Had a chance to help a friend with an "inherited collection" this weekend
Bochiman
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A previous work friend and I got to talking, on facebook, about cutting cable and one thing led to another and she said "Hey, I'm happy to come over and help, and if you are willing, ask you about a small collection my grandfather left us".
I, of course, said yes. I was worried I'd see a ton of wheat cents, lots of modern proof sets and modern mint sets, Ikes/SBAs/bicentennial quarters/halves and "golden dollars".
Well, I was partially right.....
I got out my loupe, a Red Book (She had purchased the latest one and had pre-sorted EVERY coin and put into a 2x2 cardboard holder...no staples, and labeled them all, individually), my coin grading book, my MS Surface tablet with PCGS tabs already populated (this forum, coinfacts, and price guide), and Coinflation tab opened up.
She got here and I helped her carry them in.....
She had 4 small boxes. One had........modern proof sets. Great condition on coins and packaging (stored well), but all from early '70s. No toning.
Another box had a few circ morgans (all P mints, all common years). and a few common, circ, peace dollars. It also had a bunch of circ mercs and a few handfuls of silver Roosies....mostly circ.
Third box had an 1883 V nickel (no cents) in ~Fine and a 1912, about the same. A few dozen silver Washington quarters, going from early 30s to '64. A few bicentennial quarters and halves in AU/MS. A few dozen buff nickels (a dozen or so that were dateless...no 3-leggers 
... a few 1913 Type 1, low grade). A LOT of Jefferson nickels, including some well circulated war nickels. A few Ikes including a "gold" Ike (lightly plated). Some Brown box Ikes as well (just a couple).
Fourth box, and I was feeling sad for her but she didn't come into expecting a fortune, so she was handling it fine. In the 4th box were mostly copper cents. She had a MANGLED large cent (I forget the date, if it was even readable...someone had used a vice grip or something on it...almost like they clamped it so hard trying to cut it in half), couple dozen IHCs, couple 1957 and 1958 FEs, and a BUNCH of Wheaties. She had individually separated these and then bagged them by decades. I wasn't thinking there would be much here....a full roll's of 1944 Wheaties and many others. Circ.
Then, saw a few 1909. Checked to see if any "S"....nope. Looked at the reverse....all had VDB. A couple were in mid/higher circ range. No UNC
191x had a few. 192x had some. Saw a few 193x, then saw 1 individual of "1931-S". Looked it over. Quick look (I'm not a Lincoln grader) and I would say XF most likely. That was pretty cool for her.
End of the day, most of the 90% items should, imho, be sold as 90% around melt. Couple "better date", maybe, but not in high enough grade to really matter.....to someone filling albums, kind of nice though....she was kind enough to trade me 2 90% Washington quarters when I saw a few hole fillers I needed. G-VG grade, only worth melt, but, they filled holes ('36-d and '37-s).
Told her what to expect from local dealers and also that, if she were to sell it here or ebay or whatever, what to expect.
Sad that most of it was what was expected but also cool that she might keep a few nicer pieces and we did spot the 1931-s Lincoln. I can just about guarantee that a local shop would have just included it as a "normal" wheatie if they bought these from her.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Comments
Very nice of you to help your friend @Bochiman and to provide a report. Thanks!
Thanks for the report Ron... always interesting to go through inherited collections. Rarely to 'treasures' surface, but each collection has the possibility...Cheers, RickO
Your experience is very typical. I've done this several times for friends and acquaintances, never found anything really. Had a nice GSA once. All were good sports, at least to my face. Nice for you to do this.
She and her mother, grandmother, and seven aunts all came into my shop.
With the same stuff.
Always good when you find something like a 31-S! I've done this with some folks before too, most were pretty much a standard run of stuff but every now and then something good has popped up (1923 raw $20 gold, 1907-S dime).
For me, it's just fun looking thru a stash of coins, it reminds you of where you started as a collector.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
Nice to see she pre-sorted all of it. That show a greater level of interest and care by her. I'm sure a good time was had by all and will be remembered fondly.
You’re a good man for helping her out👌🏻
I guess the best 1 I've experienced was a group of mostly run of the mill world coins brought in in a sock. Hiding in that group was a choice original VF No LCW 1870 Canadian Half! That was the only one other than the 21 I never had in my set. I placed that coin right there at the show on the phone with a customer for over $2,000. That made an older lady very happy!
Many of the old collections are worth melt. The sentimental value is priceless.
good deed.
I will do assessments of collections and accumulations. I charge $20/hr. Say 2 hours is the time used to make a thorough assessment. I would be good with $40 value of items.
Albert Einstein himself stated "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist ... I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings".
I have had a similar opportunity in the past. This is a hobby and it was fun to look through a collection of similar size.
Oh yeah, one other thing she had in there that she showed me....
2 "Flight attendant" Coca Cola playing card decks......kind of cool. Not sure of any worth, but pretty cool. She was thinking of making each card into a "pen" for writing...as gifts. I guess that's a thing now that can be done with resin/pen kits. Imagine if you could make a pen out of a coin
As for charging, like someone mentioned above, I would never, and have never, charged a friend or someone in need. I spent almost 4 hours with her yesterday, looking at these and telling her about PCGS/grading/values and didn't even cross my mind to want to charge a friend.
Now, maybe if it were just someone off the street, then maybe yes. A friend though? No. And, by her having every coin sorted and labeled, and all I had to do was grab one and verify? That made it SO much easier (she had missed a number of mintmarks because she couldn't see/find it on some coins, but that wasn't very time consuming/hard for me to help with).
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I can attest that Bochi is, generally, in most cases, without too much unnecessary scrutiny...a helpful dude! 🍺🤓
Sounds like a good time - I too can vouch for Bochiman's helpfulness and low fees.
