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Magugu posted:I can help out with this thread. I was a professional coin dealer for 8 years. I was very active on the coin show circuit, and know the ins and outs of the coin business. Im also an ANA life member. I'd also be greatly interested in hearing how you originally got into the coin business and any tips or advice you have for coin dealing. I just started a small coin-selling website of my own this past summer and also sell a fair bit on eBay, though it's just a little income on the side for me at this point.
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Oct 25, 2013 03:16
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Ron Don Volante posted:I'd also be greatly interested in hearing how you originally got into the coin business and any tips or advice you have for coin dealing. I just started a small coin-selling website of my own this past summer and also sell a fair bit on eBay, though it's just a little income on the side for me at this point. What's your website? I'll check it out. Magugu: What portion of a coin dealer's business is at coin shows? It seems like a typical dealer will maybe make between 1000-5000 dollars in sales at our local coin shows. If you add up table costs, set-up, time, and travel, going to a local coin show can cost the dealer 300-500 dollars. It seems like your margin would have to be pretty big to make any money, AND you would need to be at a coin show every single weekend to make any kind of living. Jimmy James fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Oct 25, 2013 |
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Oct 25, 2013 03:24
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c0ldfuse posted:Can you just tell some interesting stories about your time as a dealer? I got my start in dealing coins by cherry picking out of coin shops backroom stock. I got pretty good about finding different variety coins, for example a small date variety that 10x more valuable than the normal coin. So when I got my shop, I would make a point to keep quality cherry pick-able coins buried in my stock. Once my customer found one of these coins, i knew i had them hooked. And it was a bit of a pay it forward type of thing as well. In the coin business, knowledge is worth money. Ron Don Volante posted:I'd also be greatly interested in hearing how you originally got into the coin business and any tips or advice you have for coin dealing. I just started a small coin-selling website of my own this past summer and also sell a fair bit on eBay, though it's just a little income on the side for me at this point. Well my grandmother got me into coin collecting, and it became a bit of a bug for me. I was the kid at school that always carried a bunch of coins around at school. Eventually everyone else wanted coins to, so i started taking there lunch money. My big break was (as i mentioned above) getting the knowledge together to cherry pick coins. Its what took me from working fast food to making $3000-4000 a month. I would sell my coins on eBay, so i know that aspect of the business as well. And keep it up, turn your hobby into your buisness and youll never work again. pm me if you ever have any questions. Jimmy James posted:
It really varies from dealer to dealer, and what that dealer is trying to accomplish. For instance, you may not be concerned with making a "profit" from the show. Your interest may be to meet potential customers, hand out business cards, build an email list, or drive hits to your website. Sometimes actually selling coins my be a secondary thought for a dealer at a coin show. Any interaction with potential customers has a value all its own. There are many dealers with a Winnebago, that travel from city to city buying and selling coins. And you are correct, they wont really be getting rich because of expenses and such. But there again, what is that dealer trying to accomplish? They get to travel all over the country, selling what they are passionate about, and get to eek out a bit of a living. We should all be so lucky. At the bigger coin shows, most of the deals are made in hotel rooms before the show even starts. This is where most of the dealers really make their money, selling wholesale dealer to dealer. And there are dealers that specialize in this, all they do is rent a hotel room and sell to other dealers. The coin business is actually quite vast, there are many people that specialize in one thing and make a decent living at it. It really is a business that pays if you have the knowledge, and are creative.
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Oct 25, 2013 04:59
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Aika posted:So what are morgans worth? I have several 1922s and I believe an 1878 in good, circulated condition. I can't check the mint mark because i'm in another country -- but i'm really curious! If you have 1922's they are not Morgan dollars, they are peace dollars. The last year they made Morgan's was 1921. The 1922 peace dollars are (retail value) about $30, give or take a dollar or two. The 1878 is an interesting coin because there are several different varitys of the coin. In circulated condition it doesn't effect the value too much, but it is an interesting thing to note. If it has a cc mint mark (Carson city) it greatly increases the value, at the extreme low end a cc is around $100. And it can go well up from there as the grade increases (I would have to look at it). If its a common mint mark then the value is $30-40. Mint penny's are easy to get, your local coin shop should have most of them in stock, and really shouldn't be that expensive unless your trying to build a high end registry set. You can also find them on eBay, but look for solid date mint rolls.
