Toshgirl

Hello Gentlemen (sorry if any ladies are reading this) I seem to have inherited a bit of a nightmare from my late Father, who was very interested in all types of coins, albeit just on a hobby/future investment basis. Could you please give me some little pointers as to what my best course of action would be? There are numerous proof Silver Coins, things like New Zealand 1978 Silver Dollar, Western Samoa 1978 1 Tala Commonwealth Games, Isle of Man 1977 1 Crown Silver Jubilee, Jamaica Proof 5 Dollar 1972 Mintage 4,332 etc etc, too many to list and send you all off to sleep. Would I be better off trying to sell on the dreaded Ebay or just sell for scrap value??? Also there are tins/bags of the old 1d, halfpenny, 3d, 2 shillings, half crowns etc. Not to mention loads of foreign coins dating from around 1850 and a coin dated 17?? I just look at all this array of coins and want to scream! I just dont know where to start sorting them out.......or is it even worth it? The reason I say that is because I have just been informed by a company of stamp auctioners that his whole collection costing him hundreds and hundreds of pounds is virtually worthless, and I fear the same route for the coins! There are also a few Kruggerands, Long Gold Set and 1/2 Rand sets which I suspect are just for selling direct to a Dealer or scrap?? I hope you don't think I have got a cheek joining your forum to ask for advice, but I just don't know who to ask for an unbiased opinion. Thank you in advance for your help. Toshgirl

Last attempt..... one side of the coin only.....see if that works! No it doesn't....file size is 2.43 mb so I give up. Haven't a clue how to resize. I am not normally a defeatist, but I have had enough today. Thanks anyway x

Yoo-hoo lol....back again.....forgot to press the attach button. Huff puff....will try again! I'm not laughing now. This is my third attempt. Click browse. Click on photo. Click open. Then click attach......nothing! I am grumpy now!

Yoo-hoo lol....back again.....forgot to press the attach button. Huff puff....will try again!

Wher-hey I'm shocked the battery wasn't flat! These are just quick photos. Hope they turn out alright. The coin looks a bit dirty in close up. I am pretty sure it just needs washing, as my Mum wore it quite a lot. So I am hoping its just general dirt!

I can try and upload later. Think the camera battery is flat as I haven't used it for......er....about a year! My main question, if its possible to answer is, is it gold.....or silver coated with gold? I checked the ebay links by the way, but there seems to be both. Gold and gold coated silver. From a laymans point of view thats pretty dam confusing lol. Thanks x

Hi.....the mad woman is back already! I have just found a coin on a pendant chain. I have tried to look it up myself, but feel slightly confused by what I have read. Its a 1972 Cayman Islands Elizabeth II Gold looking coin. On the reverse it says Silver Wedding Anniversary 1947 ~ 1972. 25 Dollars. I keep reading things like, Silver Gold coin! Does it mean its a Silver coin with just a gold coating? As I am trying to separate gold from silver at the moment, I am not sure what category this coin falls into. Any ideas please? Thanks Toshgirl x

every time I look at the clock, I think......nooooooo it can't be that time already!The German gun sight weighs an absolute ton, but like you say if someone on eBay is genuinely interested, especially abroad, they probably won't mind paying postage. I have an old photo of the ship to go with it. Ebay does worry me a bit though, because if you have no idea of somethings worth you could end up selling it for say 99p, and if you put a value in, then no one seems too bid for it. I must confess I don't understand this whole eBay thing at times. I put a virtually brand new Panasonic Laser Fax Copier on eBay a while back. It cost me £400 so I thought £100 selling price was a bargain, but not one single bid. Unyet others on there the same thing are for sale for much more I will be reporting for work Tuesday morning by the way. Thanks again

Hello Debbie and thanks for your kind reply. Sadly I have no one to pass anything onto, which is one reason why I thought I had better sell them. The other reason being that I could do with a cash injection due to loosing my job a few years back, not being able to get another job, and funds running out! (61 now, so no one wants me!) I just feel so upset for my dear Dads memory. He spent so much time pouring over stamps and coins, with the belief what he had would be a good investment for the future. I have about 50 of the those dam commemorative silver coins! I know there is bullion value in them, but all the hype about limited mintage and future worth just makes me sad that he believed in it all. I will probably try putting them on eBay at bullion value and see what happens. (As suggested on here) Upon reflection I am just going to sit calmly with all the bags of 1d, 3d, two sillings, half crowns and a multitude of foreign coins and sort them into some sort of order. I will also buy the book suggested on this forum.....but won't embarrass myself with trying to grade them. I will judge them all just as well used. Safest way probably. With all the disasterous commemorative commonwealth stamps, even though I need the money, I am going to buy something in his memory rather than just use it for an electric bill or whatever. At least all his efforts will mean something then. I think my Dad was a bit of a magpie lol. I have heaven knows how many "first day of print" national newspapers,(all worthless I am told) a gold printed edition of the Daily Mail 1945,(also worthless) match box lids, cigarette cards and even a "gun sight" from the old German Warship the Hippa.(What do I do with that????) Bless him, he has left me with a bit of a headache. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TAKEN THE TIME AND EFFORT TO POST SUGGESTIONS TO ME. I HAVE APPRECIATED ALL OF YOUR IMPUT, AND SORRY IF I HAVE RAMBLED ON A BIT......BUT THEN I AM A WOMAN, SO I AM ALLOWED LOL. THANK YOU X.

