HOW does one find an honest coin dealer? Online is not terribly helpful :(

Depends on what you got and what you are trying to do. Is it straight bullion or is it coin collections - like all the years of pennies, nickels, or dimes? Are they raw coins or are they slabbed and graded.

The answer kind of depends on what you have and how much of it you have.

Start with your local coin dealers. If you don't get the answers you are looking for, go to a coin show. You can bring your items and shop it around to 30-100 dealers all in one spot.

coinzip.com/index.php?state=NC

ncna.club/coin-shows/

My grampa and then dad collected coins. Not in any systemic or rational way, just coins, just because. I remember them casually looking at any change they got in any transaction, and putting some away now and again.

So I have a lot of half-dollars, a lot of silver dimes, a lot of old pennies. I mean...it's a fair bit.

So I need someone to tell me which coins are junk - most I would assume but you never know - and which are possibly really worth some more change?

Generally The half dollars, quarters and dimes minted from 1964 and earlier have silver in them and thus have some intrinsic value. Generally referred to as "junk silver" you can take the face value and multiply it by a value tied to spot.

If you have a $10 roll of pre-1965 quarters and silver spot is $36 then the value of the roll is about $260. So your multiplier is 26 times face.

Here's a calculator

stacksbowers.com/melt-value-calculator/

Most dealers aren't interested in coins from foreign countries or common dates. For these you'd have to go to a coin show and find a dealer who likes that kind of stuff.

Most dealers are now into slabbed and graded coins. If yours are not, then they don't really care about them.

The do care about the precious metal content so old silver dollars and gold coins are of interest to them.

The penny collection in a blue Whitman coin book isn't going to get you any money.

Wheat pennies can get you 4 to 5 cents a piece.

Most pre-1965 circulating U.S. dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars contained 90% silver. Specifically, these coins were composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. After 1964, the silver content in dimes and quarters was eliminated, and half dollars were minted with 40% silver until 1970.

Here's a breakdown:

90% Silver Coins: Dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars minted before 1965 (and some commemorative coins).

40% Silver Coins: Half dollars minted from 1965 to 1970 contain 40% silver.

0% Silver Coins: All circulating coins after 1970 contain no silver.

My son recently did this with some old family coins .... Check out coinvaluechecker . com

He's into coins. You could fly him out there! Start by making an inventory of the coins.

Way way too many to check each one online. I tried once but it's way hard.

Maybe I could give a handful to each kid and let them do with them what they will.

Most are much earlier than 1970. I saw several 1936 Walking Liberty half-dollars in there. I think they are something but maybe not.

6x6, maybe - maybe not. I'm paralyzed because I've just heard SUCH bad things about coin dealers. How will I know if a coin is worth $1 or $10k?

WMH, since you have nothing in them go to a coin dealer, plop all the baggies on the counter and tell them to give you a price. Might have a 10k coin in there, might just have a bunch of face value.

When I used to go to the local pawn shop it was amazing how many good coins went thru there. The deadbeats didn't want to lose their $15 game console so they would steal coins from grandma's stash.

When the store was slow the workers would just go thru the cash drawer and see what they could find. The store didn't care as long as the cash at the end of the day was right.

I have some coins that I have found at trashouts and such. I know I have a few that are silver/gold but alas I am still too lazy to take them in.

About time he earned his keep.

Bonanza---Proof coins were/are still made of silver after 1964. I found a very recent silver dime that someone must have busted out of a proof set and spent! I really miss the coin machines that TD bank used to have. The machines rejected all silver coins for being "nonstandard" weight. Many people never checked the rejected coins bin; they were just in a rush to take their slip to the teller and get the paper money to go spend. Also, the chute was not tilted enough and rejected coins would hang up in it and not make it into the bin. I got all kinds of silver coins out of that reject bin! The first time I got some I was waiting to spend them to buy a sandwich at Subway, and as I waited I noticed the luster seemed strange and also that they made a duller sound when they clinked together. That is when a light went off in my head and I realized they were silver.