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Oct 25, 2013 19:52
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Jimmy James posted:What's your website? I'll check it out. It's SilverDollarCo.net. I'm primarily concentrating on Peace and Morgan dollars and have recently expanded into foreign silver crowns. I've quickly learned that I can't compete with eBay on lower-end silver dollars so I'm going to continue to transition into high quality higher-end coins, especially slabbed and toned Morgans. Magugu posted:I got my start in dealing coins by cherry picking out of coin shops backroom stock. I got pretty good about finding different variety coins, for example a small date variety that 10x more valuable than the normal coin. So when I got my shop, I would make a point to keep quality cherry pick-able coins buried in my stock. Once my customer found one of these coins, i knew i had them hooked. And it was a bit of a pay it forward type of thing as well. In the coin business, knowledge is worth money. How do you recommend getting into variety coins? I bought the first volume of the Cherrypickers' Guide a few years back but found the enormous number of varieties kind of overwhelming.
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Oct 25, 2013 21:11
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I can answer any questions pertaining to US paper money from the colonial period through today. I have been with PCGS Currency (a neutral third party grading service) as a grader since 2008, I now work for them in a part time fashion, do work on the National Bank Note Census and buy and sell for fun and profit. (if you're full time with PCGS you cannot deal in paper as an employee, same for PCGS coins) I've handled virtually every rarity, I've been inside the numismatic vault at the smithsonian and handled their paper money collection. I'm also dabbling in ancient coins but I would not call myself in expert in that field. It's really exciting to me to see a numismatic thread here. OP if you wanted to edit the title to include paper that'd be cool, I see some people have asked about paper in here and you've been answering so maybe I'm not even necessary, just thought I'd throw it out there Al Harrington fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Oct 26, 2013 |
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Oct 26, 2013 06:26
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Ron Don Volante posted:
Your website looks really good, it is actually about 100x better than the one that I had when I started. You have a blog on there and that is pro, good articles, good information, you are on the right track. You definitely need more stock, and i would get a better template for your site once the money starts flowing a bit. Use those facebook likes to market new coins in stock. 600+ people is a really good starting point, you should not have an issue selling coins to them. Ron Don Volante posted:
Cherry pickers guide is a great resource, and that's where i started. The trick is to specialize, pick a type of coins that you like and learn everything about them. I started with mercury dimes, once i became an expert, i moved on to another type. If you look at it as a whole, it is overwhelming. But by breaking it down and learning it piece by piece it becomes much more manageable. Magugu fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Oct 26, 2013 |
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Oct 26, 2013 16:50
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Al Harrington posted:I can answer any questions pertaining to US paper money from the colonial period through today. Feel free to answer any questions about currency! I personally have very little expertise in that field. I pm'ed a mod to change the thread title. I've got a couple questions myself. Would you say collecting paper money is more of a rich man's hobby? I'm not sure if this is accurate, but the impression I've gotten is that most U.S. notes are fairly expensive. Paper money also has a much shorter lifespan than coinage. Ancient coins are still widely available and relatively inexpensive. Is there a certain cut-off period where paper money goes from being collectible to museum-level rarity, or is it possible to buy pretty much any note within the history of paper money? Magugu posted:Your website looks really good, it is actually about 100x better than the one that I had when I started. You have a blog on there and that is pro, good articles, good information, you are on the right track. You definitely need more stock, and i would get a better template for your site once the money starts flowing a bit. Use those facebook likes to market new coins in stock. 600+ people is a really good starting point, you should not have an issue selling coins to them. Thank you! Adding more stock is definitely a priority. I was working under a limitation by Shopify of 25 SKU's for a while but just recently upgraded to a plan that lets me add as many products as I want, so now I just need to fill out my store. I've constrained myself a bit by limiting my website to problem-free coins with no nasty hairlines, scratches, etc but I'm hoping that will help me establish the website as a step up from eBay. And thanks for the tip on varieties. I think I'll start out small, maybe with nickel 3-cents.
