Expert: Brad Swain - 3/24/2010

Question
My father left my son his coin collection that he had accumulated over fifty years.  I'm sure it has some substantial value and there are thousands of coins.  We would like to see about cashing it in to help in the purchase of a home for my son but don't want to get taken advantage of in the process.  What is he best way to go about finding or having appraised a fairly substantial collection?

Answer
Hi Steven, If you start by listing them by Country, Denomination and Date that would be a first step at organizing what is there.
You might try a library for a copy of the Guidebook of United States Coins and Standard Catalog of World Coins for pictures, values and lots more interesting info.
U.S. coin prices for professionally graded coins: http://www.pcgs.com/prices/
and ungraded coins: http://www.bestcoin.com/united-states-coin-pricing-guide.htm .
Ungraded coins (raw) are worth less depending on amount of wear and collector demand.
World coin pictures and some values may be found here: http://worldcoingallery.com/index.htm ,
http://www.coinarchives.com/ , and http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis.jsp .
You might take some by a local coin shop for a first hand opinion: http://find.mapmuse.com/interest/coin_dealers .
You might try Ebay.com for similar pieces for comparison.
Brad