Help with a coin collection left from Dads will

[mariaaggie]

I inherited a portion of my Fathers vast but random coin colllection and I have been hanging on to the very last of it for about 4 years now. I am the third child and while everyone of the 4 of us got equal parts the precious metal rolls (most of it), I got the personal favorites right before he passed 6 years ago. These are the ones he kept in storage in the house and I have been reluctant to do anything until this summer. Unfortunately I was victum to a not so ethical "friend who sold coins" who was nothing more than a scrap metal dealers who sold half of them for silver value without consulting me prior to and while I recovered a small fraction of the worth it left me with a bad taste and now I am trying to go through each one remaining on my own and while I have learned quite a bit I have also realized I can never amass 60 years of collecting experience like Dad in two months. I know there are a lot of people jumping on the silver bandwagon right now and thats fine but I need some assistance on what is really worth getting sent in for proffessional grading.  Part of me feels that Dad would not have put these aside if there was not some reason to, and even though most of what I am going through presently is the stuff he aquired mainky through local DFW coin shows and auctions, I know some may not have much valuse today like he may have predicted but some I just cant find a extensive research database and other resources for individual coins (other than generic statements about each series and vague statements about dies or melt values).  NGC websight is the closest to having something useful for amateurs. 

I am wondering if I am better off selling on eBay as individual coins in an auction, should I sort through and submit what looks like it warrants professional grading, submit the lot to an auction house (who keeps sending info about evaluating my silver coins only, or sell it to a "we buy silver"-"coin shop" that keeps sending email yet they only seem to want weight for melt value.  maybe melt value is the route to go and I will not get anything more meaningful at the present time and will only waste my time on the research. Anyway is there a good place to determine if a (for example, His set of Morgans, mint sets from the 50sand 60 that are marked Gem, why did he keept one or two dates on somecoins, etc? I figured the uncirculated ones but which ones worth it and which ones should be face value and kept as keepsakes for myself. I really dont want to just bet rid of silver but if its better than face value and thats the best it will ever be then I can be ok with that.

i have some 56, 58, 59, 60-64 mint sets that I was told had a few "gem frosted" (whatever that might mean

 

[physics-fan3.14]

I am sorry to hear of your loss, and that you were taken advantage of. This website has a lot of really knowledgeable people who can help, so I'm glad you found us. Did your father keep any sort of inventory or log of his collection? That may help you determine what is valuable and what is worth bullion price. 

You will need to grade your coins to understand their value. A website such as Photograde will help: compare your coin to the pictures, and it will tell you the grade: https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/

If you want to learn more about grading, or if you decide to keep the coins and become a collector yourself, understanding how to grade and evaluate coins will be essential. You can learn more about that in a book I wrote, here: https://smile.amazon.com/Art-Science-Grading-Coins/dp/1492356107

Now that you know the grade of the coins, you'll want to determine their value. I use the NGC price guide for that, which you can find here: https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/united-states/

It sounds like over time you've started to learn some of these lessons on your own, but this article contains a lot of useful information about how to store and treat your inheritance that may help (even if it is a few years old): 

 

As for selling your collection, the proof sets aren't typically going to be extremely valuable because there were many of them made. These might be best sold on Ebay. Your other option is to find a reputable dealer (not a "we buy silver" pawn shop type outfit). I'm not sure where you live, but the American Numismatic Association (ANA) has a list of member-dealers, and any of these will be able to help you. Consulting with a professional may be your best option, particularly if you have rare or valuable items: https://www.money.org/find-a-dealer

[mariaaggie]

Thank you so much. Dad did not leave an inventory of the ones in the house, only the bank stored ones and these are all over the map and I have no idea what is valuable, and withikn that what should be handled a certain way or not moved or not opened and what should be thrown in the silver pile. He collected for over 65 years and was not the kind of organizer that I would immediately find any logic too (I say that because d a system it just was not evident to Mom who thought everything was junk except the shiny states quarters and luckily never rumaged through the coins in his dresser). Needless to say, while they have been undisturbed for probably 45 years for the bulk of the them, I am struggling with what should be my next steps. I did visit a few local coin places and unfortunatley they have some employees who care about handling your coins and others who were told that throwing them in a bag to be weighed for silver is okay if they appear to be silver, so some Walking Liberties that sadly were thrown in a bin with hundreds of others are now silver. I know some of probably are not worth a lot more than melt value and thats fine I just would like the option of making those decisions to keep for sentimental value, to keep if they have any small signifigant numismatic value now or in the future or if they should be sold now. I wish he did keep some logs because at least I would have some direction as far as what might be meaningful vs what he was holding for metal, which the there are those obvious (to me anyway) drawers of those.  The puzzling part to me is that he would keep precious metal in the bank and while he has some random accumulations of that, the remaining are ?

