New Collector Needs Help - PICTURES ADDED!!!

[tnfishdaddy]

I have finally gotten motivated to try and organize my dad's coin collection. How does everybody keep there coins organized? A lot of silver is just loose in cigar boxes. I have plastic tubes filled coins. A few have paper holders. I would like to organize and write down everything that there is. How should I do it? Should I buy the paper holders and staple all older coins in? Any recommendations would be appreciated. I would like to get everything written down so I can post it and you all can tell me what to trade or sell and buy more of. I don't think dad would mind as long as I am upgrading?

 

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[RON (PA)]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

I encase all of mine in the hard plastic 2x2's. They are a little bit more expensive than the paper, but it is just my preference. You can use the paper 2x2's, as they give you more space to write the information about the coin (grade, year, PDS, etc). There are also self sticking 2x2's available. After they are in the plastic, I then arrange them by coin type and year.

Hope it helps.

 

[djui5]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

What I'd recommend doing is sorting them by type, then date, and looking up the values in the 07 Red Book. Then, if you find any that could be worth a lot, $50 or more, have them graded by PCGS. The rest of the coins stick in either the plastic 2x2's or the staple/paper kind. Plastic will protect the coins more.
BTW, use those little white gloves to handle the coins.

 

[tnfishdaddy]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

I have a ton of silver loose. For instance, I would guess there are about 400-500 merc dimes. Almost as many buff nickels. Probably 1000+ wheaties. I have pulled aside all the barbers and standing liberties and plan on putting them in some sort of wrapper. Should I just check the mercs and buffs and wheaties for anything important and then just wrap them in paper rolls and store them? I don't even know where to begin. For some reason there is probably a laundry basket full of mint sets and proof sets and other sets. For some reason he bought a lot of several years. There are twenty sets just from my birth year alone (67). Is there anything I should be investing in? I am sure my dad wouldn't mind if I did some trading. Should I be investing in a particular type of coin, silver, or gold? I am interested in making this collection grow but would like to do it wisely. There is just so much loose, I don't know what direction to go with it. I would really like to hear from the experts on where to take this collection.

 

[djui5]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

Well you have plenty of options. For one thing, those sets are good $$, and can probably be traded for some really nice specimens, especially that many. Some of those sets could be worth good $$, especially the proof sets.

Yes, you should go through all the merc dimes. There are a few key dates you should look for, like the 42/1. It could be worth thousands if in good shape. Same with the wheaties, there are a lot that could be worth some good $$. It would be worth your effort to sort through the coins.

BUT FIRST!! First thing you need to do is get a red book. Brisk through the red book, looking at the prices of the merc dimes and wheaties, note which dates are key dates, or bring high values for F or better condition, and write those years/mint marks down. Read in the book how to define the errors, mint marks, etc and take note. Then go through your coins, keeping aside the key dates to check over more thoroughly later with a magnifine glass. Take out the high value coins and get ahold of PCGS to see about bulk grading services. It will have you $$ if you grade a bunch of coins at once. After getting the key dates out, you can just toss aside most of the mercs, unless they're in really good shape. Check the bands on the back, if all of the bands are there on most of the coins, then you'll be able to fetch a decent price for them, selling them as a whole lot. Same with the wheaties.

Then after you get done with that (3 weeks later!), you can see about trading some of the coins for good coins, or selling them and buying coins you like. If you decide to sell the coins you might see about finding someone to buy the whole set at once. Get a good price for all the graded coins and sets, then figure out a decent price for the rest of the "junk" coins. The mercs will fetch something like 2x face value because of their silver content. Weaties will be around the same I guess, depends on who your selling to.

If you want to get coins that are investment coins look into Morgan $$'s, anything from CC, or any gold coins. They usually retain their value over time. A good idea is to hit pawn shops and flea markets looking for key dates that are being sold for cheap because the seller doesn't know coins.

You'll learn really fast reading through that red book what is good and what isn't. Especially going through all your coins. It's a really easy way to get a good feel for the industry. Also, error coins are a great investment. Learn as much as you can about errors, and keep an eye out for them when going through the collection.

If you want, you can get an idea of what some of these coins can be worth browsing through this site:
http://www.pcgs.com/prices/

Best of luck with things, this is the same exact way I got into all of this. Selling off a large collection for someone. The good news is that it's pretty easy to establish prices for coins, unlike the baseball card industry. Always use PCGS for grading, they're the best, and most trusted company in the industry. They'll fetch the highest prices. Hope this helps you some. If you live in Central AZ I'd love to help you sort this out.

