Reliable appraisal?

[brucemc777]

Some years ago we found a small cache of coins and jewelry in the home we had lived in for six or seven years. Overall it appeared/appears to be very amateur, more a sentimental collection than anything else.

I sold off the silver certificates and many silver quarters as times were (and are) tight, and only hope the coin shop I went to at the time treated me fairly. Since then we have moved. Still we have many silver dimes, wheat pennies and the like, coin sets from other countries and miscellaneous items that I would like to get a good idea of the value of, and what to look for if there is some item among the collection that might be exceptional, but from being beat up too many times I am not very trusting of others when it comes to things of value - then of course were the news stories on the jewelry shops that were swapping cheaper diamonds for the better ones on their customer's items that were in for repair. Is there some certification or the like to look for in a person or shop that I can take the small boxes and coffee cans of coins to and have a good bet I am being given straight information? I am over in the Holland, MI, area.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[jglunt]

As far as the coins go, you can start off by getting a copy of "A guide book of United States Coins", the red book, available at most booksellers or online at Amazon and others. This will give you an idea if any of your U.S. coins are of any extraordinary value. For foreign coins you can use this link http://worldcoingallery.com/index.htm. These should give you a good idea whether you have anything of value. Remember that silver coin meltdown value is much higher than the coins face value.

Jewelry, on the other hand, is more difficult and much more subjective. Most 14k gold (chains, bracelets, rings, etc.) is usually not worth much more than meltdown value to a dealer. Precious stones are the sticky area with jewelry and finding a certified gemologist is the only way to go. Many of them are listed in Yellow pages. Problem is they may want a fee for a written appraisal and many will not give oral appraisals. So there ya go, it's a place to start.

BTW I'm about 80 miles N. of you in the Big Rapids area.

JG

 

[buscadero]

Bruce: The ultimate Dealer Organization is the Professional Numismatics Guild. (PNG) A Dealer must be Invited to Join, have a min. of $100K in Stock, A min. number of years experience, etc, The only problem is, the closest one to you is in Birmingham, Mi. Abbotts, http://abbottscorp.com/Home Page/appraisal_services.htm
(248) 644- 8565 Hope this helps!

Joe

 

[brucemc777]

JG & Joe-

Thank-you! I will give it a start with the book. It's nice to be on this side of the state now, but a measure of irony strikes me; we moved from Beverly Hills, MI, which is immediately next to Birmingham, MI, an area I had lived in since 1976 to less than a half year ago. This is how my life has gone for the last seven or so years - close, but no cigar...