Any serious numismatists (coin collectors) here?
 

I bought some Franklin Halves around 1979 when a savings bond from Grandma matured for $179. At the time I was really into collecting coins and I still find myself checking my change for pre-65 silver stuff. But otherwise, I couldn't care less anymore. I bought these coins at the Ed Hipps Gallery in Dallas when I was eight. I don't think I have the receipts anymore, but they were called BU or brilliant uncirculated at the time and have been in a nice display book ever since. Of course, now there are a few new grading systems, so BU doesn't mean much anymore. I've seen some MS65 grade stuff on eBay that looks way worse than my coins. So I need to figure out how to go about getting these professionally graded. Is it a big process that costs $$ or do you walk in, they eyeball it, maybe with a loupe and give you a grade? What to do with this?

How many do you have?

Just for fun, you could put them in a small box, and ship them to a lady Hollywood movie star whom you like, a lady who is not in a relationship right now. Maybe Kim Basinger or Sally Field or Kathy Bates? Those "homes of the stars" companies might have their street addresses. Then sit back and see what happens. She might show up on your doorstep. :)

NOT Jack Nicholson or Nick Nolte, for obvious reasons...

_

Not "serious" but been playing around. A lot of the coin value depends on year and which mint. And BU is is now divided into various mint state (MS).

For comparison. There is a 1962 Proof on Amazon for $14 plus shipping.

As a kid I was way into coin collecting. I thought the rare and valuable coins we just there waiting to be found. In the early to mid 60s silver coins were still in circulation. I used a lot of my lunch money to swap a new regular quarter for a silver quarter. As I got older I finally discovered that most coins just never get very valuable. They are worth mostly the silver content and not much more. Uncirculated and proof coins have not really done much better. Only those rare coins that are already in some collection are really valuable above face value.

Anyone wanna buy a stamp collection? : )

If you want a good estimate on their grade, take them to a pawn shop and see how they grade them. A good shop will have the knowledge to grade them correctly and will be up front with you about the grade they are giving you. There are a few books out there that give some insight as to how to grade coins also. Then you can do a little research and see the value based on that grade. If the value is high, then I would think of sending them off to be graded for insurance and resale purposes.

I am serious about the English 1707 penny that I have mislaid(temporarily lost). It is hard to believe that I have something over 300 years old in my possession.....
Anything of value like that has to stay in my possession. I do not trust others with items like this even for value purposes.

Is it your precious?

I've dabbled in coins.
Old silver coins have some intrinsic value.....but others are just old.
I got over 130 bucks for a 1810 half in nice shape.......that made it semi-rare in my book.

Sure, I have a couple uncirculated 1878 S dollars that have some premium attached, but if I sent them out to have them graded the return would not be sufficent.....they made millions of em'.

All Ferraris are not GTOs or F250s.

email sent

Hey...many thanks for these old coins...they still get comments. :)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1360608841.jpg

Glad you like em' and others appreciate em'. One of your better ideas...... like Mustangs.:D

Old coins are kinda neat.....but just old....like us'n.

Any serious numismatist wouldn't need to have "coin collector" spelled out in the subject.

Not a serious collector, but gave a relative a collection of 1c, 2c, 3c, etc. coins a while back.
Yes, those denominations once existed.

That's how the rest of us learn new things! Noo MISS ma tist! Try it, it's fun to say!