Beginner Here just trying to figure out what i should do? 0

[KryptKeeper]

My great uncle passed away recently and as i was cleaning out his house i found a bunch of coins and i have been trying to figure out what i should do with them do i just keep them in a safe as they are should i sell them should i try and get them graded??? so i decided to do some research and found this lovely thread after visiting the NGC site and was wondering if i could get some opinions.

So attached are pictures of a 1921 S Silver Morgan Dollar i believe and i would like to know, is this something i should have graded? what is it's value? is it worth keeping?

i was only capable of up loading this one photo for this thread if anyone would like to see more of it let me know

[JKK]

Normally there are very, very few cases in which you'd have a 1921-S Morgan graded by a TPG. Usually the cost of grading would exceed the coin's value, and the Philadelphia issue is extremely common, the branch mint issues only very common. Condolences on your uncle, and hope that some of the coins will bring glad memories. This one's probably worth $20-25, whereas slabbing (grading and encapsulation) would cost like $30-60. No benefit.

Now let's focus on how we can better assist you going forward. For future postings, we can help you more if you crop your photos (thus blowing up the coin and including less background); avoid harsh glare lighting that will obscure details which could be very important; always post both sides. Though it has not yet come up, one coin per thread is ideal. Yes, that means if you end up making twenty threads for twenty coins, affirmative; that's preferred. It's much easier to deal with than a thread with five coins and not sure which one people are referring to, so you understand the logic. Plus, we have some regulars who frequently post delusional threads about badly damaged or utterly commonplace coins that are complete wastes of everyone's time. Yours would surely be an improvement; at least you'd be willing to learn.

Understand also that, putting this in the gentlest of ways, there is often a great divergence between perceived numismatic ability in our elders and the reality. Sometimes we run into the exception, someone who collected great rarities in exquisite condition with superb preservation and discernment. More often we get the unhappy duty of explaining that Bampaw (or Opa, or whoever) had no idea what the heck he was doing. You can imagine how hard that is to imply. Anyway, what I'm saying is that if there are some disappointments, perhaps even bad fakes, and/or harsh words said about a coin, hope you can separate them from your departed uncle and know that people are just volunteering to give you the truth with the bark on.

Welcome.

[Rummy13]

Let me start by saying welcome to the forum and sorry for the lose of your Great uncle.  I am not one of the great pros that are here to help you with the finer points of your coins, I am just a common Joe collector. What JKK told you is VERY GOOD advice. The only other thing that I would add is buy a copy of the "Red Book" for coins. This will give you an idea of what a coin is worth and the ones that could be worth more. I look forward to seeing more of your coins.

[Coinbuf]

Welcome to the forum, great advice from JKK, many people that do not collect coins automatically assume that because a coin is older than 50 years it has to have value.  While that can be true it is not always true, value is a combination of how scarce the coin is, and the condition of the coin.  There were over 21 million 1921-S Morgan dollars made and most were never used in day-to-day commerce, they were saved/horded by collectors and sat in bank vaults.  As to your questions I agree that it would be unwise to have this coin graded, what to do with it is more about your connection (or lack of) to your uncle.  If you and he had a connection then perhaps putting this coin in a simple frame with a photo of him would be a nice keepsake, if not then the silver value is about $20ish right now (that varies with the price of silver).  Please let us know if you have questions on other coins from your uncle.

[Six Mile Rick]

Keeper,

 The red book is a good start as to finding out value of any U.S. coin. You may want to invest in a copy of A.N.A. Grading Standards for U.S. coins. That will better help you with identifying the grade of your uncles collection.

Welcome to the forum.