Inherited coins

[Daniel]

The MS64 Morgan Dollar in PCGS and NGC holders retail for $140, the common date $20 gold Liberty in PCGS or NGC holder average $2,000 retail give or take.
You can email me a list and I can do a ballpark appraisal of your coins. I own a coin shop so I do this for a living.

Also, you can search ebay sold auctions and get an idea on how much they sell for. Also here's my video on appraising coins.

[muswell65]

Stand-up offer from the man who runs this site. I'd take him up on it...

[Earle42]

The reason I first was amazed to find Daniel's channel is b/c Daniel I quickly learned Daniel is an honest man/dealer who will do you right. Watch some of his videos. It is very rare indeed to find a dealer who will tell you what he pays for coins and what he will put them up for sale for. He does this many times in his videos. I highly doubt you can do better than doing business with him.

[gmwatson]

Jamkit,

I'm new to the group, but I'm going to chime in anyway with a few steps I'd pursue right from the start.

That said, my comments are provided given your noting 'I know very little about the subject' so if I state the obvious or you already know of what I'm conveying, understand I'm trying to cover the basics as if you truly know little on how to operate with potentially valuable coins. And given the couple photos provided, chances are you may have a number of valuable coins so using a good approach to tackling the effort is important.

Step 1: Before anything, learn how to handle any 'loose" coins prior to doing so. When picking up a coin, hold the coin by the outside rim between your fingers. Do not pick up or hold any of the coins by placing the front face (known as the obverse) or back face (known as the reverse) between your fingers. The primary determining factor for the grading of a coin is its condition and fingerprints and oil from your skin can be left on a coin. This typically can be detrimental to achieving an optimum grade on a coin and can actually damage a coin if not addressed when handling as such.

Step 2: If you haven't done so already, I'd be getting a safe deposit box or safe (my preference) and getting all the coins in a secured location from here on out. I wouldn't be storing coins in a tool box, cardboard box, etc., etc.. If your father has collected any gold, better date coinage, etc... (the list could be endless), you may have a sizable sum of money (value) rolled up in this collection. And the last thing you want is to take the approach it can't be stolen because it can. Not to say it will, but don't approach the handling of the collection with a cavalier attitude. It may be a group of family heirlooms, but it's really no different than a pile of cash so treat as such. It should be in your pocket, in the bank or in a safe ... your choice.

Step 3: Once secured, you should probably begin to inventory the coins. You might purchase a 2022 Whitman Red Book for referencing coin types, dates, mint marks, grades and values. I'd then produce a comprehensive list noting as many of the preceding details you can discern for each coin (ex. 1878 (date) Morgan $1 (type), D (mint mark), MS63 (grade), $... (value). If you choose to purchase a Red Book, study it a little and you'll see how the book is organized and where these details can be referenced. The typical organization is structured to be read vertically (coin type, coin date and coin mint mark) and then horizontally (coin grade & coin value). The coins that are encapsulated in slabs should provide you all pertinent information to determining a coins value. For those coins not encapsulated, you should be able to discern the majority of detail information as noted, but you will need to be able to find the mint mark location on the coin and will also need to be able to grade such coins. One task relative easy, the other not so much. If you have a Red Book, it will typically show you where to find any mint marks should the coin have any. This information being listed under the coin type sections. Now for the tougher part if you're not familiar with grading coins. For this task, I think Daniel has a section within CoinHelpU that shows photos of coin types and the associated grades given a coins condition. You can also access a similar product put out by PCGS. It's called PCGS Photograde and can be accessed online.

I'd organize the list similar to the following:

Morgan Dollars: (Coin Type)
1878 (Year) / D (Mint Mark if it has one. Not all coins do. Many coins minted in Philadelphia do not) / MS63 (Grade) / $... (value). If it were I, I'd organize these items as columns in a spreadsheet so you might give that some thought if you can handle spreadsheets.
1879 (Year) ... and so on listing specific coins under the appropriate 'coin type' heading. This will help you when looking up values associated with each as the Red Book is so organized.

And finally as relates to producing an inventory and pricing. FYI, the Red Book can be a bit inflated when it comes to the valuing of your coins. There are other website resources such as the CoinHelpU mintstate.com, PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service), CDN (Coin Dealers Newsletter), Numsidmedia, etc... that can be referenced for pricing based upon grade. For the sake of pulling together your initial pricing, I'd just use the pricing associated with the Red Book, just know know that the total will generally need to be discounted by some percentage.

Step 4: At this point, I'd try to get a few recommendations as to reputable, honest dealers in your area that could provide you with an appraisal. You could also seek an appraisal by a more regional firm not in your area, but your local coin dealer should be able to get you in the ballpark when valuing your father's collection. So at this point you should have your itemized inventory list, a general idea of value for the collection and hopefully a better understanding of the various details that essentially derive the valuing of each coin. If you have this, you'll be well on your way to being an informed care taker of your father's collection.

Step 5: And finally, you'll have to determine what will ultimately be deemed the disposition of the collection. This can take on a number of approaches such as keeping for future generations, distribution to other heirs, selling through auction, selling to a coin dealer, selling on online venues, etc... This whole step is almost a whole list in and of itself as it requires some understanding of the value added/work requirement of each. When at this point, it may be beneficial to revisit the forum for some more help on the subject.

As noted originally, this would be my take so use as you deem of value. And good luck to you ... hopefully this is of some help.

M

[Daniel]

All great advice. In the event you don't have a local dealer or don't feel like dragging all this out of your house just yet. My email is portsmouthcoinsshop@gmail.com. All I need is a list by denomination with date, mint and grade of the coins. I will tell you the retail and what dealers might offer you If you're thinking in selling. If not, then you would still gain much insight.

[Matthudson]

Register as a user on Heritage Auctions' website. Ha.com. One of the neat features is that you can create a "My Collection" section and enter all your coins there to see them in one place. You get the wholesale and retail prices for each one. And it's free.

[BrettS.]

I will leave this 2019 Redbook (Not totally current prices, but close!) here for you temporarily to do a quick lookup but this link will only work for a few days: