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Well first of all, the numismatic value of any of your individual coins will depend not only on the scarcity of it's date & mintmark, but also on the quality of it's condition. Here's an online guide that I frequently use to assist me in making that evaluation: US Coin Photo Grade Coin Grading Guide

Once you've determined the quality/condition of the individual coin, you are better informed to determine its value based on the scarcity of the date/mintmark.

And as an alternative to the previous website, I also compare to the values listed at USA Coin Book

And if you might develop an interest in maintaining/continuing your father's collection as a hobby/investment, I would recommend picking up a current edition of Guide Book of United States Coins -- Either the "Red" book or the "Blue" book... The Red one provides much more historical information & pictures, and the prices are what you might expect to PAY to a dealer if you wanted to buy a coin ("retail" price) The Blue Book has more abbreviated information, and the values listed are more what you might expect to get from a dealer if you wanted to sell your coin.

Of course these are just guides to help you determine an approximate value... The actual auction prices on eBay can vary significantly... I myself have obtained a few "bargains" and at other times have seen other coins sell for 2~3 times more than I thought they were worth...

So welcome to the hobby! I hope that you find it relaxing, interesting & rewarding! Don't forget, it's not just about hoarding a large stash of coins... You can always sell your more common duplicates to help fund & acquire the more difficult specimens in your collection.

Depends on your budget. You would have a hard time finding a worse scale than an American Weighs Scale, made in China using the least accurate electronic weight sensor in the world.

This one from Amazon is quite a step up, but still very inexpensive.

The world's best scales are made in Japan with the world's best weight sensors, also made in Japan. This Tanita 200g capacity is an excellent scale. I own both. Buy calibration weights for either. The cheaper one will calibrate with anything from 500grams down, (in ten gram increments) but the Tanita will only calibrate with 200 grams. Buy the 2 100s that Amazon suggests. You can calibrate both scales with those.

A simple test to show the sensitivity of a scale is to see how low of a weight it will register. Cut some pieces of paper into half inch squares. Each will weigh about 0.01g. Starting with a calibrated and zeroed scale, place a single piece of paper on the tray and see if it registers. Most cheap scales, including yours and the $17 one I recommend will not move from zero until you get to at least 0.04g, and then they must be placed all at once. The Tanita will register each piece of paper as you add them.

Remember that the electronic weight sensor in any portable scale is susceptible to to permanent damage if exposed to a very strong magnetic field like those from the silly rare earth magnets that many people think are useful to show silver purity. (They don't anyway.)

I recommend the cheaper 500g capacity scale because it has the ability to do a specific gravity test on ten ounce bars and coins. And with a piece of that size, you don't need 0.01g accuracy anymore either, 0.1 will do the trick.

Of course. Get your stuff packed up ahead of time, take your time with this, tape and cushion the tubes if they are in tubes, make sure everything is immobile, use papers or whatever to fill any void space, because these will be heavy. The green plastic monster box won't fit in any of the flat rates, so pack those with your other home items. If you want to apply the gummed craft tape shit at home to save time, this is what I'm talking about. Determine when your local post office is the least busy and try to go then, because you're about to back things up a bit. If you can pick up some registered mail forms with your flat rate boxes ahead of time, that will save you some time as well. Bring your packages in and tell the postal worker that you'd like to ship the flat rates with the registered mail service and insured. You simply declare a value and attest to the contents on the forms. USPS is pretty confident that registered mail won't get lost, so they won't need to inspect the contents unless you have a nosy or ignorant postal worker, which is possible as I've found the working knowledge of the average USPS employee to be all over the place. If you haven't already covered every seam and I mean every seam at home with that insidious, contemptible, craft tape garbage, you will have to request the tape, wet sponge and scissors at the front desk. They should have it for free, but who knows, maybe call ahead. Now get ready for some real fun. You'll probably have to move down to some unoccupied part of the counter, fumbling around like a dolt. It will take you a good while and copious profanity to apply that Satan-spawned crap at the post office, then you'll be ready to pay and ship. You may get a little grief if your desk clerk is a spindly-armed weakling, but all should go well at this point. Just get organized and prepared ahead of time, I know you've got the move to contend with, but don't cut corners here, as it will leave your custody and make its way across the country without you. JM Bullion does a [pretty good] (https://www.jmbullion.com/how-to-ship-silver-and-gold-safely/) write up about it too. A couple of tips: if you do the crap-tape at home, use a small round sponge in a shallow dish filled with water, with the sponge sitting slightly above the rim. You cut to length and glide the gummed side of that horrid tape over the wet sponge's surface and quickly apply. More is better as they take registered mail very seriously and the tape is there so that they can apply metric shit-tons of little stamps to the surface to insure that no employee breaks the seal for a peek. With four monster boxes, you're going to become top-ace at applying that awful shit. Also, only the exterior box need be taped. Go in, act like it is completely normal and get your job done. The majority of the bill will be registered mail and insurance, silver is down now, so hopefully it will be less than I remember. Try a calculator on the USPS site and get an idea. You perhaps can see now why I would drive it, but only you are the best judge for your situation. Either way, a little inconvenience to accomplish your goal. Despite what others have said I have no reservations about bullion in USPS registered mail, but ONLY registered mail. I speak from direct experience here, same process same monster boxes. Good luck my friend.