[mariaaggie]

Sorry that cut me off, and I appologize I do get long winded. But I know he would not just keep insignificant items in his closet and as maticulous as he was about searching out a single item, I am as much curious to know his mind and thought process on some of them and hope they end up with someone who cares about them as much as he did (even if I have to give them to someone instead of selling, but that being said). Dad was a brilliant man (he was a colonel in the air force, a B-36 navigator and B-52 pilot, head of war plans at Minot AFB during Vietnam where I was born and prior to us moving back to Fort Worth where he original met my Mom). He kept the original coin show cards on the ones he got at the shows he drug my sister and I to when we were young (mom was going to medical school at night and so well they made do with that in the 70s as people did begore we had soccer. But i had someone suggest I at least submit the 1956, 1958 and a few if the sealed and unsealed 1960 and 61 for the Franklins of all things. They have his notes which mean nothing to me except do not sell and frosted and gem which I know mean something but I would never guess for a Franklin coin???? i have not moved them or unwrapped then other than to gently open the envelopes (not disturbing anything else) as I am unsure what requires a OSHA bunny suit and zero gravity clean room (I am kidding of course) and what is overkill. Mind you I like shiny and pretty so I may not be the best judge of good or bad patina or what spots are okay. i just kknow not to clean anything and dont handle with my fingers.  Other than that I may soon run out of space in my house with all the papckaging and bubblewrap I am going through to move one at a time.

i will definitely check out the book and if anyone has any ideas on starting small with which groups first (pennies, nickels, Morgan dollars ugh) I will try and find a couple more dealers who might not be so opposed to looking at the individual ones and I can give him the junk silver that he wont mind selling if we both think thats the best route for them. Trying to upload some Random pics of my dilemna but having wifi issues... so I may need to ost one more reply

[Zebo]

Jason's advice is sound. I figure there are a few ways to tackle your situation:

1) Learn about coins, enjoy the hobby, and concentrate on what you'd like to collect and sell the rest.

2) conduct some research (internet auctions, books, coin shows), find out what is rare or semi-rare, put them aside and attempt to give them a rough grade. Also put aside those coins that stand out - those with eye appeal. Sell the rest unless you want them in your collection. Conduct additional research on these - ask the best place to learn about these or where to sell them.

3) find someone that you can trust - easier said than done. 

4) Then there is always Ebay. 

All of the above require some work by you. Ask questions - enjoy and learn. 

as far as your 1817 half-crown, you have a type 1. See the approximate retail price below (in pounds):

“GEORGE III.925 fine silver, 32mm. Weight 14.1g
 
Date    ESC    Mintage                      Fine    VF    EF    UNC/BU
 
1st ‘Bull’ style head
1817    616    8,092,656                     £20    £65    £250    £450/
1817    616A    ‘D’ of ‘DEI’ over ‘T’ £50    £200          
1817    ND    E of DEF over R&E               £400          
1817    ND    S of PENSE over I                £200          
 
2nd Type, with re-designed smaller head and new reverse.
1817    618    Included above           £20    £65    £300    £500/
1817    618A    S’s in Motto mirrored         Very Rare

I would grade yours (obverse) Fine, but would have to see the reverse to give you an accurate grading and to see if you have a rare one or not. I am conservative in my grading. 

 

 

 

[mariaaggie]

Thanks for the responses. I wish I had known more before trying to tackle this. I still have a lot of research to do i see. I am struggling trying to find someone willing to take some time to help sort the sell now vs hold for auction or professional grading. And I and hesitant about selling the untouched rolls on ebay because most have no marks on them and as I pull off some of the end coins and see that there are unmoved coins and some have a strange cakey like whitish hard to explain but you can guess that I dont want to move them because I am not sure whats going to damage them and what is considered good or bad (I dont want to open and scratch something and he was terible at labelling because he kept these in his personal possession and had not intended on selling soon obviously) but it was not like him to keep junk coins in his most personal space locked up - he kept planty in bank drawers so I know these were different I just cant figure out why yet.  And I really dont want to dump for silver value if they could be something more. And i mean that for the coin itself and not the dollar value in sales (really, I dont mean to say that I am not interested in the value but I really would like to find out and prefer to sell to someone who would take them to the next level and not throw in the silver pile)

 

thank you for the help, and I truly appreciate it.

[Djurgens]

Most dealers will only offer you melt value as many dealers are now just bullion sellers.  Only another collector will pay anywhere close to the numismatic value.  For your best return you will need to auction them on eBay.