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I’m told any penny before 1982 are worth at least 3 cents in copper value. Afterwards they are zinc with a copper coating.
2.7 cents per the internet today.

Some day the zinc will be worth more than a penny.

I looked at my penny collection from when I was a kid while back. My WW2 galvanized steel cents are now rusting. I guess Texas humidity was just too much. Never stored in the attic never got wet.

Sorry I didn’t hoard silver in the mid 60’s when the coins changed from silver or bought kugarrands when they were $70.

Of course I also remember in 1987 in Houston when you could buy as many foreclosures you wanted for $35k. Or Vegas and Phoenix forclosures in 2009 for a song. Could have should have.

I bought some silver dollars from my late uncle's estate. They had been mounted in sterling silver rings with a sterling silver key chain and were NIB. The silver dollars looked "pretty". I took them into a coin store to see how I had done in the auction pricewise. The coin store is on I 10 near Silber in Houston. They seem very reasonable on their mark ups. I've never sold anything there.

Anyway the silver coins had been polished with a buffer wheel and then clear lacquer painted per the coin salesperson. All value outside of the base metal had been completely removed by the treatment. "Pretty isn't valuable".

The price on the box the key chains came in said 5 dollars. Back then I think I paid 10 dollars. He said I probably could get 30 dollars on ebay. He said "they will buy anything on ebay".

So yeah, no polishing or dipping the pennies in vinegar.

A fellow told me something interesting about coins I hadn't realized. As the value of the base metal goes up, the collectible value goes down. And the reverse is true as the base metal value goes down the collectible value goes up.

So now is the time to buy that rare date you have been looking for, as base metal prices are high.

Wow 400 silver dollars. That is pretty exciting. There are plenty of books that help you grade coins and give you an idea of value. As far as selling them, (if that is your plan) You will need to shop around if you can. I remember needing a silver eagle in Kansas City for a gift. There were no coin stores that actually sold coins. Most advertised coin stores were just pawn shops who would give you 30% of the base metal value.

Because of high base metal value, your silver coins will need to be of a high quality or a rare date to do a lot better than the base metal value.