One of the easiest ways to turn an inherited coin collection into an overwhelming project is to assume that every coin needs to be researched, graded, and professionally certified before you can do anything with it.In most cases, that is not necessary.At Oakton Coins & Collectibles, we regularly help families sort through inherited coin collections. Some coins absolutely should be professionally graded. Most should not.

The important part is figuring out which is which.

Grading Should Usually Not Be Your First Step

If you inherit a collection, it is understandable to start searching individual coins online. That can quickly become confusing.

You may search for a common coin such as a 1921 Morgan silver dollar and see auction results for professionally graded examples worth hundreds, thousands, or sometimes much more. Then you look at the several 1921 Morgan dollars in the collection and wonder whether all of them should be sent to a grading service.

Usually, that is putting the process in the wrong order.

Before paying to grade a coin, it helps to first determine whether there is a reasonable chance that professional grading will materially affect its value or make it easier to sell.

Have the collection evaluated first. Grade the coins that need grading second.

A Coin Does Not Have to Be Graded to Be Valuable

This is one of the biggest misconceptions we see.

Millions of collectible coins are bought and sold every year without being encapsulated by a third-party grading company. Coins can be valuable because of their metal content, scarcity, age, condition, collector demand, or a combination of those factors.

A coin being ungraded does not mean it has little or no value.

Professional grading is simply a tool used in certain situations.

What Does Professional Coin Grading Actually Do?

Third-party grading can help establish important information about a coin, including its authenticity, condition, and sometimes its variety or other attributes.

For certain coins, that information can make a significant difference in marketability and value.

You can think of grading as a way of settling an important question.

For example:

• Is the coin genuine?
• Is it an unusually high-grade example?
• Has it been cleaned, altered, or damaged?
• Is it a scarce variety?
• Could a small difference in grade create a large difference in value?

When there is an economically important question to answer, professional grading can be very useful.

When there is no meaningful question to settle, grading may simply add expense.

Why Grading Everything Can Become Expensive

Professional grading is not free. There are grading fees, shipping, insurance, handling, and other costs involved in submitting coins.

Those costs do not automatically become additional value in the coin.

If you spend money grading a common coin and the resulting certification does not increase what buyers are willing to pay, the grading expense has simply reduced the amount of value left in the collection.

This becomes especially important with large inherited collections.

A family might inherit hundreds of coins. If every coin is treated as an individual grading project before anyone determines what is actually worth grading, the costs can add up quickly.

Why Online Research Can Create Analysis Paralysis

The internet can make grading look much more important than it is for the average inherited collection.

Search results, auction sites, coin forums, television programs, and online marketplaces tend to show large numbers of professionally graded coins. High-grade examples also tend to receive more attention because their prices are more interesting.

That can give the impression that professional grading is a normal requirement for owning or selling collectible coins.

It is not.

There are enormous numbers of collectible coins sitting in albums, envelopes, flips, boxes, tubes, and old family collections that have never been professionally graded and may never need to be.

They can still be worth real money.

Do Morgan Silver Dollars Need to Be Graded?

Morgan silver dollars are probably the coins we see most often that people assume should be professionally graded.

It is easy to understand why. Morgan dollars are large, old U.S. silver coins with a substantial feel to them, and professionally graded examples are everywhere online, at coin shows, in auctions, and on television. If you inherit a group of Morgan dollars, it can quickly start to look as though sending them to a grading service is simply what you are supposed to do.

Usually, it isn’t.

We do submit Morgan dollars for professional grading when it makes sense. A better date, an unusually nice example, a scarce variety, or a coin where authentication or a specific grade could materially affect its value may be a good candidate.

But most of the Morgan dollars we see do not need to be professionally graded. They can still be collectible, desirable, and worth significant money without being encapsulated.

The important question is not, “Is this a Morgan dollar?” or even, “Is this coin valuable?” The better question is, “What would professional grading accomplish for this particular coin?”

If grading is likely to answer an important question, improve marketability, or clarify a meaningful difference in value, it may make sense. If it does not, there is usually little reason to pay for it.

Some Coins Really Should Be Graded

We are not against coin grading. We use professional grading services ourselves.

There are many situations where certification makes sense.

A genuinely rare coin, a potentially high-grade example, a frequently counterfeited coin, or a coin where a relatively small difference in grade could mean a significant difference in value may be an excellent candidate for professional grading.

Sometimes certification also makes an expensive coin easier for buyers and sellers to trade with confidence.

The point is not to avoid grading.

The point is to use grading when it accomplishes something.

We Can Help Determine Which Coins Should Be Graded

When we evaluate an inherited coin collection at Oakton Coins & Collectibles, we can help identify coins that may benefit from professional grading.

There is no reason you need to make those decisions on your own before bringing the collection in.

If we believe a coin should be graded, we will tell you.

We can also help arrange professional grading and submit appropriate coins for certification.

For most collections, only a relatively small percentage of the coins will need that extra step.

Bring the Collection in as You Found It

You do not need to grade, clean, organize, label, or individually research every coin before having an inherited collection evaluated.

In fact, we generally prefer that coins remain as you found them, especially if they are in old holders, envelopes, albums, or original packaging.

We can help separate common material from better coins and identify anything that deserves closer attention.

That usually turns what feels like hundreds of individual decisions into a much simpler process.

Grading Is a Tool, Not the Starting Point

Third-party coin grading is an important part of the modern coin market. Used appropriately, it can authenticate coins, document condition, resolve uncertainty, and make valuable coins easier to buy and sell.

But grading every coin in an inherited collection is rarely necessary.

A coin does not need to be graded to have value, and paying to grade a coin does not automatically make it more valuable.

If you have inherited coins and are unsure what should be graded, the simplest approach is usually to have the collection evaluated first.

At Oakton Coins & Collectibles in Skokie, we regularly help families sort through inherited collections, identify the coins that deserve additional attention, and determine when professional grading makes sense.

You can bring the collection in as it is. We will help you figure out the next step.