Sorting, grading, selling... 0

[Jbob0124]

Hello all, I am new to the site but not exactly new to collecting.  I have been “inheriting” coins from a few family members throughout the years and have a few questions. What is a good way to sort/store them and is it worth sending them out to be graded? I haven’t really done anything with them and the pile is starting to add up.  Some of them are in sleeves and labeled, but most are loose.  I imagine at some point I will start selling some of them, but for now I’d like to get them organized.  Thanks in advance. 

[Just Bob]

Welcome to the forum. 

Let's start with question number two. Unless you want to have coins encapsulated for sentimental reasons or for preservation, you should probably consider only sending coins over a certain value to be graded. That value will have to be determined by you, but should take into consideration the cost of the coin, the cost of grading, shipping both ways, insurance, etc., as well as any profit you hope to make when selling.

When it comes to sorting, I would start sorting by country, assuming there is a mix, then by denomination, date, and mint mark. For US coins, I suggest buying a copy of "A Guidebook of United States Coins" by RS  Yeoman, commonly called a Red Book. Use it to identify your coins, but don't pay too much attention to the pricing, except to determine how the price of one coin compares and relates to another. The prices are generally unreasonably high, compared to real world pricing. You can sometimes find a copy that is a few years old at a used book store, flea market, or thrift store.

Store the "keeper" coins in flips ( plastic fold-over holders with two pockets - one for the coin, and one for a label), or 2 by 2s ( cardboard fold-over holders with a mylar window that you staple together to hold in the coin). 

Feel free to post pictures of any coin about which you may have questions. Just make sure the pictures are clear, close, and right-side-up. And post pictures of both sides.

Good luck with your collection, and if you need more help, let us know.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Just Bob

[Six Mile Rick]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I get my poly flips from wizard coin supply. Get the 2 1/2" ones if you plan on future submitting.

https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/product/saflips-25x25.html

Lucky you ---- looks like they are on sale now. Get 6 or more packs at a time. they fill fast if you have a lot of nice keepers.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Six Mile Rick

[JKK]

Many collectors store and organize most of their coins in album pages typically holding twenty 2x2 flips per page. This has advantages:

• Easy to keep sorted, or to change the order of sorting.
• Pages handle both plastic Saflips and cardboard/mylar flips, anything that's 2x2.
• Inexpensive and scalable (use a binder as large or small as you want).

Do it long enough and you start to see the downsides:

• Obviously it can't handle slabbed coins, nor those requiring flips larger than 2x2.
• Album pages tend to get stretched out over time, so that some pockets no longer hold the coins securely (like when someone turns the album upside down and some fall out.
• Binders very heavy with coin pages can have the album pages physically pulling the rings apart during handling.
• Some inevitable wasted space (less if you use flat-clinch staples or plier them flat).

Boxes also work. I doubt any two collectors do it quite the same way.

[Jbob0124]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I have a pretty good mix from all over, some that are quite old, up to the more recent dates. I already have a few world coin books along with the red book to use for reference.  I like the thought of using the 2x2 flips with a binder. Would think that would store nicely.  As far as the grading goes, I would only consider having the more valuable ones graded prior to selling them, but would need to figure out what value that is and wasn’t sure if having them officially graded would make a difference. 

[VKurtB]

To save yourself "double work", put any you know you will eventually want to have slabbed in 2.5" x 2.5" Saflips. That's what all the certification companies want them in.

[JKK]

6 hours ago, VKurtB said:

To save yourself "double work", put any you know you will eventually want to have slabbed in 2.5" x 2.5" Saflips. That's what all the certification companies want them in.

That would also make them stand out for later notice, in case one did not segregate them physically at the time of sorting, so that's another organizational benefit of doing so.

[Jbob0124]

Well I have them mostly sorted by denomination, except for the non US coins. I don’t have too many of those.  Will tackle those afterwards.  I have a few follow up questions though. Is it worth trying to clean them?  If so, what should be used?  Also, I have a bunch of the old blue coin folders that are falling apart and was debating pulling the coins out. Is it worth having those as complete sets or were those simply intended as another way to sort coins?  Thanks again for the feedback. 

[kbbpll]

Do not try to clean them. Absolutely not. Unless you really know what you're doing, you will destroy the value.

If you want to sell, having a complete set can be a benefit to a buyer. Assuming most of the coins in the set are of low grade/value, I think it would be easier to unload them all together. Putting each one into 2x2's is an enormous effort and takes up a lot more space (again, assuming they are mostly low value), so if the old folders are falling apart, I might just buy new ones and transfer the coins, if you wanted to keep them.

[Jbob0124]

Ok thanks, won’t attempt to clean them.  The books range from pennies to half dollars and from say the late 1800’s to current. 

[kbbpll]

The ones already organized in these folders is an excellent place to start. Are all the holes filled in? Let's say one folder is Walking Liberty halves. Go to the NGC price guide, and scroll down the F or VF columns, looking for dates/mints with values greater than say $100-150. If you have one, it deserves further attention. The ones in those F / VF columns with values around $15-20 even in uncirculated condition are still not going to be worth getting graded, unless there's a big jump in value indicating a "condition rarity". That's just how I would proceed. This gives you an idea of what the "key dates" are. The unfilled holes in an otherwise almost full album are probably them.

[Jbob0124]

Sounds like a good idea.  Some of the books are nearly full with most probably around half full.  Guess my next step will be going through those to determine what is of value and which books to replace.