Inherited Foreign Coin Collection - Best place to research?

Hello:

I have just inherited a modest coin collection (maybe 10 pounds) of coins that appear to be from European and West Asian countries that are primarily from the mid-1900s (40s-60s). I have never collected coins before (I am a sportscard collector), and most of the coins are fairly obscure (at least to me as a non-collector). I have found a few of the coins/sets in Ebay sold, but the bulk of them have no current listings/sales (probably because they are 60+ year old foreign coins). Outside of gold and silver coins, do vintage foreign coins typically have much demand, or that primarily limited to US coins? This is not an offer to sell, but I am wondering where experienced collectors would advise someone in my position to go to get an idea of what is potentially valuable and what is borderline junk-metal. Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

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https://en.numista.com/forum/topic95262.html
First Welcome to CT
The link above is a link to a very well known web site on world coins. A lot of information can be obtained there.

Next I guess this depends if you have or will have an interest in collecting with the start you have or the information needed to determine value.
I definitely would research and sort the copper,NC,and silver coins .

Google is your friend...as well advanced searchable database on ebay as to finished sales.

 

If there are any low mintage coins they may be more valuable. Use the website @Paddy54 posted above to find out.

For the most part though it sounds like they are pretty common coins. You can post a picture and we can let you know though.

 

Nowadays just about every coin has at least a few eBay listings but from the time period you mentioned a lot of them are likely common with no practical individual value. The most obvious exception is silver coins. Do you think it's an actual collection or just an accumulation from traveling? If it's the latter it's less likely to have value. If you could take a few photos showing a large group but close enough to ID them we could tell you quickly if it's worth your time or not.

 

We can also help you in ID'ing where they're from if they are written in a language you can't decipher. Some of us here, myself included, can read more than one language.

 

Hello Scott,
All the ways of identification mentioned above are great. You might also want to consider looking for a used Krause-Mishler Foreign catalogue. They are sometimes found on eBay and although not up to the latest value, date wise, do let you know the mintage, metal content, and scarcity.
j.T.

 

Thanks for all of the responses. I really appreciate it. I was reluctant to post a bunch of pictures and ask for specific help, but since a few have already offered in the thread, I would be more than happy to snap a few shots and see if there is any wheat among the chaff. As for starting a coin collection, I find keeping up with one collection (vintage sportscards) more than a full time hobby for me. The dream would be to discover some hidden gems in the coin box and find somebody willing to trade a quality card or two for them so that I would have something I DO collect as a way to remember my grandfather. I will post some photos later today. Thanks to everyone.

 

Be prepared for some smart-ass comments though, and take it in good humor

 

OK, bracing for the "The collection is worth $60 . . . to the local sanitation department." At least I discovered a couple of Morgan dollars and some other US coins that I feel competent to research and think have some value, so already better for the effort.

Here is a link to my Flickr acct. album where I have taken eight photos which covers most of what was in the box. I understand that it is a bit of a hodge-podge and no way to specifically identify specific rare coins, but it would be helpful to know if I would be digging through a pile that has a 10% chance of netting some winners or an 80% chance.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/192026382@N05/albums/72177720305082600/with/52615526931/

If links are not allowed and/or there is a preferred method of posting the pictures, please let me know.

Thanks again for the offers of help!

 

Definitely not junk. There is enough silver and slightly better stuff that I think you could definitely add a nice piece to your card collection. I didn’t see any wow pieces, but I went through pretty quickly. I go through collections for people and large amounts of coins pretty often and it’s usually pretty quick, but as @Hiddendragon stated, time is not your friend if you are not used to doing such things. Looking up every coin or even 30-40 of these coins would be time consuming and not really gain you a great deal of extra money.

 

Well, a bit hard to make out the detail but from what I think I can make out look to be a diverse collection of mostly circulated material with some base silver seen but very hard to make out all of the countries and dates. They look to be essentially circulation issues and very similar to those I got in Europe and the Middle East in the Mid- to late 60s....Generally more of an accumulation it looks.

 

If you want to go that route, I can tell you basically what I do. The first thing I always do when I get a group like this is separate the silver/PMs from the rest. If you want to look those up, you can get a general idea of somewhat of a floor value. From there, it’s a question of pricing the easy stuff (proof/mint sets, specific singles, etc.), then moving to the less obvious coins.

 

You have better coins than I expected based on how you described it. The fact that they're in 2x2s indicates your dad was a collector. It might be hard to find someone to trade for sports cards with but you probably have a few hundred dollars worth at least. Foreign coins are harder to get fair value for because most U.S. collectors like U.S. stuff, but there are some of us out there. It means though that if you take it to a coin shop you won't get the real value. If you want to sell the best option might be one big eBay auction with good pictures. Do an auction and have it ending on Sunday night.

 

As mentioned above, find an older, used Krause or try to find the Krause catalogues on-line. It will give you a general idea, but demand for "vintage, mid 20th century coins is not high unless silver.

 

Ideally you might be located within a few miles of any number of members here who might help
I do that for friends and neighbors a couple times a year
Where are you located? Just the city