Old stuff

Lunysgwen

My father has a lot of old items from his previous jobs, and wants to get rid of them. Some of the books are at least a hundred years old from what I can discern on the first few pages, some really old bills (Five and twenties from the 30's/50's/and 60's.), mercury dimes, buffalo coins, old mining equipment, and some life magazines from forever ago.

He asked me what he should do, and I wasn't in the least sure what to do with this stuff, so I told him I'd ask you guys. Does anybody know where we can get this stuff looked at, appraised, or just unload it? If it helps with locational information, we're in FL.

Bushi

I'm not sure on the money, but the books, depending on how specialized you want to go and the rarity/quality of the books, could either be put on Amazon or in the rare books section of Abebooks.

L Ron Howard

The books you can do as Bushi has said.

If you're not concerned about making money, there are always museums that would love to have the other stuff, like the mining equipment specifically, and any other stuff along those lines that you have.

You can do the same with the money, or try to sell it through either Ebay or to private coin collectors.

I'm not entirely sure on magazines, but I think those would be best recycled. You can get those online for free now (http://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAMBAJ#all_issues_anchor), so I'd imagine they're practically worthless.

matt has a problem

Honestly, most of that probably has more sentimental value than monetary value. The books will really depend on the rarity and which edition they are. The money, unless it's in absolute mint condition or has an error, won't be worth much more than face value. The mining equipment is probably worth more as scrap than it is as an actual item. The magazines, like the money, would have to be in mint condition, and be about some major event in order to be worth more than a few dollars.

The books/money/magazines you could have appraised at any sort of generic collector's shop, coin shop etc, Googling for them almost always produces results. The mining equipment honestly depends on what it is, you could probably have an antiques appraiser look at pieces that could be considered "found art".

OnTheLastCastle

L Ron Howard wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure on magazines, but I think those would be best recycled. You can get those online for free now (http://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAMBAJ#all_issues_anchor), so I'd imagine they're practically worthless.

This is missing the point of antiques and collecting items. Most of the old stuff is just old stuff ... to us. But to the right set of people it is worth far more.

The determining factor is often availability. The first run is usually made in much smaller quantities than later if something becomes successful.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/446072/old_magazines_a_guide_to_whats_valuable.html?cat=3

http://www.ehow.com/about_5317377_much-old-life-magazines-worth.html

Lunysgwen

OnTheLastCastle wrote: »

L Ron Howard wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure on magazines, but I think those would be best recycled. You can get those online for free now (http://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAMBAJ#all_issues_anchor), so I'd imagine they're practically worthless.

This is missing the point of antiques and collecting items. Most of the old stuff is just old stuff ... to us. But to the right set of people it is worth far more.

The determining factor is often availability. The first run is usually made in much smaller quantities than later if something becomes successful.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/446072/old_magazines_a_guide_to_whats_valuable.html?cat=3

http://www.ehow.com/about_5317377_much-old-life-magazines-worth.html

This has helped him quite a bit. I think he's going to Ebay the books. They're old Tom Sawyer books (Front page says it was published in 1910.) and life magazines from the 60's (That link was spot on for him.) Thanks guys.

OnTheLastCastle

Huzzah! The Life magazines are pretty easy 'cause he can just look at the covers and think 'yep, that was interesting' to know they're worth something. i.e. Kennedy related, etc.

Fun times. I recommend hanging out with your dad and seeing he if wants to talk about any of the old stuff.