mrmikeinga Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Hello I have a 5 gallon water jug that is about 95% full of coins that I have been putting in there for the last 12-15 years, probably longer. I want to get the coins counted to see how much money there is but I also want to be able to look for any rare/valuable or silver coins that would be worth more than face value. I would think that during these years of throwing coins in a jug I must have stumbled upon one or two rare/valuable coins. So my questions are (1) is there a place that can count my coins but also sort our any silver coins and find rare/valuable coins? I am not a coin collector so I do not know what’s available. (2) Would I be better off buying a coin counter/sorter providing they are not too expensive (under $200)? (3) Is there any coin counter/sorter that can determine if a coin is silver and if a coin is before a certain date? (4) Or, would I have to go through all my coins by hand and visually see which ones might be rare or valuable? (5) Is there a list available that I can reference as far as what coins would be worth more than their face value as I went through the coins visually? Thanks you. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabnoles Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 In short, I think the fair answer would be to say "no." If you are talking about American coins, any dime, quarter, 50 cent piece or dollar coin dated from 1964 or sooner is 90% silver. Any half dollar dated from 1965 to 1970 is 40% silver and war nickels from 1942 to 1945 are 35% silver. The only way to effectively weed out or sort out silvers vs. non-silvers would be good old fashioned finger work sorting through the coins. If you are talking about foreign coins, there are a number of sites out there including ngccoin.com that you could consult that would help you but again this would required finger work on your end. You sir have a lot of work in front of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 On dimes and quarters, just stack them up and look at the edges. The silver ones don't have the copper core and stick out quite readily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjp Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Our local coin shop has a coin counter and will run them thru it for a fee. He could count and sort them for you. I guess you could get them back. You would have to look thru them for any silver. And I hear the coin star machines will kick out the silver coins for some reason. I have found one silver dime from them. But you will not get them back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 If you really care just my the $2 folders to hold coins and save the nicest of each date. This can be used as a reference collection to search for the rare coins. Best of all it's a lot of fun to fill them. There are more rare coins in circulation than ever before because people aren't looking for them and haven't in half a century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmikeinga Posted December 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 Thank you everone who responded. I've been traveling and haven't been able to get on this site until today but I wanted thank you for the ideas. I was trying to avoid a lot work but looks like I can't avoid all of it. I know what I'll be doing this holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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