That 1964 Quarter in Dad's Coffee Can Isn't a Quarter
Revised October 18, 2026
How do you get coins appraised without getting ripped off?
Get two or more offers, and ask each buyer to separate melt value from collector value out loud. Do not clean anything first. For an inherited collection, let someone who is not buying look first, like a local coin club. The Missouri Numismatic Society’s summer show in St. Charles brings together more than 150 coin dealers.
Keep reading ↓Dad’s coffee can weighs more than loose change should. Cold metal against your palm, and when you tip it on the basement floor of a parent’s house in Florissant, the coins slide against each other with a dull, heavy hiss. Under it sits a blue folder of pennies pressed into little round holes, and nobody left to ask what any of it meant to them.
You do not have to become a coin expert this week, and you do not have to decide anything today. You need three things: the silver math, more than one offer, and one look from someone who is not trying to buy.
That last one matters most. The person who prices your coins at a counter is often the person hoping to buy them. That is a conflict, not a crime, and the fix is not suspicion. It is more offers.
How do you get coins appraised without getting ripped off?
Get two or more offers, ask each buyer to separate melt value from collector value out loud, and do not clean anything first. For an inherited collection, let someone who is not buying take a look before anyone writes you a check. In St. Louis, a coin club meeting or the big summer coin show in St. Charles gives you both.
Here is what that looks like at the show. The Missouri Numismatic Society says its annual show at the St. Charles Convention Center brings together more than 150 coin dealers, buying and selling. You set the same Morgan dollar on one felt-covered table, then another, then another. Offers stop being a verdict and start being a market. You hear a number, say thank you, walk twenty steps and hear another. The society posts the next dates on its annual coin show page.
You do not have to wait for summer for that second look. The society says it normally meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month at the American Legion Post # 397, with doors at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting at 7:00 p.m. Getting there is the easy part: off Olive and Ballas, just east of Highway 270, turn onto E. Rue de la Banque, the short street that runs between Bristol’s Bar & Grill and a bank on the north side of Olive. The post is at number 934. Its welcome page puts it simply: “You are welcome to attend our next monthly club meeting.” Each meeting centers on a 30 to 40 minute talk by a member. Walk in with a few coins in a sandwich bag, the plastic crinkling in your coat pocket, and your questions written down. These are people who come to learn, not to buy from you.
And one Missouri detail most coin guides never mention: the Missouri Department of Revenue says eligible individuals can subtract 100% of their federally reported capital gains on their Missouri income tax return. More on that below.
Sort the silver before anyone else does
Spread the coins on an old bath towel under a good lamp, so nothing rolls and nothing scratches. Then sort by date. The Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated silver from the circulating dime and quarter, and cut the half dollar from 90% silver to 40%. Before that, the dime, quarter and half dollar were struck in 90 percent silver. Every dime, quarter and half dated 1964 or earlier goes in your silver pile. Can’t read a worn date? Tilt the coin on its edge under the lamp. Clad coins give themselves away with a thin copper stripe, their copper core showing right there on the rim. Silver stays bright white all the way around.
Now the math nobody at a counter will do for you. A 1964 quarter weighs 6.25 grams, and 90% of that is silver: about 0.18 of an ounce, the same kind of ounce silver is priced in. Search “silver spot price” on the day you sell, multiply it by 0.18, and that is roughly the melt value of one 1964 quarter. Write it on a sticky note and put it in your pocket.
That little yellow square changes the whole conversation. When a buyer quotes you a price on common silver, you know in five seconds whether it is fair, because you did the arithmetic at your own kitchen table first. Everything above melt is collector value, the premium someone pays because a coin is scarce or beautifully kept.
Do not clean anything. Not even once.
This is the mistake that costs families the most, and it comes from love. You want Dad’s coins to look their best, so you reach for a toothbrush. Stop. Cleaning a collectible coin scratches the surface and can slash its collector value. Collectors prize original surfaces, toning and all. Leave every coin exactly as you found it, dust and all, and handle it by the edges.
Can you check a coin’s value at home first?
Yes, and you should, as long as you know what home tools can and cannot do. A free coin-identifying app is good at naming a coin. It is weaker at pricing yours, because value depends on condition and a phone photo cannot grade a coin the way a person holding it can.
Use the app to sort the pile fast. Then look the standouts up in a recognized price guide or in completed sales, not asking prices. Anyone can list a coin for a dream number. Sold prices are what buyers actually paid. Match your coin’s honest condition to the price column, not the best-case one.
Where to sell in St. Louis: dealer, pawn, auction or show
You have a handful of realistic paths in the metro, and each fits a different kind of collection and a different kind of hurry.
Coin and stamp dealers
A dedicated dealer is usually the best place to start for anything beyond loose silver, because they know the market and can price collector coins on the spot. Good ones explain how they reached a number and separate melt from collector value in front of you. A dealer buys to resell, so the offer sits below retail. That is normal. Get two anyway.
Pawn shops
A pawn shop is built for speed, not specialist coin knowledge. It can be fine for common silver you want turned into cash today, but a genuine key date can get treated like scrap. Know your melt number before you walk in, and read up on how pawn shops work in St. Louis first.
