Bags of Liberty and Kennedy half dollars
Bags_of_liberty
Posts: 3 ✭
My girlfriend inherited a portion of what I guess can best be described as a hoard. The part we don't know what to do with is walking liberty (1930s and 1940s) and Kennedy (64) half dollars. The problem is the scale of it. There are just over a thousand of each in heavy clinking bank bags. We have no idea what is the best way to handle this. She doesn’t really have a good place to store it and frankly needs some of the money it represents. So the question simply is what is the best way to deal with them? Is it worth it to have each coin appraised, which seems to be over twice melt value? look for valuable ones and have those appraised? Should I take them to a coin dealer near me? How do you liquidate that much silver? Hang on to it and wait for the price to spike when the trade war heats up? I’m open to recommendations.
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If you can have some patience, using a reputable numismatic business to assist in evaluating the coins might be best. One rare coin or more could be among the masses. Peace Roy
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Call local coin dealers and ask them how many times face they are paying for 90% silver half dollars in the quantity you have. The Kennedy halves are most likely worth their silver value (which is considerable and far more than face value). The Walking Liberty Halves, unless they are high grade are most likely also worth silver value (again a considerable amount). If you want to go through the Walking Liberties pull out any dated 1933 and earlier and any dated 1938-D. If you really want to get more into valuations you should buy a copy of the current edition of the Guide Book of United States Coins (known as the Red Book.)
Good luck.
I would take a few pictures of them. Put them in rolls and auction them on ebay. If you do this you might find some collectors who will pay premiums for what would be considered unsearched rolls. Good luck.
Best place to buy !
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By the standards of the hobby/ industry, 2,000 90% half dollars is not a huge deal. Should be easy to get sold.
A full-blown appraisal may not be necessary, unless there is some kind of income tax or estate tax issue.
First you want some help from somebody who can scan the coins, for (1) any rare dates/Mint mark combinations, and (2) you need somebody who has the ability to recognize any coins that are in especially nice condition. It is not impossible to find such a person. If you don't personally know that person, you may wish to be there at all times when they are reviewing the coins. Yes, if this person is good, you will have to pay for something for these services.
Second, you have to determine, in a general but accurate way, which local/area coin buyers are fair and whose checks are good. Bad checks are not impossible to run into in this process. One way to avoid bad checks is ask for green money cash. Another way to avoid exposure to bad checks is to split your (her) hoard into two or three equal parts and then sell to more than one coin dealer. Or you might be able to sell to just one dealer, but spread the sale into three parts over a full sixty or ninety day time frame. Make certain that one check clears the bank and is paid before letting go of the next batch. I don't wish to overemphasize this possibility, but the coin business has some peripheral persons with little or no capital. Choosing a dealer who has been in an established shop in the same locale or vicinity for at last five years (perhaps longer) is one likely sign of stability.
Don't get too flustered, especially if you personally have business experience. Selling 90% silver coinage is not a difficult process if you exercise routine business sense/caution.
Have to agree with this advice, but leaning toward sorting the WLH's in groups first.
teens,
twenties,
thirties,
fourties.
Then list them here in the classifieds with pictures to get your best price from US the end user.
Generic bags of WLH and Kennedy Half Dollars, $500 and $1 K face value, are traded regularly at the coin shop and wholesale level. Most bags represent coins which have been heavily searched for better dates. The Kennedy bag may be the best one to offload immediately for cash, as the return on searching for esoteric DDO's or DDR's may be above the non-collectors tolerance for sheer boredom.
With a copy of the Redbook and some patience, going through the Walker bag may be somewhat worthwhile and possibly lucrative, and may deserve putting off selling the bag right away.
If you do find some better dates, post photos of them here for input. EBay is probably one of the best venues to sell rolls or individual coins, as already mentioned. The BST board may be a good choice to sell at current "melt" value - few will pay a premium for "unsearched" rolls - but it will save you eBay listing fees.
Good luck!
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
A lot of good advice above,
One idea is to dump the Kennedy's now (as bullion, to a reputable dealer face to face), and then take more time with the Walking Liberties.
