Franklin Mint "History of US" - More valuble as a bulky unopened set, or not?

My grandfather left me his collection of Franklin Mint "History of the US" bronze coins. They're 200 coins, this series runs 1776-1976 (the coins aren't from 1776, they just depict historic events in this range). He has the unopened display cases, and all the coins are still in the mailing envelopes he got them in. The envelopes are open, but the coins and their containers are unopened, and the cases holding the coins (in the containers) are unopened as well.

I'm planning to sell this collection on eBay, but I don't want to decrease the coins' value by opening them up. However, if I open them up, they're really bulky. Should I throw away the unopened containers? What about the smaller case holding the coins? I would like to know if anyone has any advice about this, I don't want to accidentally devalue my grandfather's collection. I'm sadly completely ignorant about coin collecting and anything you can tell me would help me out.

Thank you!

 

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Surprise to see that nobody has answered your question here. Welcome to CT!! The coins that the Franklin Mint made are not in the same class as US coinage or any kind of coins except what they were made to represent. I know that some of the FM stuff is collectible but I don't know off hand which ones are worth top dollar. Someone from this forum will come by and give you more information. good luck

 

Unfortunately, most of the medals produced and sold by the Franklin Mint were overpriced at the outset, and you may never recover the full cost that your grandfather invested in this set. Since you plan to sell them, I wouldn't put the time and effort into sorting through all of them to separate each individual medal from the packaging. At the same time, I don't see the point in putting the time and effort into trying to sell them separately on eBay. My suggestion would be to list the entire lot as one item on eBay taking only enough time to check your grandfather's records so you can list what each medal represents. Take a few photos of the entire lot and maybe some close-ups of a couple of the medals. Run the auction on eBay for about a week and let the chips fall where they may. After all, you don't have anything invested in it other than memories of your grandfather.

Chris

 

I would second Chris's recommendation. Usually even the silver issues from the Franklin mint are only worth the melt value of the metal (Which is a shame because much of it is really well done and quite attractive.). The collector base for Franklin mint material is very small.

 

Collectors of this material may be more inclined to buy the set if you can prove it's all there and let them assemble it once they receive it at their home.

Since most collector coins from the US Mint come with what collectors call COA's (Certificate of Authenticity) it would only make sense to include everything that originally came with the set from the Franklin Mint.

Good luck

 

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