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 Replies: 20 / Views: 2,987 |
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
When my grandfather passed 25 years ago his coins were split up and given to the grandchildren. I can't remember how much they split into, maybe $1500 or $1000. I used to look at them every once in while when I was 10-12 years old but haven't looked at at all until tonight.
I'm not a collector and am not sure how to value them. They are just sitting in my closet and I am not sure if I should get rid of them so someone can enjoy them or if they need to be put in a safer place.
Since I have know idea what I'm looking at, the only things that stood out where silver coins, some from late 1800's, but they are all pretty worn out. One interesting thing was a lot of uncirculated(rolled in plastic containers) 1964p dimes and nickels. I can tell the dimes are silver but not sure what the nickels are, they have a funny color.
How do I go about finding the value of these coins?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1534 Posts |
The first step you need to take is figuring out what you have. While it's values are often overly optimistic in many cases, I would pick uip a copy of the Red Book as it'll give you a good sense on if you have any rare dates and you'll learn the general values of your coins. Or you can try Numismedia.com for values. If I were in your shoes I'd learn exactly what I have, and if most are common dates, I would list them on ebay. Silver is very popular on ebay and should sell for a good price, make sure to check completed listings so you get a general feel for how much your coins will go for. And  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
Don't clean them first rule and second handle them gently by the edges over a soft surface.
You simply need to learn some basics.
How to identify the coin, the denomination type date and where it was minted.
You need to learn a little more about conditions (grades)
If they sat for 25 years, waiting another month or so and hanging around this forum will only help you make a more educated decision. Today is not a good day to decide whether to get rid of them or not. You really don't know what you have ... yet.
In a month or so, you might decide you only want to really keep some and get rid of the others.
Edited by TNG
01/19/2011 9:37 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
134 Posts |
Thank you. I did try to look up some of the silver coins on ebay but all the grades confused me. I don't think I have anything special, everything is in such bad shape but thats why all the perfect rolls from 64 surprised me. It looks like someone priced them 25 years as they all have 64p bu unc $1. I'll get Red Book, it should be fun going through a couple hundred coins, remind of my baseball card days. |
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
@weezydog
Yeah, it does sound fun to learn about these coins. I'm not really looking to make some quick money as much I'm concerned they shouldn't be laying in closet.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
Chances are Grandpa picked up some solid date BU ( Brilliant Uncirculated ) rolls along the way of 1964 Lincoln cents. The funny color on other coins could be toning, which is natural and should be left as it is. Polishing or cleaning up your coins will make even your least valuable coins less desirable to a future buyer. Leaving them tone naturally over time takes time and that can actually add to the value in many cases. I think you'll find a lot of very helpful people right here on CCF. Poke around in here and There is a huge collective of knowledge that makes our community the best resource I can recommend, bar none. |
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
Also, I like the idea of keeping a few and getting rid of the rest. I think I'll go through it all and pick what I like before finding out the value. I just found another bag with 150 one dollar coins and I'm pretty sure I'm keeping all 1976 since they have a piece of tape on them with my name(that's when I was born). I also like the silver colored pennies, pretty much all the unusual coins, buffalo, wheat, liberty.
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
I'm not sure what you mean by 64 Lincoln cents, I'm sure I'll lean the more I hand around, but the uncirculated rolls are 1964p dimes and nickels.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
Its starting to sound like a very nice collection.
My bad, for some reason I thought you had Lincoln cents.
They made a lot of 1964 nickels but the dimes are 90% silver and uncirculated by the sound of it.
Uncirculated rolls are nice to have.
I think your off and running already. Good luck!
Just for fun while you are gently handling those Eisenhower $1.00 coins. See if you can spot the two types of lettering on the backs ( reverse ) One has thin lettering, the other a very flat wide lettering.
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
I'm loving this already. I do see two different lettering.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
602 Posts |
Careful! This hobby is addictive and you may just keep em all. Welcome to the forum BTW. WOLF
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
Ok, so why do the flatter letter ones seem to have a different color, one has a lot of green?
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
I just found a lot of "Shore line coin collector" tri fold books(not sure what to call them). The one I'm looking at says "liberty Head Nickels 1883-1913". My new mission is to complete all these books.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
594 Posts |
The Liberty nickel is one of the sets I am currently working on also. I'm finding it quite the challenge at times to find ones in the grade I desire. Welcome to the challenge. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5832 Posts |
This remind me of when I first started collecting coins, brings back nostalgic time and having fun with discovering each series. Good Luck!
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Valued Member
United States
134 Posts |
I have started separating the coins and a couple of them I have questions about. First what happened to this quarter? imageshack.us/i/img2524hk.jpg/]  [/URL] Next, what is this? The container it's in says 1883: http://img408.imageshack.us/i/img2518d.jpg/]  [/URL] |
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Replies: 20 / Views: 2,987 |
Posted 01/19/2011 9:35 pm
