Where do I start?

[Guest oppala]

Hi,

I have inherited a considerable coin collection. Thousands of mainly British coins. Unfortuantely there does not seem to be any order to the collection. Boxes and bags of each denominaion of coin, from Farthing to Half Crwon. A few in display pouches, others just grouped in bags.

To be honest, I'm no coin collector. I'm a collector of other things that I doubt would interest anyone here, but I certainly do not wish to start another with coins. I know nothing about coins, but a brief sojourn around internet sites reveals sets for sale and some specific coins being valued at a few 100 pounds.

So, where to start? How do I bring some order to this so that I can present it for best potential? And where best to sell it?

Should I clean the coins? One hears of various methods, but I get the impression that coins are preferred in their natural state.

Many thanks for your kind advice.

Mike

[Hussulo]

Hi,

I have inherited a considerable coin collection. Thousands of mainly British coins. Unfortuantely there does not seem to be any order to the collection. Boxes and bags of each denominaion of coin, from Farthing to Half Crwon. A few in display pouches, others just grouped in bags.

To be honest, I'm no coin collector. I'm a collector of other things that I doubt would interest anyone here, but I certainly do not wish to start another with coins. I know nothing about coins, but a brief sojourn around internet sites reveals sets for sale and some specific coins being valued at a few 100 pounds.

So, where to start? How do I bring some order to this so that I can present it for best potential? And where best to sell it?

Should I clean the coins? One hears of various methods, but I get the impression that coins are preferred in their natural state.

Many thanks for your kind advice.

Mike

Hi Mike.

First thing first DONT clean the coins.

It all depends on how much time and interest you have. You could buy books research the coins and look at auction archives to see what some fetched plus compare your grade to theirs, but if your looking for a quick sale or an honest valuation you could let a trusted dealer look at them for you.

You could try and auction them but most auction houses only want the better stuff. You could take pictures of them and list them on an on-line auction site but all this takes time. Most dealers will offer a price for the lot and not just pick the best and leave you with the rest.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Chris the owner of this site along with a couple of other members/dealers whom frequent this site.

[Guest oppala]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

If anyone knew Eric Harvey of Bury St. Edmunds (passed away Apr08), it is his collection I have inherited. I do not want to do this collection any dis-service so am prepared to sort through to some extent.

First off, the 12-sided threepence piece makes up about 20% of this collection. Mostly bagged in their hundreds. Are there any of special interest? Anything I should look out for?

Mike

[Guest oppala]

Also, perhaps I should have posted this in the Beginners area. Apologies. If a moderator believes this should be moved, please do so.

Thanks again.

Mike

[scott]

1946 and 1949

also edward VIII

any shiny ones, too, any date those are worth £1 or 2 depending how good they are.

[1949threepence]

Hi,

I have inherited a considerable coin collection. Thousands of mainly British coins. Unfortuantely there does not seem to be any order to the collection. Boxes and bags of each denominaion of coin, from Farthing to Half Crwon. A few in display pouches, others just grouped in bags.

To be honest, I'm no coin collector. I'm a collector of other things that I doubt would interest anyone here, but I certainly do not wish to start another with coins. I know nothing about coins, but a brief sojourn around internet sites reveals sets for sale and some specific coins being valued at a few 100 pounds.

So, where to start? How do I bring some order to this so that I can present it for best potential? And where best to sell it?

Should I clean the coins? One hears of various methods, but I get the impression that coins are preferred in their natural state.

Many thanks for your kind advice.

Mike

First try and sort each denomination out into year order. If there is more than one coin for any given year, try outsorting what looks to be the best one. I'm not sure what you know about grading and value of coins, but there is an excellent book advertised on this site. But if you want a link, try googling http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html. He gives some excellent advice.

As others have said, do not attempt to clean coins. It is an art. Definitely avoid using brasso or silvo, as that will damage the coin beyond repair, and silverdip is not recommended either.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

If anyone knew Eric Harvey of Bury St. Edmunds (passed away Apr08), it is his collection I have inherited. I do not want to do this collection any dis-service so am prepared to sort through to some extent.

First off, the 12-sided threepence piece makes up about 20% of this collection. Mostly bagged in their hundreds. Are there any of special interest? Anything I should look out for?

Mike

Definitely the 1946 & 1949. Also 1950 & 1951 are quite scarce. If any of them have any original mint lustre still on them, they will definitely be worth something.

[Peckris]

What you do about this depends entirely on how much energy, interest and time you have. As a former small-time dealer who spent hours and hours going through auction lots, I have to tell you that what this collections SOUNDS like (purely on your description of it) is the kind of typical accumulation we would all curse having to sort through 'just in case'... and there never was, of course.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time etc, you could do worse than place it in the hands of a REPUTABLE dealer or auction house, and the place to find one is in the pages of Coin News, a monthly magazine on sale in WH Smith.

This is not to say that the accumulation is worthless of course - if any of those 3d bits are in high grade they are worth a bob or two, and there are a few rare dates too. It's just that serious collectors collect, they don't accumulate in bags and boxes, so I would not guess (and it's only a guess of course) that yours is worth a great deal.

So, don't get your hopes up, buy a copy of Coin News, and take it from there.