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Oct 26, 2013 19:49
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Ron Don Volante posted:Feel free to answer any questions about currency! I personally have very little expertise in that field. I pm'ed a mod to change the thread title. Good questions It can be a rich mans hobby but it's just like coins as you have material for any budget really. I'd like to see the average person get a raise so more people can participate in the hobby and yes paper values declined along with all collectibles during the recession but they have been recovering, that and paper money as a hobby has really been exploding. World currency is the future and it's something I'm learning as I go. (PCGS (coins not currency, we aren't as big as them) just opened a branch in China and supposedly they have 24/7 coin stores in Hong Kong) The first U.S. piece of currency that was issued that is still legal tender today was in 1861, prior to this and a few years after this individual banks, stores, counties, cities, states etc issued their own currency that they had printed by the American Bank Note Company or a similar printer. This was an interesting period of time because a lot of the midwest was vast woodland that no one occupied so you had guys in New York contracting with the ANBCo to print currency issued from the First National Bank of Bumblefuck Michigan and unless someone actually trekked out there who was to say what was good currency and what was entirely garbage. Anyway as there was so much of it (and a lot of it deemed worthless) a lot of it still exists. You can buy this type of stuff from $20-$100 all day long. (and up as there are rare locations of course) If you don't mind my asking where are you located? As long as it isn't some small town I could probably show you something from your area be it this period of time or the national currency period from 1863-1935 (these were different as they were backed by US bonds and are still legal tender and vastly collected) I would go ahead and say from the colonial period to today you could get something from every period of time (not every year)for a couple hundred bucks except perhaps the war of 1812 stuff. There are so many different categories of US paper. You have your federal reserve notes that is of course all we see today, but you had legal tender notes issued by the US itself, gold certificates, silver certificates, treasury notes (redeemable in silver or gold), nationals, fractional currency during the civil war period when everyone was hoarding coin, confederate currency, military payment certificates, the pandoras box of obsoletes I mentioned earlier etc. Also even stuff that was just printed is collectible in some form of another. You have your star notes (which I can explain but I think you already know because I saw you mention them in the thread) but you also have people collecting "fancy" serial numbers. Personally I don't get into that but a lot of people do, to the point that recently someone in the hobby did a little media tour talking about them. You have low serial numbers like X00000001X through 10 are big bucks, also all one number like X66666666X and then people get into silly stuff like repeaters X12981298X radars (palindromes) X97755779X etc The new hundreds just came out after years of clusterfucking and people are flipping them for a little profit on ebay even as non fancies or stars. and then just like coins you have your errors PS. your site is indeed really nice, I started with Morgans myself before I dove headfirst into paper Al Harrington fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Oct 26, 2013 |
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Oct 26, 2013 20:23
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Christmas is coming up, and as BFC is teaching me, there's is more to budgeting than saying "we have $X in the account, don't spend more than that." My dad's an amateur coin collector, mostly pennies because they're cheaper, but I'd like to get him maybe a silver dollar or half-dollar. What's a coin that looks nice, but is around $25? Would a more common coin with some nice toning be more realistic for that price range?
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Oct 26, 2013 21:38
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Al Harrington posted:I can answer any questions pertaining to US paper money from the colonial period through today. This is great, I mostly collect pcgs graded currency as of late, mainly small silver certificates. One of my issues I had as a dealer was I never really learned to properly grade. At the higher end of currency I find it difficult to tell the differance between a 66 and a 68. Could you possibly explain a bit of how you grade, the process I mean. And what are the subtle differences that we should be looking for. Brennanite posted:Christmas is coming up, and as BFC is teaching me, there's is more to budgeting than saying "we have $X in the account, don't spend more than that." My dad's an amateur coin collector, mostly pennies because they're cheaper, but I'd like to get him maybe a silver dollar or half-dollar. What's a coin that looks nice, but is around $25? Would a more common coin with some nice toning be more realistic for that price range? You should be able to find 1940's pcgs graded ms-64 mercury dimes in that price range. I know it's not a half or a dollar, but mercury dimes are a great coin to collect on a budget because a good portion of the later dates you can find in mint state for less than $40, some as low as $20. They are personally my favorite coin, they are a beautiful design, lots of varitys, and most are affordable.
