Coin 'Collection'

[Lukie]

Are there by chance any resident FTR coin experts out there?

Over the years I seem to have accumulated a massive coin collection. I had put 'collection' in quotes because it's really not an organized collection, just lots and lots of coins that I have dumped into a tool box for the last 15 years or so.

I shouldn't say that. I have routinely used quarters to pick up a $1 coffee at mcdonalds and other similar uses. There is still a seemingly neverending supply of them though, and hundreds of dollars worth of quarters alone as a conservative estimate and more dimes/nickels/pennies than I know what to do with. There are also the occasional random canadian coins, Susan B Athonys, gold $1 coins, half/full dollars, and arcade and batting cage tokens.

I'd like to cash all this in. Is there anything particularly valuable that I should be on the lookout for? e.g. specific coins/years/etc.

Also what is the best way to go about it? I know there are coinstar things but those take a certain % and I'd rather not do that unless it gets me some useful voucher to a place I would shop at anyway (without paying a fee)

What would be the protocol of taking all of this to a bank? Should I phone ahead of time so I don't surprise them with a backpack full of metal?

Thanks ahead of time for any useful advice or funny jokes posted.

[Pascal]

No idea how it works other side of the pond but here we get coin bags

http://www.polypostalpackaging.co.uk...oin%20Bags.JPG

[Lukie]

never seen anything like that over here

[KoRnholio]

I am assuming mostly American coins? Go to coinflation.com

Pre-1965 dimes/quarters/halfs/dollars are silver and are worth a good amount of face value. 1965-1970 half dollars are a low % silver content, worth a bit over face value.

By the sounds of it, everything else will be modern/non-silver stuff worth just face value. Including Susan B Anthony dollars and "gold" (aka brass plated) dollars.

Pick out any silver. Roll the rest of the bigger stuff (quarters+) yourself. Coinstar the rest.

[KoRnholio]

And if you come across any odd very old (1930s or earlier) world coin, you can take pictures and post them on this board for assistance:

coincommunity.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=7

[Lukie]

Thanks Kornholio... that is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The vast majority of coins are American with most/all of the rest being Canadian.

Do you know of any common US coins that might have some value for reasons other than metal... like that wouldn't be covered on the coinflation site? For example, a friend claimed that some of the earlier states in the recent US states/territories quarter collection could have some value, a claim which seemed a little dubious considering they were mass produced within the last decade or so.

[NightGizmo]

Pick out any silver. Roll the rest of the bigger stuff (quarters+) yourself. Coinstar the rest.

You don't need to roll quarters yourself, and definitely don't use coinstar. Just bring all of the normal coins to a bank, the tellers have a machine similar to coinstar in the back except they don't charge you a % (assuming you have open accounts at that bank).

[KoRnholio]

You're welcome. Coin collecting is kinda my thing

There are of course some circulation issue coins with collectible value. But for the most part it's only certain rare dates from the 1930s and earlier. There are a few exceptions, but State Quarters aren't one of them.

To be honest it probably isn't +$EV to spend the time to look. But if you're at all interested in coin collecting, it won't cost you anything but some time to look up some of the more interesting/older ones.

[mrhappy333]

You can use coinstar and not pay any commission if you get a gift card at any of the participating retailers.
for example; I had a 5 gallon water bottle filled with misc coins and got $975 USD at LOWES.
Also I once filled a coffee can full of just quarters and then counted it out and it was approx $200 USD

[Lukie]

I kind of lost motivation in seeking out specific coins after a short while. I separated the coins into piles of quarters/dimes/nickels/pennies/other. Basically if something looked like a typical quarter, dime, nickel, or penny I just threw it into the respective pile. I did examine the occasional old looking penny and found some 1950s and I think a 1940s one but nothing too special.

Only thing that really stood out was a 1906 dime: http://cointrackers.com/coins/255/1906-barber-dime/

.. though it seems kind of worn a bit and doesn't show quite as much detail.

Ended up with approximately 21 pounds or roughly 1680 quarters.

lots of pennies/nickels/dimes too but those piles aren't nearly as impressive.

[Lukie]

This dime is pretty cool actually. I'm going to start paying more attention to coins from now on. It's just pretty damn exhausting trying to go through a few thousand of them at once.

[Lukie]

Oh and I had to wash my hands like 3 times to get all that damn filth off them and they still smell like giant quarters.

[KoRnholio]

The 1906 barber dime is a pretty cool find Sounds well worn so you haven't struck it rich or anything, but worth a few dollars most likely.

I find coin collecting am amusing hobby. Although digging through change like you did is like the trench warfare of the hobby. Tedious and the rewards generally aren't very good. But it won't cost you much or any money.

There are plenty of affordable collectible coins out there though with much less work needed to get them! Ebay is a good place to get started on low value stuff. There are probably local coin shops and shows around as well that could be a good way to learn and find some cool pieces.

Plenty of books on the subject and there are a number of forums as well. Coincommunity is pretty good for newbies/novices to get up to speed and learn the pitfalls of the hobby.

Welcome to the rabbit hole

Shoot me a pm if you'd like and we can hook up on gchat/msn.

[boost]

Just looked through the dozen coins sitting on my desk because of this thread. Three were struck before I was born. That's pretty cool.

At the Chicago Art Institute, there was a collection of coins dating back thousands of years. Each coin had a good paragraph or two next to it. We don't really think much of coins and the people on them nowadays, but back then, the style in which the person was depicted, the symbolism on the reverse, etc-- these things were displays of power, effective propaganda, and so on.

