I inherited a coin collection... where do I start?

robkool

<< <i>This site is just a wealth of great information. I am taking all of your advice to heart so keep it coming. At this point I have left everything in the sutcase so I could grab it easily in the event of fire or something like that. I live in Orange County and wild fires are an annual event in this area. I am looking forward to involving my family in this hobby that thrilled my Dad for so many years. I should mention that my items are only a quarter of the entire collection. My three siblings each got a share as well. My Mom just divided it into "equal looking" piles and passed it on to us. None of us know anything about the coins and currency we received. This should be fun!! >>


Hey... I'm from that area near Disneyland... I've been living in the OC for more than 20 years.
If your intrested in coin collecting as a hobby, we have a pretty kool coin club near your area. We meet every 2nd Wednesday of each month in Costa Mesa at 7:00 pm. Come down and bring some of those coins, we would be intrested in giving you some great advice on the collection. You can also sign up to become a member. Only $5 bucks per year...

PM me so I can provide you with more info and directions if intrested...
(G.O.C.C.C) member

Robert...

SanctionII

robkool:

I went to college with a guy who grew up in Costa Mesa and attended Estancia High School. Based upon him and the stories he told me, and based upon my own experiences living in OC for 5 years over 20 years ago, I always knew Costa Mesa by its alternative name..................Costa Bonga

DadsCoins

Well, you certainly are a chatty bunch. I expected this to be a fairly quiet forum, but I am happy to see I was wrong. I went to the small local library this morning and picked up a 2006 Red Book and a book called Coin Collecting 101 by Alan Herbert. They only had a few books to choose from but I figured these would be fine to just get familiar with the terminology and techniques. I am taking JL3Elevens advice and leaving the coins alone until I find out more about things. Once I am armed with a better understanding of the hobby I will get a current Red Book and begin the research. Thanks for all the encouragement.

jmski52

We won't stop pestering you until you provide pics!!

DadsCoins

I have no problem providing pics, but I don't know what is worth taking photos of yet (if anything). After my quick rummage through last night I can tell you that there are a bunch of proof sets and mint sets (mostly 60's-80's). I did find a Morgan and a Peace, but they were loose in a cigar box with lots of other coins and not in great shape. There is a roll of silver quarters that are all circulated from 1939-late 50's. There is also a bunch of coins in paper squares with "windows", but they all look circulated. The paper currency was a lot older than most of the coins. I doubt there is a real "treasure" in here, but it will be fun to research it all.

Do you all keep some sort of record book to keep track of what you have? I was thinking it would probably be a good idea to do. Any suggestions on what info to record?

jmski52

You can probably find an inventory checklist type of book at a bookstore such as Barnes & Noble - I used to have one called "the Black Book."

From your initial description, nothing jumps right out - but you have got to take your time and peruse what you have. It will always be cool to have your Dad's coins as part of your "original" collection.

N8

I just use Excel to track my collection (its not very big and I only occasionally get to upgrade it). The paper squares with windows are coin flips or 2x2's and are a good way to store the stand-out coins in a collection. Circulated or not, if you have any key or semi-key dates they will most likely be of value. You are right though, even if you don't find a real 'treasure' in the monetary sense learning about the collection with loved ones will be very worthwhile

jobiwan115

Congratulations on getting off to a great start with collecting, and welcome to the boards! You've come to the right place.

BobGreene

Whether or not your coins are valuable you can learn alot about history by learning about them. As the saying goes, "coins are history in your hands."

pendragon1998

Read this:

What You Need to Know: Inherited Coin Collections

DadsCoins

I found that same article last night and it helped so much. Thanks for the link.