If you have the patience and skill to do a crash course in dates/mintmarks, then you can search yourself for ones that have more of a premium attached. Or, do that to a small sample, and if it appears they are all common, sell in rolls on eBay as unsearched.
You could go down to the closest pawn shop or gold and silver seller for quick cash; if they won't give you green cash for the coins, then take the check to a check cashing place lol.
Seriously break down the coins into those with any upside above the metal, check Apmex's buy/sells on those coins, but if there is numismatic value those need to be ascertained, unlikely though, mostly bags of 90% carry little special extra value.
@Bags_of_liberty ...Welcome aboard... Your situation would be great if you were a coin collector... we love going through bags like that. However, since you are not, then there is excellent advice above...Let us know what you decide and what results are realized. We are always interested in stories like this. Cheers, RickO
Agree with 291Fifth. But go one step further. Hold coins by the rims only. If any of the Walking Liberty Halves appear that they may have no wear and look like they have lots of original luster - like they just came from the mint - they also have numismatic value.
Close by no cigar Walking Liberty Halves in this area may still have numismatic value if they are pre 1940, and especially if they are pre 1933.
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"Sou Mangueira......."
I've nothing to add, except to say have fun with your girlfriend. Learn to pick out the best, and get rid of the rest.
And get her to share.
Best advice so far is to sell the Kennedy's and sort the WLH's by decade, then buy the book and sort the more elusive ones(usually lower mintage). IMHO Great deal ahead for you. Many here would love to spend the time sorting the WLH's. Good luck.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
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Great advice above. We like to say "a lot of the fun is in the hunt". Kennedy's, the advice is sound to not spend the time for a smaller reward. You would benefit more if you were versed in Kennedy varieties which you probably are not. Let the buyer have some fun too.
The Walking Liberties have the most time vs reward potential. You could have a relaxing fun night sorting them by decade. You will be surprised how fast the time passes. Not enjoying the search? Sell them by decade at a better return then just bulk.
If you had a nice time, continue sorting another night by date within the decade. Another night further sort each date by mint mark. This would be the time to make an inventory list by date and mint mark. Doing so will make selling them more attractive to any dealer. You saved him time, he will be more likely to buy at a good price.
Grading is most likely too specialized to take on at this point unless you are enjoying the process so far. Try just three conditions and show them on your inventory list: Excellent, Good and Poor. You will recognize these basic conditions after looking at all these coins during sorting.
Still having fun? Pick up the guide mentioned above, The Red Book, and look for dates and mint marks that have an above average value and set theses aside.
For a few hours spaced over a couple nights you have a taste of the hunt, not spent all that much time and increased your potential selling price by a nice amount. Your time and effort equals more cash in the end. Work you saved the buyer that they would have to do for any sale other than melt. You might even have been bit by the collector bug.
After you satisfy yourself that there aren't any high grade or rare Walkers, I wouldn't bother much with getting quotes from local dealers. Check with Apmex, Silvertowne, JM Bullion, Scotsman Coins, or MidAmerica Coins for a quote - but by all means get more than one quote to sell the number of coins you decide to sell.
The other option would be to create a thread in the Precious Metals Forum to see if there is any interest, which I'm betting there will be. I believe that there is always some interest in 90% silver halves.
I knew it would happen.
So the current plan is to sell the Kennedys (not sure how yet, we will work that out). Buy some gloves, small paper bags and cheap magnifying glasses and put the kids to work on the Walkers. we will sort by year and mint mark then decide how to sell. Maybe try to put together sets? Again recommendations are welcome.
So on selling 1000 Kennedy halfs. How do you handle teh transaction it's self? I just have a hard time imagining either end of that, it just seems fraught with possibilities to get ripped off. I know I wouldn't want to meet someone carrying that much in either silver or cash.
On another note I have wanted a walking liberty ring for a while, maybe we could make a deal with someone in the business. She did give me a random one. It's a 1942 D :-)
Any reputable coin shop would easily be able to handle the deal.
The firm's mentioned by @jmski52 are all reputable and will pay on the spot (pun intended).
DO NOT do Craigslist or other kinds of "venues" like that.
Then you will certainly get ripped off, or worse.