[KoRnholio]

Ancient coins are definitely interesting. After a good decade of collecting primarily Canadian coins, I've shifted over to primarily ancients myself.

Roman coins make up the bulk of ancient coins, but Greek and other kingdoms are also readily available and for the most part very reasonably priced.

The most common small bronze Roman coins of the 3rd-5th centuries will cost around $5-10 each in average condition. The most common silver coins of the same period, as low as $20.

Roman - Gordian III AD241-243 AR (silver) Antoninanius (double denarius) for $40



There are of course a number of rarer and/or ridiculously well preserved ancient coins worth hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. The nice thing about coin collecting is that you can do it on any budget.

I'll post some of my own pieces in this thread soon

[mrhappy333]

How does a 1906 Dime stay in circulation so long? It's pretty amazing that it did not get picked up sooner.

[Lukie]

How does a 1906 Dime stay in circulation so long? It's pretty amazing that it did not get picked up sooner.

Good question... I don't know. Maybe someone had it set aside then mistakenly used it? I'm curious if that topic ever comes up in the coin community... why you might find a coin like that in circulation.

I was just in a stretch where I was picking up dimes and noticed one that felt and looked a little odd, dated 1906, and looked it up on google.

[Lukie]

see my location

[MadMojoMonkey]

It's probably too late, but you can easily find silver coins as you sort them out by the sound they make when they clink on something. It's distinctly different than modern coins.

[mrhappy333]

When I cashed in my 5 gallon water jug, I went through ahead of time and picked all the old ones out also.
I must have missed one because the coinstar machine spit out an old dime that was all silver.

[ISillyDurrrAK]

Reminds me this:

[KoRnholio]

Here's a few random pieces from my collection that may be interesting to you non-collectors

1874 Canada silver 5 cents (uncirculated)


A rare error coin. A 1999 Canadian nickel struck on a planchet (the piece of metal prepared to be struck as a coin) intended to be used for penny. Canadian pennies of this date were made of zinc with copper plating. The grey areas on this coin are where the copper plating peeled away as the smaller penny planchet was stretched during striking to the size of a nickel.




Great Britain 1825 1 shilling coin, King George IV



USA 1942 "Mercury" silver dime. Colorfully toned (aka tarnished with attractive color)



Thailand/Siam area, 1600s-1800s "Tiger Tongue" silver ingot. It's not known for sure how the raised bumps were created on these bars. One theory/wive's tale says that as the silver ingot was cooling, live ants were sprinkled on top.

[Lukie]

Those are pretty cool pieces. The 1999 error canadian nickel almost makes you wonder if that was done intentionally with the idea of selling it :P

The other day I went to the store and with my extra 6 cents on a $18.94 tab I picked up a bahamas penny. not worth anything for sure but in my entire life I don't think I have ever gotten anything except maybe 99% US pennies and 1% Canadian pennies.

so which of those pieces is this most valuable? I would guess this silver ingot followed by the 1825 1 shilling coin.

[KoRnholio]

Those are pretty cool pieces. The 1999 error canadian nickel almost makes you wonder if that was done intentionally with the idea of selling it :P

The market for error coins is riddled with people saying that certain errors could have been "back door jobs" (done intentionally and smuggled out). But for the most part they're all legitimate pieces that slipped by quality control. Given that the Royal Canadian Mint made over 1 billion pennies in 1999, there will be some "oops" pieces that made it past QC.

There are a lot of common errors in American coins, due mostly to the fact that they are minting hundreds of billions of coins and their QC is much more lax. Coins struck way off-center are quite common, especially pennies. Here's one with a retail value of $10.


http://goldenislescoin.com/mint-erro...r-lincoln-cent

so which of those pieces is this most valuable? I would guess this silver ingot followed by the 1825 1 shilling coin.

The uncirculated 1874 5 cent piece by quite a bit. The 5 cent on 1 cent planchet error and Uncirculated British shilling are about the same, tied for 2nd most valuable. The 1942 USA dime has value, because it is nearly flawless (very high grade), but less than the others. The Thai tiger tongue is actually the least valuable piece out of those I posted.

Mostly it's about supply and demand. Not a lot of demand for Thai pieces, despite the fact that they're uber cool The uncirculated 1874 5 cent has a high value due to the fact that not many were minted to begin with (800,000) and there are very, very few around that didn't get at least a little bit worn due to circulation.

[WillburForce]

Some mofo gave me an old 6 pence (old Brit currency) instead of a 5p coin on my van the other day.

I googled it and its worth £1.

Also found out Brian May uses them instead of plectrums. So I've added it to my pick collection.

Winner winner chicken dinner

[boost]

Some mofo gave me an old 6 pence (old Brit currency) instead of a 5p coin on my van the other day.

I googled it and its worth £1.

Also found out Brian May uses them instead of plectrums. So I've added it to my pick collection.

Winner winner chicken dinner

what the fuck are you talking about.

[WillburForce]

what the fuck are you talking about.

Lol - I thought it made perfect sense.

six-pence coins are old currency here in UK. Same size as a 5p coin (still in use). Someone bought some food off me and in the change they gave me was a six-pence.

I noticed later it wasn't a 5p and saw it was from 1957 so Googled it. It is worth £1 (200% more) than the 5p to coin collectors.

I also saw that Brian May (rock god guitarist of Queen) uses one of these coins instead of a plectrum/pick.

SOOOOOOOOO therefore winner winner chicken dinner (an expression in England for win win)!

Got it? Lol

[Luco]

Made perfect sense to me, he rogers the boogaley

[BennyLaRue]

Blimey