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Oct 26, 2013 22:00
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Magugu posted:This is great, I mostly collect pcgs graded currency as of late, mainly small silver certificates. One of my issues I had as a dealer was I never really learned to properly grade. At the higher end of currency I find it difficult to tell the differance between a 66 and a 68. Could you possibly explain a bit of how you grade, the process I mean. And what are the subtle differences that we should be looking for. Awesome, do you do a registry set? Do you submit to PCGS? (im sorry your orders take forever it's not up to me  )I actually just sold 3 UNC 1928A $1 silvers various blocks I want to say FA, IA and LA (common blocks), raw but nice UNCS none the less We use a halogen lamp that allows you to basically bounce light off the note so you can see everything, you can do this with any light just angle it right up in the air reflecting off your living room light or whatever. We also use another overhead lamp, but once you bounce that light off the surface of the note you'll see how light folds show up well The difference between a 66 and 68 is all in centering, centering is everything, also registration (how well aligned is the back design which is smaller inside the face design when you candle (hold up to a light and see through the note) keep in mind also that just because the margins are perfectly centered they could be trimmed so they must be the right size, people trim notes, bleach them, smash them, redraw them, pretty much anything to make them appear something they are not, I know they do this with coins too but with paper it's more prevalent, lady exists that can "restore" notes to the point where we have a hard time telling anything has been done a 70 has theoretically perfect margins and they are full size with perfect registration, a 69 is a hair off, 68 is just a little "worse" if that makes sense, 69s and 70s are rare animals, maybe even more so than coins these seem weird but there's a bit less nonsense to them than coins when it comes to the uber high grades, grading both items is of course a combination of technical wear grade and eye appeal, and "wear" on currency is partially fold counting, it's weird but it makes sense eventually and in my opinion there's more consistency with paper than coins (something like a first round paper grader nails the final grade 90-95% of the time whereas coins its like 70 at best) I should also note there is a degree of "net grading of sorts" where lets say you have a note that is otherwise 68 or 69 but it has some really minor issue like a bumped corner or tiny crinkle from the printing process or some ugly fibers in the portrait affecting eye appeal that could then be maybe a 65 at best, you also have inclusions that are ugly and part of the paper but if they are see through pretty much the max grade for that item is 64 no PPQ, same for a tiny rust dot or some light foxing here are the standards "we" abide by http://pcgscurrency.com/g_overview.html click on the right to see how that breaks down by each grade in the same sheldon scale that coins use Al Harrington fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Oct 26, 2013 |
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Oct 26, 2013 22:18
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Brennanite posted:Christmas is coming up, and as BFC is teaching me, there's is more to budgeting than saying "we have $X in the account, don't spend more than that." My dad's an amateur coin collector, mostly pennies because they're cheaper, but I'd like to get him maybe a silver dollar or half-dollar. What's a coin that looks nice, but is around $25? Would a more common coin with some nice toning be more realistic for that price range? There are plenty of great options within that budget. You could get him a mint-state Franklin half dollar (struck between 1948-1963) for between $15-20 or a Walking Liberty half dollar from the 1940's in close to mint-state condition for $20-25. Both of those are struck in .900 fine silver and each contains about 1/3rd of a troy ounce of silver. The 1964 Kennedy half is also 90% silver and should run you $10-12 (at current silver prices). In terms of silver dollars, you also have a few options. You could easily find a Morgan dollar (1878-1921) in decent circulated condition for between $25-30 on eBay. You could get a Peace dollar (1921-1935) in close to mint-state condition for the same price. The Peace and Morgan dollars are nice, hefty coins struck from 90% silver with .78 troy ounces of silver each. You could also get him a 40% silver Eisenhower dollar for less than $10, though not all Ikes are silver and you'd have to be sure of the date/mintmark. If you're comfortable shopping on eBay, I'd recommend that option as you'll find lower prices. If not, I'd just go to a local coin store and tell them your budget. You should be able to find most of the coins close to the price ranges I listed, though the Morgan and Peace dollars will probably be a bit more expensive in a shop. Al Harrington : Are there any old banknotes from the Seattle area?
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Oct 26, 2013 23:17
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Al Harrington posted:I can answer any questions pertaining to US paper money from the colonial period through today. I had a question about the Smithsonian. How do the USA coin and paper money collections compare to notable private collections? I've always assumed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the US mint didn't always have a mind to keep special items for historical purposes, and that most of the good stuff would be what collectors kept around. And what services do PCGS provide for these large institutions? Is it grading, authentication, appraisal, or something else?
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Oct 26, 2013 23:30
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Please post all the cool obscure paper money you got. I had no idea there were such different eras of bank notes in the US, and that some were only worth the paper they were printed on.