 

[tnfishdaddy]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

Thanks a bunch djui5. I wish I did live in AZ. I could use some help. I am going to try and get a red book today. I was thinking Morgans would be nice to collect. I just got everything seperated. That took all weekend. As I sit here, I am actually sick of coins. I am going to have to take half a day off.

 

[djui5]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

hahah!! It's a lot of work, but it's worth it in the end, trust me

 

[Jeffro]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

Don't even think about doing it all at once, LOL! Coin collecting is something that will last a lifetime, if you get jazzed about it.

Dansco makes nice album style holders for coins of all denominations. Pretty handy for sorting and organizing. I would recommend a Red Book, as already suggested, and also the Cherrypickers guides. THE NEW ONE IS OUT, by the way. Lists all kinds of varieties that can be worth big bucks. You wouldn't want to sell a 500 dollar dime for silver value would you?

If you spend an hour or so a day going through all these coins, it could take quite awhile to get through them all. But along the way you'll be learning a lot. I just cherrypicked a two feather buffalo from a dealers shelf the other day, worth 50 bucks, picked it up for 5!

I would start by sorting and organizing the coins by date and denomination. Then go through each stack and fill holes in your albums, while looking for varieties. Pick out the varieties and put them in holders seperately. When you're all done, you'll have several nice collections going, and then you can get rid of your "junk" to purchase quality key dates for your collections.

Nothing quick and easy about it, but if you don't wanna bother, I'll buy the silver for better than your local coin shop, as I'm sure alot of others on here would too!

 

[tnfishdaddy]

Re: New Collector Needs Help

Decided to get some pictures and start figuring out what I have. Any help with values would be appreciated. It will be several days before I can get a book. First, Eisenhower US Proof Dollars. 1971 x 10, 1973 x 1, and 1974 x 5. Next, Five Bicentennial Silver Proof Sets. Next, Proof Sets. 1981 x 5, 1980 x 5, 1979 x 5, 1978 x 5, 1977 x 5, 1976 x 5, 1975 x 5, 1974 x 10, 1973 x 10, 1972 x 10, 1971 x 5, 1970 x 4, 1969 x 4, and 1968 x 4. Next comes 1971 Eisenhower Uncirculated Set x 4. Also, Four sets of Bicentennial Silver Uncirculated sets. Also US Special Mint Sets 1967 x 4 and 1966 x 4. Next is clear wrappers of Philadelphia US Mint Sets:64 x 3, 63 x 3, 62 x 3, 61 x 3, 60 x 3, 59 x 3, 58 x 2, and 57 x 2. Any idea about these gold pieces somebody turned into a watch fob. Top coin is a 1913 2 1/2 dollar piece, next one down is a 1912 2 1/2, next one is a 1911 2 1/2 piece and the little one at the bottom is a 1876 1 dollar piece. Should I have these seperated? What would you do with this piece? How about some california gold. 1/2 round piece 1860. 1/2 stop sign shaped 1858. 1/4 round piece 1859. 1/4 stop sign shaped 1857. Haven't looked at all the sets in white envelopes yet. Also have about 100 nickels from 1889-1912. 75 dimes ranging from1892-1916. Half dollar pieces ranging from1917-1947, about 75. Peace dollars, morgans, half barbers,standing liberty, ......... Will have to update when I have a chance to go through more.

 

[djui5]

http://www.pcgs.com/prices/

You can look up most of them there. Shame about the gold coins, but on the bright side you still might be able to take off the solder and get them a decent grade. Even a VF grade on the 71's is worth quite a bit...

It would be hard for me to look up the prices of those without studying the coins individually. Date/mint mark sizes and other factors can change things a lot. Look at the prices for proof sets...

 

[Jeffro]

Take off at least 40 percent from retail, and thats what you'll be able to sell them for to a dealer. Ebay would fetch better prices, but take up a lot of your time, too.

For the loose coins, the guides would be best. Pick out the goodies first before you do anything with them.

 

[tnfishdaddy]

Probably won't do anything with them. They are dad's. Of course it would be nice to trade/sell extras to fill in some blanks or for something more collectible. I would just like to have a nice little collection to pass on to my boys when I am dead and gone. These things are very addicting.

 

[djui5]

good for you. It would also be nice to get the high $$ coins graded, so they are authenticated and kept safe.