Inherited Large Amount Of Sorted And Unsorted Coins

to CCF. Sorry for your loss. Are any of the bags mint sewn or were they put together by your grand pa?
John1

Thank you for the kind words.

They are just ziploc bags and buckets that were put together by my grandpa, no mint sewn bags.

Also thats all good information, I will try and start looking the pennies and nickels this weekend and will see what I can find.

There is no story unfortunately that myself or grandmother knows in regards to the European coins.

And I have only started to go through it but will definitely be keeping some items to remember him by! Thanks again.

To CCF , Looks like you have a bunch of coins there . Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything rare in that lot . I wouldn't cash in any of it at face value . but I know you want to help out your grandmother . all I can tell you is your grandfather thought those coins were special that's why he saved them .Maybe you can help out your grandmother in other ways .

Yes, sorry for your loss indeed, but it doesn't look like much treasure from what you list.



to the CCF!

Sounds like you have a lot to sort out.

To me ... and I have sorted a lot of collection like this.

Separate the better coins from the common coins.

Many of those bucket and bags are just going to be face value coins
that can be taken to the bank.

The pre 64 silver coins can be sold pretty easy for around 12 times face.
Meaning for every dollars worth of pre 64 silver coins you could get $12.00.

Purchase a RedBook (coin price guide) and use that to look up the coins
in the folders/albums, to find the better value coins.

Do not clean any coins

Prices of better coin will depend a lot on the grade of the coin.
If you can take decent pictures of coins, you can post them here
and members will try and help with any questions.

Again ... Welcome to CCF

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I'll leave the American coins to the experts here. When it comes to the European coins:

- German coins can still be exchanged for cash, if you ever get to Germany. They should go for face value at least. There's a few exceptions which might be very valuable:

1 Pfennig 1948 J,
5 Pfennig 1949 G and J
50 Pfennig Bank Deutscher Länder 1950 G,
50 Pfennig Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1949 J,
50 Pfennig 1949 G,
1 DM 1954 and 1955 G
2 DM 1959 F
5 DM 1956 D, J and F,
5 DM 1957 D and G,
5 DM 1958 F
5 DM 1959 F and G

Also note that old 5 DM (1954-1971) coins have silver content.

- I do believe that Austrian Schilling coins also still can be exchanged by the Central Bank in Austria for euros. Older Schilling coins may contain silver (especially pre World War II, 5 and 10 only post World War II to some extent)

- Italian coins are generally worthless, for what I know, with a few exceptions: 10 and 20 lira from just before the War have silver, 500 Lira post WWII also have silver.

- British coins may also contain silver. All coins valued 3 pence or more minted before 1947 have silver content. If you happen to find a 1933 penny, then let me know.

- French Francs from 1940: you may have to look for some special pieces, as you probably got a lot of war coins. France made a lot of different coins during World War II. None of them contain precious metals, but some of them may contain very low mintage numbers. Here's some samples (this isn't an exhaustive list!):

Almost all 'essai' coins have extreme low mintage
1 Franc 1943 made of zinc
1 franc 1943 Graziani
2 Franc 1935 has low mintage (semi-key).
50 centimes 1945B is a key date. The coin type as a whole is relatively expensive.

Those were strange times, so there's much more out there. This is just what comes to mind at once.