My Dad’s bank
MrTea
Posts: 56 ✭✭✭
My Dad passed in 1991, and among the things I ended up with was his childhood coin bank, but no key. I recently picked the lock and discovered it was full of pre-war dimes, mostly Mercury dimes, from almost worn flat to almost uncirculated. Are there any years or mints that I should be looking for?
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@MrTea ....Welcome aboard.... I suggest you get a Redbook (Bookstores have them, or Amazon) and check your coins... Yes, there are valuable dimes....but there are a lot of dimes in that box and we would need to see good pictures of each one (both sides) to give you opinions.... I suggest you first go through them with the Redbook..then, the good one's can be posted here to evaluate condition. Cheers, RickO
1916 D Mercury dime. Even heavily circulated it's worth a chunk of change.
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I would not call coins that have been jingling around in a box almost uncirculated...Call the nice ones with lustre , EF at best and then people may want to buy at the EF price...The well worn ones in the coin world are space fillers and are only suitable to the collector that cannot afford a higher graded coin.... I really suggest you get hold of an old edition of the USA red book of coins and learn the gradings..You will be better off then... Sometimes dealers buy with collections older copies of the book but you only want them to learn grading...No need to buy an up to date one as prices will be too inflated to the real value...
LOL! That 44 Mercury dime is without a doubt AU!
Odd that a kids would have saved all those dimes in 1950's? Fair amount of buying power for a kiddo at the time. I'd just keep them all in the box. Cool item of family history.
The dimes are cool, but I really like the "bank"!
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@MrTea You have options here.
Among them is one I would take (if I could advise myself, say as a newbie collector to the world of numismatics) would be to continue to enjoy that dynamite time capsule collection, buy a Redbook, handle the coins only by the edges and familiarize yourself with the different mint marks/ years and continue to hang around here until you would feel comfortable knowing what you have in hand or finding a member who would look over your treasure say at a coin show. Such things do happen and
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
The bank itself has collector value, though I have no idea how much. For coin values buy a copy of the "Guide Book of US Coins" (the Red Book).
I wonder what the spine looks like.
I'd love to keep that on a bookshelf.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
This will help: https://www.pcgs.com/prices/priceguidedetail.aspx?ms=2&pr=1&sp=1&c=703&title=mercury+dime
Basically look for the 1916-D , 1921 and 1921 D, and the 1942/1 error coins.
Any of the teens and 20's with mint marks are better dates.
Tough lock. 28 years to pick. One heck of a rating code.
What a fantastic keepsake! As others have said, look at basic values in the Redbook.
IMO, regardless of what you find, value-wise, I'd keep it whole, as it's such a great link to your Dad's childhood.
Thanks for sharing,
Dave
Do not clean them. Our host has a grading guide with pictures. Redbook is a must have. Also a CPG cherry diversified vol. 2 covers dimes thru dollars. A magnifier loupe so you can look for errors. Have fun. Peace Roy
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It looks to be mostly Mercury, but some of the Barbers still have significant value down in G4. I would put together a list of date-mint and then scroll through the PCGS price guide G4 and F12 columns and see if any match up with the higher values, then post pictures of those here for a stab at grade estimates.
Thanks to you all. Some answers: my Dad would have been using this bank in the 30’s thru the 40’s. He graduated High school in ‘43. The spine of the bank is loose and broken ( too bad) and the lock wasn’t THAT hard to pick, I just didn’t give it a sincere try till recently. All are Mercury except the two Barbers pictured. And the bank wasn’t rattling around, it sat on a shelf most of its existence. Some of those dimes probably came right home from the bank and just sat undisturbed since, hence “almost uncirculated”.
Nice! It looks like you already found a 1921 Mercury in the bunch. That's one of the better ones. Lots of ways to enjoy these. My inclination would be to fill a Dansco album, specifically a blank "Dimes" album that I'd put both Barber and Mercury dimes in, keeping the duplicates in the book bank. Then see if you can finish what your dad started.
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Very cool!
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Wow! Now THAT's something you don't run into every day! As others have said, the Red Book is definitely your friend about now. Whatever you do, don't clean the coins. After you go through each dime to determine whether or not it's a key date or an error coin (much more value), you might want to keep the lower end common date pieces in the bank "as is" ... sort of how your father collected them.
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I like the bank as well
That's very cool!
A. I love Mercury Dimes!
B. That's a very cool bank!
I'd be inclined to keep it all, and probably do something like what @messydesk suggested. Or, if you're not inclined to start the hobby, I'd keep the entire thing in tact.