Interesting, I didn't know such a thing existed! Sounds like a good way to non-harmfully test silver coinage. Best of all, there's no consumables / chemicals to worry about. Sounds like a good investment if you're buying lots of silver.

FWIW, you can also get digital pocket scales of fairly good accuracy for very little money these days. I got one of those a while back (American Weigh Scales AWS-600-BLK) and was very happy with it.

For me, I've found the best value in having two scales. I have this one for smaller items. It goes to the nearest tenth of a gram, so that's good enough for me for smaller quantities. This is good for jewelery, small coins, etc.

For weighing a whole stack or something, I also have one of these. It's only accurate to the nearest gram, so the small one is better for small quantities, but this one supports up to eleven pounds and is definitely the best you'll find for the price. I also measure stuff other than my stack on it as well, so this is a decent multipurpose scale.

All three can be had for cheap from amazon, which is where I got all mine. Check out the links below... It's the setup I have for even cheaper than I paid (closer to $15). Acid is pretty standard and you can't really get "bad" acid (Gerry Garcia may say otheriwse). The scale has been awesome to me (the reviews on amazon are good too). The loupe is pretty cool and has been pretty helpful. It's just a magnifying glass. As such, it's hard to fuck up.

Acid Test Kit

Scale

Loupe

Not sure what to tell you honestly as far as an easy local, source?
What does everyone do?
Buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Testing-Solutions-Silver-Platinum-Scratch/dp/B005VEG5T0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_1

is my best suggestion.

I keep all of mine in a gun safe by made by sentry safe. Mainly because I own guns as well. I know sentry safe makes smaller safes built more towards fire and floods. I have my gun safe bolted down to prevent theft. Im more concerned about fire as well as I live in a pretty safe area (I know anything can happen though).

Here is a smaller one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005P12F2K/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1377531457&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

And here is one similar to mine: http://m.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_29463_-1

Even a $10 gram scale from amazon with a calibration weight would detect most fakes. That plus a "ping" test for bullion coins can basically pick up any fake that's not made out of the exact same metal composition.

If you have $600 a sigma precious metals verifier would be almost impossible to fool in most cases, but that's probably outside of your and my budgets.

I have this and it is very accurate as long as you get a 100 gram calibration weight and just recalibrate it when it seems a tenth off or something. It's worked great for me and for that price I'm very happy.

As an example, when weighing known real coins it's usually within .05 grams assuming minimal variance from the mint spec of the coins, in my personal experiences.

Absolutely get a scale!

I bought a 600gm capacity American Weigh Scales (AWS). Nicely portable, works great, no problems after a year.

Depending on your needs, a better choice might be a lower-capacity scale. Greater sensitivity and presumably better accuracy.

Whichever scale you choose, for best accuracy get a calibration weight. A complete set of weights is best, but might be overkill. I use one 500gm weight to calibrate my 600gm scale.

Buy mailers here.

Print postage at a discount through paypal with this link after you're logged in.

