The Gun Counter

My father-in-law (now in probably the middle stages of Alzheimer's) collected coins for decades, mostly from his pocket change but he also had some stuff he bought in the expectation that "it would be worth something someday". My mother-in-law asked my wife and I to liquidate it, so after several months of research we took everything to either a coin dealer or the bank and got folding-money for it.

We learned a few things along the way:

1) Proof sets. DO NOT under any circumstances buy these from the US Mint during the year of issue. He had several sets, the oldest being from 1963 and others from the 1970s and 1980s. He marked down what he paid for each, and in every case you can now buy them from the dealer for less than he paid for them from the mint. Mind you, he bought them with 1963-1987 dollars and would now buy them for 2017 dollars. In fact at the end of the year the MINT sells them for half the price they charge earlier in the year, just to clear out the warehouse to make room for the next year. Yes, they're worth more than face value, but far less than the Mint charges for them.

2) State quarters/Dollar coins/half-dollars: Except for certain years and mint marks where the coins are silver, these are worth face value. We took $930 worth of state quarters to the bank and converted them to paper money. Ditto a hundred worth of Eisenhower dollars, another hundred of Kennedy halves, and $125 worth of Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea's. The exception being the Morgan dollars, see below

3) Silver/Gold coins: These are pretty much based on the value of the metal in question, so they go up and down with the market. For actual spendable coins (like Morgan dollars or Mercury dimes) condition matters,but they're still worth over face value.

4) Pennies: Wheats from a dealer are worth a bit over double face value, everything else gets rolled and brought to the bank.

The whole thing with the Mint charging so much for proof sets kinda pissed me off. I collected stamps many moons ago, and you could go to the post office on the first day of issue and buy sheets of stamps if you wanted. You could stick one on an envelope and mail it to yourself, thereby having a first-day cover of the stamp (a stamp cancelled on the first day of issue). All for the cost of the stamp, no different than had you stuck it on your electric bill payment. It's almost as if the government said "Hey, there's some suckers out there!"

My Grandparents used to give us silver dollars as Christmas and Birthday presents. Sometimes one, sometimes as many as 10. It all depended on how the year was going.

I still have them all. I lean towards Morgans, though I did end up with a lot of Peace Dollars.

When I had a coin shop nearby, occasionally I'd add a Morgan of my own into the mix, often on a payday. When I worked in a large city's parking system I sent home handfuls of Kennedy halves containing some silver and more than a few Ben Franklin and Walking Liberty halves. I think St. Gauden's Double Eagle is probably the most beautiful coin ever minted, but the Walking Liberty Half is a close second for me. Finding one was always a special treat.

I also ended up with a lot of Proof Sets. Many of them are old enough that they were the "sealed in cellophane" type. They never did much for me because they never had any history attached to them. Get a couple of 1941 or before Indian Head pennies and it's entirely possible to reason that a paper announcing the attack at Pearl Harbor was bought with them. The sterile proof set? You know it just sat in a drawer all it's life.

I don't really know, or even really think about, what I'll do with all of it. Probably just hold onto it for another 30-40 years.

Steamforger wrote:My Grandparents used to give us silver dollars as Christmas and Birthday presents. Sometimes one, sometimes as many as 10. It all depended on how the year was going.

I still have them all. I lean towards Morgans, though I did end up with a lot of Peace Dollars.

When I had a coin shop nearby, occasionally I'd add a Morgan of my own into the mix, often on a payday. When I worked in a large city's parking system I sent home handfuls of Kennedy halves containing some silver and more than a few Ben Franklin and Walking Liberty halves. I think St. Gauden's Double Eagle is probably the most beautiful coin ever minted, but the Walking Liberty Half is a close second for me. Finding one was always a special treat.

I also ended up with a lot of Proof Sets. Many of them are old enough that they were the "sealed in cellophane" type. They never did much for me because they never had any history attached to them. Get a couple of 1941 or before Indian Head pennies and it's entirely possible to reason that a paper announcing the attack at Pearl Harbor was bought with them. The sterile proof set? You know it just sat in a drawer all it's life.

I don't really know, or even really think about, what I'll do with all of it. Probably just hold onto it for another 30-40 years.

The oldest coin he had was an 1861 penny, but it was in really rough shape so wasn't worth much, less than a dollar. He also had a one-once, $50 gold coin, by far the most valuable he had, but the family decided to hold on to that for the grandkids.

I get the sentimental value of the coins too, I have a Morgan (IIRC, haven't looked at it in years) in my jewelry box that my father wore on a belt buckle, and before that it was taped to my belly as a newborn to hold my navel in (seriously, you can still see where the tape was). That's not going anywhere. I also have a $2 bill my Dad carried folded up in his wallet as a good luck token, it was one of the newer ones with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back, also not going anywhere (he called it his whorehouse bill).

My wife got a little emotional as we left the coin dealer, thinking of the time and effort her Dad put into collecting all this stuff, thinking he was making an investment for the future.

MarkD wrote:I get the sentimental value of the coins too, I have a Morgan (IIRC, haven't looked at it in years) in my jewelry box that my father wore on a belt buckle, and before that it was taped to my belly as a newborn to hold my navel in (seriously, you can still see where the tape was).

Silver has effective anti-bacterial properties.

Weetabix wrote:

MarkD wrote:I get the sentimental value of the coins too, I have a Morgan (IIRC, haven't looked at it in years) in my jewelry box that my father wore on a belt buckle, and before that it was taped to my belly as a newborn to hold my navel in (seriously, you can still see where the tape was).

Silver has effective anti-bacterial properties.

Yup, part of the reason why church Communion chalices are silver (or at least silver plated).

Oh, regarding the quote above, you can still see where the tape was on the coin, not my belly.....