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 Replies: 28 / Views: 3,570 |
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Valued Member
United States
148 Posts |
Lots of backstory behind his collecting, will get into that later as I asses his collection... but a quick synopsis is: when he was 9 years old he decided to never spend a penny in his life (he passed away at 87 this year)... he would always take his pocket change, bring them to the basement where he would separate them by year, and put them into bank bags for storage.
He did this with other change, as well, but without the same criteria...
Right now I've been sorting them by denomination, then in decades, then years, perhaps I'll do mint marks, then quality, then I plan to look at key dates for errors... and then roll them by those methods while keeping aside rare and quality specimens...
I've just started, so I've only made it through the $1 coins, 1/2 dollar coins, and I'm about done with the quarters... but his largest horde lies with the pennies... it's going to take a while with this approach... but I'm glad to have the opportunity to inspect each one vs unloading a potential gem if trading them in at face value.
Out of the family members, I believe I'm the best suited to do this, with attention to detail and a unmatched level of patience to cherry pick the thousands (or hundreds of thousands) coins in his collection.
I'm still researching the proper tools to do this, such as a USB microscope, so I don't end up killing my neck or eyes using magnifiers and loupes. But the first step is sorting... then searching.
I've been a member and moderator for numerous other forums for other hobbies... and I know the collective knowledge that forums can bring! I look forward to being a member here, helping in any way I can... and receiving help in any way you can, while sifting through this treasure trove of coins!
Whether or not the families decision is to liquidate the assets to take care of grandma, or we decide to keep the whole collection to carry on his legacy, or just part of the collection consisting of the 'keepers'... I thank you all in advance for putting up with my 'coin collecting newby' questions, and for any advice you are willing to give while I sort and document what I find.
Thanks!
Phil
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Valued Member
United States
275 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
24885 Posts |
 to the Forum. |
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Valued Member
 United States
148 Posts |
Any help on USB microscopes would be much appreciated... willing to buy a nicer one considering the amount of coins I need to look through...
Also, he was an avid 'rock hound' collecting specifically Minnesota agates and Lake Superior Thomsonites (thats in MN by the way). I'd like a microscope that could serve both purposes.
Watching reviews online is great and all, but knowing what you guys use for this purpose would help sort out the ones that are ineffective or too high powered in magnification for my needs.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Use search box upper left of page for scope info. Dino-Lite is good. John1  |
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Moderator
United States
187863 Posts |
to the Community! |
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
11922 Posts |
to the CCF! |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Howdy! This sounds interesting. Keep posting! |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4589 Posts |
to CCF! While DinoLite is a well known and good brand, they are expensive. I also use a 5MP Celestron, bought for $80 off Amazon. For mass sorting, you might find an illuminated magnifying lens just as easy to use - they are sold for sewing as aids for the elderly, etc. -----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Valued Member
United States
148 Posts |
I'm not sure which way I'll go for a USB microscope. I don't imagine I need something like 800X magnification... but I do think a higher resolution camera might make things easier...
After sorting, the next big question will be which ones to keep, and which ones to roll and perhaps turn in. Hard to say if ALL of them are worth keeping and handing down to other family members because many show various states of circulated abuse. But there are some still very nice examples I am coming across of the different years...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
509 Posts |
It sounds like a life savings vs collection. Might be easiest to buy a few of each Whitman folders and make sets for family members and then cash in the rest/"inheritance" to divide up. Obviously pull all silver, IHC, buffalos and such as well, but for the common modern non-high grade it might be worth filling some folders to keep the memory. If there is lots of MS grade you could make a roll or tube of each year/mm.. I'm not sure the current premium on certain years |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1475 Posts |
sounds like a big task! Hope you find many interesting coins and post here for discussion. Edited by Coconutjoe
05/04/2017 12:06 pm
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Valued Member
United States
148 Posts |
Mainly I'm hoping to find any of the error coins that might be worth holding onto in my searches... nice MS condition ones... and any old ones worth stockpiling. I'll definitely ask more specific questions when it comes down to that task. It's even possible that I didn't find all of his collection/savings either... I tried to search nooks and crannys in his basement/man cave just to find the ones I did find. I did locate a large stash of morgans and Peace dollars as well as proof sets etc... but opted to put those into his safe deposit box he's had since 1971 instead of bringing those home with me for sorting... It's beginning to look like the 'collection' portion of what he kept aside was either hidden away somewhere else, or he had to cash them in for home repairs he did recently such as a new roof and retrofitting a natural gas heating system instead of a coal burning system. Most of the Ike's, dollar coins, 1/2 dollars, and quarters I've gone through so far all seem to be 1965 to present... so for now, I'm sorting... then I'll look into errors for each year/mint... then give them a once over before rolling them up like that. It is definitely more of a 'savings' than a collection from what I'm seeing... but there's always the possibility of a neat find in there that I don't wanna miss. I'll keep you posted as I run through them. It's the Morgan's and Peace dollars that have me intrigued... many with interesting rainbow toning on them. Some in books of 60, some in bulk tubes, and some wrapped in old newspapers... not to mention 1 and 10 oz bars. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3210 Posts |
Sounds like the stuff in the safety deposit box is where the good stuff is. Basically all the modern clad stuff if it isn't a variety or scarce piece I'd cash it in honestly and get cash back.
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
If you are having fun searching these (I would) then take your time and look up possible die varieties for each year and date. You can get an idea of the value of each coin by checking out Numismedia.com. There you will find a list of what dealers are getting for each coin. If you sell them to a dealer you will get about half that much. With so many coins you do have a good chance of finding an error coin, but it takes a lot of searching and effort to spot tiny errors and they are worth just a few dollars. Die varieties tend to be worth more so you might want to look up each coin to see what varieties exist, if any. If it's not fun for you, pick out what you like, and what you might want to share with the family, keep the silver and dump the rest. I hope it IS fun for you and I hope we get to see some pics! Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind. There are a lot of books that we could recommend. Good luck. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5202 Posts |
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Replies: 28 / Views: 3,570 |
Posted 05/03/2017 2:24 pm
