Inherited Huge(!) Collection...help!!

Id buy it, So if coolg35748 doesn't want it, We will name a price and if this price is right Ill take it.

Well, Firstly DO NOT SELL IT AT AUCTION YET!
You might have to use some of your time in doing this.

Look through Most of the coins and buy yourself a RedBook( try the latest edition)
Atleast try posting up some over here.
I f you sell as an auction you might have major losses.

TKC!

Hi Vag,
What a wonderful problem to have!

Probably most dealers would be willing to meet with you to give you a sense of what you've got, but also with the eye towards buying it... and if s/he ends up rather dishonest could take you for a ride. From my understanding, this is what happened with my grandfather's stamp collection... grrr.

Another alternative would be to contact someone in a coin rag (e.g., Coin World- you can get them at a local dealer) who advertises that s/he will come to you to check out your collection. I don't know exactly how such individuals work (i.e., buy your collection or consign for auction) but it might be worth a call to check them out.

Otherwise, take pictures and post them here... at least of the coins you think might be worth something. You'll get some good opinions of grade and value for free!

Welcome to the site and good luck!

Regards,
~neuron

You could also try and start with a certain denomination, like cents and catalogue those. There may be some very valuable coins just in that denomination, so it would be well worth your time. I'd suggest not auctioning it off, seeing as you could lose a lot of money by selling all of them as a lot.

Hi Cody-

I recently found myself in the same situation, though my father's collection was probably not as large and valuable as yours. I was the most casual of collectors myself. (Tried to fill penny albums as a kid, looked through lots of pennies expecting to find a 1909 S VDB. Had a few proof sets my father had given me over the years.)

After my father died, I let the collection sit for about eight months, wondering from time to time if there were some way I could get the value out of it without having to become a bona fide coin expert myself.

I gradually began to realize that the only way to ever know what I had was to look and see for myself. Otherwise I would never know what I had sold. I ordered about three books --the current Red Book, a book on Morgans, and the ANA grading standards guide -- and I started looking through what seemed the most valuable coins, which were his Morgan dollars. I didn't try to do everything at once but just started looking closely at those Morgans when I had an hour free in the evening. Then I moved on to the nickels, which my father seemed to have a special interest in.

After a while my husband said he'd noticed that I was enjoying this activity. Understand I run a full time business and write for magazines and have a big garden to take up my leisure, so it's not like I have a lot of spare time, but I began to find myself drawn to spending more time with my father's coins.

It is almost as if I'm talking to him again, as I notice which coins he put in brown coin envelopes and which ones went into holders that let him view the coins. Which coins he had together in the same box. Which ones were in rolls, some labeled individually, others with notes like "silver" on certain nickels. I thought about why he had bought rolls of modern coins in the fifties and sixties, how he must have imagined when he did it that someday he, or perhaps I, would find they had grown in value and that they could bring some welcome cash. I know he was fascinated by coins, but maybe he was doing this partly for me.

I realize now that this is not a task to hurry up and get over with. It will take me a long time to understand everything in my father's collection. Some of it I will end up selling, when I've learned a bit more. (After all, what do I need with 700 Buffalo nickels?) Some of the coins I will keep for their beauty, interest, and for the associations they carry to my father.

The people on this forum have been very friendly, patient, and generous with their time as I ask them basic questions they've known the answer to for years. My father left me a pretty nice present, and I think the good feeling I've gotten from these forum members is part of it.

I have one little bit of advice, if you get a dealer (not like someone on this forum) to come and give you a value of all the coins be sure that the dealer knows he will not be in the running to bid on the items. Alot of dealers arent verry honest and they will try to tell you the coins aren't worth near as much as they actually are to try to buy them from you for that price. If you have to get a lawyer draw up some papers saying Him or no one affilliated with him could buy the coins so he knows the coins will be going to a competitor and he will be more inclined to price the coins correctly

Pick out the gold and silver Usually being the most valuable (but not always) record dates Mintmarks etc try to scan or photograph them and put them on this forum and we will try to attribute them for you the best we can keep in mind coin photos are hard to grade and attribute so the estimates will not be precise. also all the other advice given was really good as well. Spend the money on getting the Red Book and this will help you figure out some of it..