Greetings and Salutations

[Gold Guy-migration]

Greetings and Salutations

 

Recently I have found myself in some very odd poistions. When I was younger, I had an interest in coins and coin collection. I was only able to fund the simple things, like your basic wheat pennies and the such, as only a kid is. I eventually lost my interest.

 

Time passed, things happenend, and so did the unexpected. My great uncle passed away. He had told me before he died that he had a "small bag of coins" that he wanted to give to me. That was the last I heard.

 

When I went to his house, in the middle of a very, very bad neighborhood in Detroit, I could not belive what I found. The house was full of coins. Apparently he had spent his entire life collectiing and assembling. There were also safes and lock boxes in the attic and hidden in the walls and ceilings. I also found saftey deposit box keys from banks in the area.

 

Transporting the collection 2 hours north was a trick. The coins maxed out the weight limit of my Chevrolet Trailblazer. I ended up storing some at a relatives house while I made multiple trips.

 

Anyway, I now found myself curator of an extremely large colelction, with only the knowledge I had learned as a child. I have just been plunged headfirst back into the world of numismatics, and I am going along for the ride. I forgot how fun this could be.

 

I have not yet had time to look at every piece of the collection, as it is so large. But I do have a general feel. From what I can see, my uncle loved world coins and and us coins alike.

 

I do not know where to begin. Perhaps with the rolls of silver dollars organized by year, or the mecury dimes or trade dollars organiized the same way. It is clear that have quite the work ahead of me.

 

My Uncle apparently had equal love for precious metals, as evident by the contents of the safes and saftey deposit boxes. I am now the proud owner of 6 books of 60 silver ingots per book, and I don't even know if those count as coins. But surpassed by this is the gold that I recovered. 6, 60 coin stock books filled with us and foreign gold, and a roll of double eagles.

 

Also included was a large colelction of paper money, including non redeemed gold and silver certificates. This doesn't seem to be too much of a documented area, and is annoying to find info on.

 

From what I have seen so far, this forum is wonderful. I have read thorugh the topics, and have seem a responsible answer to each question. I am glad to have found this website.

 

I would like to apologize in advance, however, for any newbie questions I may ask, or any wrong pretext I might have. I would also like to apologize if it seems like I ask too many questions. I know I wil have quite a few, and I would like to start off by asking if it would be better for me to start off a new thread for help questions, or to use one thread with all of my questions stacked on top of each other.

 

I can't wait to dive even deeper into this group. Expect questions right away, and feel free to tell me I'm a n00b.

 

Peace

[cpm9ball]

Alex, all I can say is.................... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! .............a coin collector's dream come true.

 

It would probably be better to post separate threads unless they are interrelated. You can use your "Home Page" to keep track of all of them in your "Favorites". Too many different topics in one thread can become awfully confusing when other members respond.

 

The bullion (ingots) isn't considered coinage, but there are definitely collectors interested in them. Some people buy bullion merely as an investment vehicle anticipating a rise in spot prices. If you want to track the fluctuations in these prices, you can go to any of several websites like American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX). www.apmex.com

 

NOTE: SILVER PRICES HAVE BEEN DROPPING RECENTLY, SO DON'T LET ANYONE TRY TO TALK YOU INTO SELLING THEM RIGHT NOW.

 

You will also find that we have Boards, here, for World Coins and Paper Money. Perhaps these will help you in your quest for answers.

 

Finally, if there are any coins in this unbelievable collection that just don't spark your interest, SEND THEM TO ME!!!!

 

Chris

[TomB]

Howdy and welcome. You may want to ask Arch or the forum moderator, the user name is ngcmod, to move your post over to the general coin board as there will be more activity there.

 

As for your experience, that is amazing. Should you need any help please feel free to post a thread. Also, feel free to drop me or most any user a private message if you do not want to post something publicly.

 

Enjoy your stay.

[Gold Guy-migration]

Is this not the genral coin section? I posted this under general coin converstaion I believe. Oh well, thanks for the welcome. a mod can move it if they so desire.

 

[Bruceswar]

Welcome and good luck.... ask away ..

[cpm9ball]

Is this not the genral coin section? I posted this under general coin converstaion I believe. Oh well, thanks for the welcome. a mod can move it if they so desire.

 

 

I caught that, too, Alex. I just didn't want to say anything. This is "General Coin Con S ervation".

 

General topics can be posted on "Numismatics". Topics about specific coins can be posted on "U.S. Coins" or "World Coins".

