Suppose you have to deal with a bunch of old coins that, well, look old: dirty, tarnished, etc. Should you do anything at all to clean them up (non-abrasive, obviously), or would an appraiser/collector just want them the way they are now?
Suppose you have to deal with a bunch of old coins that, well, look old: dirty, tarnished, etc. Should you do anything at all to clean them up (non-abrasive, obviously), or would an appraiser/collector just want them the way they are now?
Absolutely do NOT do anything to clean the coins. Leave exactly as they are.
Edit: And if I was getting an appraisal on a collection, I would consult at least three different, reputable dealers.
Thanks, that's kind of what I thought. Asking multiple sources is good advice too.
The coin world goes nuts for patina, and hates cleaned coins. Do not clean them, you can loose almost all the value when you do that.
Be aware that any coins (except nickels and pennies) minted prior to 1965 contain a percentage of silver, and are worth well over ten times face value, based upon silver content alone.
I am not a collector but I have taken a bunch of coin classes and worked coin collection theft cases.
If you want to get a fair idea of values you can look at NGC or PCGS online for values. The grades run from 0-70 with higher being better. I am guessing that the grading of the coins in question will be pretty low which does affect their value.
I was actually kind of wondering the same thing. My grandfather was a bit of a coin collector. His collection was left to me after he passed. It's been sitting in a box in my house for nearly 20 years now and I've never known what to do with them. I'm not really into coins, but I have no clue what they're worth or if I should just hold them and pass them down to one of my kids. It's a large assortment, ranging from US coins over the past 130+ years, and very old coins from foreign countries...Germany, Russia, etc... They're just taking up space, but I can't figure out what to do with them.
Keep 'em. They can really only get more valuable over time.
EastCoastMojo wrote: Keep 'em. They can really only get more valuable over time.
On the other hand, if you keep them, they have no real value to a non collector. They are valuable only when sold. If you need the money, well....
One thing I would add- find as many places to sell them as possible. Seems like they commonly show up at pawn shops. May be a fast way to get a buck, but if you can find the people they sell to, you can probably make a lot more money.
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