Any silver and/or gold collectors out there?

[Brenda T]

Not sure if you are actually allowed to use either term anymore.

Eh, around here guys is often used to just mean "the people to whom I am speaking", not specifically men - which is apparently how Kyle intended it.
But the people on this forum are not all "around here", so I hate to assume.

I'm sorry if I somehow offended you. It was not intentional.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Your grandfather's collection is something you can look forward to! I am intrigued by the history of old coins and the thrill of finding
them. "Thrill" might be a little dramatic but it's fun to stumble across them, and very satisfying if you've hunted them down. And in
Bob's case I imagine it's doubly so when you dig them out of the ground! I found an 1856 half dollar, and I remember telling people "This is so cool - Abraham Lincoln could have had this coin in his pocket!" And of course they looked at me like "what a nerd". Guilty. LOL

I hope that your kids develop an interest in this hobby, that you can all share. When the Mint started the Quarters program back in
the 90s, there was increased interest but I think that kind of faded. I have a ton of those state quarters and no one with any interest,
so if there are some you just can't find, let me know. I'll be happy to send any that I have.
For the youngsters in my family, I started getting yearly proof sets for them when they were born. I would hold them until the kids were old enough to know what they are and then give them. So far none of them have shown any interest, so I guess they can use them for candy, cigarettes or whatever. LOL (This is a little simplistic, but I figure coins will always be worth AT LEAST face value - unlike a lot of things people collect.)
As for filling those books, that just takes time - you'll get there. Unfortunately the timing is not the best for you, with precious metals
prices at higher levels. I was lucky that when I started, they were in a decline, so I was able to get a good enough start to get hooked
on it. AND I've had 20 years. As you stated, you will have better opportunities if you just hang in there.

I agree with you about the Australia rounds, they are cool. Is that the Kookaburra? VERY nice. I like the pretty ones, so even if they
don't increase in value, I can at least enjoy looking at them. I took a picture of a couple of mine last night, just in case.
I will post them in a bit - they are just a little unusual ones that I keep on display in my home office.

History is very interesting to me now-a-days, but not as much when I was younger. I also think it would be so cool to find a coin dated 1856. I had most of my collection out on the floor last night looking at what all I had, wife walked into the room and said, "wow, you are a total nerd right now." Hahaha

My brother was given just as many silver dollars and other coins as I was growing up. I asked him where he put all of his and he said he had no idea. Some people just aren't into it. Hope at least on of my kids sparks an interest, or at least learns the value of them.
My older daughter helped my look through a few cans full of coins. We found some of the state quarters, but we ended up finding so many from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Think I'll go to the bank and see if they will sell me some circulated rolls of quarters so we can look through those....certainly might be reaching out to you for some of them. I don't think I've ever seen a New Mexico, Utah or Arizona quarter ever.

I have a few of those Australian ones with the Kangaroos on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other. I'd like to get the Koala and Kookaburra ones one day as well.

 

[Brenda T]

History is very interesting to me now-a-days, but not as much when I was younger. I also think it would be so cool to find a coin dated 1856. I had most of my collection out on the floor last night looking at what all I had, wife walked into the room and said, "wow, you are a total nerd right now." Hahaha

My brother was given just as many silver dollars and other coins as I was growing up. I asked him where he put all of his and he said he had no idea. Some people just aren't into it. Hope at least on of my kids sparks an interest, or at least learns the value of them.
My older daughter helped my look through a few cans full of coins. We found some of the state quarters, but we ended up finding so many from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Think I'll go to the bank and see if they will sell me some circulated rolls of quarters so we can look through those....certainly might be reaching out to you for some of them. I don't think I've ever seen a New Mexico, Utah or Arizona quarter ever.

I have a few of those Australian ones with the Kangaroos on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other. I'd like to get the Koala and Kookaburra ones one day as well.

LOL at your wife's remark!
Yeah some folks are only interested in the spendable value - and that's fine too.
Just let me know. Gotcha covered on the ones you mentioned.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

These are a few silver rounds I recently bought. Just basic 1 Oz.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Didn't have time to go through his whole collection, but my grandpa had quite a few Morgan and Peace dollars. I'd say easily 100.
Quite a few mercury dimes and tons of wheat and Indian head pennies.