I'd at least look for key dates, if I were in your position. If you take it to a dealer, they'd probably just give you bullion value for all the dimes, without even looking at them. Then, later, they might look through to see if there are any key dates. And, you'd potentially lose out on a bunch of $$$.
Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!
Very nice. As stated previously, NO CLEANING whatsoever.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Love it!
No cleaning, got it. 1961 redbook cheap from EBay on the way.
@MrTea
After getting the coins out. Maybe look into restoration for the book/coin bank.
I'm not certain, but the Red Book from 1961 might not have the overdates (1942/1)... you can get more current pricing from the PCGS price guide and coinfacts... best of luck!
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
The mint mark is on the reverse of the coin. There are multiple free online price guides which will help you identify the better dates.
Estimated value of coins
https://www.pcgs.com/prices/
Facts about coins
https://www.pcgs.com/CoinFacts
Population of coins
https://www.pcgs.com/pop/uscoins
Grading
https://www.pcgs.com/grades
Submitting
https://www.pcgs.com/services/
Look carefully and the fearthers at the top on the mercury dime have been worn away , the cheek has some wear and the fields have spotting....With all these small faults ( SEEING ON THE SCREEN AND NOT UNDER A LOUPE ) it shows amwldcoin has no idea how to grade.....
My mistake, 1981 Redbook.
Old dimes are cool, especially when they were what your dad dutiously saved as a kid!
Unlikely to be any one coin worth more than $20, but still a very cool time capsule.
Some of what you see may be the quality of the lighting and skill of the photographer. I picked that coin to include because to my amateur eye it looked unmarked, and there were more with that apparent quality. I will take a closer look now that you all have given me some basic criteria.
Hate to break it to you, but coins jiggling around in a box could be UNCIRCULATED
You may have a semi key date merc in the picture! The toP right one looks like a 1921.
HAPPY COLLECTING
I am in the process of going through a large group of foreign coins with these issues.
1) You might find some coins that are Uncirculated, and some more that are AU (almost Uncirculated). I found an 1948 5 Peso Mexican coin that was Unc., a 1927 Aussie Penny and 1900 Shilling that were both AU.
2) Mercs - If the coin does not have much of its original mint luster, the only ones of value are the 1916 D, any coin minted in 1921, and the 1942 / 1 overdate. Otherwise, they're worth bullion value, about $1 each.
3) Pre 1916 coins have more of a premium. Make a list of these coins by denomination, date, and mint mark (this is found on the the back of the coin @ 6:00. If there's no mintmark, it's from Philadelphia. Look on the sites above, or else google something like "what's the value of my Barber Dime (or Barber Quarter).
Re the quarters, some 'S' mint marked and some 'O' mint marked coins go for a premium. If you find a 96 S, 01 S, or 13 S, pay to get it authenticated. These are expensive coins, if they're not counterfeit / altered.
Based on my experience with foreign coins above, you probably won't find a super valuable coin, but you might find a few that are worth $20 or $50 or so. Good luck.
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For those who expressed interest in the bank itself:
For those wondering about the grades:
These are the best ones, many seem to still have mint lustre. For some reason, most of the best ones are 1944. Probably because they were the last ones he saved as a child, and couldn’t have been in circulation very long.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
Don't forget to look out for the 1919 DDO.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
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I think there was a 1919, major wear. DDO ?
Here's more than you probably need but its great forum lore.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/937347/1919-mercury-dime-confirmed-ddo-discovery-piece-census-in-1st-post/p1
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
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Doesn’t get much cooler than that. Thanks for sharing and keep it together.
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Wanna meet up and compete at the next show PCGS or NGC has a grading contest? I'll even wager what ever you are comfortable with loosing!
Copper lining? I like that!
“Save and Have”
How true!
Cool stuff. It's always fun to have a pile of old Merc dimes around. Others have appropriately covered the issues of scarce dates and avoiding any abrasions, rubbing, scrubbing, or attempts at cleaning. The coins will have some monetary value as they are 90% silver, but don't discount the sentimental value of something that you'll likely never accidentally find again.
Be careful. Playing around with old coins can spark an interest in the hobby of coin collecting. It's incurable. Most of us here have a terminal case.
Unless you really need to sell it, that looks like a wonderful momento of your father to keep.
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Wouldn't be incredible if there was a 1945 with FSB!?!? I saw three 1945's in the image above.
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Welcome to the CU family @MrTea and may your Dad RIP
.... you have a personal treasure to cherish the rest of your life.
Keep it dear and close to your heart!
Completely agree with you. It's the treasure your dad had left for you to look after. Well, Good luck with that.