I’ve looked at few collections over the years...always interesting, but so far none have had much value.
I have a friend who lost her dad about 20 years ago. Ever since then she has asked me if I’d look over and appraise her father’s collection. She kept telling me how ‘large and fantastic’ it was. I finally had the chance last weekend.
Result:
Two rolls of circulated 90% Kennedys
$12 other face value misc 90%
Three heavily worn common date Buffalo nickels
One AG 1902 IHC
Fourteen rolls of AG-VG British pennies, most in the 1900-1930 range (her father had been in Europe during WW2).
I told her it was indeed a fantastic collection, with a lot of history, but I said it was best if she just hung onto it, as it didn’t have a great deal of value. She seemed disappointed and agreed to hang onto it. Sort of bummer, but I was glad to help.
Dave
I seen this book sounds like it would be right up your alley!
Is there any reason not to staple a 2x2 cardboard holder when cataloging coins?
She is very fortunate to have an honest friend like you!!!
Absolutely....possible damage to coins. People have those holders together and they can rub up against other coins in other holders.
I am POSITIVE there are still people on this forum that can tell stories of damage from staples with the holders....
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Nice of you to help. And considerate of the owner to accept your assessment of value.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Dang. As I read through the OP I expected a surprise ending...something fabulous. A great find.
Sigh, it ended the way every estate collection I've assessed.
Very cool of you, @Bochiman, to selflessly spend your time to help a friend. This is another reason our hobby so great. We freely share our knowledge.
Lance.
**Absoutely....possible damage to coins. People have those holders together and they can rub up against other coins in other holders.
I would never have thought about damaging coins by stapling the coin holder. For the past several years (on and off), I have been pre-sorting a deceased relative coin hoard by stapling 2x2's. So far I have done this to 2,700 Roosevelt Dimes, 1,700 Mercury Dimes, 472 Foreign Coins from 28 nations, 378 Franklin Halves, 322 Walking Liberty, 121 Morgan Dollars and 85 Peace Dollars. Thank goodness he had most of his 8,000 wheat cents in rolls. And I don't even think I hit the halfway point yet. I really don't think it was worth the time and effort. But I will be taping the 2x2's in the future. Thanks for the info!
darn Bochi, I was hoping you were gonna say something that on the 4th box she hit a home run or something! It can happen but I bet most of the results are like your friends.
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
I know, right Lance? I was hoping so as well. Both for her, and her mother's, sake, but also, selfishly, because I wanted to see something cool
I kept asking "is that it? No gold coins or really old dollars or anything?"
I tried man, I did try. But, well, at least there was the 1931-S and some "VDB"s, I thought that was better than most (better than the few whitmans I got handed down to me....not complaining about those, as they have sentimental value, but something more "rare" would have been nice)
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
WTG!
She sounds like the kind of person you wouldn't mind helping out, i.e. not expecting a gold mine and continually saying "...but look at this one on eBay".
I had that happen earlier this summer trying to help a friend of a friend.
Having said that, I would jump at the oppurtunity to handle coins for four hours of an afternoon as you had the chance to.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Yep that sounds typical alright.
One of my best was finding a nice original slider 28P Peace dollar in a box of other junk silver dollars, mostly 21P Morgans, 22 and 23P Peace dollars. I quickly segregated that one and put it in a holder for them.
Worst experience - being begged to appraise/buy my wife's grandmother's 'collection', which rumor had it was large and valuable. She was suffering from late stage dementia and the youngest daughter of a very large family was the primary care giver, and was hoping the collection would help cover expenses. Knowing the family fairly well, I made it clear up front that I would gladly appraise, but would not buy it; if I paid double the retail value, I'm sure I still would have been accused by some family members of 'ripping them off'.
Sure enough, it was mostly boxes of stuff taken from circulation starting in the late '50s through the 1980's. Melt silver, partial Whitman folders, circ silver certificates, Barr notes, etc.
It appraised out at few $thousand. If there were any gold or other valuable coins as had been rumored, it was either hidden somewhere, or (more likely) had been given away over the years (apparently when nephews came over to do work, they were occasionally paid in silver dollars). I stood firm when again asked to purchase it on the spot, was thanked, and went my way.
Sure enough a few months later it got back to me that the 'uncles' said I clearly didn't know anything about coins, because 'they know' the collection was worth much more than I appraised it for.....
Thanks for sharing. Reads more like an inherited horde than a collection. But it's always nice to see a collector with a few pieces reaching "collectible" status.
Most heirs just want quick cash and have no interest in sentimental value.
Speculating that older heirs have more regard for the accumulation.
Just a guess.
Unless they are interested in the collectible themselves (they usually are not) it has been my experience that they just want the "stuff" gone as quickly as possible.
I've heard stories out of S Florida where retirees pass away and the 'heirs' don't even bother flying down; they just take whatever the estate buyers offer them.
Very lucrative line of work, if you don't have a conscience.
I know of a local Detroit area dealer who moved down to Florida (circa 1990) to take advantage of that exact situation. Apparently he did very well.
I guess one could do that ethically if they chose to,
I really enjoy looking at friends' old and inherited collections and letting them know what they have. I've never found anything really spectacular so far, but it's great fun.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
I hate it. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news and it's almost always bad news.
I couldn’t decide whether to agree, like, or lol..... I kind of enjoy doing it, just because I enjoy doing most things coin related.
I always preface an appraisal by explaining very few coins are rare and valuable, blah blah. Most people are reasonably receptive to the ‘bad news’, I’ve found.
I couldn’t see being in a B&M and doing this every day though.
I have a couple of very nice coins with what are almost certainly staple scratches. Easy to do when removing. Not as serious a problem as it was many years ago when scarcer coins were put in 2X2's. I have a PF 64 Trade Dollar with what I'm pretty certain is a small old staple scratch. Ouch!