 

[Chad-Burnt to a T]

I'm sure glad I looked at posts before I jumped in. I was ready to post all my Burl Ives record collection

 

[GaryP]

I'm sure glad I looked at posts before I jumped in. I was ready to post all my Burl Ives record collection

I used to work with a parts guy that told me I looked like Burl Ives. I had to google it. He wasnt wrong

 

[Brenda T]

Very nice, Kyle!

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Very nice, Kyle!

Grandpa's collection was not very organized, which triggered my OCD a little bit, lol. So as I get time, I'm going to take inventory of all his coins and put them in chronological order. Some of those books don't hold the coins in, the Morgans especially seem to fall out often, so I might put them in some of those plastic capsules instead of the books.

I've read cleaning old coins is a big no-no, but it appears some of them (not in any of the pictures I've posted) have some stuff on them....appears something sticky spilt on them when they were in storage because it's on the book too.
Would it be ok to maybe just run some water over them and lightly clean them with my hands? Dry with microfiber cloth?

 

[Brenda T]

Grandpa's collection was not very organized, which triggered my OCD a little bit, lol. So as I get time, I'm going to take inventory of all his coins and put them in chronological order. Some of those books don't hold the coins in, the Morgans especially seem to fall out often, so I might put them in some of those plastic capsules instead of the books.

I've read cleaning old coins is a big no-no, but it appears some of them (not in any of the pictures I've posted) have some stuff on them....appears something sticky spilt on them when they were in storage because it's on the book too.
Would it be ok to maybe just run some water over them and lightly clean them with my hands? Dry with microfiber cloth?

Yes that should be fine. Most of the warnings about cleaning old coins pertain to using jewelry cleaner and products like that.
Water and a soft cloth will be fine. His coins don't appear to be uncirculated. I take most of the coins for my collection books out
of regular circulation and who knows where those have been! LOL I normally clean those just the way you are suggesting.
Now if you wanted to take one of Chris's graded coins out of its capsule and wash it... that might be a different story!

OCD, huh? Oh yeah, you're going to be a natural at this hobby. LOL

 

[CharlieO]

I have been watching this thread but i am not a collector of coins. I/We wife and I do have a small collection of coins that we inherited back in 2000 when we closed on our first house and the coins were left behind hidden in a closet. There was a large zip lock bag full of them. Morgans, and Walking liberty(s) are two I can recall that we had the most of.
We tried to look up the values years ago based on completed eBay auctions, online coin dealers but really have no idea if we have anything of value.
Is there a good source we can reference online to see if we have anything of value? All coins were in circulation.

 

[Brenda T]

I am really not very knowledgeable about online sources. Do you go to gun shows? Every one I have ever
been to had at least one booth selling coins. That would give you a rough idea of value - of course they are selling
for a profit, they wouldn't pay you that price for yours.

For reference, back in the 1990s I bought quite a few Morgan dollars at some shows. As I recall, they were in the $20-$35 range,
which I knew was pretty high. But there was no where else for me to get those particular coins, and many were uncirculated.
At the same time, I was buying "investment" uncirculated Silver Eagles for about $120-$150 for a roll of 20.

You can quantify, to some extent, the value of boullion coins, by the market price of the commodity (silver or gold).
But a lot more variables figure into the value of the older coins. Their numismatic value can be well over the value of
their metal, as we all know. There are a lot of resources for researching the value of your individual coins, but if you
just want someone to say "this lot is worth $XX dollars", I think your best bet would be a local coin dealer.
A dealer may be willing to buy them or put you in touch with other collectors who would be interested.

 

[Bob Correll]

This thread made me dig out some of my coins. I finally took the time to look up and learn my 1913 buffalo/indian head nickel is Type 1, still apparently not worth a lot even in pretty nice condition.
Cell phone pics:





I was on a walking Liberty half dollar buying spree some years back.
Never did find a half dollar metal detecting but did find a Morgan dollar once.
A few of my WL's:

 

[CharlieO]

Do you go to gun shows?

