| Author |
 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,727 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5887 Posts |
I'm not a foreign coin collector. I deal in primarily US coins, but I often go through foreign bins looking for colonials or old coppers....also coins with historical significance. What else should I be looking for? Anything easy to identify, historically significant, valuable? Thanks everyone!  -CH27 Collector of U.S. Coins, Varieties, and Colonial Coinage
Edited by CoinHunter27
09/29/2020 10:41 pm
|
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
If you knew some about medals or tokens you might find a good one. Silver and mint errors of course can be found.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
5887 Posts |
Thanks TNG! Silver and errors are always on my radar, foreign or US. I scored some cheap silver out of some of these junk bins.
-CH27
Collector of U.S. Coins, Varieties, and Colonial Coinage
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
5253 Posts |
I have been hunting foreign coin bins for years, and there is no simple answer to this question. Do you want to resell or collect? There a lot of items that are worth 4-40 times the bin price, but you have to know your stuff.
2 obvious items are silver and high denomination current coins (spendable in the country of origin). But, you need to know what is silver and what is not. Dirty/ worn/ badly toned low purity silver is not obvious. Anything older in good shape is worth a second look. Anything really old even heavily worn is worth looking at if you can make out an inscription/ image.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
18005 Posts |
 with all the above. Anything from the 1930s or earlier in AU condition or better with mint lustre is likely to be worth something. Coins from small countries like the Vatican City, San Marino and Monaco are usually a good bet. Palestine coins issued from 1927-47 seem to turn up quite often and are well worth pulling out! I've had some amazing bargains in the past - 1934 Palestine 20 mils in VF for 3p in London, a 1925 Australian penny in Fine for 5p, and, in a French coin shop, a British 1865 over 3 penny in nearly VF for 50 centimes! I regularly find foreign silver and high face value coins. Edited by NumisRob
09/30/2020 3:31 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
7963 Posts |
I also agree with the above comments. I never found anything as good as what @numisrob has mentioned, but have only been at it intermittently for a couple of years. However I have found some 1960s / 1970s African and Middle Eastern in high grade that I was able to re-sell on ebay for a few bucks each (the best was a 1962 Guinea coin that fetched $7 ... I live in a city with a large African immigrant community). Early independence issues from these parts of the world often have higher collector value than what is in the catalog, but it depends on the country. Also found some late 1940s UK shillings in nice grade once that I was able to re-sell. Pre-1960 Hong Kong coins with decent eye appeal sometimes turn up, and are collectible. The older coppers I see are generally beat (maybe more avid collectors are getting there before me). I've passed over the occasional worn smooth tiny silver coin which probably sounds like lunacy (emphasis on occasional ... ) Not a way to make a living. Not even beer money  But a cheap way to learn about the one segment of the modern world coin market. And you WILL make mistakes that you think are neat coins, but that can't be re-sold. Edited by tdziemia
09/30/2020 08:13 am
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7293 Posts |
When I decided to start the Canada Small Cents, I checked out the "junk" drawer and found 50% of what I needed. The LCS charged 4 cents for each Canada small cent. Best I ever found was an 1859 Reis from Portugal and I keep finding counter stamped Lincoln Cents which I collect.
My advice is if you are trying to complete a collection sometimes the "junk" drawer will have a lot of what you need.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5887 Posts |
Thanks everyone! Lots of good advice and things to look for. hfjacinto, I love US junk bins. I can't tell you how many varieties and early US coins I've pulled out. They're always worth looking through! -CH27 Collector of U.S. Coins, Varieties, and Colonial Coinage
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7963 Posts |
Edited by tdziemia
10/24/2020 5:14 pm
|
|
Valued Member
Canada
235 Posts |
No joke: after 2pm at a Yankee Drummer coin show, I found a Willow Tree Shilling in a basket of Abbasid Dirhams...
Yes, there was a story behind it but EVERYONE else at the show missed it... always look
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
One dealer's silver melt sack produced this British Trade dollar. If you have no market for them you melt them.  Another good place to look is in dealer's foreign coin notebooks. Oftentimes they did this years ago and never updated prices. Here's a 1737 holed Guatemalan 1R cob found in a notebook a couple years ago for $20. Not an extreme bargain, but nice to find.  "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
11/11/2020 2:28 pm
|
| |
Replies: 10 / Views: 1,727 |
|
Posted 09/30/2020 12:57 am