Thanks for the offer. I will sit down and see what American one's there are. I think I have got to stop screaming about these coins, and just calmly sift through them. I will be back! Thanks again.

Ha ha....what a clever old sausage you are......thats exactly the coin I've got!!! Now tell me its worth nothing!! lol

Thanks to all of you for your replies xx. I will look on Amazon for that book, at least its a starting point! I think that coin is possibly Russian. Regarding my dear Dad's lists, bless him.....they go something like this: 1875 A EF Y37 1930 A EF+1 Y2 1974 Good. He knew what he meant, but to me it means nothing. I had hoped the lists related to the respective tins, but sadly not! Like I said, headache headache. Think I could do with a break in the Lakes! lol. Kind Regards Toshgirl

Hello Clive.......Thank you also for your reply, much appreciated. I am in silly old Suffolk, also fairly near the Essex Border, ie Colchester. I do feel like screaming, as I just feel so helpless and clueless. I did sit on the floor the other day and try to sort out 1 Tin of coins. I tried putting them into countries for starters, but gave up totally frustrated as I just dont know what I am supposed to be looking for......if anything! I have got a bag of around 50 maybe more of Halfpennies.......but???? what do I look for/do with them? Arrrrrrrrhhhhhhhh Just to give you an example, I am looking at a silver coloured coin(about the size of a old half crown) with CC CP OANH Py6n6? on the front and 1870-1970 and a mans head on the back. Er??? Another brown metal coin that looks a bit like Britannia on the front (very worn) say Britan NIA on one side and what looks like GEORGIVS III REX. The date is badly worn but could be 1775??? I need some Anadin quick! I could still be sitting here this time next year trying to figure some of these out! Thanks again ~ Toshgirl

First of all, don't worry, we're a friendly lot around here and won't bite! Second, do look up bullion price of gold and silver, as that should be a guide as to what the metal value is of your dad's coins. A dealer won't pay you full whack of course (needs his profit), but if you work on a "Can you pay me 66% of bullion value?" that would be reasonable. Any Englsih silver coin dated 1946 or earlier has actual silver in - 50% to be precise. Before 1920, it's sterling silver, i.e. 92.5%. So any of those old halfcrowns, florins, etc, are worth their bullion value according to date. If it's any consolation, coins have steadily increased in popularity compared to stamps, which have fallen dramatically out of favour (hence the auctioneers' comment). Coins however always have an intrinsic metal value, but you need to know what the metal is. Most of the proof commemoratives are not worth a great deal, often just bullion value. As for the older predecimal coins, and foreign, it depends on condition and rarity. It doesn't sound like there's much there, but you could try sounding out a dealer (depends where you live, but there are coin fairs in York, the Midlands and London are the biggest). Selling individual low value items on eBay would take more of your time than would prove worth it, unless there is an item of great rarity. There are a few dealers on this forum. They might be willing to help out. Good luck. Hi......and thanks for your prompt and helpful reply. I think I have got to "fast track" myself into the coin world haven't I? I know this is probably an emotional female type of approach, but my Dad loved his collection so much and spent hours sorting and writing all the grades down etc; I feel I owe it to him to try and do his collection some justice. (Unlike the disasterous stamp collection)Its just knowing where to start really. After the stamp nightmare I can see totally where you are coming from regarding the Proof Commemoratives. I have got boxes and boxes of the dam things, but I suppose the saving grace is that they are genuine 1oz Silver....well I hope so! When I see adverts now for commemorative stuff for the Olympic Games it just makes me cringe. I feel really upset for my Dad, I suppose he was just gullable like a lot of us. I just find it so difficult having no idea of values, as to where to start. I have had a quick look on Ebay, but I am sorry to say I don't particularly trust the site after buying my one and only thing off there, which turned out to be fake! So knowing my luck I would probably only get bid 99p for something worth loads more! Ah well, the headache continues! Thank you so much for your reply. It is much appreciated. Toshgirl