To certify or not

queensandy

My late husband left me his coin collection. Other than the mint and proof sets the coins are not certified. How do I know which coins to certify and when does it not pay to have them certified? I have started to catalog the coins, but it is an overwhelming task, and with the price per coin to get certified the cost is almost prohibitive.
Any help would be appreciated.

Parkekal

It can be an overwhelming task. What kind of coins make up the majority of the collection? How have they been housed? Those two answers may help some of us to have a frame of reference for the collection also.

I would recommend you speak with someone at PCGS about how to submit coins and only have coins that grade a certain value get slabbed. The other thing to do is to reach out to your local collectors for some help. Be selective with the person you choose to look at your coins. If you give an idea of what state you are in, you may find someone from this group that is willing to help. Some shops have experienced and trustworthy people and some are not as fortuntate, so be very careful.

Me, I charge a hamburger or a grill cheese, sometimes a glass of water for the opportunity to look through someone's collection. There are always stories and it is always very interesting. I will not buy any coins from someone's collection that they have given me the privilege to review. I believe that keeps things very above board. Usually there are some coins that need to be graded, but many (most) will not be worth the investment of money and time to submit.

I did not answer your question very well, but I know some other people on this site will have great advice.
Best of luck to you.

ahooka454

I would be very careful who you take your coins to. recently a women was in a similar position and had a very rare (8 known now 9) 1817/4 half dollar. A dealer she took it to offered her $28! Its worth possibly six figures.

You are in the right place for what you need. Take some time and look at the coins yourself. Buy a few books on the series you have and find the guys that are known experts or dealers for each series. On this message board you will find them.

The best thing you can do is keep cataloging what you have. Find out the basics for the date/ denomination and go from there. Dont rush selling it for what seems like a quick profit. It may be tuff but that is how alot of people get burned. If your husband built a quality set for you, take the time and get what he and you deserve for all his time and patience in building that set.

Even if its not a mega set, it took alot of love to build it. The people here will point you in the right direction.

Good luck and remember find the experts. If we knew some of what you had we could help you with this is no time.

Warmest regard, Adam

ahooka454

nd have the best of the best sent in. Look for errors and varieties. Alot of those mint/proof sets are known to have some pretty pricey stuff sometimes. I buy raw coins all the time. If its nice and raw, there will be buyers...

queensandy

Thanks for the help.
I finished cataloging a complete set of Franklin halfs.
I am currently working on Liberty walking.
In addition to these he has Peace dollars, Morgan, some trade, Barber and more dimes, pennies and nickels than I can to mention.
He also collected currency.
The mints he has start in 1968 up to 1977. Some special edition Eisenhower in brown cases.
It is quite overwhelming, and my children are not interested in collecting.
When you talk about a complete set how are they graded? Do they all have to be the same grade to make it a complete set?
Some of the coins ie 1886 Morgan is bright and shinny except for some brown marks on the edges. Does this effect the value?
I hope I am not asking too many questions, I did buy a bok, but it is confusing.
THanks for all your help.
Sandy

ahooka454

sandy,

never to many questions. no they dont need to be the same grade. a complete set means all mint, marks all yrs. in a certain series.

It seems like he has alot of stuff.Your doing good so far. keep catalogging the coins by series and denomination. write if you think the coin is nice or not. if he has storage boxes you should have a easy enuff time with space. I find a clean working space very helpful with coins. if you dont have a coin loupe, get one. theyre less than $20 but may save/make you hundreds or more. Its the coin collectors best friend. Get a good light source. lighting is key as well. Also if you have a camera, take good pictures of the front and back of a coin. This is very helpful when selling or learning in general.

Front- Obverse Back- Reverse


You should just keep doing what your doing until you know what all is there. Dont worry about value yet, it may harm the true value of what is there.

In coins sometime 2+2=50 Its weird but its true.

I have alot of the same type of stuff, and its alot to take in at first.

To do this in a hurry will only make matters worse. There lots of important dates in every series that bring lots of money. There is lots of semi-key dates aswell. Not to mention errors. The currency stuff i am just getting into and dont feel comfortable advising anyone yet. There plenty of people here that do so you will be ok.


Remember take it slow and ask alot of questions. Some will tell you shut up and buy a book. Those people should find a new hobby. Ask anything anytime.

The more you ask the more you learn, 100 opinions are better than 5.

Adam

Parkekal

If you have questions about any of the half dollars, I will be glad to help. I am a little more familiar with havles than I am some of the other denominations.

Everyone is right in telling you to take your time... the slightest differnces in the way a coin was made can make a huge difference in value.

Be mindful of how you handle the ooins also. You don't want to try to clean them and you don't want to handle them in a way that leaves fingerprints or any oil from your skin on the coin.

queensandy

Thanks for all your information. I went up on your link to your sets and I have one question. How did take those beautiful pictures. I have tried to take pictures of my coins and cannot get the lighting correct. I either get too much light or not enough. Do you use a digital camera? What type of lighting did you use?
Thanks,
Sandy

ajia

I am a bit curious about this comment....."and with the price per coin to get certified the cost is almost prohibitive."
Either you have LOTS of coins & were thinking of sending them all in, or you realize that the coins you have are not all that valuable.

Have you identified any that you think are valuable? These would be considered the key or semi-key dates.

If you let us know what series you have, the folks here can tell you which dates are the keys & semi keys.
Some dates are conditional rarities, so if some of those coins look 'uncirculated' (no wear or cleaning), those dates can also be listed.
Lastly, there are varieties within series that also bring premiums over the non-variety type. Morgan dollars have collectors of VAMs, basically they collect die varieties.