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned it before.

 

Chris

[Gold Guy-migration]

Is this not the genral coin section? I posted this under general coin converstaion I believe. Oh well, thanks for the welcome. a mod can move it if they so desire.

 

 

I caught that, too, Alex. I just didn't want to say anything. This is "General Coin Con S ervation".

 

General topics can be posted on "Numismatics". Topics about specific coins can be posted on "U.S. Coins" or "World Coins".

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned it before.

 

Chris

 

Doh. My bad. Didn't catch that. just poke me if i do something dumb like that again.

[TomB]

Doh. My bad. Didn't catch that. just poke me if i do something dumb like that again.

 

 

I believe that's the first time I've used that graemlin.

[nwcs]

Might want to look up Jade Coin. They're around your parts and both James and Dennis are good guys though they're not partners anymore.

 

Feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

[Oldtrader3]

Welcome and wow, did you inherit some goodies!

[spy88]

The first thing I think you should do is take as many big breaths as you need, and slowly do an inventory of your entire collection. Date, mm, denomination, type, series, etc. Once you've got this list to paper, start with just one item at a time for questions.

 

Quite a bit of the answers to the questions you're bound to come up with can be readily found in numismatic books from either you're local library or book store. And this really should be your first step to ascertaining what you've got and its value. The investment in educating yourself first will be the most beneficial (AND fun!) for you in the long run. Whatever you do, do not take any part of your collection to a dealer for their "opinion" before having some idea of what to expect in response first! Most dealers are willing to provide info but there are those that if you're not going to buy or sell anything, info will not be forthcoming OR accurate.

 

Sounds like you have lots of work to do in this endeavor, but you have absolutely no idea how much envy there is among the forum members for your unfortunate situation!! My condolences to you for the loss of your great uncle but just remember he built his collection with you in mind! Should help ease the loss knowing he's watching over you!

 

Once you've got a handle on the entirety of the collection and answers to questions aren't forthcoming in books, then ask away here! ALL of us are willing to help without alterior motives. And there is nothing more that we like to see here on the boards is PICTURES! The more the merrier and should always be included with any questions as it's going to be the most helpful for us to help you! Good luck!

 

P.S. Are you sure you got everything there was to get out of the house? Sounds like you might have to tear it down to see if you missed anything!!!!

[niel-migration]

hey, don't forget about the yard itself. i'd get one of those metal detectors to make sure. you just never know. i'd also be wary about trusting somebody to tear it down as they may find something and keep it without giving it to you, the rightfull owner. the metal detector may also prove helpfull in the house too when you can dissern between nails and coins. how about if there's a concrete cellar floor?

i too envy your situation and the work ahead of you. kudos to you. did i misspell that chris?

niel

[cpm9ball]

hey, don't forget about the yard itself. i'd get one of those metal detectors to make sure. you just never know. i'd also be wary about trusting somebody to tear it down as they may find something and keep it without giving it to you, the rightfull owner. the metal detector may also prove helpfull in the house too when you can dissern between nails and coins. how about if there's a concrete cellar floor?

i too envy your situation and the work ahead of you. kudos to you. did i misspell that chris?

niel

 

rightfull......................rightful

helpfull......................helpful

dissern.....................discern

that is spelled correctly

 

But, I don't have time for any more lessons, today! I just rented a backhoe and pneumatic hammer for $250 per day.

 

Chris

[CarolinaCollector]

You may want to look up Bill at the Coin Lounge in Saginaw.

 

I purchased many coins (and sold one or two) back in the mid to late 80s when I lived in Saginaw. I watched many coins "walk" in to the store and I found him to be very fair in his dealings with customers.

 

We moved to the Carolinas in 1990, but I visited his shop several times from 1992-1995. The last information that I had (about a year ago) was that his shop is still open.

 

Bill also does appraisals of fair marlet value.

[James_OldeTowne]

Welcome to our friendly little neighborhood!

 

James

[AlixTCat]

My grampa left me some $. Literally. 3 1971 Ikes and one 1976 Bicentenial dollar. You have been truly blessed. I definitely would be out in the yard and house with a metal detector. It is likely that you overlooked some treasure. May you have loads of fun with your new collection. Be it known that you are the envy of everyone here. Also, you will want to bring all those safes to your house. Can't be too safe with all that gold and silver i the house. You'd be crazy to leave it all out on the dining room table.