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Knowing what you have before you walk into a coin shop
A practical pre-visit checklist: sort melt from collector coins, spot junk silver, write down dates you care about, and lower the odds of a nasty surprise at the counter.
You do not need to become a professional grader before you visit a shop. You do need a basic map of what is in the bag. Walking in blind is how people feel blindsided when common coins get common prices. Ten minutes of sorting at the kitchen table is worth more than an hour of angry Googling afterward.
Sort into piles first
- Modern bullion: American Silver Eagles, gold eagles/buffalos, maple leafs, bars with clear hallmarks
- Junk / constitutional silver: pre-1965 U.S. dimes, quarters, halves (90% silver); war nickels are a special case
- Numismatic / “maybe special”: older dates, mint marks, proofs, slabs, error claims, foreign silver
- Jewelry and scrap: chains, broken class rings, dental gold — separate from coins
- Copper and clad: post-1964 regular change, most modern memorial cents — usually face or scrap copper at best
If you cannot tell 90% silver from clad, look at the edge of a quarter: a solid silver edge is a clue; a copper sandwich stripe is clad. Shops will confirm on the scale and with magnets/tests when needed.
Write down the pieces you think are special
Date, mint mark, and any grade on a slab label. Take clear photos in normal light. This is not so you can “catch” the dealer. It is so you remember what you walked in with, and so you can ask a focused question: “What about the 1909-S VDB?” instead of “Aren’t these all rare?”
Cleaned coins and “I polished them for you”
Please do not scrub coins with silver polish, baking soda, or a wire brush to “make them pretty.” Cleaning usually destroys collector value. Dealers see it instantly. If coins are already cleaned, do not pretend they are original. Honesty saves the relationship and the quote goes faster.
Documents that help
- Old invoices or auction slips if you have them
- Slab certification numbers (PCGS/NGC) you can verify on the grader’s site
- A simple inventory list for large estates
You do not need a lawyer’s binder for a handful of eagles. For a relative’s safe-deposit box, a list prevents “I thought there were two gold coins” arguments later in the family.
A realistic goal for the visit
Your goal is not to extract retail-from-a-book prices. Your goal is an honest wholesale offer you understand. If three shops in your area quote in the same neighborhood, that neighborhood is the market. If one quote is wildly higher, ask why — and whether it is contingent on cherry-picking only the good coins.
Related: Red Book vs dealer buy prices and pricing and value at a shop.
When you truly do not know
That is allowed. Say “I do not know what these are — can you walk me through the piles?” A decent shop will. You will learn more in fifteen honest minutes than in three hours of random short videos. Take notes. Ask which pieces, if any, deserve a second look from a specialist or a grading service. Most will not. A few might. Knowing the difference is the whole game.
And if the shop is dismissive or refuses to explain anything in plain English, you can leave. Preparation is for your clarity, not so a bad shop gets a free pass.
When you sort the bag, remember old ≠ rare — pull by date+mint and condition, not by “it looks antique.”
When you sort: find the mint mark, then check wheat / Buffalo / Morgan pull lists.