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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,466 |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
My name is Brendan, but you should just call me Mahoney... I've recently joined because I have a coin collection, go figure! My case is a bit special in that I have inherited over the years a few gifts from older relatives. For example, my uncle's father used to be an ambassador for the USA and did a lot of traveling in his time and he collected A LOT of coins during his trips around the world. When I was about 6 years old I acquired from my uncle a 10 lb bag of coins from all over the world. My plan is to go thru alot of these coins and find some of value for resale. In these times of financial woe, and non-interest in coins I just wanna sell some and make a buck or two. I doubt it's the best idea in the world, I should probably just sit on them for another 40 years. But oh well, carpe diem. Are there any specific coins I should keep an eye out for? Keep in mind most of these are from the last 150 years and not extremely ancient. A couple examples of what I HAVE found going thru some of the collection: A Third Reich coin from 1943 with a swastika symbol on it (doubt it is worth much from what I have seen online) A coin from Turkey that says it is 100 Lira. I did a check on the exchange rate and if I understand this correctly, this coin is worth about $62? Please let me know any tips on what I should do with these currencies! Thanks in advance, Mahoney |
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Valued Member
United States
227 Posts |
Hi welcome to the forum.
What I would probably look for is silver if it looks silver/nickel colored and is older than 1964 there is a good probability it is silver especially ten cents, quarters, halves and dollars.
A krause catalouge would help but honestly you could go to your local library and find a world coin reference book. This will help you identify and determine price. You can post pics here for grade opinions and can also sell when you get 50 quality posts.
Good Luck and Welcome to the Forum.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1429 Posts |
 Mahoney! My guess is that if the bag is composed of coins from circulation, it probably has very little value as most circulated coins carry. Specifically, look at the year of the Turkish coin - my guess is that it is probably an older coin which has gone through inflationary periods, and "re-engineering" of the coin value over time. I guess it is no longer in circulation. I do not know of a Turkish coin which is traded at $60 - as an example see this 100 LIRA coin - http://cgi.ebay.com/TURKEY-100-LIRA-1984_W0QQitemZ360116351589QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item 360116351589&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 Not to discourage you from selling, I would advise keeping and learning as you will probably be paid for the weight of the coins you try and sell. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
! But don't let these get you down. Sometimes the most valuable coins are the most covert ones. Like the Cheerios Sac dollar. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
to our community!  Are there any specific coins I should keep an eye out for? Keep in mind most of these are from the last 150 years and not extremely ancient. There are valuable rarities for the more recent coins, and some collectors here who specialize in specific countries might be able to help. The Krause catalogs would be a big help too. I also know a few things about the key coins for Australia, Canada, and Sweden. Post some pics of coins you're wondering about, and we'll try to help.  |
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Moderator
 Australia
16834 Posts |
Turkey has suffered from inflation in recent decades, and recently (in 2005) had a currency reform, with 1,000,000 old lira to 1 new lira. Your coin is, unfortunately, 100 old lira. So as far as "face value" is concerned, it's only about 0.0062 US cents. Clearly it's worth much more than that to a coin collector, or even a scrap metal merchant. Bulk world coins are, as Zohar said, normally traded by the pound, but if you know what you're looking for, you can pick out some scarce dates and types from a bag of unsorted coins. "Knowing what to look for" is far too complex to explain in a few lines on a forum; each country is different. If you want to get into coins, here are a few websites to get you started: NumisMaster - it's the website run by Krause Publications, the same people that print the world coin catalogues. Looking up their coin database is free for identification purposes, but if you want catalogue values, then you'll have to pay a subscription fee. Just click on "find my coin" to begin. Don's World Coin Gallery, in the link above by coinsrus - it's the best free-access world coin database. However, it's not complete; some of the older and scarcer coins aren't mentioned. CoinArchives is a database of past auction sales of coins, from America and Europe. Ancient, mediaeval and modern coins are all included, and access is free. Especially handy for the older and sarcer coins. Right here on the CCF forum there's dozens of volunteers that like nothing more than looking up coins. Post pics (from a camera or scanner) right here in this section and we can give you ideas on value, advice on how best to sell, etc. If you have no idea what a coin is or where it's from, post a pic over in the ID Required section. And once you hit 50 posts, you can post coins for sale over in the For Sale section - it's cheaper than ebay. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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New Member
 United States
4 Posts |
Wow you guys kick butt! I wasn't expecting many responses, I really didn't think this forum got a lot of traffic, but apparently I was wrong.
I'm still going through alot of the coins and trying to separate them by country. So far I have a crap load of English coins from early 1900 to the 1960's. Alot of old Mexican coins as well. Many different Asian coins that I can't read. French Francs and Spanish Pesetas are also in abundance. I've also got a couple of former Yugoslavia, which I find really cool. As well a couple from British Hong Kong and British Borneo and loads from Austria. None of them are really high value in terms of what the coin amount, if that makes sense. Some older Indian one I have are pretty neat. I've got about 5-10 from Kenya as well and one or two from Nigeria I think. It's so interesting really!
Once I get some more time I'll snap a few pictures of ones I think would qualify as something extraordinary.
Thanks for the links Sap. I'll try and get my post count up but it takes time and I don't wanna post just for the number.
Cheers y'all.
Mahoney
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Welcome!
Remember, never clean a coin! Handle them by their edges or wear soft cotton gloves. And don't feed them after midnight!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
If you have trouble with an Asian coin, I'm here to help identify it. And no problem with posting your entire bag. It keeps us interested. |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Okay I won't clean the coins and I handle them by the edges. When I get some free time I'll start trying to take a few pics for yall.
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
1361 Posts |
and start posting |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
I'll try my best to keep up the posting, but bloggin ain't easy these days! Hahhahaa ;)
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,466 |
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Posted 04/13/2009 12:09 am