To answer your question directly, I would certify all unc Morgan's, circulated Morgans that are key & semi-key, as well as any other key or semi-key coin of any denomination.
Most varieties that bring a premium I would grade.

Common coins worth less than $50-75 I probably would leave raw.

Lastly, try to learn how to spot cleaned coins. Coins sent back in 'body bags' (BB) will eat a big chuck of any profits if you have a few per submission. There was a day when I would have suggested, if you really had no clue about cleaned coins & were afraid of getting back BB'ed coins, to send the coins to ANACS who would 'net' grade coins. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

Hope this helps.

ahooka454

you cant go wrong Sandy if you follow some of the advice by all posters here. everyone of them is right in telling what they have. its very nice to see alot of honest people here. all too often we as collectors here of the unknowing beining scammed for valuable coins. i like the honesty here....

FullStepJeffs

The best question I can ask you is... where do you live (city, state)... there's got to be a forum member close by that could take a look for you and help you out.

I also must tell you to be careful... I have also seen way too many widows be taken.

If you have any Jefferson Nickels, I'd be more than happy to help you figure out what you have.

I hope this helps! I'm sorry for your loss.

Steve

queensandy

Now I am really confused. What is a key & semi-key?
I have identified 1886O Morgan dollar that I thought was valuable, but I contacted a dealer about it with a photo (not really good one) and he told me it was only worth under $100. The coin looks wonderful to me, it has all the lines that the book says it should have for MS63, and I am wondering if that dealer was not so honest. Fortunately I am not it that dire straits that I have to sell the coins. I have cataloged one set of Franklin halfs, and while checking out the balance I think he may have two sets. I do believe that I have almost a full set of Walking Liberty also, but won't know until I get further into it.
These coins are just the loose coins, I haven't even checked the coins that he has in cardboard holders. I do know that he has some lincoln pennies with error written on the holder. I just don't know what the error is. So you see it is quite a hugh task that I am undertaking.
Thanks for you help. Everyone has been wonderful.
Sandy

queensandy

I live in Feasterville, PA. thats in Bucks County right outside of Philly.
I haven't even looked at the nickels yet. I do know there are alot, both Lincoln and Buffalo.
Everyone is very helpful. I am so thankful I joined.
Sandy

ahooka454

wow, my dads girlfriend lives right outside you. he has a guy there in cherry hill and one in philly. they are amazingly honest and fair. tomorrow Ill get the info for you.

Parkekal

On the Walking Liberty coins, there are a few dates that have good opportunity for value even in "not so great" condition. Once you get a price from an honest / reputable dealer I would probably know a few people that would be interested in buying the halves. Take your time and work through at the pace that is most comfortable for you. It looks like you have been getting sound advice on the board.

queensandy

Thanks and Happy New Year everyone

grip

Good sound advice from the above.Only thing I would mention is make sure the coins are
in a secure place.And don't go telling anybody about them.

Al

sinin1

buy a REDbook


do you have lots of time? learn about coins and grading

sell them on eBay


certify any key dates

pennys -> 1877 1908-S 1909-S 1914-D 1955 DDO

dimes -> 1916-D 1942/41 1942/41-D

quarters 1932-D 1932-S


what is frustrating about certifying them, is if there are any problems, they get bodybagged and no grade

they tell you they were cleaned, scratched, whizzed, added mintmark, not authentic,....

and it costs you for that

queensandy

Thank you for your help. I am going through the Franklin Halfs and putting them in flip holders and I notice that the finish on the coins is different. Some are dull with all the detail and some are very shinny with all detail. When putting them into sets should I group the finishes are well as the mint and dates?
Thanks,
Sandy

LincolnsRule

It is not worth the certification costs for you to certify coins worth under $100. It sounds like most of the coins you have are not worth that much unless they are in superb condition. A red book or a look at online price guides can give you an idea of what dates and mintmarks, ie "key dates" might be worth $100 or more in any condition. For the common dates, you may need to show them to a trusted dealer to see if they are superb enough condition. The Franklin Halves you mention could be a variety of things, some might be proofs, some might be mint state, some might be mint state but toned. (Toning doesn't necc hurt the value but may make it harder or easier to sell depending on how nice it looks). If the coins are cleaned that will hurt the value a lot.

Best of luck!

ajia

If the Franklins are from the Philadelphia mint (no mintmark above the bell on the reverse), the shinny ones may be proofs.
I would suggest you handle these either with cotton gloves or carefully by the edges.
If, on the other hand, these sinny coins are from the Denver or San Francisco mint (D or S above the bell), then sadly, chances are that these coins have been cleaned.
Not worth much over melt. Good news, silver has been going up!

queensandy

Most of the shinny are Philadelphia. I am taking them to a dealer tomorrow to view them for valuation and which ones to have graded. Hopefully the dealer will be able to give me some answers without me having to learn how to grade.
THanks for you help.
Sandy

queensandy

Hi again,
Have you ever heard of a 1955 Bugs Bunny Franklin Half? I came across this coin in a card board sleeve and written (not in my husbands handwriting) 1955P Bugs Bunny AU.
Thanks,
Sandy

BlindedByEgo

Hi there,

You may want to take a few moments and introduce yourself over at the US coin forum - that can be a major resource for you in contacting dealers and getting help on your coins. It's also a lot busier over there, so your questions (which are highly encouraged in any volume) will be more rapidy addressed.

And yes, there is a "Bugs Bunny" 1955 Franklin Half, and depending on grade it commands a small to moderate premium over the normal version.

Good luck and welcome!

Keith