Massive Coin Stash. Need Advice.

Start by segregating 1964 and earlier dimes, quarters, halves, and dollars. These are 90% silver. 1965-1970 half dollars are 40% silver. That's a start.

to the CCF

You have taken on a large task, but one that many of us would be happy to do. We'll support you from afar.

I agree with what you have been told so far. I'll refine that advise a bit by suggesting step by step directions of what I would do:

1. Break the task into smaller chunks - such as your mason jar. Fill the mason jar and completely search/sort it before going back for another fill.
2. Initial sort is by denomination.
3. During the initial sort immediately set aside as 'valuable' any coins from obsolete designs; i.e., Morgan dollars, Walking Liberty halves, Standing Liberty quarters, Buffalo nickels, etc. These have numismatic value above face value so she is a winner already.
4. Go through the sorted dime, quarter and half dollar denominations and set aside any dated 1964 or prior. As noted above these are 90% silver so she is a winner with these.Note that Kennedy halves 1965-1970 are 40% silver so save those as well.
5. Now you have to decide how much effort you're able to devote to this project. What you have left should be modern circulating coins that are not silver. A collector with reasonable knowledge could pick most of the key dates from memory and sort quickly through them. If that is not you then you'll need a reference such as the Red Book. Otherwise dump them into a return pile. Even doing so you will have maximized her value by steps 3 and 4.

As John1 says - don't clean them. Show us photos of any you feel have significant interest/value and we'll help.

Best of wishes and have fun with the project.

Wow! That's quite a stash. Maybe she is the reason for the so-called coin shortage in the country.

I had something similar a year or so ago with my dad's stuff, although not nearly as voluminous as what you have. I also was starting at an advantage over you, the different denominations were already sorted and except for the pennies and nickels were all pre 1964. I sorted them all by year and mint mark and went from there.

Good luck on this endeavor. Keep us posted.

Start by separating the coin by denomination then by year to start - then by mint afterwards.

Yes, large task indeed . If you know nothing about errors I would not bother looking for them . Real fast go through every coin and pick out all Wheat Pennies, Buffalo nickels ,Jefferson Nickels 1942-1945. And Dimes Quarters and Halves before 1965 will be 90% silver, and any coin that looks unique or different .
If she really started putting away coins in 1955 then I would look at any 1955-P Lincoln pennies for the king of Doubled Dies . The entire obverse , less the bust will be extremely Doubled and can be seen with the naked eye .

Some great advice here. On top of the what the others have said, I would separate by denomination. One thing to look for is the moderns in mint state. A lot of the 70-80's coins are TOUGH to find in high grades. GOOD LUCK!

@ gayrc , please let us know if you find any coins that we have
mentioned .

Congrats on getting the job to go through all of them, you are getting some good advice take your time doing this, If it was me it would take a year if not more to go through all of them.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you find.