I am really not very knowledgeable about online sources. Do you go to gun shows? Every one I have ever
been to had at least one booth selling coins. That would give you a rough idea of value - of course they are selling
for a profit, they wouldn't pay you that price for yours.

For reference, back in the 1990s I bought quite a few Morgan dollars at some shows. As I recall, they were in the $20-$35 range,
which I knew was pretty high. But there was no where else for me to get those particular coins, and many were uncirculated.
At the same time, I was buying "investment" uncirculated Silver Eagles for about $120-$150 for a roll of 20.

You can quantify, to some extent, the value of boullion coins, by the market price of the commodity (silver or gold).
But a lot more variables figure into the value of the older coins. Their numismatic value can be well over the value of
their metal, as we all know. There are a lot of resources for researching the value of your individual coins, but if you
just want someone to say "this lot is worth $XX dollars", I think your best bet would be a local coin dealer.
A dealer may be willing to buy them or put you in touch with other collectors who would be interested.

Thanks Brenda! We will see if there any coin dealers around our area.
Thanks again!

 

[PatM]

I collected all the way up until covid hit. Then prices skyrocketed and I’m still waiting for them to come down. With all the inflation from the “stimulus” packages I’m doubting they will ever come back down to what they were pre covid.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

I have been watching this thread but i am not a collector of coins. I/We wife and I do have a small collection of coins that we inherited back in 2000 when we closed on our first house and the coins were left behind hidden in a closet. There was a large zip lock bag full of them. Morgans, and Walking liberty(s) are two I can recall that we had the most of.
We tried to look up the values years ago based on completed eBay auctions, online coin dealers but really have no idea if we have anything of value.
Is there a good source we can reference online to see if we have anything of value? All coins were in circulation.

That's amazing you found a bag of coins in a closet.

To give you a rough estimate, floor value of what your coins are worth go to a site called Coinflation. They have a Silver Melt Calculator. You can plug in # of coins for each type and it will give you a value based on silver/copper value.

After that, you can search around on Google for each coin type and find out what year and mint marks are rare and valuable.
And them you can search on eBay to give you an idea of what those rare ones are selling for.

I've read that selling to a coin dealer won't give you the best prices, so if you sell them it's probably better to sell to a friend or friend of a friend.

But if you don't need the money, hold on to the coins. Those older coins will only become more rare and the price of silver is sure to go up years from now.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Found a few American Eagle silver dollars in my collection...I have them scattered in different boxes. Trying to find them all.

The 1993 proof dollar seems to be selling for $90+ on eBay, I know I did not pay close to that back in 1993. I would have been 9 years old, lol.
Also have a 1996, which I've read is a more rare year because they didn't make as many silver dollars that year for whatever reason....but I don't have a fancy felt case or CoA for it like I do the 1993 one.

Also found some cool proof Olympic half dollars. Not silver, but still seem somewhat valuable based on eBay auctions.

 

[Brenda T]

This thread made me dig out some of my coins. I finally took the time to look up and learn my 1913 buffalo/indian head nickel is Type 1, still apparently not worth a lot even in pretty nice condition.

Yeah I don't think many of us will be getting rich with our old coins.

That is a nice buffalo nickel you have. I was always partial to those, but had very little luck getting good ones.
The date, in particular, seemed to wear down to unreadable, more so than other coins of that era.

 

[CharlieO]

That's amazing you found a bag of coins in a closet.

To give you a rough estimate, floor value of what your coins are worth go to a site called Coinflation. They have a Silver Melt Calculator. You can plug in # of coins for each type and it will give you a value based on silver/copper value.

After that, you can search around on Google for each coin type and find out what year and mint marks are rare and valuable.
And them you can search on eBay to give you an idea of what those rare ones are selling for.

I've read that selling to a coin dealer won't give you the best prices, so if you sell them it's probably better to sell to a friend or friend of a friend.

But if you don't need the money, hold on to the coins. Those older coins will only become more rare and the price of silver is sure to go up years from now.

Thanks Kyle!
That is a good start!

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Got my first Kookaburra. Such a pretty coin!