Coin time again - this time have Mercury Dime set 1916 - 1945

[dmcowen674]

Hey folks

I'm becoming a regular coin person.

Now came across a Mercury Dime set 1916 to 1945

It is missing 4 coins:

1921 D
1942 Two over one
1942 D Two over one
1945 Micro S

How do I get this set graded?

Any ideas on it's value?

Thanks again

Edit: One coin looks like worth $600 1916D

Mercury coin search

Set that is missing coins that this set has:

1916-1945 Mercury Dime Set

 

[Taggart]

how many dimes do you have?

take that number and multiply by $0.10

 

[Glavinsolo]

Originally posted by: Taggart
how many dimes do you have?

take that number and multiply by $0.10

You are a #6 according to pclstyle

 

[Taggart]

Originally posted by: Glavinsolo

Originally posted by: Taggart
how many dimes do you have?

take that number and multiply by $0.10

You are a #6 according to pclstyle

that may be true, but I'm actually mocking dmcowen because he subjected ATOT to his stupid eleventy-billion dollar Turkish coin thread

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Taggart

Originally posted by: Glavinsolo

Originally posted by: Taggart
how many dimes do you have?

take that number and multiply by $0.10

You are a #6 according to pclstyle

that may be true, but I'm actually mocking dmcowen because he subjected ATOT to his stupid eleventy-billion dollar Turkish coin thread

What if they turned out to be the coins worth $650,000???

Anyway searches so far turn up things like $600 for the 1916 D coin that is in the collection.

That's just one of the coins of the set.

 

[kranky]

Grading is relatively easy. Get a copy of "A guide book of US coins" by R.S. Yeoman from your local library (has a red cover, informally called the "Red Book"). It's issued every year, but for grading purposes it won't matter if you have the latest edition or a five-year-old one. It will describe the charactistics of each grade for your Mercury dimes. Even as a novice, you can get pretty close. Then you can use the price information to give you an idea of what the coins are worth. The prices in the Red Book are retail, so what you could sell them for is going to be less.

At a minimum, your dimes are worth about 7x face value just for silver content. But a few are worth more than the minimum. Figure that just about any coin listed in the Red Book at $3 or less is going to be worth only the silver value.

The 1921 is a good one, and of course the 1916-D is the king. HOWEVER: the 1916-D is one of the most counterfeited/altered coins there are. It is very likely that the coin is a fake. There are more FAKE 1916-D dimes than there are genuine ones. Can you post a good closeup of the mintmark ("D") on the back? This page might help you determine whether it's authentic or not.

 

[Sukhoi]

What's the difference between the Red Book and the Black Book?

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: kranky
Grading is relatively easy. Get a copy of "A guide book of US coins" by R.S. Yeoman from your local library (has a red cover, informally called the "Red Book"). It's issued every year, but for grading purposes it won't matter if you have the latest edition of a five-year-old one. It will describe the charactistics of each grade for your Mercury dimes. Even as a novice, you can get pretty close. Then you can use the price information to give you an idea of what the coins are worth. The prices in the Red Book are retail, so what you could sell them for is going to be less.

At a minimum, your dimes are worth about 7x face value just for silver content. But a few are worth more than the minimum. Figure that just about any coin listed in the Red Book at $3 or less is going to be worth only the silver value.

The 1921 is a good one, and of course the 1916-D is the king. HOWEVER: the 1916-D is one of the most counterfeited/altered coins there are. It is very likely that the coin is a fake. There are more FAKE 1916-D dimes than there are genuine ones. Can you post a good closeup of the mintmark ("D") on the back? This page might help you determine whether it's authentic or not.

Wouldn't that be his luck...

 

[gigapet]

i have some british coins some as old as 1885.....probably not worth anything tho.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
What's the difference between the Red Book and the Black Book?

The Red Book is the generally accepted reference. The Black Book is put out by a different company and tries to compete with the Red Book. It's OK, but not as complete.

