JKK

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

Some simple handling for the bulk stuff: that before 1965, dimes and up, has precious metal. (65-70 halves have some too.) Treat those differently. Most bulk modern stuff 65 and later can be deposited unless part of a mint or proof set (some people bought those in bulk). It's not that you will not find rarities in there; it's that it could take a long time and deserves to be saved for last. Don't thumb loose coins (might want to use latex gloves). For pennies, 1958 and before are wheaties and mostly worth a bit over face in bulk, but before 1934 they start to take on more individual value in any condition.
On having the coins graded--bear in mind that you too can grade once you know the standards, so saying "graded" is not fully descriptive--the issue is that most of the candidates won't pass the value test. For example, a Barber dime in EF would seem worth a lot to most non-coin folks, but late common dates book in CW at $30-50--about the cost of having one graded, which would mean you spent the coin's most optimistic value so you could sell it for that optimistic value. As a general rule, 99.9% of most inherited collections doesn't merit grading, because in most cases (up to you whether this is germane to you--I'm not alleging) most collectors who know and collect real rarities rather than being mere accumulators would have already had them TPG graded to begin with. For example, your $3 probably wasn't sent in because he knew it'd come back labeled Damaged, which he might have said "Not paying them $50 to tell me something anyone can see." Fair enough.

With all the parking lot junk, mechanical and die deterioration doubling, dryer coins, and other such crapola, it's rather a pleasure to see some for-real error coins. I am not sure whether that is what we call brockage, but I see no logical reason to believe it didn't happen at the mint. As for what type of error that is, I will leave it for those who collect them.

With all the parking lot junk, mechanical and die deterioration doubling, dryer coins, and other such crapola, it's rather a pleasure to see some for-real error coins. I am not sure whether that is what we call brockage, but I see no logical reason to believe it didn't happen at the mint. As for what type of error that is, I will leave it for those who collect them.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

It's easier than learning about old coins. Old coins make some people's brains hurt. And ancient coins make a lot of old coin collectors' brains hurt.

Some simple handling for the bulk stuff: that before 1965, dimes and up, has precious metal. (65-70 halves have some too.) Treat those differently. Most bulk modern stuff 65 and later can be deposited unless part of a mint or proof set (some people bought those in bulk). It's not that you will not find rarities in there; it's that it could take a long time and deserves to be saved for last. Don't thumb loose coins (might want to use latex gloves). For pennies, 1958 and before are wheaties and mostly worth a bit over face in bulk, but before 1934 they start to take on more individual value in any condition.
On having the coins graded--bear in mind that you too can grade once you know the standards, so saying "graded" is not fully descriptive--the issue is that most of the candidates won't pass the value test. For example, a Barber dime in EF would seem worth a lot to most non-coin folks, but late common dates book in CW at $30-50--about the cost of having one graded, which would mean you spent the coin's most optimistic value so you could sell it for that optimistic value. As a general rule, 99.9% of most inherited collections doesn't merit grading, because in most cases (up to you whether this is germane to you--I'm not alleging) most collectors who know and collect real rarities rather than being mere accumulators would have already had them TPG graded to begin with. For example, your $3 probably wasn't sent in because he knew it'd come back labeled Damaged, which he might have said "Not paying them $50 to tell me something anyone can see." Fair enough.

Depending on how many Canadian coins you have, the Charlton guide might be an investment. It's the eh-quivalent of the Red Book and does a really good job. For the UK stuff, might just use Numista.com.
The Third Reich coins can be controversial, in that some people just don't want them around. The dealer I worked for was Jewish, and did not want them in his store at all. Couldn't blame him a bit. I offered to buy them, but he didn't want money, so I said I'd donate the amount to a Holocaust education charity. He was fine with that.

Good instinct. The path to refining it is always to ask the question: how could this have occurred at the mint? And if that question's answer is "well, truth be told, not sure exactly how it was minted to start with," that's fine--it indicates a good field for research and growth.

