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My husband passed away in September, and left a couple of handfuls of coins from various parts of the world--Mexico, England, the Middle East, Far East, Caribbean islands, possibly some from northern European countries...I called a local coin shop, and the woman I spoke with explained very patiently that they couldn't tell me if the coins are worth anything; that would require their looking up each coin...gee, I'd never thought about that--someone might actually have to work--obviously, I entirely misunderstood the function of a coin shop...</sarcasm>. Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone can point me toward a place on the net or in SETX that will let me get some idea if they're worth anythinng or not. Thanks for the help!

If you look in the "Collectables" section of Half Price Books, there are generally several Coins of the World type of books there that will give you some good information on foreign coins, their scarcity, and/or value, given their apparent condition and such. Most of my foreign coins are of general interest only, such as an Australian penny from 1943 or so that is as big as a Kennedy half dollar. The internet might get you a reasonable idea, if you can identify the coin correctly, put the information into the search box on Ebay and see what pops up. Be advised the coins on there are generally quite overpriced for the value (in my opinion).

Basically, spend a few bucks, buy a coin book that is a year or two old, and do some preliminary work ups from there.

Some may be made of real gold or silver, some may have unique configurations, or be very scarce in many different ways. Always handle them by the edges, don't try to clean any of them. That will depreciate the value. Try not to keep them in a box or bag where they rattle around each other and leave marks. You may get more information from Littleton's. You can find them online. They also sell little cardboard holders that have circular plastic covered openings that you can put the coins in to help keep them from getting banged up. They are inexpensive. Just type in "Littleton's Coins" in your search engine. They should pop up.

Coin stores are in the business to make money. They buy from the public at a discount and sell to the public at a markup. Usually they need to see the coins in their store to give you an offer. Sort of like the TV show "Pawn Stars".

Usually foreign coins (unless they are very rare and very old) will sell for their face value or their bullion value less the discount the store deducts from their value which is their profit in the transaction. A two Euro coin is worth about $2.50 face value, but a silver English crown is worth probably $15 just for the silver.

A foreign coin sold in its native country could sell for more than here in the US as there are more collectors of English coins in England than there are here. Many foreign coins are almost worthless as many countries over the years have devalued their currency so much, they have no face value, and worse they were not made of silver but cheap aluminum.

Ebay is a good location to see value or if any of the coins are rare. If the coins are made of silver or gold they are probably worth your time in selling. If they are copper, zinc. nickel, aluminum etc. and are not from a major European country, probably not worth your time.

If there are real gold coins (not gold colored aluminum) get a number of offers from coin stores or pawn shops before you sell. Under no circumstances send the gold to one of those gold buying by mail outfits as they will pay you very little for your gold, despite their guarantees.

Thank you for your recommendations, gentlemen. Now I have some idea of how to proceed. Thanks again--I appreciate your time!