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 Replies: 14 / Views: 4,706 |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
I just received a 39 pound box of filthy and corroded fire-damaged coins from my aunt's estate. Also, included were several proof set boxes and envelopes, some fused together and some, but not all, damaged coins in them.
From my online research it appears these sets are not really valuable. (1984, 2004, etc).
1. should I just throw away the old marred pennies and barely recognizeable silver?
2. This may be heresy, I don't mean to offend collectors, but I am not a collector (not yet anyway), so are the proof set coins at least worth their face value, can I use them like any other coin?
thank you
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4846 Posts |
do NOT throw away ANY silver no matter how dirty it is, silver is worth more than face and should DEFINENTLY be saved. (unless you are talking about clad coinage)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
 Fire damage is virtually unrecoverable especially in the case of delicate proof coins. There may be some coins worth saving but at the worst, you will still have face value. If you can post some pictures of the "horror show" we can help you decide what is worth saving and what is too far gone. |
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New Member
 United States
4 Posts |
thanks for the welcome and your responses. I'll see about taking a photo, mostly the damage looks like discolorization under the plastic.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1713 Posts |
Just like they said, definitely save the silver and we love pictures! Welcome to the forum!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
Worst case on the silver you can send them to a refinery (NOT Cash 4 Gold!). Silver is at $18 per ounce now, so you can get much more than face value for them. Since a refinery is going to melt them down anyway they won't care about fire damage.
Definitely post pictures here first. If it is melted plastic on the coins or soot on it you may be able to save them and restore the collector value to the coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Welcome to CC!  Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Valued Member
United States
54 Posts |
If you insist on throwing away the silver then just toss it in a padded envelope and send it to me, instead. I'll gladly pay shipping :D. Damaged proof coins are still worth the face value. If they have silver content then they're still worth melt value. Their are calculators online that will determine silver melt values of US coins. Just google it and you'll find them. We can't post them here. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5604 Posts |
Today at the closing bell, silver is now at $19.22/oz!  I do have better manners, Welcome to the family  , good luck..PS, Do not throw anything away, post pictures, we can help! Edited by Morgans Dad
05/11/2010 11:53 pm
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Valued Member
United States
323 Posts |
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
Yeah, I say go through the coins and find the good ones, and save them. Also, save all the silver.
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Valued Member
United States
148 Posts |
yes, throw them away, My way! :)
seriously now, its depend on what your time worth... they most likely dont have a great value, and if you don't really care for coins, you can always give them to a family member or a friend that does. the value to him/her going through the lot might be in joy more then $...
Edited by leprecoin
05/15/2010 1:37 pm
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Thank you again to everyone. I've had quite an education. The silver I referred to is all 'clad' -- too bad. Everything is pretty damaged, recognizeable, but not redeemable at any bank. So I am sending to the U.S. Mint.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
What do you mean " you are sending to the U.S. Mint" ? ....  Do you mean that you're going to try to redeem them for face value from them or something ? ......I'm not aware that you can do something like that. Even badly corroded hardly recognizable coins are still used and accepted in everyday transactions for "face value".....a quarter is still a quarter, even if it's Proof and badly burnt, for example. |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
I had several clad half-dollars, that I didn't think were in such bad shape, and when I tried to deposit at my bank, the teller refused them. Said to send them to the Federal Reserve Bank. Then I learned from the Fed Reserve website that damaged or mutilated coins have to go to the Philadelphia Mint, and they pay by the pound, not face value. You have to mail them at least a pound each for pennies and nickels. You can combine dimes, quarters, and half-dollars to make a pound. Very helpful woman who took my call and gave me the current value for a pound on each of those: $1.45 per pound for pennies; $4.50 per pound for nickels; $19.84 per pound for the other coins. I haven't shipped anything yet, but they are a mess. There are still a number of coins that I intend to use as cash, I can certainly slip them in here and there...since I know I've received some pretty sad looking coins over the years. Like I said, this has been an interesting education.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 4,706 |
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Posted 05/10/2010 4:55 pm
