Discovered My Grandfathers Coin Collection

[Avago]

Discovered My Grandfather's Coin Collection

Hey TNet, thought I should share a story. I was visiting the parents a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I had taken up coin collecting as a hobby. I showed them eight silver dimes that I found in some old loose change that I accrued with my grandfather. They said he might have put them in there on purpose since he was a coin collector himself. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2008 before we got a chance to share in the hobby together... we were very close when I was growing up.

My parents then mentioned that his old coin collection has been sitting in the basement for the past five years and they had no idea what he had. Wanting to spend some time with his collection, I waited until this past weekend when I was home again for Thanksgiving with my girlfriend to really sit down and look through what he had. He had a lot.

First of all, he had Whitman books, but I could tell that they were OLD Whitman books. For example, his Franklin half dollar Whitman book listed an open ended mint date range, 1948- ?, which meant that he had been doing the collecting before the Franklins were discontinued in 1963. I was able to determine that he did the bulk of his collecting between 1955-1961 with additional purchases up through the 1980s. It was really a pleasure to make this connection with him, even after his passing, and to know that coin collecting is in my blood!

I've compiled a list of everything below for your enjoyment. I haven't had a chance to take pictures, but hopefully I'll be able to document everything in photos around Christmas and will share everything here!

Edit: Pictures are posted on the next page.

Whitman Folders

Indian Head Cents 1856 - 1909 > Started
Lincoln Cents 1909 - 1940 > Nearly complete
Lincoln Cents 1941 - ? > Complete (unsure of end date)

Liberty Head Nickel 1883 - 1913 > Started
Buffalo Nickel 1913 - 1938 > Nearly complete
Jefferson Nickel 1938 - ? > Started (unsure of end date)

Barber Dime 1892 - 1916 > Started
Mercury Dime 1916 - 1945 > Nearly complete
Roosevelt Dime 1946 - ? > Nearly complete (unsure of end date)

Barber Quarter 1892 - 1905 > Two out of set
Barber Quarter 1906 - 1916 > Two out of set
Standing Liberty Quarter 1916 - 1930 > Started
(2) Washington Quarter 1932 - 1945 > One complete set, one started
(2) Washington Quarter 1946 - ? > One complete set, one started (unsure of end date)

Barber Half Dollar 1892 - 1903 > One out of set
Barber Half Dollar 1904 - 1915 > Three out of set
Walking Liberty Half Dollar 1916 - 1936 > Nearly complete
Walking Liberty Half Dollar 1937 - 1947 > Missing one for set
Franklin Half Dollar 1948 - ? > Nearly complete, up through 1959

Wayte Raymond

Jefferson Nickel Album 1938 - 1958 > Complete

Proof Sets

Sealed Box, 5-Coin (Philadelphia)
(1) 1954 (Square box)

Sealed Envelope, 5-Coin (Philadelphia)
(5) 1955
(8) 1956
(1) 1957
(6) 1958
(6) 1959
(22) 1961
(8) 1964

1971-S Eisenhower Silver Proof Dollar in box
1972-S Eisenhower Silver Proof Dollar in box
1976 Bicentennial Silver Uncirculated Set

1986 5-Coin Proof Set
1986 Prestige Set w/box & COA
(2) 1987 5-Coin Proof Set
1987 P & D Uncirculated Sets
1987 Prestige Set w/box & COA
1988 5-Coin Proof Set
1990 5-Coin Proof Set
1991 5-Coin Proof Set

American Silver Eagles

(2) 1986 American Silver Eagle Proofs w/box & COA
1987 American Silver Eagle Proof w/box & COA
1988 American Silver Eagle Proof w/box & COA


As a photo teaser, he also had lots of random foreign, including these Canadian silver quarters and dimes:

 

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[maine_Jim]

Nice circulation collected collection. Very nice.

Maine_Jim

 

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[Dozer D]

The second folder of wheats have a lot of extremely good coins with luster. Suggest Not to get rid of them, but keep them with hopes to fill the holes. In my own collection of cents, I still have key holes to fill. Good job.

 

[NHBandit]

My advice if you plan to keep them is to get them out of those old albums and into Dansco albums or something more modern. I have been collecting for many years and recently inherited my moms older albums like those you show. Alot of the coins were discolored on the reverse from the chemicals used back when those albums were popular. On the flip side it dosn't make sense with the lesser value collections to keep $10 worth of coins in a $30 album.

 

[maine_Jim]

If you are looking for some dansco albums go to your local gold/silver buyer and you will often find very inexpensive used albums. It might take a few visits but let them know what you are looking for and they will probably have them in a few weeks. I usually pay $2 or $3 a piece for them.

Maine_Jim

 

[Avago]

Thanks for the notes guys. I might pull a few of the lower mintage coins like the ones mentioned above for grading.

As for the albums, that's certainly a good idea. Those coins have probably been in those albums for 50+ years so who knows what the reverses look like. I'll hit up my LCS and see if any of them have some sitting around.

Glad everyone liked them!

 

[Avago]

Here is a nice and thorough appraisal from BuffaloBoy, greatly appreciated my friend!

With the indian head collection, nothing stands out, but check out the 1908 & 1909 cents for the "S" mintmark below the "one cent" on the reverse.
-With the Lincoln cents, the 1909 vdb is worth a good $8+ the 1909-S is probably worth at least $40, and any 1909-1915 mintmarked cent is worth a couple bucks each. Also, the ones with strong hairlines on Lincoln are of a higher grade, keep that in mind. Some of the 1942 and newer wheat cents are absolutely beautiful, on some years they might be worth upwards of $10.
-Unfortunately there is nothing special in the V nickel set, but they are neat coins. The "rarer" ones in that set would be the 1883 with cents and 1912d, only worth $5 or so each.
-Ironically with the buffalo nickels, I am not too familiar with them, but maybe a quick completed listing search on ebay would give you a general idea on what each year and mintmark are selling for in similar condition.
-The Jefferson nickel set: those war nickels are very nice, worth probably $5 each. Everything is there! the key date, 1950d is nice! the 1938d, 1938s, 1939d, 1939s are semi-key dates also worth a couple bucks each.
-the mercury dimes: the 1921 is worth a good $40+, the 1926s might be worth $10, its hard to tell the condition of it with the glare, it might be worth closer to $20. Nice set, I want to work on one myself.
-The Roosevelt dime set: starting from 1954, the coins actually are not dirty at all, that is tarnish. Some collectors like that, don't clean them. the 1955p d & s dimes are the rarer of the series, but not worth much over melt. Pretty coins.
-Onto the barber quarters. I would love to see closeups of the obverse and reverse of the 1914, that coin has the potential to be worth $50+, it looks dirty but appears to have some very nice detail.
-there were no special coins in the standing liberty quarters, but in the Washington set, the ones worth money are as follows:
1932d- i'd say you could get $100+ for it
1932-S- i'd say you could get $100+ as well. Some of the later uncirculated specimens (1950's era) might get $10+ to the right collector.
-onto the barber halves: nothing really caught my attention.
the walking liberty halves:
1916d (obverse mintmark) is probably worth $30+
both 1917 obverse mintmarks will get at least $15 a piece.
the 1919d might be worth a little over melt.
The 1921 half is probably worth at least $100
BUT the 1921d is worth closer to $275+

The Wayte Raymond coin album is unique, I've never seen one before, but the coins inside are nice. to the right collector you could probably fetch $150+.