How Do I Learn How Much Your Coins Worth?

This basic information will be beneficial to persons who want to learn about the grading standards published by the American Numismatic Association (A.N.A.).

We can't evaluate your coins over the telephone because we can't see them. However, you can go a long way toward evaluating your own coins using methods described in this section. The official book shown on the left is the basis for grading and assessing coin values. There is a similar book published in most countries of the world.

Since you may not have a powerful magnifying lens or microscope normally used during a formal value assessment, still, as a home collector you might use a digital camera and color printer to greatly enlarge and print color copies of your coins. This is a way to exagerate any of the flaws or perfections that your coins may have. The coins on the left side of this page were chosen to illustrate the types of factors that influence the value of your coins.

There Are 70 Grades For Your Coins:

There are 70 grades of quality that can be assigned to any coin plus additional annotations that produce a final statement of quality. Formal written assessments, however, do not hold true for all time. Written assessments are sometimes required for purposes of insurance, wills, and various buying or selling situations. However, over time, a coin may take on the color of other coins that might surround it - copper coins can impart false colors to nearby coins for example, and inconsiderate handling in storage bags can produce changes that could require periodic new written appraisals.

What determines the value of your coins today? The price of gold or silver has almost no influence. There are three primary factors: 1) How scarce is the coin? 2) What price is listed in the monthly price lists in the Numismatic magazines and grading sheets available to coin dealers? 3) What's the quality of your coin? Within a single coin like the Peace Silver Dollars pictured to the left on this page, the selling price may vary from $10 to $1,500.

For your own reassurance regarding the coins you own, consider bringing them to one of our coin stores for a free evaluation (we may offer to buy them) or to any other coin store of your choice. When vacationing and travelling through the mid-west, bring your coins and stop by to visit either of our stores one hour West of Chicago.

Regarding scarcity of a coin, consider how this factor changes over time. The US mint, for example struck a finite number of these Silver Peace Dollars between 1921 and 1935. The price on this coin in perfect mint condition may have been (for example) $400 in 1975 given its scaracity at that time. But new coin collectors enter the scene every day, initiating their new collections.

Some of these new-comers are collecting Silver Peace Dollars - causing it to gradually become more rare every passing year. Being more difficult to obtain, it will gradually be listed at ever higher prices. Therefore the value of popular coins tends to increase gradually over time. If everyone stopped collecting at the same time, values would diminish to nothing because value depends on public demand and coin popularity.

Fortunately rare coins and currencies are understood to be long-term investments, tangible, and capable of being passed via wills and trusts on to family or friends. Like a savings account, a collection can easily be cashed out at any time. Our Fox Valley Coin stores are in a buying mode most of the time. Visit or call us to describe your collection and arrange to bring it in for expert evaluation.

The Appriasal Process Continued (Page 2)