Auction houses
For real rarities, an auction lets collectors bid against each other, which can beat a single dealer offer. The cost is time and a commission. Learning how auction houses work in St. Louis tells you whether your coins are worth consigning. The Missouri Numismatic Society’s show even hosts a Friday evening auction by Scotsman Auction Company, and the society says more than 1,000 lots were offered at the last show.
The summer coin show
If you can wait, this is the protection play. Pack your inventory list, your sticky note and the coins in their original holders, and walk the bourse floor at the St. Charles Convention Center. Show the same coins to several dealers. Write down every number. The highest offer that comes with a clear explanation is usually the one to take.
Line up two or three offers before you sell a single coin. Browse coin & stamp dealers across the St. Louis metro, bring the same coins to each one, and ask every buyer to split melt from collector value out loud. Thinking about a quick loan instead of a sale? See how pawn shops work in St. Louis.
If you’re the coin shop, the estate-sale crew or the appraiser who explains every number out loud, families clearing a parent’s house are searching for exactly you right now. Put your shop in front of those customers.
Handling an inherited collection
Go slow. Grief and a full house create pressure to just be done, and that pressure is exactly what a lowball offer feeds on. The coins are not going anywhere. A week of patience costs you nothing.
Make an inventory before anyone sees it
Lay everything out and write a simple list: dates, denominations, mint marks, and anything already sealed in a plastic grading holder. Photograph the standouts. The list tells you what you have, and it protects you, because a written inventory makes it far harder for anyone to quietly set a coin aside or underquote the lot.
Pay for an appraisal when the collection is big
For a large or clearly valuable collection, a paid written appraisal from someone who is not also trying to buy it gives you a number you can trust. For a jar of worn silver, skip it and use your sticky note.
The red flags that mean a lowball
Pressure to decide right now. One lump price for a whole mixed pile. A shrug when you ask how the number was reached. A fair buyer expects you to shop around and will happily walk you through the math. If you feel rushed, that is your cue to say thank you and leave.
If a deal goes wrong after the fact, Missouri has a place to take it. The Missouri Attorney General’s office says to call its Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-392-8222 for more information about filing a complaint. Keep your inventory list and any receipt, because the paper trail is what makes a complaint stick.
Need to clear your head after a day of sorting? Here’s where to rent a bike and ride St. Louis.
One Missouri tax note before you cash out
If you sell coins for more than you paid, that profit is a capital gain. The Missouri Department of Revenue says the state’s capital gains subtraction lets eligible individuals subtract 100% of their federally reported capital gains on their Missouri income tax return, claimed on Form MO-A with the MO-1040. That is the state return only. Your federal return is a separate question, so ask a tax preparer before you assume anything.
What about the stamps in the same box?
Stamps follow different rules. The thick album of canceled stamps a relative saved for decades is often a labor of love with modest resale value, because common canceled stamps are everywhere. When value exists, it tends to hide in a handful of items: early issues, printing errors, unused stamps with original gum, or whole envelopes. Do not soak them, do not rearrange them, and do not peel anything off an old envelope. Get them in front of someone who actually trades stamps. The habits in our guide to flea market shopping in St. Louis carry over neatly to selling.
Whether it is a shoebox in Affton, a sock of wheat pennies in Belleville or a roll of halves on a counter in St. Charles, the rule is the same. Sort the silver. Never clean anything. Get more than one number. And let somebody who is not buying take a look first.
Frequently asked questions
How can I check if my old coins are worth anything?
Sort by date first. Dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier were struck in 90 percent silver, so they carry melt value. Then check the date and mint mark on the rest, use a free app to name anything unusual, and confirm value against sold prices or a dealer.
What is the best way to sell your old coins?
Sort melt coins from possible collector coins, check the standouts against sold prices, then show the same coins to two or three buyers. Ask each one to explain the number. If you can wait for summer, the Missouri Numismatic Society’s show in St. Charles puts more than 150 dealers in one place.
How can I find out if my old coins are worth money?
Identify each coin’s date and mint mark, then check whether that pair is scarce and how worn yours is. For a second opinion from people who are not buying, the Missouri Numismatic Society says you are welcome at its monthly meeting, normally the fourth Wednesday.
Where can I lookup the value of a coin?
Use a recognized price guide for the exact date and mint mark, then cross-check completed sales rather than asking prices. For common silver, do the melt math: a 1964 quarter holds about 0.18 of an ounce of silver, so multiply that by the day’s spot price.
What is the best free app to check the value of coins?
Several free coin-identifier apps will name a coin from a photo and give a rough range, which is great for sorting a big pile. Treat the price as a ballpark only, since a photo cannot grade condition. Confirm anything promising with sold listings or a dealer.
What year of coins are worth money?
For silver, the line is 1964. The Coinage Act of 1965 took silver out of the circulating dime and quarter and cut the half dollar to 40% silver. Beyond silver, specific date-and-mint pairs in strong condition carry collector premiums in many years.
More St. Louis guides
- How Pawn Shops Work in St. Louis
- How Auction Houses Work in St. Louis
- Flea Market Shopping in St. Louis
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.