vegas Casino for many years) and AU50 (About Uncirculated 50 - just a tiny bit of wear on the highest points) is only a $ or 2, plus/minus from 28.

Each coin is unique, depending of the number minted, how old, whether they survived various waves of melting of old coins, etc. An 1858 Half Dime is worth from 17 (VG8 - Very Good 8) to 21 (F12 - Fine 12).

It was called a Half Dime because it was made of silver and had half as much silver as a dime.

The original Nickel was the 3 cent silver coin (which, unlike the dime and Half Dime) didn't have quite enough silver to be worth 3 cents. Then they minted Indian Head cents out of a Copper - Nickel alloy (more copper so it was redish) and they were sometimes called Nickels. Finally they started minting the 3 cent coins (price of a postage stamp in the 1850s/1860s) out of a silverish looking Copper Nickel alloy.

Finally in 1866, they started minting a 5c coin out of copper nickel. And that too was called the Nickel. Then in the 1870s they stopped minting the silver Half Dime and the Three Cent coins and the way was clear for the one nickel as we think of it today.



As coin collectors, we have our own grading scheme. It's really no better or worse than any other scheme. Why is 32F freezing water and 212F boiling? Ask Mr. Fahrenheit. But it does give us ENDLESS fodder for arguments.

The grades we use range from Po1 (Poor 1) through Fair (Fr), Good (G), Very Good (VG), Fine (F), Very Fine (VF), Extra Fine (XF or EF), About Uncirculated (AU) and then to MS (Mint State). The numbering scheme was standardized years ago based on the relative prices of a single, fairly common copper coin by a man named Sheldon. At that time, a Fair coin was worth twice as much as a Poor, so Po1 and Fr2. The Very Fine coin was worth 30x so VF30.

A lot of the advice I would give would depend upon how many coins you have to sell, how fast you have to sell them, and the level of your interest in them.

A little more information would help.

What you'd need to do with 10 coins and a lot of time is quite different than what you'd do with 10,000 coins and no time.

By the way, I'm saving the Susan B. Anthony coins. I like them and they aren't making any more.....

Welcome to the CCF, Olliegirl. Joining us is a good start.

I get the impression that you've been handed a coin accumulation as opposed to a collection. A collection is to be organized and studied for one to maximize its worth. I'd start out by organizing it, putting like coins in baggies and doing an inventory. Then, I'd start with the smaller groupings, likely the larger denominations and list the dates.

Is there a coin club in your area? That's worth exploring. If so, attend some meetings, ask questions, but avoid taking more than a handful of coins. Take your time, and ponder your alternatives. You may want to form a collection of sorts. If so, you can ask about where it's best to obtain supplies. Check out your local library for coin books to borrow. Take your time, check in with us here and relish the journey ...

what a great story and thanks for sharing!

good luck in your adventure.

Okay -- you've got a ton of coins and you need your space!

BStrauss gave you a link for Numismedia. These are NOT the prices that you'll get. You will get about 50% of that if you sell to a dealer. You will do better if you sell them on ebay. You will also spend a lot of time selling them on ebay and running to the post office.

I would suggest that you grab a handful of rolls every once in awhile and look them up on Numismedia and see if there is any chance that any of them are worth serious money. If not, they go into a box to sell to a dealer. Then check the blue albums or folders. Look those up. The key dates are the ones with the lowest mintage and those are worth the most. Check to see if you have those or if those are missing -- they often are because most of us can't afford them.

If you HAVE the key dates, take your time with those. Post pics here in the appropriate forum and get opinions on the grade and value of each one.

If you don't have the key dates, then ...off to the dealer with them.

Most important -- if you happen to really like something, try to find a space for it. You'll kick yourself if you let those go too easily for too little.

You can sell them at coins shops, take them to coin shows and try to sell them to the dealers there, or find someone who handles estate sales and see if they can sell the lot for you. You will get the most money selling them yourself, but that can be time consuming and take up even more space.

Good luck.
And please come back with any questions you have.