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Oct 26, 2013 23:55
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Ron Don Volante posted:Al Harrington : Are there any old banknotes from the Seattle area? most definitely now while some form of obsoletes or scrip may exist, pretty much all washington state obsoletes are unheard of, looking through heritage archives I just see depression scrip and panic of 1907 scrip which isn't terribly exciting and in my tenure at PCGS I don't recall seeing something that I would call an obsolete from the state, the reference books do not even have a listing for the state. now nationals however certainly do exist and aren't rare either, it's a big city so there were several banks, the census shows 995 notes known on the entire city this stuff exists on ebay right along with coins, here's a simple search of "seattle" in paper money> US http://www.ebay.com/sch/Paper-Money-US-/3412/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=seattle&rt=nc As you can see if you go to completed listings you could pick up a piece for under 100 bucks, and in my opinion these "hometown" notes are some of the coolest paper money has to offer, I'm from Winona, MN and I have several pieces from here, I also happen to have a note from a town that has my first name, another one that is my middle name and another that is my last name, nationals are very interesting on their own, many ways to collect other than "I live here and I have a note from here" which is cool itself  Jimmy James posted:I had a question about the Smithsonian. How do the USA coin and paper money collections compare to notable private collections? I've always assumed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the US mint didn't always have a mind to keep special items for historical purposes, and that most of the good stuff would be what collectors kept around. I haven't seen their coins, I was there in conjunction with the guy that I do work on the census for, he has an over reaching project of trying to get more people aware of paper money and stuff, see this website: http://www.nationalcurrencyfoundation.com/ We are scanning their paper money collection a little bit at a time (which is massive) and putting online exhibits on the site and stuff, he has a lot of big ideas, maybe a coffee table book at some point. Now how does their paper money collection compare to notable private collections? It blows them out of the water, there are several pieces there which are unknown in private hands. For one I think someone mentioned earlier in the thread the $100,000 gold certificates, well I had the serial number 1 one and I think 3 others on the scanner bed at the same time, simply amazing. They have a bunch of checks from notable people including all presidents from Washington through I think Carter, so yea I held a handwritten check from George Washington that I believe was to pay his doctor like maybe a year before he died. They have proof sheets of virtually everything the Bureau of Engraving and Printing ever printed (and some they didn't, designs that never were) I was never there for PCGS, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to have the notes slabbed, but what we are doing is scanning them at ridiculous DPI and putting them in mylar holders so there is really no need for someone to go handling them again or anytime soon anyway, they last had it done in the 70s so you can imagine how not useful that is now Lutha Mahtin posted:Please post all the cool obscure paper money you got. I had no idea there were such different eras of bank notes in the US, and that some were only worth the paper they were printed on. This is an online exhibit of some of the large size notes in the smithsonians holdings http://www.nationalcurrencyfoundation.com/exhibitgrouphome.html?groupId=LS I can post some cool small size, but the large size are more artistic, that and I don't want to completely poo poo the OPs thread up here here is the check I was talking about http://www.nationalcurrencyfoundation.com/printfilehtml.html?size=OS&fileId=4681 The $100,000 is uber cool  $10,000s are cool, there used to be 100 of them on a thing at the binions horseshoe, those have all now entered the collecting community  $5,000s are cool, much more rare than the $10,000s  Here's a HAWAII $1 silver certificate that is also a star note  After Pearl Harbor there was fear that the Japanese would take Hawaii and so they printed these up to be used down there (as well as $5's $10's and $20s) and they could just deem them worthless if that happened, I want to say down there you were only allowed to have $100 or maybe $200 in paper money that was not emblazoned with HAWAII  These are interesting, they are not legal tender for $10 grand, they aren't worth anything other than the collectible value The story is years ago there was a fire at I want to say a Washington DC post office and stacks and stacks of these were on fire and the firemen didn't know so they threw them out onto the street, and people picked them up because hey this thing says $10,000 in gold coin!, so for that reason most of them have water damage and they are all canceled, they are just basically fancy checks for moving gold between the banks and federal reserves Al Harrington fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Oct 27, 2013 |
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Oct 27, 2013 02:07
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Al Harrington posted:most definitely
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Oct 27, 2013 06:33
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What's the highest denomination that's still "legal"? How hard is it to get a $500 or $1000 dollar bill?
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Oct 27, 2013 07:30
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The $10,000 is the highest denom that is still legal, it's of course worth many multiples of that depending on grade. $500s and $1,000s are some of the most popular paper money outside of maybe these guys:   the $10 is actually in my inventory Anyway you're going to pay at least 600 for even a rag $500 and about $1200 for a $1,000, they are super popular and I could direct you to a couple of dealers that deal in just high denoms so they'll have something for every budget. Personally I don't really deal in them because it's a lot of money to tie up to make barely anything. They're available on ebay and such but they are also a favorite of scammers on there, pretty much every time I have bought or sold a $500 or $1,000 it has been not worth the time
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Oct 27, 2013 16:14
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Here some old silver certificates I have:        They're all a bit ratty, so I don't expect much.
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Oct 28, 2013 01:37
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For the 1957A and B series combined there were over 2 billion notes printed, so these guys can be had for like $10 uncirculated, in this condition you'd be hard pressed to get anything above face for them unfortunately, sorry
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Oct 28, 2013 05:11
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Al Harrington posted:For the 1957A and B series combined there were over 2 billion notes printed, so these guys can be had for like $10 uncirculated, in this condition you'd be hard pressed to get anything above face for them unfortunately, sorry Yeah, that's what I figured. Thanks.
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Oct 28, 2013 12:20
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I have all the Silver Proof sets from 1999 to 2008 that included the State Quarters (plus an extra 04 or 05, can't remember). How much are they worth as a set and will they appreciate in value besides spot silver prices? I ordered these direct from the mint, and still have the outer packaging. No errors though.
