Expert: Joe Hylas - 3/4/2006

Question
Joe

Hi,  I have a collection of mercury dimes and  silver quarters.  Im thinking about selling them

My questions to you is as follows,  

1. How can I get the most money for these coins,
  who should I sell them to,  how do I know
  Im getting a good deal

2.  Since the price of silver is up, should I   sell them as silver, and again How do I know how much they are worth,  how do I compare worth as a coin to worth as silver

3. Is there a place on the web where I can get up to date coin values


4.  Finally,  I have tons of pennies and would hate to count them all,  is there an inexpensive counting machine thats is worth buying

Thanks

Ken  

Answer
HI Ken,
We'll start with the counting of pennies.  There are plastic tubes that hold exactly 50 pennies to make it easy to count, but then they must be put in paper wrappers for a bank to take.  Machines that count and wrap are VERY expensive.  My suggestion is to find a "coinstar" machine at a local supermarket.  They are all over the Northeast and from what I understand, nationwide.  I believe they take a 10% commission, but it's so easy it's worth it.
As for the dimes and quarters, they key date coins, (Dimes: 1916-D, 1921, 1921-D and the 1942 overdates.  Quarters 32-D and 32-S) are always worth more and simply checking eBay will tell you what they trade for now.  The other coins, unless they are MINT condition traditionally trade for their silver content which now is about 6.5 times the face value.

Regards
Joe Hylas