I should mention that these books come out in the summer of the year PRIOR to the year on the cover. (The 2007 Red Book has just been issued.) So prices are always outdated, but still can be used as a ballpark figure for many coins, circulated Mercury dimes included.

Also, for low-value coins you can't expect dealers to pay a percentage of the retail value listed in the Red Book. Not many people are in the market for worn Mercury dimes. So if the Red Book says the coin is worth $3, a coin dealer is going to think, "How long will I end up holding this dime before someone buys it?" and the answer will be "A long time." So they might only offer 70 cents, knowing the silver content makes it easy to sell for that. Now if you have a $100 coin that is fairly popular, the dealer might offer $70. There's not a great deal of interest in cheap coins.

If that 1916-D appears to be real, then you MUST get it authenticated by a company like PCGS or NGC. Once you do that, you'll have no trouble getting a very good offer. If you don't, the dealer is going to wonder if the coin is authentic or not, since so many 1916-D dimes are faked. And that's going to translate into a very low offer, or maybe none at all.

You can get coins authenticated by NGC or PCGS through many coin dealers. If you don't know of any, PM me with an idea where you live and I'll recommend one for you.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
What's the difference between the Red Book and the Black Book?

The Red Book is the generally accepted reference. The Black Book is put out by a different company and tries to compete with the Red Book. It's OK, but not as complete.

I should mention that these books come out in the summer of the year PRIOR to the year on the cover. (The 2007 Red Book has just been issued.) So prices are always outdated, but still can be used as a ballpark figure for many coins, circulated Mercury dimes included.

Also, for low-value coins you can't expect dealers to pay a percentage of the retail value listed in the Red Book. Not many people are in the market for worn Mercury dimes. So if the Red Book says the coin is worth $3, a coin dealer is going to think, "How long will I end up holding this dime before someone buys it?" and the answer will be "A long time." So they might only offer 70 cents, knowing the silver content makes it easy to sell for that. Now if you have a $100 coin that is fairly popular, the dealer might offer $70. There's not a great deal of interest in cheap coins.

If that 1916-D appears to be real, then you MUST get it authenticated by a company like PCGS or NGC. Once you do that, you'll have no trouble getting a very good offer. If you don't, the dealer is going to wonder if the coin is authentic or not, since so many 1916-D dimes are faked. And that's going to translate into a very low offer, or maybe none at all.

You can get coins authenticated by NGC or PCGS through many coin dealers. If you don't know of any, PM me with an idea where you live and I'll recommend one for you.

I didn't know that. Back when I was in middle school I used to collect coins a lot, and I always used the Black Book. Hadn't even heard of the Red Book until your post.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

What if they turned out to be the coins worth $650,000???

Except that only you would even entertain the idea of a coin being minted at that value (versus value due to collectibility).

Viper GTS

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: kranky
Grading is relatively easy. Get a copy of "A guide book of US coins" by R.S. Yeoman from your local library (has a red cover, informally called the "Red Book"). It's issued every year, but for grading purposes it won't matter if you have the latest edition or a five-year-old one. It will describe the charactistics of each grade for your Mercury dimes. Even as a novice, you can get pretty close. Then you can use the price information to give you an idea of what the coins are worth. The prices in the Red Book are retail, so what you could sell them for is going to be less.

At a minimum, your dimes are worth about 7x face value just for silver content. But a few are worth more than the minimum. Figure that just about any coin listed in the Red Book at $3 or less is going to be worth only the silver value.

The 1921 is a good one, and of course the 1916-D is the king. HOWEVER: the 1916-D is one of the most counterfeited/altered coins there are. It is very likely that the coin is a fake. There are more FAKE 1916-D dimes than there are genuine ones. Can you post a good closeup of the mintmark ("D") on the back? This page might help you determine whether it's authentic or not.

Thank you sir for the excellent information.

We actually have three 1916's and they are from 1916. Grandparent handed to parents and now we have them.

One is a 1916 D, another 1916 S and one 1916 plain.

We have a plain 1921 but not the 1921 D.