This guide will help you make the most of your inherited collection. Whether you decide to keep it all, sell it all, or a little bit of both, these tips and tricks can help you discover the worth and value of your new collection. If you have a collection and plan to pass it on one day, these tips and tricks can help you too. Use the free checklist at the end of this article to simplify the process.
Don’t clean anything!
Cleaning coins can destroy collectible value. Even microfiber cloths and gentle Q-tips can leave scratch marks. Scratches diminish coin value. Charles and I received a 1986 Standing Liberty USA One Dollar coin with evidence of improper cleaning. You can watch a short about the Standing Liberty coin on our TikTok channel @pendantandring.
Coins change over time. Graders and collectors celebrate the changes. Toning can increase value, but cleaning decreases value.
Be careful cleaning jewelry! Stone hardness indicates how to clean different gemstones. Different solutions make different metals shine. Use this jewelry cleaning guide for coin pendants.
Look for identifying marks.
Dates and mint marks can indicate the coin’s scarcity. In some years, millions of a specific coin were minted; in other years, only thousands. The fewer coins minted in any given year, the greater the scarcity and the value. Conflict often reduces production numbers, making wartime coins scarce and valuable.
On jewelry, including pocket watches and belt buckles, hallmarks and maker’s marks can help you identify value. Hallmarks indicate metal composition. Maker’s marks show who produced how many examples in what year or decade.
Sentimental vs. Monetary Value
Sentimental value is the nostalgic value of an object. Great-Grandmother’s wedding ring is more valuable than a new ring of similar style because of the memories associated with great-grandmother wearing the ring. Monetary value is the estimated cash value of great-grandmother’s ring.
Sentimental value imparts worth through family history and increases personal appraisal of the object in question. Worth, however, does not always translate into a financial value. Noting both sentimental worth and financial value of each item in the collection can help you decide what to keep and what to sell.
Bullion vs. Collectible
Intrinsically, metals carry a certain variable value per troy ounce. The value fluctuates with the value of the global reserve currency. The value of the metal in a coin or jewelry item is the bullion value, also called the melt value. A refiner will typically pay the melt value, the bullion value, of the metal in a coin or jewelry item minus processing fees. You can find the current value of precious metals at Bloomberg.
When silver reached record highs in 2026, coin shops and refiners paid less than the going rate of silver bullion. They simply could not afford to pay the asking price for the metal at that time. Shortly after refiners stopped buying silver, the market price went back down. This is called “adjustment” and is seen in all markets.
Bullion value is typically less than collectible value. I recently met with another jewelry appraiser, and we discussed the construction of a ring. It was made by a British house, no longer in business, that the fellow appraiser had a relationship with. His nostalgia caused him to appraise the ring at a slightly higher amount than I appraised the ring for, but we both agreed that the ring carried more collectible value than bullion value because of the craftsmanship that went into its construction. Determining collectible value is an art; determining bullion value is a science.
Photograph and document the collection.
Creating a basic inventory will help determine the value of each piece and of the collection as a whole. I made an 8-point inventory system for coins, with a free inventory organization document and printable to help.
In addition to a list of details, photographs can show how coins are toning over time. Should you choose to insure your collection, quality photos will be a great help to your appraiser and, if need be, the claim’s adjuster.
Don’t rush to sell!
Research before accepting an offer by getting more than one opinion. As I said, a fellow jewelry appraiser and I had differing viewpoints about a ring because of sentimental affections. Appraisers are people too, and getting a few opinions will help form a more realistic number.
Also, the metal markets move, so waiting to sell until the intrinsic value is “up” is advantageous. But don’t wait too long, or you’ll be faced with the adjustment period that drives prices back down! Only when you have a general opinion of worth and know where the markets stand, should you move to sell. The realized value will be what someone is willing to pay at time of sale.
Know when to seek an expert.
Appraisals, authentication, and specialists all provide valuable services, but some pieces don’t need the finer eye. Some pieces are going to be easier to identify and value than other pieces. Reserve specialist opinions for your special-est pieces.
You can look up coin composition and gram weight to determine the bullion value. You can examine coins carefully, looking for scratches. You can investigate the production numbers for any given coin in any given year. If you find a coin that has
- low mintage numbers
- no scratches
- good (or great) details
you can send your coin to NGS or PCGS to have it graded. If it has great details, no scratches, and high mintage numbers, you can use the coin grader vernacular to sell the coin without getting it graded.
With a jewelry piece, you can identify its bullion value by hallmark, and take it to a local jewelry store or pawn shop for stone identification. If it is a solid gold, or platinum piece with real and valuable stones (clarity, cut, quality!), then consider an appraiser.
Preserve the history.
Keeping family stories with the objects may seem like mere sentimentality, but this is how generational heirlooms are created. The tatting work from five generations ago, the baptism gown, or silver baby cup were new once upon a time. The quality of, and stories associated with, common items make heirlooms.
Passing it forward.
Now that you have a handle on the do’s and don’ts, you can add to the collection. If you choose to keep the collection, or a portion of the collection, make preparing this collection for the next generation part of your curating process. Document everything. You are providing provenance for future generations when you document these pieces. Curation makes a collection into a treasure, rather than a responsibility.
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Now for the checklist! Use this link to access and save/print/share the Collection Organization Checklist.
Read more about the wonderful world of coins and jewelry.
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