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Oct 29, 2013 17:05
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Meydey posted:I have all the Silver Proof sets from 1999 to 2008 that included the State Quarters (plus an extra 04 or 05, can't remember). How much are they worth as a set and will they appreciate in value besides spot silver prices? About $500 as a set (on eBay, much less if sold to a dealer). They probably will appreciate in value a little bit over the years, even beyond silver fluctuations.
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Oct 29, 2013 20:04
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Ron Don Volante posted:About $500 as a set (on eBay, much less if sold to a dealer). They probably will appreciate in value a little bit over the years, even beyond silver fluctuations. Cool. I wish I had the foresight to order a few extra 1999 sets, oh well. As a side note, last year I found out that my 80 yr old father-in-law had some silver dollars in his closet. So, for Fathers day we snuck upstairs and found them in the buried in the back in an actual "Chock Full of Nuts" can. Exactly 37 Peace dollars and 2 Morgans, all in VF to AU. We slabbed them all in plastic holders, then mounted them in a binder for him. He was really surprised because he did not think they were worth much more than $1 each. He said that they got them from Vegas in the 50's from slots. I now officially have dibs on them, along with his table saw, lathe, and 50-year woodworker tool collection.
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Oct 29, 2013 21:36
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Meydey posted:I now officially have dibs on them, along with his table saw, lathe, and 50-year woodworker tool collection. This is a top tier set of Old Man Inheritance Items.
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Oct 30, 2013 00:21
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Meydey posted:Cool. I wish I had the foresight to order a few extra 1999 sets, oh well. That's a very sneaky way to get a coin collection... But very effective for the long term.
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Oct 30, 2013 01:07
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Lutha Mahtin posted:Old Man Inheritance Items. Out of 3 sons and 1 son-in-law, I see him about once a week, compared to them about once every few months. He needs help loading wood blocks on the lathe due to his eyesight, so I help him out. Plus I actively use/borrow his tools, which he appreciates because he hates to see them not get used. When he ordered his $3000 table saw, I was the only to offer my truck to pick it up at the freight dock. He bbqs steak all the time when I am over also. Lesson here kids: Help out old dudes with too much money to blow on tools.
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Oct 30, 2013 01:25
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This is kind of a weird question, but this seems like the only place for it. When I was visiting my parents, I was digging around in some of my old stuff and found a coin. I remember that my Dad got it on a trip to Ethiopia when I was a kid. On finding it I was puzzled because the coin is dated 1780, but I remembered him giving it to me and nothing being said of its age. As I'm sure any coin collectors have already guessed, the coin is actually one of the these and the date is certainly not accurate. So my question is, given that the date isn't true, is there actually any way to try and date these coins or determine their history? Are there differences that would tell you when and where they were struck? I am not particularly concerned about the value, I realize it's not high and I'm not likely to sell off a gift from my Dad, but I would like to find out more about it if that is possible.
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Oct 30, 2013 21:18
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Ashcans posted:This is kind of a weird question, but this seems like the only place for it. When I was visiting my parents, I was digging around in some of my old stuff and found a coin. I remember that my Dad got it on a trip to Ethiopia when I was a kid. On finding it I was puzzled because the coin is dated 1780, but I remembered him giving it to me and nothing being said of its age. There's absolutely a way to tell the difference. For many many years afterwards, they restruck the 1780 Maria Theresa Thaler, and many of the restrikes are rare and worth a fair bit of money. It would take some good high resolution, clear photos to get a positive identification since it can sometimes be minute details that differentiate them. Also, if the coin is extremely worn it may be harder to identify. I don't have any books that cover this subject, but if nobody else in this thread has one I could borrow one from a friend to look it up. Edit: For what it's worth, most 1780 Maria Theresa Thalers are fairly modern and plentiful and are not worth more than 25-50 dolllars. But just about any Maria Theresa Thaler is going to be worth at least 25 bucks. Jimmy James fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 31, 2013 14:48
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I have a ton of old US coins that my sister and I inherited from a relative. I'd love to find out how much they're all worth. It'll take a while to scan them all though, and might take over the thread a great deal. Ultimately, I'd like to find out which coins of the whole collection would be worth holding onto, and which it'd be okay to sell. She and I are both starting up projects where we could use the extra cash. Would it be best to contact you privately to appraise the rest? Here are the Morgan Silver Dollars at least, which I think are the ones that are worth the most of the collection. How much would these be worth?  
