A bunch of world coins fel lin our coin clubs lap?Now what?

Frozenink

Hello all,

To start with I am clueless on world coins. I collect strictly CBH, so this has me scratching my head. I am President of the Tampa Bay Coin Club, and tonight a gentleman walked in asd asked to see the president. We start talking and he said he has a world coin collection he would like to donate to the club. So We go out to his car and he hands me 4 binders full,and a little box. He said he took out the silver coins and the rest are just normal coins.

I get home and start to look at the coins and there are probably close to 1000 coins total. Some not great, but many are very eye appealing.

He had the 2x2 all marked with country of orgin, year, denomination and some codes that look to identify the coin in some catalog. For example: 1911 Belgium 2 centimes 88143-65 or Germany 1942J 1 reichspfennig 88642-97.7.

There are alot of contries represented in this collection,Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Boliva, Brazil, Brit west africa, Burma, Canada, Chile, China,Colombia, I will be typing all night it goes from A-Z.

My big question is what do we do now? Are there certain items we should look for? I would hate to have to try and research this many coins. The only thing I see done in my area with foreign coins is the shops sell them by the pound.

Any thoughts from the people who collect world coins? Any help would be appreciated.

Gary

JCMhouston

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

But you really do have to look up each of them. Most countries have at least a couple of years that are keys, and unless you specialize in that country you probably do not know which ones they are.

Or, you could have a giant giveaway. Or just image a few of them and see what they bring on the World BST or ebay.

1960NYGiants

1st: congrats on the donation. I hope you were able to get his name, address, and phone # so that the club can send a thank you letter or other appropriate thank you gift.

2nd: contact the club members ahead of your next meeting and ask if anyone has any of the Krause catalogs to bring to the meeting.

3rd: allow the members to view the coins and research them in the catalogs. This would be a great YN project. You could total the value by country, region, or continent. The researchers could put aside any coin with a value of say $25 or more. Package groups of coins in predetermined value packs. Then

4th: have a benefit auction either at one of your meetings or your local club show. The proceeds could be used as the club sees fit or donated to a local charity. And use some to send a thank you gift to the donor.

5th: if it turns out that the coins are worth poundage, then spread the wealth among the YNs of your club and maybe a neighboring club.

The key is to learn and enjoy the donation then pass it on!

DBSTrader2

What are CBH's?

Muygrandeoso

<< <i>What are CBH's? >>



I think ....Capped Bust Half

WillieBoyd2

Probably won't find anything "rare".

It sounds like the guy who gave them kept the best ones.

Lancastercoin

Probably some winners in the "hot" countries - China, Venezuela, India, Korea; maybe Russia, Poland, S Africa.

Taking a quick snap of the China, Venezuela, India, and Korea material and posting it here would probably be worth your trouble.

OzzyAndy

I'd agree with #3 of Gene's suggestions, if you can get a catalogue and get other researching, it really is a fun and exciting activity. I'd suggest sort into roughly pre 1950, 1950-1970 and 1970 to date. The pre 1950 coins are the one's most likely to have any value, and would be definately be worth looking up. The post 1970 stuff may just be better selling by the pound, although it is still worth a look through if possible.

theboz11

I live in Tavares Fl about an hour and a half from you, and have a full set of Krause catalogs that are a couple years old. I will donate them to your club if some one want to come get them.
They are thick and heavy catalogs.

A recent accident is keeping me close to home right now. Dan

Frozenink

Everyone, thank you for you replies and boz11 for your generous offer.

I will definately take some of the advise here and put it in use. I we find anything exciting I will let you guys know.

Thanks

Gary

Bailathacl

Often the fun in being a world coin collector lies in discovering new things about a coin series or a country with which you have had no real prior exposure. Just browsing the Krause "Standard Catalog of World Coins" volumes can be fascinating. Enjoy your journey.

nicholasz219

I think Gene and Dan have hit it on the nose. You could use the donation to do some good and help out the club's treasury through an auction of the better material. A lot of foreign is unfortunately not worth all that much unless sold by the pound. I would give that stuff to YN's as suggested above. I don't know how much of a collector I would have been had I not been the recipient of many generous older collectors when I was a kid.

I also speak from the other side of the coin as well. My daughter is now seven and I just gave her all of my non-Russian/Imperial Roman/British India collections. (Those three are my main collecting focus.) The collections I gave her included my US, Canada, Great Britain and Toned Coin collections. She was fascinated by the coins from all over the world, especially the large cents of the US and Britain. In addition. the coins that I received from my Mom and Dad from their world travels are now a reminder of her late grandfather.

It's nice to hear that there are still gentleman collectors that would donate a large collection. Even if it doesn't make the club millions, it has to be the highlight of the year for any coin club.

I would even have the kids photograph the coins with any value and have them post a list on here under a Tampa Coin Club fundraiser title. I think you will find that the members here will be more than generous in finding these coins a good home.

mdwoods

<< <i>

<< <i>What are CBH's? >>



I think ....Capped Bust Half >>



Copper, Been Holed

lordmarcovan

Yep. "CBH" is Litesider speak for "Capped Bust Half". At least he didn't start going on about Overton numbers.

pmac

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>What are CBH's? >>



I think ....Capped Bust Half >>



Copper, Been Holed >>


Been on the 'darkside' too long.

IloiloKano

If there are any Pre-Commonwealth US-Philippine Islands coinage (1903-1936), there are a few base metal denominations that can bring a pretty hefty premium, even in lower grades.

The 1915-S Centavo and the 1916-S Five Centavos come to mind.