Buy a scale to weigh packages if you don't already own one. Even a cheap $10-20 one from amazon or eBay, whatever.

EDIT : The USPS website is good for ordering FREE supplies as well. You'll eventually need small flat rate boxes at least. I wouldn't pay for anything through them, the markup is crazy. Amazon has 6 pack rolls of tape atm for $7 as an add-on item as well.

American Weigh Scales AWS-600-BLK Digital Personal Nutrition Scale, Pocket Size, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O37TDO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_vnTURcDBwNe8o

It does up to 500g, has been SUPER accurate for me, and does Troy oz. Love it

Was really happy about the bar, as I've seen some look great and others not so much.

Ended up buying the stands with the Apmex order:

http://www.apmex.com/product/15805/air-tite-easel-clear

Found them on Amazon (5 + Prime shipping for ~$8.): http://www.amazon.com/Display-Air-Tite-Holder-Capsules-Challenge/dp/B00BIXMDAS

10 pack for $9: http://www.amazon.com/Air-tite-Acrylic-Clear-Easel-Pack/dp/B009GAD3E0

20 pack for $11: http://www.amazon.com/Display-Air-Tite-Holder-Capsules-Challenge/dp/B00BIXR2HM

They’re great! Bought them from this guy named “OnFireGuy” on Amazon:

OnFireGuy Clear Display Stand Easel for Air-Tite Holder Coin Capsules Challenge Medals Casino Chips (Qty 20) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BIXR2HM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Fl16CbY4S4J23

I've had this same one for over a year now. It's been great so far!

Edit: Opps I actually have this one. Almost the same though, just higher resolution and only 100 grams max instead of 600 grams.

Also suggest getting digital calipers. I got these the same time I got the scale, though the price was only $11 when I got them. These work fantastically but I recommend taking the battery out when storing them as it may turn on when bumped and drain.

I have a couple of these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012N1NAA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

I like it because I have to carry mine around with me the majority of the time. The case that doubles as a tray is also super convenient.

It only goes to tenth of a gram though, don't know if you need something more accurate.

For US coins, 1964 and earlier are 90% silver, but metal content is ONLY ONE SMALL THING TO CONSIDER. Many coins have substantially more numismatic (aka coin collector) value than the simple value of the metal in them.

Get yourself a copy of the Red Book --

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510673503&sr=8-1&keywords=red+book+coins+2018

The Red Book will tell you if your coins are unusual, rare, or simply common "junk" silver.

Until I can fill the second can with more junk silver, I thought this ammo can organizer would be pretty useful for other general storage: www.amazon.com/dp/B0074024OO

I would recommend the most current Blue Book for a guide on what you can expect coins to really be worth. On common silver though just figure current melt value, as the blue book was printed when silver was about 20% higher than it is now so the minimum prices will be high.

I've been happy with this one. The trays it comes with offer some protection for it when storing as well.
https://amzn.com/B00ME8VI34

This book releases on Tuesday.

It is written by a very well respected economic historian.

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Silver-Shaped-America-Modern/dp/0691175381

I've already pre-ordered.

I ordered this small one from Amazon for under $9, have been very happy with it.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-01g-Digital-Scale/dp/B0012LOQUQ

For melt values look at this site:

Silver Calculator


For collector values I would get this book(Its 6 bucks shipped):


US Coin Blue book

I have this scale and I ripped apart an old hdd for magnets. Like /u/FartSkin said the Redbook is nice to have.

I picked up this one on Amazon some time ago. I absolutely love it. Only downside is it won't weigh any of my bars upwards of 20+ ozt. It goes to hundredths in ozt.

These. Have mine in one, it's great. Bought the 10 pack as I'm anticipating buying the whole series

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GSPVXII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I recommend this tape for registered. If you use a shiny tape the post office stamp won’t work. They need to stamp something over the center opening and the stamp won’t stick to clear tape.

Found this one in an apartment. Unfortunately, it came with a lot of marijuana residue and was jammed underneath.


A nice cleaning, and I'm happy with it. Use it to tally my PM finds rather than if something it legit or not.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012LOQUQ/ref=psdcmw_678508011_t2_B00ME8VI34

Got them on Amazon. Here's a link.