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Nov 1, 2013 22:49
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Those are all fairly common-date Morgan silver dollars. Each contains about 3/4th troy oz. of silver, so you've got $650 in silver alone. The average value of your Morgans is around $30 each, so $1170 for the set. A dealer's not going to offer you that much, but I'd shop them around at different coin shops and see who offers the most. If you sold them on eBay, you'd get closer to $1170 (minus eBay/Paypal 13% cut). Feel free to post all your coins in this thread. I certainly don't mind if I gets clogged up, and then you'll have the benefit of other opinions beside my own. It might not be necessary to scan everything though. As you can see from my appraisal of the Morgans, a lot of common-date coins have fairly standardized values.
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Nov 2, 2013 00:28
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Jimmy James posted:There's absolutely a way to tell the difference. For many many years afterwards, they restruck the 1780 Maria Theresa Thaler, and many of the restrikes are rare and worth a fair bit of money. It would take some good high resolution, clear photos to get a positive identification since it can sometimes be minute details that differentiate them. Also, if the coin is extremely worn it may be harder to identify. Thanks, this is interesting! I 100% expect that mine is a fairly modern and unremarkable example, unless my Dad happened to get really lucky buying one off some dude in Ethiopia. It seems to be in good condition, the lettering on the edge is still visible, and while it's a little worn you can still make out most details on the crest, etc. I do have some (hopefully decent) pictures of it, if that helps:    (these click through to larger versions)
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Nov 2, 2013 02:12
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Ron Don Volante posted:Those are all fairly common-date Morgan silver dollars. Each contains about 3/4th troy oz. of silver, so you've got $650 in silver alone. The average value of your Morgans is around $30 each, so $1170 for the set. A dealer's not going to offer you that much, but I'd shop them around at different coin shops and see who offers the most. If you sold them on eBay, you'd get closer to $1170 (minus eBay/Paypal 13% cut). Thanks a lot man. Here's the rest of the stuff, if there's anything you'd like to see photos of, let me know: Liberty Half Dollar: 1936 1937 1939 x2 1938 1940 1941 1942 x3 1944 Liberty Quarter Dollars: No Date x 6 Liberty Dollar: 1922 x3 1923 Barber Dime: 1916 Mercury Dime: 1917 1919 1923 1924 1925 1926 x2 1927 1934 1936 x4 1938 1939 x5 194? 1940 x5 1941 x18 1942 x21 1943 x17 1944 x26 1945 x24 Silver Dime: 1946 x3 1947 x5 1951 x3 1952 1953 1954 1956 x3 1957 1958 1959 x4 1961 1962 x3 1963 x6 1964 x16 Franklin Half Dollar: 1950 1951-S 1952 1957-D 1958-D 1958 Kennedy Half Dollar: 1967 1968-D x5 1971 x3 1971-D 1972 x2 1972-D x2 1973 x2 1974 x4 1976 (1776-1976) x4 1978-D 1983-P Wheat Penny: 191? (last digit unreadable)-S 1912-D 1918 1918-D 1923 1925-D 1928-S 1930-D 1942-S (I have a ton more wheat pennies, over a thousand, but these were the ones put aside as potentially worth more than the average one) Silver-Looking Wheat Pennies: 1937? (Can’t tell, could be just a very faded normal wheat penny) 1943 x8 1943-D x2 194? (Can’t tell what the hell it is, mostly faded) Susan B. Anthony Dollar: 1979 x14 Silver Quarters: 1935 1940 x2 1941 x3 1942 x6 1943 x4 1944 x6 1945 x7 1947 x4 1949 x2 1950 x3 1951 x3 1952 x4 1953 x5 1954 x2 1956 x3 1957 x3 1958 x4 1960 x2 1961 x7 1962 x6 1963 x4 1964 x20 1965 I also have hundreds of buffalo nickels, almost all of them without a date, maybe a few with dates. Here's a weird curiosity I have as well. I have no idea what it is, my guess is it's part of an old magic trick? It's two oversized pennies, one covered in some sort of red paint. Also in the picture are two subway tokens, do you have any idea if those are worth anything? 
codyclarke fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Nov 2, 2013 |
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Nov 2, 2013 02:32
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codyclarke posted:I also have hundreds of buffalo nickels, almost all of them without a date, maybe a few with dates. The year on those rub off incredibly easy because the year is like the highest part on the design. It happened even with normal circulation, so most buffalo nickels turn up that way. Of course, this means any without year aren't worth very much (almost nothing). If you had any with a visible year (even if only partially visible) you might do well to post the year/mintmark for those because there are certain year/variation combinations that can be valuable. I think 1937-D is a key date/mint combination, because the buffalo in that one only has 3 legs  . There are a few others, like 1918-D, but it's best to just post about what you can.edit: any with even a partial year will fetch a couple of bucks at least. Solanumai fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Nov 2, 2013 |
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Nov 2, 2013 07:20
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Shere posted:I love this thread and nickels so I want to help too! Will do, I'll go through em this weekend. Thanks!
