Coins Galore

[MarkD]

My father-in-law (who is on a decline due to Alzheimer's and who just celebrated his 88th birthday) for decades collected coins which he believed would be worth something someday. He'd dig thru his pocket change looking for "wheat" pennies, and more recently for state quarters. Well since he no longer even knows what they are, my mother-in-law has asked us to find out what, if anything they're worth.

He has at LEAST 60 rolls of state quarters, all circulated, which I suspect are worth 25 cents each at any bank. He has a few proof sets, and a few one ounce silver coins (uncirculated) which should be worth something to collectors (maybe not much, but at least more than face-value). He has books of pennies from pre-World War 2 (everything I looked at appeared to be circulated, and some were so worn it Lincoln just looked like a blob). Stacks of dollar coins (both Kennedy and Sacagawia), also circulated, also I suspect worth $1 at a bank.

There's some foreign currency, including Japanese Yens and Italian Lire (sp?). He WAS in the Korean War, so the Yens may date from that time period.

A little perspective:
One box had 49 rolls of states quarters, most marked States (P), some States (D). Another had probably another 20 rolls, most marked just "states", one roll was marked "Oldies" but closer inspection showed them to be mostly quarters from the 1960's to 1980's

Also bearing in mind that he's been failing mentally for years, so who really knows what's in those rolls?

Can anyone recommend an online resource were we can begin our research into his treasures?

My suspicions:

- Most of it will go to the bank in exchange for folding money.

- Those few items with collectors value, like the proof sets, are probably not valuable enough to bother selling to collectors, so they may well just be given to his grandchildren to let them age a few more decades.

[evan price]

Look for pre-65 silver coins, and some dollars had lesser silver content years later but enough to be worth more than face.
Some years of wheats are worth a little but not much.

[slowpoke]

All pre 1982 pennies are worth over face. There are people who will buy them.

[JAG2955]

All pre 1982 pennies are worth over face. There are people who will buy them.

Not all 1982s are all copper. Flip them to find out. All copper ones will go *piiiiiiiiiiiing*. Zinc ones will just click.

The biggest overlooked ones are the 40% silver halves. 1965-1970. Don't forget War Nickels (35% silver), some 1942-1945, designated by the mint mark above the memorial on the reverse.

[Weetabix]

Here's a site that lists silver contents and years: coinflation

[slowpoke]

All pre 1982 pennies are worth over face. There are people who will buy them.

Not all 1982s are all copper. Flip them to find out. All copper ones will go *piiiiiiiiiiiing*. Zinc ones will just click.

The biggest overlooked ones are the 40% silver halves. 1965-1970. Don't forget War Nickels (35% silver), some 1942-1945, designated by the mint mark above the memorial on the reverse.

Thus the "pre", i.e. 1981 and older

[Rich Jordan]

I watch with interest; my Dad has asked me to look at selling his American silver coins. I don't have a clue how to get the best price for the 'numismatic value' coins without taking risks on eBay. The worn and common ones are much easier to deal with; I could sell them at a yard sale or swap meet for melt value plus maybe a tiny premium.

Apmex sells the state quarter proof sets, silver and base, so you can get an idea on retail price.

The last time I checked I could not find a website that just provided current coin values without a lot of fuss or a subscription. It might be worth picking up a current price guide, or just a coin collector magazine with lists in it to get an idea on which years of the pennies are worth reviewing closely.

Look for 1943 copper pennies (you never know), and check your 1909s 'just in case' there's an S-VDB in there.

As Slowpoke mentioned pre '82 non-collectible pennies are somewhat sought after but generally I've seen them selling 'by the bag', not in smaller quantities. If you have thousands of them then you might get a worthwhile premium.

[MarkD]

Well, we did a little researching and some counting.

It appears the state coins he was so enamored with are, as I imagined, worth .25 a piece at any bank, rolled in quantities of $10. There are about 80 such rolls, so my MIL will get SOMETHING out of it. A lot of them were already rolled, and he marked them "states" and, in many cases with the mint (all P or D for Philly or Denver). We didn't open the rolls to check if there was anything other than what he marked.

There are a bunch of dollar coins, Sacagawea, Anthony and Ike, all circulated, and the Ikes are all clad, not the silver variety. Apparently mostly worth face value.

There's a bunch of half-dollars, which also seem to be worth face value.

We looked up a few of the proof sets, which he bought from the Treasury in the early 1980's for $9 a pop (in 1980's dollars). It seems they now are worth around $7.50 (in 2016 dollars). Sigh.

There are a couple interesting items:

A 1931 Morgan silver dollar, circulated and pretty worn, but apparently with a $20+ melt value.

One each 1847 one-cent and 1864 two-cent coins, also pretty well worn, we need to look closer into the value of these.

A cigar-tube (really!) full of wheat pennies.

There's another cigar tube full of dimes, but we didn't open that to check them closer. It may just be a tube of dimes.

A couple old $2 bills.

A small box full of an assortment of foreign coins.

[Weetabix]

If you have that many state quarters, you might consider bundling them in sets of all 50 and seeing if you can get any action on ebay. Set the reserve at the cash value, then see if anyone bids?

[MarkD]

If you have that many state quarters, you might consider bundling them in sets of all 50 and seeing if you can get any action on ebay. Set the reserve at the cash value, then see if anyone bids?

I considered something like that, but honestly, sounds like more work than it would be worth. $20 worth of quarters in each set, but the work of sorting thru (does math, about 80 rolls of quarters, 40 per roll, 2400) quarters, grouping by state, packaging and shipping. Of course I won't end up with 120 FULL sets, the ones released first will be more heavily represented. They were released over a ten year period.

I found a place on ebay selling complete sets of un-circulated quarters for $22. I can't imagine anyone would pay more than face for circulated coins. As I noted, I can get that at a bank, and they won't get pissed at me if they get two Arizona instead of an Arizona and an Alaska, or if the coins are beat up or worn.