Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 5/15/2006

Question
hi im very new at coin collecting and i have a lot of old coins. my question is who or where would i bring my coins to to find out the value  

Answer
Hello, Darious, that's a good quesion.  You could find a local dealer with a shop and go in there to get some leads.   Or if there is coin show in your area you could go there and see a number of dealers.  You can get an idea on any given coin, for example, by going to www.ebay.com and doing a search for that coin.  For example if you have an 1871 Indian cent, search for "1871 Indian cent."  You have to know the condition -- but there should be a picture there to compare to.  There are guide books with price lists and magazines with price lists (the magazines are more up to date) -- you should be able to find some by finding Numismatic News's website or Coin World's (do a search at www.google.com to find them).

Good luck with your collection.  In the meantime, please don't do anything to try to improve the condition of any of your pieces (like cleaning or rubbing them), anything you do will be noticed and will detract from the pieces and from the value.  Jim Lawniczak