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Nov 2, 2013 07:23
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It's actually only a very small number of the 1937-D's that are the valuable three-legged variety. codyclarke posted:Thanks a lot man. Here's the rest of the stuff, if there's anything you'd like to see photos of, let me know: I'll start out with what's not worth anything: The SBA dollars and the 1965 quarter (the U.S. switched from 90% silver to copper-nickel for quarters that year) and all the half dollars post-1970 (switched from silver-clad to copper-nickel that year). The dateless Buffalo nickels are maybe worth a quarter each. The silver-looking Wheat pennies are steel cents from 1943, when the Mint made a brief effort to conserve copper for the war. They're worth about a quarter each. The 1937 is just worn. All of the following values will depend on current silver prices and are for coins in typical circulated condition. Coins in better condition will be worth more. The 1967 and 1968 half dollars are worth about $3 ea. Franklin half dollars: $11 ea Walking Liberty half dollars: $12 ea. Be sure to check for a mintmark on the 1938, the 1938-D is worth a lot. Dateless Standing Liberty quarters: $4 ea Peace dollars (your 1922, 1923): $25 ea 1916 Barber dime: $3-4 Roosevelt dimes: $2 ea I've got to go somewhere right now but I'll edit this post with the rest later.
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Nov 4, 2013 03:24
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Ashcans posted:Thanks, this is interesting! I 100% expect that mine is a fairly modern and unremarkable example, unless my Dad happened to get really lucky buying one off some dude in Ethiopia. It seems to be in good condition, the lettering on the edge is still visible, and while it's a little worn you can still make out most details on the crest, etc. I do have some (hopefully decent) pictures of it, if that helps: From what I can tell, your Thaler is one of the more 'Modern' restrikes. A few indicators like the S.F., .X, crown, brooch, and tail feathers peg this thaler as being from Vienna or Rome in the early part of the 20th century. This is consistent with the provenance since those thalers would be the one's Italy had used/had made for their invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s. Yours is the most worn one I've seen before. That coupled with the fact that it's one of the more common types would prevent it from have much collector value. Even so, it's a historically interesting coin that is still worth 25-30 dollars. It's worth noting that this is a thaler that has been counterfeit many times, and the fake ones will often show up in tourist areas. Yours looks different from others I've seen, but it may be because of its wear or a cleaning at some point. I generally give coins the benefit of the doubt (unless they are ancients), but it would be at least worth checking the weight and diameter. An original, unworn thaler should weigh 28 grams. A worn, authentic one may weight a little less. Most forgeries are not silver or have a lower silver purity and weight 26g or less. You can rule out the vast majority of forgeries by just getting an accurate weight.
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Nov 4, 2013 16:10
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Thanks a lot, that is some great information! I'm not surprised that it is pretty unremarkable, though I might have had my fingers crossed for some antiques roadshow goldmine find. Even so, it's a cool piece of history and it's nice to have a little more idea about its background. I am pretty sure we have a good scale around here somewhere, so I'll weight it up and see if it's actually a tourist fake. I can't certainly see that being the case, as my Dad just got it for a kid and not as a part of a serious collecting activity.
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Nov 4, 2013 17:25
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codyclarke, here's the rest of your appraisal. All the values I've given are for coins in fairly typical condition, better-looking coins will be worth more. Let me know if you have any questions. Mercury Dime: No mintmarks? (By "E" of "ONE"). Without mintmarks, roughly $2-4 ea. Slightly more valuable mintmarks: 1917-D, 1919-D/S, 1923-S, 1924 D/S, 1925 D/S, 1926-D/S, 1927 D/S. Wheat Penny: 191? (last digit unreadable)-S 1912-D $4+ 1918 $1 1918-D $1 1923 $1 1925-D $2+ 1928-S $2+ 1930-D <$1 1942-S <$1 (I have a ton more wheat pennies, over a thousand, but these were the ones put aside as potentially worth more than the average one) 10-50 cents each Silver Quarters: $3-4 ea quote:Here's a weird curiosity I have as well. I have no idea what it is, my guess is it's part of an old magic trick? It's two oversized pennies, one covered in some sort of red paint. Also in the picture are two subway tokens, do you have any idea if those are worth anything? Looks like some sort of novelty item. Those two dates are a couple of the most valuable within the Wheat cent series. You might be able to get a buck each for the subway tokens, they're pretty common.
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Nov 6, 2013 04:38
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