Clear Display Stand Easel for Air-Tite Holder Coin Capsules Challenge Medals Casino Chips (Qty 20) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BIXR2HM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_SyFozbYPQ0G8A

I've got the AWS-600 and I am quite pleased with it. Don't forget a calibrating weight to go along with it!

>Maybe try some of those silica gel packets?

I've had a decent amount of success with reusable dehumidifying systems. This is the one I'm using now, although it's too soon to tell how it'll hold up in the long run (I've had it 4 months and so far so good though).

You can buy a nice scale for under $10 on amazon

I bought and returned a couple that I was not happy with before getting the one below from Amazon. It's very inexpensive and surprisingly accurate.
https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Weigh-Back-Lit-Features-Included/dp/B00ME8VI34

I tend to use snippings of cardboard I have from boxes and shipments I receive (amazon, ebay, whatever). Make a little book of cardboard to tape the coins/bars in flips or bags inside of. That then goes inside of a bubble mailer. I then tape that up very well, wholly enclosing a shipping label I generate at paypal. I use this tape copiously.

If it goes into a SFRB, or MFRB, I also use strapping tape to seal up the edges and corners.

I have never needed to ship via any method other than USPS thus far.

I personally dont worry about it. Ive seen guys with 999 coins that go back to the 80s and then people with sterling or 90% coins that are hundred years old. It really depends on where you live and the climate. If you are worried there are some recharable gun safe storage dehumidifiers that are inexpensive that you just have to charge over night once a month.

Just buy a couple of these. They are kind of large but will do the job fine.

https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-E-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487374309&sr=8-1&keywords=gun+safe+dehumidifier

Bought these on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01GSPVXII?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Quite a long excerpt on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Silver-Shaped-America-Modern/dp/0691175381 (click on "look inside")

I am planning on purchasing this model.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005P12F2K/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

I prefer the combination lock as opposed to the keypad lock because I don't want to be reliant on a battery to get to my stuff.

Analog> digital sometimes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPTVIIY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have this to.take pictures of my coins.


Here is an album of pics, zoomed out and some zoomed in on details.

I use This inside of This . its been ~60 days and still hasn't changed color to indicate that it needs renewed.

Of course! It fits 50 cal cans
MTM Ammo Can Organizer (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074024OO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pmBvzbBFYNPV2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The person requesting the holder wanted these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GSPVXII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Silver-Shaped-America-Modern/dp/0691175381/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I use this one: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O37TDO - $8.29

I have one of these AWS-100. It weighs up to 100 grams, 0.01 gram accuracy, for only $8.69.

http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-SFW123DSB-Combination-Fire-Safe-Medium/dp/B005P12F2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1367554489&sr=1-1&keywords=sentrysafe

What do you guys think of this thing?

Or this one?

http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-SFW123GDC-Cubic-Electronic-Fire-Safe/dp/B005P12C5A/ref=sr_1_13?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1367554017&sr=1-13&keywords=sentrysafe

Ping test isn't Accurate at all. Acid is much more reliable and is not expensive. http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Testing-Acid-Liquid-Stone/dp/B004CNFUIS If the scrapings turn dark/blood red its real.

I just bought the 100g version for $11.91 Prime shipped yesterday.

Figured I was only weighing individual coins and wouldn't ever need to weigh a coin over 3 ounces and the 1kg wouldn't be as precise.

Here is the mobile version of your link

>...rubbing it on a stone and putting a drop of acid on the rubbings.

$12.39

This bad boy is used by a few silverbugs here and after shipping costs about $5 more:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPTVIIY/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

It's a decent enough price for 50 dimes. I'm not sure I'd choose mercs though. I just got a scale today (10 bux on Amazon...loving it so far) and started weighing some of my coins.

I picked my most worn coins. My worn liberty halves averaged out to about 5% underweight, and my worn liberty quarters averaged closer to 7.5% underweight. I don't have any mercs, but I would have to think that wear would be at least as bad (if not worse, given the dime's smaller mass-to-surface area ratio).

Samples of Franklin halves, Washington quarters and Rosies were basically all right on target.