I had to tell someone his coin collection wasn't worth much.

[truthteller]

He was referred to me by someone in my post office. I offered to evaluate at no charge his treasured coin collection that he needed dispose of. He thought at the very, very least, it was worth $50. After a few minutes of evaluation, I told him it was only worth $30 retail, and he seemed quite dejected. I felt bad.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[midwest]

He was referred to me by someone in my post office. I offered to evaluate at no charge his treasured coin collection that he needed dispose of. He thought at the very, very least, it was worth $50. After a few minutes of evaluation, I told him it was only worth $30 retail, and he seemed quite dejected. I felt bad.

 

 

 

TRUTH

 

You do mean $30,000.00 correct?

[gmarguli]

Why feel bad. You gave him an honest opinion, free of charge. Not every collection can be worth as much as yours.

[Bruceswar]

yes but still a bit sad for the person who really thinks they have something of value

[shanonmore]

I wish someone would come over here and sort through this mess of coins, then the stamps my grandfather left me and give me a free evaluation......then, you could move on to the antiques my other grandparents left me........and then.....

 

I had to hire someone for the antiques, I've been spending hours a day for weeks now, just to find out on a daily basis how clueless I am about coins, and my grandmother said she isn't going to keep trying to organize my grandfather's stamp collection for me let alone find the value for it for me anymore so, if you provided him that service for free and saved him the grief of either time or money, you did a good thing!

[Leothelion]

I had to tell a little old lady once that all her self proclaimed silver dollars were not silver dollars at all but in fact, were circulated Ike dollars! Did I feel bad about that? I actually offered to take the coins off her hands to save her a trip to the bank but she refused, like she didn't trust me!

 

Leo

[Leothelion]

I wish someone would come over here and sort through this mess of coins, then the stamps my grandfather left me and give me a free evaluation......then, you could move on to the antiques my other grandparents left me........and then.....

 

I had to hire someone for the antiques, I've been spending hours a day for weeks now, just to find out on a daily basis how clueless I am about coins, and my grandmother said she isn't going to keep trying to organize my grandfather's stamp collection for me let alone find the value for it for me anymore so, if you provided him that service for free and saved him the grief of either time or money, you did a good thing!

 

If you can read the dates on the coins and compare the coins to pictures then get these two books. The A.N.A Grading Standards For US Coins and the the US Coins red book.

Here are some links. US coins

Grading

 

Leo

[shanonmore]

I bought the Red Book and then bought the "Grading Assistant" program. I've also just dove into various auction houses and scoured their different coins, the qualities, the varieties, etc. I haven't moved much from this computer, unless to read or organize and re-package (so to speak) the coins in about two months now. I will go look for the ANA Book but, I believe I also either saved something like that or have a reference sheet printed up in one of my two overstuffed file holders.

 

I have found out how detailed and varied this coin collecting is, yet on the days I tell my husband I'm throwing in the towel and it's all his, I find myself back at it the next day! Antiques were so much easier......you can bang them up a bit and they gain value!

 

Thank you for your help Leo, I will be following your link next!

[Leothelion]

I bought the Red Book and then bought the "Grading Assistant" program. I've also just dove into various auction houses and scoured their different coins, the qualities, the varieties, etc. I haven't moved much from this computer, unless to read or organize and re-package (so to speak) the coins in about two months now. I will go look for the ANA Book but, I believe I also either saved something like that or have a reference sheet printed up in one of my two overstuffed file holders.

 

I have found out how detailed and varied this coin collecting is, yet on the days I tell my husband I'm throwing in the towel and it's all his, I find myself back at it the next day! Antiques were so much easier......you can bang them up a bit and they gain value!

 

Thank you for your help Leo, I will be following your link next!

 

Glad to help. The important thing is to determine if any of your coins are of substantial value, possibly $100+. You would need to set these coins aside and learn your lessons on grading and selling the lesser value coins. The collectors and dealers who you interact with concerning the grade and value of those lower value coins will help you in the long run when you decide to branch out into the higher value coins. Give it a year or so, the last thing you want to do is undersell a coin. Once you have gain some confidence in your grading and pricing out many coins your next step (which is already happening) will be to learn who the serious collectors and dealers are and go from there.

 

Leo

[wayneherndon]

You had it lucky. Usually, they have $30 worth of coins and think they won the lottery and can retire.

 

WH