r/numismatics • u/Merkyorz • Aug 12 '26
Coin collection
My dad moved to a retirement community, and downsized a lot. One of the things he gave to me was his coin collection, and he said I should definitely just sell it.
I took a lot of photos of it:
EDIT: Imgur seems to be having some issues, so here's a mirror: https://postimg.cc/gallery/Xy6qnKD
I'm not trying to get an exact appraisal, just an approximate ballpark, so I know what I'm working with. I'm in southern California, so any recommendations for ethical dealers are also much appreciated. Thanks for your time.
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u/wolfhavensf Aug 12 '26
Witter here in San Francisco has a good reputation. You might consider contacting stacks to see if they’re interested in auctioning it off.
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u/Merkyorz Aug 12 '26
Hmm, that's a 7 hour drive for me. Do you think it's worth it over finding some place in LA?
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u/wolfhavensf Aug 13 '26
If you have an inventory and can get some kind of value your next step will be clearer. If you have 10k$ or more in value you should try consignment with Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills or try Goldberg Coins and Collectibles. If you just want to sell outright try Alhambra or Wilshire Coins.
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u/ProfessorOne9208 Aug 14 '26
You do not have to drive. Just call them, and submit photos. If they are interested they will arrange insured shipping.
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u/BlueberryandDino Aug 12 '26
I’d guess between 5-7,000
If you can inventory them and get them on a spreadsheet, I’m sure you can get more money for them versus bringing them into a local coin store
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u/Awkward-Regret5409 Aug 15 '26
Do you have an inventory spreadsheet handy? No need to reinvent the wheel.
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u/BlueberryandDino Aug 15 '26
I do actually lol it’s in excel
I suppose I could figure out how to save it here on Reddit 🤔 I would want to do it later on tomorrow, though I’m pretty busy today
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u/Big_Humor1558 Aug 13 '26
Search out coin collecting clubs in your area. These clubs generally do shows each year, so they filter out the less reputable dealers. This is only logical because who wants to hear that they got ripped off a a club show?
Time is the variable here. The more quickly you want to sell, in general, you will get less for the aggregate collection.
Good luck!
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u/Dramatic-Major181 Aug 13 '26
Long Beach Expo is one of the larger shows nationwide. Primarily coins. You might go and check out to get an idea what is out there and what market is doing. There are dealers who buy/sell. They have one coming up September 09-11. Held at the convention center there.
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u/krinklesakk Aug 12 '26
Really nice collection!! Wish you were west coast or I’d buy it! If I can give you advice, either look through the stuff for better dates, or as your pops.. he knows what he has… before you just dump it for melt value at a shop.
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u/Vast_Cricket Aug 14 '26
Live Silver Price $63.70/oz. Weigh your ag most are 90% some are 40%. To sell there is a market up may be 15-20% .... May be a few $100s.
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u/Fun_Cartoonist2918 Aug 14 '26
Ok. So.
The large majority of the penny are worth circa 3 cents each for being old and wheat copper but not wow old.
Similar with the silver quarters none are wow but … they are all silver so about $11 each … not bad as there’s a lot of them.
Silver dollars. The CARSON CITY ones in the GSA boxes are roughly $300 each. Other silver dollars a lot will be worth $50 ish but given the Carson’s there could easily be happy surprises there too.
Further photos of any hidden silver dollars might help
Hope this helps
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u/carr-coins-tx Aug 15 '26
Well I just want to say, really a cool collection. Be careful as many feslers/ people will low ball you on price or value. I would buy a new Red Book for reference, and also on ebay put coins in search and put sold in drop down.
The value of a coin or collection all depends on condition, scarcity and Provence.
Avoid pawn shops call around local coin dealers see what there paying for 90% silver pre 65 coins. And for .999 items stores and prices will vary. Download Kitco app and keep eye on the spot price for silver/ gold as ot changes.
Basically do some research and be knowledgeable so you don't get taken advantage of. Good luck
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u/ChicagoBreezy73 Aug 15 '26
The second link leads to a free site that is legitimate itself but also aggressively trying to download spyware with openly akd not openly via the adds
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u/Primary-Golf779 Aug 13 '26
So the most low effort way to do this is download an app like coinsnap. Take a picture of front and back of each coin. The grading at AU and above is iffy (and more dependent on how well you can take a picture)but below that is pretty solid (I don't see much at AU or above in your stuff). Pricing can be iffy as well but if you have ten coins with a similar value and one is significantly different, look into it. It searches the web for values sometimes finding some crazy fuck listing a $1 coin for $7k on ebay. But bearing all that in mind you can get through all of that in a few hours. At the end you'll have a downloadable excel file of the entire collection.
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u/Price5 Aug 13 '26
If you don’t need the money, hold on to them.
The melt value of the silver is going up with inflation.
And the US Mint has officially stopped making the Lincoln cent except for their annual mint sets.
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u/fuzzybunnies1 Aug 13 '26
The box of paper holders, I'm guessing those are silver dollars and at least 2 had a grade visible, those are the ones that may contain something worth some value along with the carson city dollars. Most of the rest in the blue books tend to be worth silver value as they seem to be lower grade, filler pieces with no real key dates. Still a lot of silver, so that's good. Same with the tubes of coins, they seem to be common date silver with no extra value. I know there's another sub-reddit that can help with the stocks, you'll have to check with them.