This gets into what I call the Bampaw misconception. Many families have a coin collector, typically an older male, and to everyone else in the family he seems like this coin wizard. Bampaw knows amazing things and has amazing things. Then Bampaw passes on, and his family has the collection, which they have had 20-50 years to imagine is the equal of a lottery win. So they start to investigate it, and the hardest part is finding out that Bampaw was a coin person_of_limited_faculties. The first natural response is denial and maybe suspicion that maybe people have something to gain. So in essence, they just have to be told the same thing enough times, if necessary by a TPG, that in fact Bampaw didn't know that much and collected crappy cleaned junk with a nice sprinkling of replicas and phonies. And it sucks for you because you're the bearer of bad tidings--and didn't even get paid for that.

This gets into what I call the Bampaw misconception. Many families have a coin collector, typically an older male, and to everyone else in the family he seems like this coin wizard. Bampaw knows amazing things and has amazing things. Then Bampaw passes on, and his family has the collection, which they have had 20-50 years to imagine is the equal of a lottery win. So they start to investigate it, and the hardest part is finding out that Bampaw was a coin person_of_limited_faculties. The first natural response is denial and maybe suspicion that maybe people have something to gain. So in essence, they just have to be told the same thing enough times, if necessary by a TPG, that in fact Bampaw didn't know that much and collected crappy cleaned junk with a nice sprinkling of replicas and phonies. And it sucks for you because you're the bearer of bad tidings--and didn't even get paid for that.

This gets into what I call the Bampaw misconception. Many families have a coin collector, typically an older male, and to everyone else in the family he seems like this coin wizard. Bampaw knows amazing things and has amazing things. Then Bampaw passes on, and his family has the collection, which they have had 20-50 years to imagine is the equal of a lottery win. So they start to investigate it, and the hardest part is finding out that Bampaw was a coin person_of_limited_faculties. The first natural response is denial and maybe suspicion that maybe people have something to gain. So in essence, they just have to be told the same thing enough times, if necessary by a TPG, that in fact Bampaw didn't know that much and collected crappy cleaned junk with a nice sprinkling of replicas and phonies. And it sucks for you because you're the bearer of bad tidings--and didn't even get paid for that.

This gets into what I call the Bampaw misconception. Many families have a coin collector, typically an older male, and to everyone else in the family he seems like this coin wizard. Bampaw knows amazing things and has amazing things. Then Bampaw passes on, and his family has the collection, which they have had 20-50 years to imagine is the equal of a lottery win. So they start to investigate it, and the hardest part is finding out that Bampaw was a coin person_of_limited_faculties. The first natural response is denial and maybe suspicion that maybe people have something to gain. So in essence, they just have to be told the same thing enough times, if necessary by a TPG, that in fact Bampaw didn't know that much and collected crappy cleaned junk with a nice sprinkling of replicas and phonies. And it sucks for you because you're the bearer of bad tidings--and didn't even get paid for that.

Очень красивая монета!

Without the weight and diameter, we're handicapped. However, I think your best candidate is BMC 3, Macedonia, Mende hemiobol. The animal is a braying donkey, not a horse. (Not being a wiseacre. Take me literally.) Look at the third one from the top.

The listing says one sold for $154 in 1991, VF. I'd probably say VG for yours based on the reverse. I don't know how hard they are to find, but if they were very difficult, I doubt you could get a 2500-year-old silver coin for $150 or even $350 (which I'm guessing it might cost today). I would search for sold listings based on pieces of this description: 
Mende, Macedonia. AR Hemiobol c. 480 BC. 0,31 g. Obv: 's head right. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Babelon pl. 51, 12. BMC 3. Very rare. Very fine. If you find a lot, safe to guess they're not that rare. If you find none or few, probably is rare. Good luck.

Without the weight and diameter, we're handicapped. However, I think your best candidate is BMC 3, Macedonia, Mende hemiobol. The animal is a braying donkey, not a horse. (Not being a wiseacre. Take me literally.) Look at the third one from the top.

That's great.

That's great.

Without the weight and diameter, we're handicapped. However, I think your best candidate is BMC 3, Macedonia, Mende hemiobol. The animal is a braying donkey, not a horse. (Not being a wiseacre. Take me literally.) Look at the third one from the top.

Without the weight and diameter, we're handicapped. However, I think your best candidate is BMC 3, Macedonia, Mende hemiobol. The animal is a braying donkey, not a horse. (Not being a wiseacre. Take me literally.) Look at the third one from the top.