What Is The Best Way To Sell A Collection Af Random Coins.

It might be worth your while to at least look for key dates in the different series you have. My mother did the same thing (probably still does) and the last time I went through them for her I holdered a dime that was missing a clad layer (an error) and a couple of semi-key-date lincoln wheat pennies. In a small world coin stash she gave my son was a key date Australia 3 pence. You just never know what is going to go through a cash register; while they may all be your average circulated wheat pennies, there's a good probability of a decent coin or two.

To find out the key dates in a series, you can look at our Coin Facts sections listed in the left menu. To tell which are key dates, look at the mintage numbers. The ones with the super low mintages in contrast to previous/next years are usually a key or a semi key. For example, on the Small Cent Lincoln Wheat Ear page you can see the 1909 S VDB, the 1909 S, the 1913 S, etc have lower mintages in the circulation strikes column. There are some exceptions like the 1922 Plain that won't list a mintage but are important coins.

For a full list of key and semi key coins in every series you could pick up a Red Book. Even a used one from a year or two ago will have that information. Just don't use the pricing listed in them as none are actual, real world prices. You could pick up a copy on ebay or Amazon.

If you have any questions about what is a key date or not, just ask And you could always post images of the ones that are keys, and we can let you know their condition. The left menu US Coin Grading and The Red Book can also help you with learning how to tell condition (grading), as well. Good luck!

I volunteer to search them for you :)

With very few exceptions, wheat pennies from 1940-1958 are worth about 2-3 cents each; 1918-1939 are worth about 3-5 cents each, and cents from 1909-1917 are worth about 10-50 cents each. Less common coins go for $1-5 each, and the few key dates (1909-S VDB, 1931-S, 1914-D) go for $50-500.

I would argue that your best bet is to sort through the lot, pull anything with a mintage below 15 million, and then sort the rest by decade. If you have a lot from 1909-1939, sell then in a lot by decade. If not, then sell the whole thing as a lot on ebay and expect an average of 4-5 cents per coin.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I will get the Red Book and see what I can learn.

In response to the questions I have a LOT of the pennies, hundreds of them. Hard to guess maybe 2,000? Mostly from the 40's and 50's but some from the teens, twenties, and thirties. I also have just a few of the 5, 10, 25, 50 and $1. Again, just a mix of everything. I will try to look through things and let the forum know if I find anything of significant value.

Sorry, I have most of the dates but not the mint marks.